Announcement

Total 100 articles, created at 2016-08-14 12:01 1 Violent protests erupt in Milwaukee after police kill armed suspect

(6.60/7) By Brendan O'Brien MILWAUKEE, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Protesters fired gunshots, hurled bricks and set a gas station on fire in the U. S. mid-western city of Milwa... 2016-08-14 08:02 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk 2 Milwaukee police in standoff with crowd after fatal shooting A crowd gathered and at times grew violent Saturday night in a (5.72/7) Milwaukee neighborhood where a police officer shot and killed a man after a traffic stop and foot chase earlier in the day 2016-08-14 08:12 2KB www.news24.com 3 Milwaukee officials call for calm after unrest over shooting

(5.41/7) MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Simmering anger over the fatal shooting of a man by police erupted in violence on Milwaukee's north side, with protesters skirmishing wit 2016-08-14 12:00 5KB mynorthwest.com 4 Rio 2016: Eventful Olympic return for Martina Hingis

(2.15/7) Martina Hingis marked her return to the Olympic Games after a 20- year absence by reaching the women’s doubles final in dramatic style after an opponent was hit in the eye by the ball 2016-08-14 12:00 1015Bytes www.mid-day.com 5 CPP hits Duterte over Marcos burial plan at Libingan LUCENA CITY -- The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) (2.13/7) assailed President Duterte’s “bull-headedness” for allowing the burial of deposed strongman Marcos at the Libingan ng mga 2016-08-14 12:00 3KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 6 Rio 2016: Dipa Karmakar could make Indian gymnastics history

(2.11/7) Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar, who has already created history by qualifying for the final round of the individual vault final of artistic gymnastics, will be in line to script a bigger one when she competes for a medal at the Rio Olympics today 2016-08-14 10:41 2KB www.mid-day.com 7 Imam and his assistant shot dead at New York mosque (1.04/7) An imam and his assistant have been killed after a gunman opened fire close to a New York mosque. Local residents claimed it was a targetted shooting and reports said police were invest 2016-08-14 08:43 2KB www.independent.ie 8 Man shot, seriously wounded in Morgan Park A man was shot and seriously wounded Saturday night in the (1.00/7) Morgan Park neighborhood on the Far South Side. 2016-08-14 12:00 870Bytes chicago.suntimes.com 9 Riolistic medal chances Boxer Vikas Krishan, tennis mixed doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna and athlete Lalita Babar’s performances provide (1.00/7) some reason to rejoice in an overall dismal week for India at the Olympics in Brazil 2016-08-14 10:22 4KB www.mid-day.com 10 Rio 2016: Indian eves fail to enter quarters of hockey

(0.02/7) India’s women’s hockey team was crushed by higher-ranked Argentina 0-5 to suffer fourth consecutive loss in Pool ‘B’ and failed to advance to the quarter-finals on Saturday 2016-08-14 12:00 927Bytes www.mid-day.com 11 Rio 2016: Russian athletes pass 300 doping tests

(0.01/7) The Russian national team has so far passed 300 doping tests during the ongoing Rio Olympics, sports minister Vitaly Mutko has said 2016-08-14 12:00 788Bytes www.mid-day.com 12 House panel set to receive admin’s P3.35-T nat’l budget proposal The chairman of the appropriations committee in the House of Representatives (HOR) said on Sunday that he is looking forward to receive the first national budget proposal of the administration of 2016-08-14 12:00 4KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 13 PH-bound flight diverted to India — passenger goes into labor A Cebu Pacific flight from Dubai to Manila made an unexpected stop in Hyderabad, India on Sunday morning after a pregnant passenger went on labor, according to the Manila International Airport 2016-08-14 12:00 1KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 14 Drug suspect killed in Ormoc City buy-bust operation ORMOC CITY -- Another drug personality on the police watch list was killed in a buy bust operation on Saturday afternoon here. Arvin Guino, 47, was killed after he tried to shoot an 2016-08-14 12:00 1KB newsinfo.inquirer.net

15 18,000 dynamites abandoned in Chinese- run mine in Mindanao ISULAN, Sultan Kudarat – About 18,000 sticks of dynamite were seized by police and military authorities from an abandoned mining site in the hinterlands of Bagumbayan town here on Saturday, police 2016-08-14 12:00 2KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 16 20-year-old married woman kidnapped, gang-raped in Vasai A 20-year-old married woman was allegedly kidnapped and later raped by four men in Waliv, Vasai. After being locked in a room for a week, the survivor escaped and lodged a complaint 2016-08-14 12:00 2KB www.mid-day.com 17 Great Britain's cycling couple Trott and Jason Kenny score at Rio Olympics Love can brew anywhere, even on a cycling track. Within the British cycling team, a remarkable story unfolds of athletes Jason Kenny and Laura Trott, who besides being in a relationship, are also helping the country win more medals at the ongoing Rio Olympics 2016-08-14 12:00 2KB www.mid-day.com 18 Indian boy detained in Lahore Pakistani authorities detained an Indian boy who reached Lahore without travel documents and handed him over to counter- terrorism officials for questioning, police sources said 2016-08-14 12:00 1KB www.mid-day.com 19 Route cause: Ottesen & Co taken to athletics stadium instead of swimming pool Organisers at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio had to scramble on Friday when a bus carrying swimmers to a night’s session headed off to the wrong venue 2016-08-14 12:00 1KB www.mid-day.com 20 #WalangPasok: List of class suspensions for Monday, August 15 Some local governments in Luzon have decided to suspend classes for Monday, August 15, as monsoon rains continue to affect Metro Manila and some provinces in Luzon. The Philippine 2016-08-14 12:00 1KB newsinfo.inquirer.net

21 Rio 2016: Rafael Nadal strikes doubles gold Rafael Nadal won his second Olympic Games gold medal on Friday and took a step closer to a third by reaching the Rio singles semi-final 2016-08-14 12:00 933Bytes www.mid-day.com 22 Rio 2016: Anthony Ervin is oldest swim champ American veteran Anthony Ervin won surprise gold in the men’s 50m freestyle with a timing of 21.40 seconds in Rio on Friday to become the oldest swimmer ever to win an Olympic title 2016-08-14 12:00 780Bytes www.mid-day.com 23 Katie Ledecky becomes first Olympian to claim 200m, 400m and 800m gold Katie Ledecky obliterated the field and her own world record in winning the 800m freestyle at the Rio Olympics on Friday, uniting the 200m, 400m and 800m titles for the first time since 1968 2016-08-14 12:00 2KB www.mid-day.com 24 Rio 2016: Usain Bolt cruises in 100m first round Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt safely negotiated the first round of the Olympic men's 100m yesterday in the first step on his quest for an unprecedented treble 2016-08-14 12:00 1KB www.mid-day.com 25 Tens of Thousands March in Peru Against Gender Violence More than 50,000 people marched in Peru's capital and eight other cities on Saturday to protest violence against woman and what they say is the indifference of the judicial system. Officials said the size of the protest against gender violence was unprecedented in Peru and followed several... 2016-08-14 12:00 2KB abcnews.go.com 26 Rio 2016: Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa lose final group tie Already out of medal contention, India’s women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa suffered their third successive loss in their final Group A match against Thailand's Supajirakul Puttita and Taerattanachai Sapsiree on Saturday 2016-08-14 12:00 1KB www.mid-day.com 27 Latest: Woman: Husband in Critical After Missouri Gunfire The Latest on the shooting in Joplin, Missouri, that injured five people (all times local): 6:30 p.m. A woman who was in a Joplin, Missouri, church van when it was fired on says the group didn't know what was... 2016-08-14 12:00 3KB abcnews.go.com 28 Fidel Castro Thanks Cuba, Criticizes Obama, on 90th Birthday Fidel Castro thanked Cubans for their well-wishes on his 90th birthday and criticized President Barack Obama in a lengthy letter published in state media. He appeared but did not speak at a gala in his honor broadcast on state television. "I want to express my deepest gratitude for the... 2016-08-14 12:00 4KB abcnews.go.com 29 Rio 2016: SSP Chawrasia, Anirban Lahiri struggle in Round Two India's SSP Chawrasia and Anirban Lahiri scored even-par 71 and two-over 73 to finish tied 30th and joint 51st respectively after the second round of the golf tournament at the Olympic Games here on Friday 2016-08-14 12:00 1KB www.mid-day.com 30 BMC orders inspection of small eateries in all parts of Mumbai Soon after the fire incident, municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta ordered inspection of small eateries in all parts of the city through ward offices 2016-08-14 11:44 1KB www.mid-day.com 31 New real estate businesses leverage technology for success At her home in Nashua, Stephanie Dolloff shows off the Matterport 3D camera that she uses to create immersive experiences for real estate listings... 2016-08-14 11:08 692Bytes www.newhampshire.com 32 All eyes on jockey Trevor Patel Jockey Trevor Patel, who had broken his wrist during a fall at Bangalore in May, will resume riding today at the Pune racetrack. He will ride two horses--King's Canyon & Courtship--and his phenomenal fan following will ensure that both of them... 2016-08-14 11:28 1KB www.mid-day.com 33 Why “natural wine” tastes so unnatural Same-sex marriage might be legal, but gay couples are still considered too “rude” Spraying vines with sulphur ensures a consistent product – but some critics object. 2016-08-14 11:07 8KB www.newstatesman.com 34 MLB Baseball Box Scores NEW YORK -- These have not been the best of times for the New York Mets, whose defense of the 2015 National... 2016-08-14 11:08 4KB scoresandstats.newyork.cbslocal.com

35 “Midnight Sun”: a short story by Chigozie Obioma Eighties nights: why Stranger Things has me hiding behind the sofa New fiction from the author of the Man Booker-shortlisted novel The Fishermen. 2016-08-14 11:07 29KB www.newstatesman.com 36 Scottish independence would still prompt RBS HQ move Royal Bank of Scotland still plans to move its headquarters to England should there be a "Yes" vote in any future independence referendum. 2016-08-14 11:08 2KB www.bbc.co.uk 37 Jeremy Corbyn accuses Tom Watson of making 'nonsense' Trotsky claims Jeremy Corbyn has dismissed claims by his deputy Tom Watson that hard left activists are trying to infiltrate the Labour party ahead of the leadership vote. 2016-08-14 11:08 3KB www.bbc.co.uk 38 A Patron Saint for Television Mention the phrase “patron saints” and plenty of people, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, will think it a quaint, outdated custom that... 2016-08-14 11:08 4KB spectator.org 39 Reefer Madness and the Election For the first time since 1988, both major parties’ nominees — Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump — say that they have never... 2016-08-14 11:08 4KB spectator.org 40 Georgia Nicols horoscopes for Aug. 14, 2016 We have the “all clear” today to do business. The Moon is in Capricorn... 2016-08-14 11:18 4KB chicago.suntimes.com 41 Dear Abby: Stop checking facts on your phone Brother's girlfriend, an adult in her 40s, insists on interrupting conversations to confirm or dispute what was said. 2016-08-14 11:18 2KB chicago.suntimes.com 42 Small parties tell DA to join line of political suitors Smaller opposition parties have told the DA to hold its horses on coalition talks as they await the ANC national executive committee's (NEC's) decision on alliances. 2016-08-14 11:17 4KB www.timeslive.co.za

43 NBC's Olympics livestreaming surpasses one billion minutes Linear TV viewership may be down for NBC’s coverage of this year’s Olympics, but on Wednesday the network announced that its livestreaming coverage surpassed one billion minutes – an Olympics record. On Tuesday, with more than a week left, livestreaming numbers surpassed those of the entire 2012 London Games. 2016-08-14 11:17 1KB www.thedrum.com 44 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette In one deadly week in August, heroin overdoses started a year of struggle, pain and redemption in Washington County. 2016-08-14 11:07 32KB www.post-gazette.com 45 Anthony Weiner Sends Flirtatious Messages To Republican Activist Posing As Woman Here is one more reason for Hillary Clinton to short circuit. “Carlos Danger” just re-invented himself as a mongoose. The New York Post on Saturday published Anthony Weiner’s racy direct Twit 2016-08-14 11:08 3KB dailycaller.com 46 Soros Groups Get Hacked, Hundreds Of Documents Leaked Hundreds of internal documents from groups run by prominent billionaire liberal donor George Soro were leaked online Saturday after hackers infiltrated the groups. The 2,576 files were released by 2016-08-14 11:08 1KB dailycaller.com 47 Fashion police down on Nciza for rowdy show Mafikizolo lead singer Nhlanhla Nciza raised eyebrows at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Joburg this week as wardrobe malfunctions, dodgy finishes on garments and a cacophony of dancing models, celebrities and singing left the audience gasping - and not always in a good way. 2016-08-14 11:15 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 48 Japan boy band SMAP to break up One of Asia's biggest pop groups, the Japanese boy band SMAP, is to break up after a 25-year career. 2016-08-14 11:07 1KB www.bbc.co.uk 49 Little drought relief in metro Atlanta Rain has improved drought conditions in parts of Georgia, but it hasn’t meant much relief for metro Atlanta. 2016-08-14 11:11 907Bytes www.ajc.com

50 Filipina nanny helped raise Singapore golden boy Coaches, teammates and rivals may have seen the evolution of Joseph Schooling the swimmer. But very few would have witnessed the boy-to-man story of Singapore's Olympic champion from 2016-08-14 11:01 2KB globalnation.inquirer.net 51 Jewish activists lead global protest in Palestinian village of Sussiya The “global Shabbat against demolitions” gathered around 300 Jews from some five countries to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian villages of Sussiya, Umm el-Kheir, al-Araqib and Umm el-Hiram 2016-08-14 10:54 7KB www.jpost.com 52 Rio 2016: Dutee Chand flops, Anas and Ankit crash out Sprinter Dutee Chand (below), who made it to her first Olympics after fighting the odds arising out of a ‘gender test’, finished a disappointing seventh in her 100m heats on the opening day of athletics event 2016-08-14 10:35 1KB www.mid-day.com 53 2k civilians used by ISIS as 'human shields' freed Some 2,000 civilians used by the ISIS as human shields have been released as the jihadists retreated in northern Syria 2016-08-14 09:56 1004Bytes www.mid-day.com 54 Chinese foreign minister meets PM, Swaraj; talks NSG Wang Yi, Sushma Swaraj discussed regional, bilateral issues 2016-08-14 09:51 1KB www.mid-day.com 55 Police foils separatist attempts to march Police on Saturday thwarted attempts by separatist leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who are under house arrest, to take out processions from their residences to Lal Chowk 2016-08-14 09:31 1KB www.mid-day.com 56 30-year-old conned, kidnapped on date in Mumbai Police suspect that an extortion racket is operating through dating websites 2016-08-14 09:29 1KB www.mid-day.com 57 Mumbai boy held for stalking ex The Byculla police has arrested a 20-year-old for stalking and threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend if she didn't get back with him 2016-08-14 09:28 1007Bytes www.mid-day.com 58 Mahad bridge tragedy: Wreckage of second bus found Two days after rescue agencies fished out one of the two missing ST buses, which fell into a river following a bridge collapse near Mahad in Raigad district, the wreckage of the second bus was found on Saturday 2016-08-14 09:26 2KB www.mid-day.com 59 Tweens wake up to stylish Saturday in Mumbai In a display of the city's obsession with shopping, first fashion enthusiast to make it to H&M's launch had lined up 30 hours before opening time 2016-08-14 09:24 3KB www.mid-day.com 60 10 boys break window, scale wall to escape from remand home In what could be a scene from The Shawshank Redemption, 10 juvenile boys fled from the David Sassoon Industrial School in Mahim on Friday night. They snuck out with the help of a makeshift rope, constructed with the help of wires, cloth and bedspreads 2016-08-14 09:18 2KB www.mid-day.com 61 6-year-old beats sister to death as mom shops in West Florida A six-year-old boy beat to death his 13-day-old sister after their mother left them alone in her van for nearly 40 minutes in west Florida 2016-08-14 09:17 1KB www.mid-day.com 62 Girlfriend-beating tech mogul gets a year in jail Indian-origin entrepreneur Gurbaksh Chahal violates his 2014 probation by assaulting another girlfriend 2016-08-14 09:14 2KB www.mid-day.com 63 Political activist detained over Thailand blasts A political activist, Prapas Rojanapithak, has been detained in connection with the string of coordinated blasts that rocked Thailand, killing four people, with police indicating that the attacks were an act of 2016-08-14 09:14 1KB www.mid-day.com 64 Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier The city — sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce 2016-08-14 09:13 4KB www.mid-day.com

65 President's daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee faces online harassment Sharmistha Mukherjee calls out cyber stalker in her Facebook post; will lodge complaint 2016-08-14 09:12 1KB www.mid-day.com 66 Mumbai: Realtor shoots self while showing off gun to friend A 22-year-old real estate agent from Pratiksha Nagar died after he allegedly misfired a country-made revolver and shot himself while showing it off to a friend 2016-08-14 09:11 2KB www.mid-day.com 67 India trounce WI by 237 runs, ensure series win by 2-0 margin India today produced a splendid performance to clinically decimate West Indies by 237 runs in the third cricket Test thereby taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series 2016-08-14 09:05 5KB www.mid-day.com 68 EXCLUSIVE: Zuma friend's R550m bonanza Mystery surrounds payments in excess of R550 million to a known ANC benefactor and friend of President Jacob Zuma by a tender- rich IT security company. 2016-08-14 09:02 7KB www.news24.com 69 Rio Olympics: Lalita Babar qualifies for 3,000 metre Steeplechase finals Long distance runner Lalita Babar kept India's hopes alive by qualifying for the women's 3,000 metre Steeplechase finals 2016-08-14 09:00 6KB www.mid-day.com 70 Cleveland Indians minor leaguer Francisco Mejia's hit streak at 50 after scoring change Cleveland minor leaguer Francisco Mejia's hit streak reached 50 games when the official scorer changed a ruling on an error during Class A Lynchburg's 7-5 loss Saturday night. 2016-08-14 09:00 2KB www.espn.com 71 'God help us' - Robert De Niro compares Donald Trump to Travis Bickle from 'Taxi Driver' As endorsements go, it was not particularly flattering. 2016-08-14 08:53 4KB www.independent.ie 72 Mumbai: Toddler raped by 24-year-old neighbour, in critical condition Amrut Nagar in Ghatkopar went on the boil for almost three hours on Saturday after news spread about a two-and-a-half-year old girl being kidnapped and raped by her 24-year-old neighbour 2016-08-14 08:52 3KB www.mid-day.com 73 Once homeless, Mumbai heroes revolutionise shoe industry Two young men - one who used to be a homeless child, the other a businessman's son - launch a company that wants to ensure no Indian walks barefoot 2016-08-14 08:51 6KB www.mid-day.com 74 Security stepped up around Bethlehem, Nablus holy sites for Tisha Be'av Many worshipers go to ancient holy sites to hold special prayer services on Tisha Be'av, which commemorates the destruction of Judaism's two ancient Jewish Temples. 2016-08-14 08:45 1KB www.jpost.com 75 Dandiya queen Falguni Pathak to sing for Rs 1.40 crore, or more While the exact rate for which singer Falguni Pathak decided to perform in Borivali isn't yet known, organising team confirmed that she was offered Rs 1.30 crore against the Rs 1.40 crore 2016-08-14 08:35 2KB www.mid-day.com 76 Man kills wife over suspected affair, drowns son in nullah in Mumbai The accused was married thrice and lived with all his wives in the same house, this Mumbai man blamed his second wife of raising an illegitimate child 2016-08-14 08:30 2KB www.mid-day.com 77 Rescuers find two Indian fishermen, 10 still missing Bangladeshi and Indian rescuers pulled two Indian fishermen alive Sunday from the Bay of Bengal one day after their trawler capsized, but 10 others were stil... 2016-08-14 08:25 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk 78 Mumbai hotel blaze: What killed these kids? RTI responses acquired by mid-day reveal conflicting causes for City Kinara blaze, presented by Fire Brigade, HPCL and PWD; confusion likely to lengthen parents' struggle for justice 2016-08-14 08:21 6KB www.mid-day.com 79 Airstrike on Yemen school kills 10 children, wounds dozens Yemeni officials and aid workers say an airstrike on a school purportedly carried out by the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen has killed at least 10 children. 2016-08-14 08:21 1KB www.news24.com

80 Nigeria wrestles with 'suddenly poor' status First it was falling oil prices that plagued Nigeria, then came inflation, power shortages, and a humanitarian crisis in the north. 2016-08-14 08:12 4KB www.news24.com 81 Brexit could be delayed until late 2019 because officials won't be ready to start talks for months yet, ministers warn senior City figures Prime Minister Theresa May was expected to invoke article 50 - the formal trigger to start Brexit - in January but may have to postpone the move as her new departments might not be ready in time. 2016-08-14 08:01 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk 82 Dubai to open Hilton hotel with a rainforest The Rosemont Hotel & Residences will be home to the Middle East's first rainforest - albeit man-made - when it opens in 2018 in a desert city that is famous for mind-boggling extravagance. 2016-08-14 08:00 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 83 Broad fined for questioning umpire's decision on Twitter LONDON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - England fast bowler Stuart Broad has been fined 20 percent of his match fee for publicly criticising an umpiring decision during t... 2016-08-14 07:59 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk 84 DeAndre Yedlin being targeted by Derby and Hull as Tottenham right back looks to kickstart his career Tottenham right back DeAndre Yedlin is wanted by Derby County and Hull City. The USA international was on loan at Sunderland last season and Spurs would be open to selling the 23-year-old. 2016-08-14 07:58 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk 85 Nineteen killed in clashes in central DRCongo Nineteen people have been killed in clashes between police and militia in the centre of the Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities said. The dead included... 2016-08-14 07:54 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk 86 SARAH OLIVER: These smothering, myopic mummies DON'T know best If we vest authority in teachers, then we must respect them. Pictured, Jane Edmands, head of Burton Pidsea Primary School near Hull, who was cleared of common assault against a small child. 2016-08-14 07:50 5KB www.dailymail.co.uk

87 David Gest 'died after suffering a stroke'.. as police confirm his 'natural death won't be probed' The popular entertainer - who passed away in April this year, aged 62 - died of a stroke, according to US attorney Edward Bearman, who has been dealing with his estate. 2016-08-14 07:47 5KB www.dailymail.co.uk 88 Yorkshire ripper Peter Sutcliffe furious as Broadmoor staff seize £5,000 Rolex sent to him by his brother Peter Sutcliffe, 70, was given the Submariner model by sibling Mick. Authorities at the institution in Berkshire were worried about him having such an expensive item that could upset other patients. 2016-08-14 07:46 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 89 Grand slam in 8th sees Cardinals end Cubs' 11-game streak CHICAGO (AP) — St. Louis' Randal Grichuk hit a grand slam to cap a six-run burst in the eighth inning that lifted the Cardinals to an 8-4 win at Chicago on S... 2016-08-14 07:45 5KB www.dailymail.co.uk 90 Jared Goff of Los Angeles Rams suffers shoulder injury in first series Rookie Jared Goff banged up his shoulder in his first series as a quarterback for the Rams. He completed just four of nine passes for 38 yards in the opening half. 2016-08-14 07:40 2KB www.espn.com 91 Pokemon hunt leads to glory for Google- born Niantic Born in Google's shadow, Niantic strode into the spotlight with a mobile internet spin on hunting Pokemon but can the obsession with the game lead to long-te... 2016-08-14 07:40 5KB www.dailymail.co.uk 92 Five dead, tens of thousands flee Philippine floods Five people have been killed in the Philippines and tens of thousands have fled from floods caused by days of unrelenting rain, rescuers said Sunday. Civil d... 2016-08-14 07:40 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk

93 The glamorous side of the Rio Olympics - Aussie athletes unwind off the track Australia's Olympians may have been pushing themselves to the limit on field, track and in the water in Rio, but they've also been making the most of their down time while in Brazil. 2016-08-14 07:39 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 94 West Brom close to securing £11.5m signing of Leicester's Jeff Schlupp The 23-year-old was left out of Leicester's side to face Hull City on Saturday and is expected to formalise his move to the Hawthorns on Monday. Albion have made three offers for the player. 2016-08-14 07:34 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk 95 SpaceX lands Falcon 9 rocket after launch SpaceX successfully landed a reusable Falcon 9 rocket on a floating drone ship at sea early Sunday after the vehicle had sent a Japanese communications satel... 2016-08-14 07:34 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk 96 Chandimal century drives Sri Lanka to 299- 7 Dinesh Chandimal scored a defiant century to power Sri Lanka to 299 for seven at lunch on the second day of the third and final Test against Australia in Col... 2016-08-14 07:30 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 97 'I feel like I'm him': Ex On The Beach's Charlotte Dawson left in tears as she filmed emotional documentary about late comedian father Les Speaking to The Sun , the 23-year-old beauty expressed she felt her dad was with her before candidly stating 'I feel like I'm him' 2016-08-14 07:29 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk 98 Health warning over deadly paralysis toxin in Tasmanian shellfish Authorities are warning people not to eat oysters, mussels, scallops or pipis from the state’s east coast following a toxic algal bloom 2016-08-14 07:26 2KB www.theguardian.com 99 Zoe Buttigieg's tragic last hours: How the 11-year-old was 'sexually abused and murdered after a marathon drinking binge' at her family home Bowe Maddigan had spent the night and much of the morning drinking and smoking with the mother of Zoe Buttigieg in her Wangaratta home before he raped and murdered the 11-year-old girl. 2016-08-14 07:26 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk

Total 100 articles, created at 2016-08-14 12:01

1 Violent protests erupt in Milwaukee after police kill armed suspect (6.60/7) By Brendan O'Brien MILWAUKEE, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Protesters fired gunshots, hurled bricks and set a gas station on fire in the U. S. mid-western city of Milwaukee on Saturday night, hours after a patrol officer shot and killed an armed suspect who took flight after a traffic stop, authorities said. The 23- year-old suspect, who had a lengthy arrest record, was carrying a stolen handgun loaded with 23 rounds of ammunition when police pulled over the vehicle for unspecified "suspicious activity," authorities said. A second suspect who fled from the vehicle was quickly taken into custody. A statement by the Milwaukee Police Department did not say whether the suspect who was killed had fired any shots or pointed the weapon at officers during the incident. Authorities did not disclose the race or the name of the suspect or the uniformed officer. Later, a crowd of more than 100 people in the predominately African-American section of the city where the shooting occurred hurled rocks as police officers in riot gear attempted to disperse the protesters. Authorities said gunshots were fired during the disturbance. The windows of at least two squad cars were smashed, and one officer sitting inside one of the vehicles was hit in the head with a brick. Protesters set a police car ablaze and fires broke out at gas station, an auto parts store and at least three other businesses, officials and local media reported. "Our city is in turmoil tonight," said Alderman Ashanti Hamilton, president of the Milwaukee Common Council. Mayor Tom Barrett appealed for calm. "This is a neighborhood that has been unfortunately affected by violence in the recent past," Barrett said, referring to a smaller disturbance a month earlier. "There are a lot of really, really good people who live in this area... and can't stand this violence. " The unrest follows peaceful protests and some violence in U. S. cities over the past two years following high-profile killings by law enforcement officers in Baltimore, New York and Ferguson, Missouri. Outrage over police violence toward minority groups has given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement and touched off a national debate over the race issue and policing in the United States. "This is a warning cry," Milwaukee Alderman Khalif Rainey said. "Black people of Milwaukee are tired. They are tired of living under this oppression. " As of 1 a.m. Central time (0600 GMT), police said three arrests had been made in connection with the unrest. Shortly after 2 a.m. police said they were restoring order to the area and reducing deployments, but local news footage also showed a liquor store in flames just minutes before the release of the statement. The officer involved in the shooting is 24 years old and a six-year veteran of the force, police said. He was placed on administrative duty until an investigation and subsequent review by the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office is complete, a standard practice after shootings by law enforcement officers. (Additonal reporting by Chris Michaud in New York; Writing by Frank McGurty; Editing by Andrew Roche and Richard Balmforth)

Police search for suspect in killing of imam, friend washingtontimes.com

Violence in Milwaukee after police shoot dead armed suspect theguardian.com

Georgia Police shooting: Officer killed in Eastman, Ga. ajc.com Milwaukee shooting: Violence erupts over US police killing bbc.co.uk

Riots engulf Milwaukee after police officer kills armed man independent.ie

City leaders appeal for calm in Milwaukee after police kill armed man independent.ie Police search for suspect in killing of imam, friend in New York news24.com 2016-08-14 08:02 Reuters www.dailymail.co.uk

2 Milwaukee police in standoff with crowd after fatal shooting (5.72/7) Milwaukee - A crowd of protesters skirmished with police on Saturday night in a Milwaukee neighborhood where an officer shot and killed a man after a traffic stop and foot chase earlier in the day, setting fire to a police car and torching a gas station. One officer was hurt by a thrown brick. Police said the 23-year-old man was armed with a handgun, but Assistant Chief Bill Jessup told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that it wasn't immediately clear whether the man had pointed a gun or fired at the officer. They described the man as a suspect, but didn't say what led to the traffic stop. The races of the man and the officer weren't immediately released. The Journal Sentinel reported that a crowd of more than 100 people gathered in a standoff with 20 to 30 officers, some of whom wore riot gear, several hours after the shooting. Officers got in their cars to leave at one point and some in the crowd started smashing a squad car's windows. Another police car was set on fire. The newspaper also reported that one of its reporters was shoved to the ground and punched. The Police Department tweeted that one officer was taken to a hospital after he was struck by a brick thrown through his squad car window. Police also tweeted that a gas station had been set on fire. They said firefighters couldn't extinguish the blaze because gunshots were being fired. A Milwaukee police spokesman didn't immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press seeking comment. The shooting that sparked the tensions occurred about 15:30 after officers stopped a car with two people inside. Police Capt. Mark Stanmeyer said in a news release that the two people in the car got out and ran and that the officers chased them. He said a man who was one of the people fleeing was armed with a handgun and was shot by an officer during the pursuit. He said the man died at the scene. The man's name wasn't immediately released. Stanmeyer said he had an arrest record, and that the handgun he carried had been stolen in a March burglary in suburban Waukesha. The 24-year-old officer who shot the man has been placed on administrative duty. The officer's name wasn't immediately released. He has been with the Milwaukee department six years, three as an officer.

Protesters riot, burn cars & properties after fatal officer-involved shooting in Milwaukee, WI — RT America rt.com

Violence in Milwaukee after police shoot dead armed suspect theguardian.com Georgia Police shooting: Officer killed in Eastman, Ga. ajc.com

Milwaukee shooting: Violence erupts over US police killing bbc.co.uk

Georgia officer shot dead while responding to call rss.cnn.com 2016-08-14 08:12 www.news24.com

3 Milwaukee officials call for calm after unrest over shooting (5.41/7) MILWAUKEE (AP) — Simmering anger over the fatal shooting of a man by police erupted in violence on Milwaukee’s north side, with protesters skirmishing with officers over several hours and setting fire to at least four businesses in an outburst the mayor says was fed by social media. The uprising that broke out Saturday evening didn’t subside until after midnight, after Mayor Tom Barrett and other city leaders appeared at a news conference to plead for calm. Police said three people were arrested, and one officer was hurt by a brick thrown into a squad car. The triggering event came Saturday afternoon, when a man fleeing police after a traffic stop was shot and killed. Police said the man was armed, but it wasn’t clear whether he was pointing the gun or aiming it at officers. Barrett said the man was hit twice, in the chest and arm. Neither his race nor the officer’s was immediately released, nor were they identified. The shooting was being investigated by the state. The officer was wearing a body camera, Barrett said. The mayor said the uprising was driven by social media messages instructing people to congregate in the area. “We have to have calm,” Barrett said at the news conference. “There are a lot of really good people who live in this neighborhood.” Milwaukee Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton echoed Barrett’s plea for help restoring order. “We understand the frustration people feel with the police community nationally. … We have to go through the process of finding justice, but we have to be able to restore order to these neighborhoods,” Hamilton said. “Please participate in restoring order to these neighborhoods.” Alderman Khalif Rainey, who represents the district where the violence occurred, said the city’s black residents are “tired of living under this oppression.” He said he didn’t justify the violence “but nobody can deny that there are racial problems here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that have to be rectified.” Barrett said the 23-year-old man who died was stopped by police for “suspicious activity.” Police said earlier that he was carrying a gun that had been stolen in a March burglary in suburban Waukesha. “This stop took place because two officers … saw suspicious activity,” the mayor said. “There were 23 rounds in that gun that that officer was staring at. I want to make sure we don’t lose any police officers in this community, either.” As many as 100 protesters massed at 44th Street and Auer Avenue between 8 and 9 p.m., surging against a line of 20 to 30 officers. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that officers got in their cars to leave at one point and some in the crowd started smashing a squad car’s windows. Another police car was set on fire. The newspaper reported that one of its reporters was shoved to the ground and punched. Around 11 p.m., police with shields and helmets moved slowly into the intersection, telling a crowd of about 50 people to disperse. Some threw rocks and other debris at police, who held up their shields. People in the crowd also threw objects at a business a half-block from the intersection. A nearby traffic light was bent over and bus shelters overturned. The businesses that burned included a BMO Harris bank branch, a BP gas station, an O’Reilly Auto Parts store and a beauty supply store. Firefighters held back from the gas station blaze because of gunshots. Police said the man who was shot had an arrest record. The 24-year-old officer who shot the man has been placed on administrative duty. The officer has been with the Milwaukee department six years, three as an officer. The shooting occurred just a few blocks from two fatal shootings Friday and Saturday, part of a violent stretch in the city in which five people died in shootings during a nine-hour stretch. Assistant Chief Bill Jessup alluded to the violence in discussing the fatal shooting. “As everyone knows, this was a very, very violent 24 hours in the city of Milwaukee,” Jessup told the Journal Sentinel. “Our officers are out here taking risks on behalf of the community and making split-second decisions.” Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Milwaukee mayor: North side beginning to calm after violence following police shooting of man washingtontimes.com

Protesters riot, burn cars & properties after fatal officer-involved shooting in Milwaukee, WI — RT America rt.com Violence in Milwaukee after police shoot dead armed suspect theguardian.com

Violence erupts after officer-involved shooting in Milwaukee ajc.com

Milwaukee shooting: Violence erupts over US police killing bbc.co.uk 2016-08-14 12:00 By Associated mynorthwest.com

4 Rio 2016: Eventful Olympic return for Martina Hingis (2.15/7) RIO DE JANEIRO: Martina Hingis marked her return to the Olympic Games after a 20-year absence by reaching the women’s doubles final in dramatic style after an opponent was hit in the eye by the ball. Hingis and her Swiss compatriot Timea Bacsinszky saw off Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 in Friday’s semi-final.

Rio 2016: Joseph Schooling spoils Michael Phelps's Olympic party mid-day.com

The Latest: History's greatest Olympic athlete says goodbye washingtontimes.com

The Latest: UK's Andy Murray aims for Olympic gold repeat dailymail.co.uk Rio 2016: Dipa Karmakar eyes Olympics glory mid-day.com 2016-08-14 12:00 By Agencies www.mid-day.com

5 CPP hits Duterte over Marcos burial plan at Libingan (2.13/7) LUCENA CITY — The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) assailed President Duterte’s “bull- headedness” for allowing the burial of deposed strongman Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. “[Duterte] is determined to squander the historical lessons treasured by the Filipino people. They are being politically disarmed from preventing the rise to power of future dictators. Many fear this will be self-serving as Mr. Duterte bandies [about] threats to declare martial law if he doesn’t get his way in the frenzied ‘war against drugs,’” the CPP said in a statement issued on Saturday. The burial of the dictator has brought the CPP and the Duterte administration on a collision course. Duterte had been perceived as friendly to the CPP after he cited his friendship with its founder, Jose Maria Sison, his college professor. READ: Duterte to issue safe conduct pass to Joma Sison for peace talks The President had also reached out to CPP leaders to iron out the resumption of peace negotiations and appointed left-wing leaders to hold positions in his Cabinet. READ: Duterte offers key gov’t positions to CPP Duterte, a friend of the Marcos family, has said he will allow the burial of the dictator in the heroes’ cemetery. The country’s Chief Executive argued that Marcos deserved to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani because he was a soldier and a President, regardless of any misdeeds. READ: Palace: Duterte firm on Marcos burial at Libingan ng mga Bayani The CPP condemned the plan of the Duterte administration to give Marcos a hero’s burial. “By claiming Marcos deserves to be buried with other former soldiers, Duterte is helping perpetuate the historical lies surrounding Marcos’ bogus medals and phony Maharlika guerrilla unit,” it said. The CPP said by ordering that Marcos be accorded military honors befitting a former head of state, Duterte is “virtually deleting Marcos’ bloody record as a military despot and the fascist violence, human rights violation, corruption and economic hardships he made the Filipino people suffer through 14 years of dictatorship.” Giving Marcos a hero’s burial “will complete the Marcoses’ political restoration and will complete the whitewash of all the crimes they perpetrated against the people,” it said. READ: Hundreds denounce plan to bury Marcos at Libingan ng Bayani The CPP said Duterte, by “flaunting” his alliance with the Marcos family, is helping the “Marcosian scheme to revise history and make the younger generations overlook the colossal plunder and sale of the country’s patrimony, his debt-borrowing debt spree, his legacy of gross cronyism, his family’s ostentatious lifestyle built upon the poverty of the people, and his martial law’s massacre of freedom and democracy.” The CPP also said the President’s decision to allow Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani “displays extreme insensitivity to the sensibilities of thousands of victims, families and survivors of martial law.” “He insults the memory of thousands of patriotic Filipinos from all walks of life who gave up their lives at the prime of their youth to fight for the dictatorship’s overthrow,” the CPP added. JE/rga RELATED VIDEOS 'Not a hero': Hundreds protest burial plan for former Filipino dictator cnn.com

Palace: Duterte firm on Marcos burial at Libingan ng mga Bayani newsinfo.inquirer.net

Hundreds denounce plan to bury Marcos at Libingan ng Bayani newsinfo.inquirer.net Marcos 'hero' burial plan sparks Philippines protests dailymail.co.uk 2016-08-14 12:00 Delfin T newsinfo.inquirer.net

6 Rio 2016: Dipa Karmakar could make Indian gymnastics history (2.11/7) Rio De Janeiro: Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar, who has already created history by qualifying for the final round of the individual vault final of artistic gymnastics, will be in line to script a bigger one when she competes for a medal at the Rio Olympics today. Dipa Karmakar during the qualifying phase on August 7. PIC/AFP The 23-year-old qualified for the final round in the individual vault final of artistic gymnastics after finishing eighth in the standings. The Tripura gymnast executed the 'Produnova' in her first attempt on the vault to 15.100 with 8.1 for execution and 7.00 for difficulty. Back home, Tripura is waiting with bated breath for its daughter to appear in the gymnastics vault final. Dipa's family, specially her father Dulal Karmakar, mother Gauri Devi and elder sister Puja are performing special prayers for her victory. “We have no tension, but we are fanatically waiting to watch Dipa's performance on television. Not only are we, our relatives and neighbours are equally enthusiastic and tensed for Dipa,” Dulal Karmakar, a weightlifting coach with the Sports Authority of India said. Some local clubs and social activists are organising 'yagnas' for Dipa's success. “We are organising a big yagna here to pray to the almighty so that Dipa wins a medal for the country. “If she wins a medal, the entire country would be grateful to her forever,” said social activist Sushanta Chowdhury. In the event today, she will face tough challenge from the first seven top medal contenders. Brazil's Rebeca Andrade and the Russian duo of Seda Tutkhalian and Aliya Mustafina, will give a tough fight to the Indian

The Latest: History's greatest Olympic athlete says goodbye washingtontimes.com

The Latest: UK's Andy Murray aims for Olympic gold repeat dailymail.co.uk

Rio 2016: Dipa Karmakar eyes Olympics glory mid-day.com 2016-08-14 10:41 By IANS www.mid-day.com

7 Imam and his assistant shot dead at New York mosque (1.04/7) An imam and his assistant have been killed after a gunman opened fire close to a New York mosque. Local residents claimed it was a targetted shooting and reports said police were investigating it as a possible hate crime. The New York Daily News said that gunshots rang out at around 2pm on Saturday near the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid Mosque in Ozone Park, Queens, leaving both victims lying on the ground in their own blood just a block from the mosque. The identities of the two victims were not immediately made public. The imam, Maulana Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, were fatally injured, police said. “People being shot in the head in broad daylight is unheard of,” said Millat Uddin, a 25-year resident of the neighborhood. “Killing people brutally, like they’re an animal. We need justice... It seems like somebody has taken the law into their own hand.” Tiffany Phillips, a spokeswoman for the New York Police Department, confirmed that two men in their 50’s were shot on a street in the Ozone Park section of Queens. One of them was killed and the second was gravely wounded, but Ms Phillips declined to provide any more information about their identities. Police have yet to identify a suspect and the motive was still unknown, she told Reuters. Later, it was reported that the second man had also sucumbed to his injuries. Donna Jag, 49, heard the shots and thought they were a car backfiring until she left her house to find a huge crowd of distraught people on the street. “It was chaos,” she told the News. “I was nervous. The neighborhood is quiet, but now, it’s kind of scary, right at my doorstep in broad daylight.” The neighborhood is a mix of residences and businesses, but people of different faiths have long gotten along peacefully, she said. “We have Hindus and Muslims here, and we have no problems. This is really, really shocking,” she said. Police said they were investigating whether the incident, initially reported as a robbery, was a hate crime. On Saturday evening, the gunman was still at large. Police search for suspect in killing of imam, friend in New York news24.com 2016-08-14 08:43 Andrew Buncombe www.independent.ie

8 Man shot, seriously wounded in Morgan Park (1.00/7) A man was shot and seriously wounded Saturday night in the Morgan Park neighborhood on the Far South Side. The 29-year-old was outside about 10:30 p.m. in the 11300 block of South Carpenter when someone walked up and opened fire, according to Chicago Police. He suffered two gunshot wounds to the shoulder and one under the left armpit, police said. The man was taken in serious condition to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. Man critically wounded in South Chicago shooting chicago.suntimes.com 2016-08-14 12:00 Sun-Times chicago.suntimes.com

9 Riolistic medal chances (1.00/7) Rio de Janeiro: Vikas Krishan gave the sagging Indian hearts a huge fillip as he won an unanimous points decision against Turkish Onder Sipal and moved into the quarter-finals. India’s Vikas Krishan (left) punches Turkey’s Onur Sipal during the 75kg middleweight bout on Friday. Pic/AFP He is just one bout away from becoming only the third Indian boxer — after Vijender Singh (in 2008) and MC Mary Kom (in 2012) to win an Olympic medal. But standing between the 24-year-old Vikas and a medal is one of the most talked about youngsters in world boxing, Uzbek Bektemir Melikuziev, who at 20, is already a World Championship silver medallist last year in Doha. A little after the Indian won his fight, Melikuziev also moved into quarters with a one-sided with over Daniel Lewis of Australia. Vikas began the bout on an aggressive note and his clean punching against Sipal gave him the ideal start. Using his longer reach and fairly strong defence, he did take chances for the first two rounds. But as the fight neared the end, he showed enough acumen and footwork to avoid stray punches as well. The first round was a 2:1 split but in the favour of the Indian. The second and third round were more dominated by Vikas and he was awarded the second round by unanimous decision. In the third, one of the judges awarded the round to Sipal but Vikas had done enough to get the decision in is favour. Apart from Vikas, Manoj Kumar is the other boxer still in the contest in the men’s 66kg. Coach Gurbaksh Singh said, "Vikas had a clear edge and he fought smartly. It was a good win but the next fight could be tougher. " Lalita through to final Rio de Janeiro: Lalita Babar on Saturday qualified for the women’s 3000m steeplechase final after finishing fourth in the qualifying heat 2 with a national record time while compatriot Sudha Singh was eliminated in the Olympic Games here. India’s Lalita Babar (left) competes in the 3000m steeplechase heat on Saturday. Pic/AP,PTI Lalita, who had won the bronze medal in the event in the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, two years ago, in fact finished with the seventh-best time in the heats in a new national record of nine minutes, 19.76 seconds. Lalita clipped nearly seven seconds off the national mark standing in the name of Sudha Singh (9:26.55), clocked in Shanghai in May. The top three in the heats gain automatic qualification while Lalita made the grade as one of the six fastest from among the rest. Sania-Rohan make merry on Friday Rio de Janeiro: Just a single win away from ensuring an Olympic medal, the Indian mixed doubles combination of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna are determined to maintain their superb form and ensure a podium finish at the ongoing Rio Games here. India’s Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna are ecstatic at Rio on Friday. Pic/PTI The in-form fourth seeded duo entered the semi-finals by defeating Andy Murray and Heather Watson of Britain 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and seven minutes at Court 2 of the Olympic Tennis Centre here on Friday. Sania and Bopanna are expected to face a tough challenge in their next match as they will take on the US team of Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram for a place in the final. "We still think we can improve as every round becomes tougher from here on. We played two amazing champions today and we look forward to playing champions, whoever it is, tomorrow (Saturday)," Sania said after their match. "Everyday is a new day. Yes we are confident after beating Andy but in the end we have to forget the emotion what happened and give our best again by staying fresh," she added. Both Bopanna and Sania opined that their on court co-ordination was also a huge advantage. "Communication is the key in mixed doubles and it was better for me to call early so that there is no miscommunication with the partner. And that’s the way we played," he said.

Rio Olympics: Sania-Bopanna go down in mixed doubles semis mid-day.com 2016-08-14 10:22 By Christopher www.mid-day.com

10 Rio 2016: Indian eves fail to enter quarters of hockey (0.02/7) Rio de Janeiro: India’s women’s hockey team was crushed by higher-ranked Argentina 0-5 to suffer fourth consecutive loss in Pool ‘B’ and failed to advance to the quarter-finals on Saturday. With this loss, India remained in the sixth spot, while the United States, Britain, Australia and Argentina made it to the quarter-finals. Rio 2016: Shooter Gurpreet fails to qualify mid-day.com

Rio 2016: Indians in action on August 14 mid-day.com 2016-08-14 12:00 By IANS www.mid-day.com

11 Rio 2016: Russian athletes pass 300 doping tests (0.01/7) Rio de Janeiro: The Russian national team has so far passed 300 doping tests during the ongoing Rio Olympics, sports minister Vitaly Mutko has said. On July 24, IOC decided against imposing a blanket ban on all athletes despite allegations of mass doping. Rio 2016: Narsingh will be tested after August 19 bout, says coach mid-day.com 2016-08-14 12:00 By IANS www.mid-day.com

12 House panel set to receive admin’s P3.35-T nat’l budget proposal The chairman of the appropriations committee in the House of Representatives (HOR) said on Sunday that he is looking forward to receive the first national budget proposal of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte which amounts to P3.35 trillion pesos. Davao City 1st district Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles said that the General Appropriations Act of 2017 will be submitted to the HOR at noon on Monday. Nograles said that the P3.35 trillion budget, which is 11.6 percent higher than last year’s P3.002 trillion budget, will help the administration realize its dream of eradicating poverty, illegal drugs, and criminality. READ: DBM to recommend P3.35-T nat’l budget for 2017 “It is a budget for change. It will jumpstart the realization of the President’s dream for our country and for our people. It will fuel the President’s quest to defeat the drug menace and the systemic corruption in our country. It will finance our government’s war against poverty, crime and corruption,” said Nograles. The appropriations committee chair vowed for the swift passage of the budget in the lower house, even if it meant holding marathon hearings. “We are pressed for time. Kami naman mga Kongresista kung kailangang pagpuyatan, nagpupuyat naman kami. Wala namang problema sa overtime, wala naman pong problema kung kailangang pagpuyatan ‘yan; ready naman kami (We in Congress will stay up late if needed. We don’t have a problem with overtime, and we don’t have a problem with staying up late; we are ready). We’ve always shown to the Filipino people that when the times call for it, when we need to step up, when we need to work overtime, we do it. Ginagawa naman po namin,” he said. Should all things run smoothly, Nograles said that they would submit the budget for preliminary debate by Sept. 19 and pass it on third reading on Sept. 30. “If all goes well, the House will complete its part on the budget process before October. We will then pass it on to the Senate. If there are any deviations from our version then we go into bicam. After that, we will pass it on to the President who will then sign it into law by December. This will be the first appropriations measure under the Duterte administration so we really have to act swiftly and judiciously,” the Davao City representative said. Meanwhile, Senator Ralph Recto urged the Duterte administration to itemize the projects that it aims to fund should Congress grant emergency powers to the President to solve the Metro Manila’s transportation woes. “Listing them in the budget is the best response to the Senate challenge that the projects must be ‘FOI-compliant’ and ‘fiscally-responsible,’” Recto said in a separate statement on Sunday. “Itemization also answers the need for the Palace to provide the details of the projects that it plans to carry out in a speedy manner that the emergency powers sought would allow,” Recto added. The budget and management department has earlier said that the Duterte administration would prioritize the improvement of the country’s infrastructure, agricultural modernization and providing social services to Filipinos. The 2017 budget will represent 20.4 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno was earlier quoted as saying that the government would earmark P900 billion for infrastructure, P118 billion allotted for the construction of school buildings, and P50 billion for the government’s subsidy for health insurance premium payments for indigent families. JE

2016-08-14 12:00 Aries Joseph newsinfo.inquirer.net

13 PH-bound flight diverted to India — passenger goes into labor A Cebu Pacific flight from Dubai to Manila made an unexpected stop in Hyderabad, India on Sunday morning after a pregnant passenger went on labor, according to the Manila International Airport Authority. The MIAA said the diverted flight was supposed to arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 11:55 a.m. “No information yet for the new estimated time of arrival and details on the passenger,” it added. In a statement, Cebu Pacific said flight 5J015 was diverted to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at 10:33 a.m. Manila time (6:33 a.m. Dubai time) due to the medical emergency. “CEB is coordinating with relevant authorities in Hyberabad to ensure that immediate medical assistance will be provided for the passenger,” stated the airline. “We regret any inconvenience this situation may have caused. We sincerely hope for our passengers’ understanding as the safety of everyone on board remains our highest priority,” it said, adding that it will release more updates soon. JE/rga

2016-08-14 12:00 MJ Uy newsinfo.inquirer.net

14 Drug suspect killed in Ormoc City buy-bust operation ORMOC CITY — Another drug personality on the police watch list was killed in a buy bust operation on Saturday afternoon here. Arvin Guino, 47, was killed after he tried to shoot an undercover policeman when he was noticed that it was an entrapment operation at Purok 8, Barangay Linao, here. Senior Insp. Joseph Young, police station 3 chief, said Guino ranked third on their list of drug suspects. Seized from Guino were P2,000 in marked money, five small sachets of shabu and a .38 caliber revolver. Guino was the second drug personality on the watch list killed in a shootout with the police this week. The first was Mario Dumaguit, who topped the drug watch list of the Ormoc City Police Office. He was killed in a shootout last Thursday. JE/rga

2016-08-14 12:00 Robert Dejon newsinfo.inquirer.net

15 18,000 dynamites abandoned in Chinese-run mine in Mindanao ISULAN, Sultan Kudarat – About 18,000 sticks of dynamite were seized by police and military authorities from an abandoned mining site in the hinterlands of Bagumbayan town here on Saturday, police said. Senior Supt. Raul Supiter, Sultan Kudarat police director, said residents discovered the explosives in an abandoned mining site of Ippo China Mining Company in Barangay Saripinang. Residents alerted the police of their discovery but authorities are appealing to farmers who reportedly took custody of some of the dynamite. “I appeal to the farmers to surrender the dynamites in their possession, this is dangerous,” Supiter told the Inquirer. “Mere possession of these dynamites is a crime offense and no bail bond recommended for violators,” he added. Supiter said about 60 boxes, each containing 300 pieces of explosives, were recovered. Police and bomb experts also found chemicals used for making explosives in a laboratory. He said the 57th Infantry Battalion and personnel from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) accompanied the police in the retrieval operation. The Inquirer learned from residents that Korean or Chinese nationals have been mining in the upland Sitio Kaloloy for copper and gold. “We have been hearing blasts up there, there were mining activities in Sitio Kaloloy, but it seems they have stopped operation the past week,” Andy Roquero, a resident of Barangay Saripinang, told the Inquirer. He said state of the art mining equipment, dump trucks and excavation equipment were brought there in the past. Roquero said residents there feared landslides and floods because the mining site was located in the upland village. Mining operations in Sitio Kaloloy started in 2012. /rga

2016-08-14 12:00 Edwin O newsinfo.inquirer.net

16 20-year-old married woman kidnapped, gang- raped in Vasai A 20-year-old married woman was allegedly kidnapped and later raped by four men in Waliv, Vasai. After being locked in a room for a week, the survivor escaped on Friday and lodged a complaint at the local police station. While the police have arrested three of the accused, one is absconding. According to sources, on the afternoon of August 5, the four accused, aged between 25 and 30, stormed into the woman's house and gagged her with a handkerchief, after which she fell unconscious. They then took her to a lonely spot about half a kilometre from her house and locked her in a room, where she was raped for a week. It was on the eighth day, when the kidnappers were away that she managed to flee and report the matter to the police. The accused reside in the same area as the woman, and work as daily wage workers. During questioning, it emerged that the survivor and two of the accused, who were neighbours, used to have frequent quarrels. The police had even registered an NC after the husband and wife filed a complaint about them recently. The survivor's husband is also under the scanner of the Waliv police, because after his wife went missing, he did not register a complaint with the police. "We have registered a case under section 376(g), 363, 343 and 328 for gang-rape and kidnapping. Three of the accused have been arrested, and we are trying to trace the fourth. Investigations are on," said police sub-inspector, Ranjeet Shirsath.

2016-08-14 12:00 By Samiullah www.mid-day.com

17 Great Britain's cycling couple Trott and Jason Kenny score at Rio Olympics Rio De Janeiro: Love can brew anywhere, even on a cycling track. Within the British cycling team, a remarkable story unfolds of athletes Jason Kenny and Laura Trott, who besides being in a relationship, are also helping the country win more medals at the ongoing Rio Olympics. Laura Trott. Pics/Getty Images What makes Kenny and Trott such extraordinary athletes, is that Rio is unlikely to be the end of their Olympic journey. The couple plan on getting married soon, reports Daily Mail. Kenny has been in fine form, winning his fourth Olympic gold in the team sprint event. He is also a favourite to add yet another medal in the individual sprint. By the end of the Games, Kenny could be alongside Sir Chris Hoy with the same tally of six golds and a silver. Greatness is destined for Kenny’s fiancée Trott too. She is already on course for gold medal number three, with a fourth expected soon. She is regarded as one of the finest track riders the world of cycling has ever seen. Jason Kenny But Trott, who is just 24, is so good on her bike that it will be a task not to see her dominate in her track events to come. During the London championships in March, Trott was so impressive that after her victory there she took her total number of titles to seven in a career that now boasts 23 major titles in all. However, in this Olympics she is limited to just two events, putting her at a slight disadvantage compared to her fiancé. Incidentally, Trott was born a month prematurely with a collapsed lung and was later diagnosed with asthma. She was recommended by doctors to take up sport in order to regulate her breathing. Trott first began cycling when her mother Glenda decided to take up the sport to lose weight. Trott and her sister Emma joined their mother which was when she first became serious about the sport.

2016-08-14 12:00 By A www.mid-day.com

18 Indian boy detained in Lahore Islamabad: Pakistani authorities detained an Indian boy who reached Lahore without travel documents and handed him over to counter-terrorism officials for questioning, police sources said. The boy, who gave his name as Mohammed Aslam, reached Lahore from India by Samjhauta Express and was arrested at the Lahore railway station, the source told IANS. Only Indian currency was recovered from Aslam's possession. An official said it was being probed how the boy, whose age was not given, reached the Punjab capital despite high security at various posts.

2016-08-14 12:00 By IANS www.mid-day.com

19 Route cause: Ottesen & Co taken to athletics stadium instead of swimming pool Rio de Janeiro: Organisers at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio had to scramble on Friday when a bus carrying swimmers to a night’s session headed off to the wrong venue. Danish swimmer Jeanette Ottesen. Pic/Getty Images The night’s finals were in full swing when it was announced that the women’s 50m freestyle semi-finals would be delayed until after the last two medal ceremonies of the night. British swimmer Fran Halsall told the BBC that she, Jeanette Ottesen and Aliaksandra Herasimenia boarded their bus two hours before they were due to race, but were taken in the opposite direction to the Olympic Stadium. A press operations spokesman later said that because of a miscommunication, a bus carrying some of the swimmers due to compete had headed off to the athletics venue, and had to change course when the mistake was realised. Halsall said her “emotions and adrenaline were all over the place,” but she still won the first semi-final in 24.41sec, fourth-fastest overall behind the 24.28 of Denmark’s Pernille Blume going into Saturday’s final. Ottesen finished sixth with 24.62 sec.

2016-08-14 12:00 By AFP www.mid-day.com

20 #WalangPasok: List of class suspensions for Monday, August 15 Some local governments in Luzon have decided to suspend classes for Monday, August 15, as monsoon rains continue to affect Metro Manila and some provinces in Luzon. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said that as of 11 a.m., moderate to occasional heavy rains will be experienced over Benguet, Bataan, Pampanga, Bulacan, Tarlac, Zambales, Metro Manila and Ilocos Region. Classes in the following areas have been suspended: San Mateo, Rizal—All levels (public and private) Rodriguez, Rizal—All levels (public and private) Keep visiting this page for updates. AJH/JE/rga 2016-08-14 12:00 newsinfo.inquirer.net

21 Rio 2016: Rafael Nadal strikes doubles gold Rio de Janeiro: Rafael Nadal won his second Olympic Games gold medal on Friday and took a step closer to a third by reaching the Rio singles semi-final. Marc Lopez and Rafael Nadal after winning the doubles gold on Friday. Pic/Getty Images Nadal and longtime friend Marc Lopez defeated Romania’s Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau 6-2, 3-6, 4-6 in the men’s doubles title match.

2016-08-14 12:00 By AFP www.mid-day.com

22 Rio 2016: Anthony Ervin is oldest swim champ Rio de Janeiro: American veteran Anthony Ervin won surprise gold in the men’s 50m freestyle with a timing of 21.40 seconds in Rio on Friday to become the oldest swimmer ever to win an Olympic title. Anthony Ervine

2016-08-14 12:00 By AFP www.mid-day.com

23 Katie Ledecky becomes first Olympian to claim 200m, 400m and 800m gold Rio de Janeiro: Katie Ledecky obliterated the field and her own world record in winning the 800m freestyle at the Rio Olympics on Friday, uniting the 200m, 400m and 800m titles for the first time since 1968. Katie Ledecky of United States celebrates her 800m freestyle win at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio on Friday. Pic/Getty Images The 19-year-old American, who also won the 4x200m relay for four golds overall, touched in 8min 04.79sec, beating the previous record of 8:06.68 she set in Austin, Texas, on January 17. It was her 13th world record since her shock 800m freestyle win in London four years ago, and the culmination of the plan she and coach Bruce Gemmell had worked for ever since that breakout performance. And as she contemplated her achievement in Rio, the preternaturally poised teen couldn't hold back her emotions. “Just kind of the end of a four-year journey,” she said as the tears flowed. “I don’t know why I’m crying. There were nights I would go to bed and think about this day (and) how much fun I’ve had these past four years, and I’d start crying in bed. I just wanted to make this meet count.” Ledecky touched almost half a length in front of her closest rivals — more than 11 seconds in front of silver medallist Jazz Carlin of Britain's 8:16.17 with Boglarka Kapas of Hungary taking bronze in 8:16.37. “I just wanted to lay it all out there,” Ledecky said. “It was my last swim here at the Olympics, the pinnacle of our sport, and I have to wait another four years to have that moment.”

2016-08-14 12:00 By AFP www.mid-day.com

24 Rio 2016: Usain Bolt cruises in 100m first round RIO DE JANEIRO: Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt safely negotiated the first round of the Olympic men’s 100m yesterday in the first step on his quest for an unprecedented treble. Usain Bolt of Jamaica gestures to the crowd after winning the men’s 100m Round 1 in Rio on Saturday. Pic/Getty Images Bolt, seeking a third consecutive Olympic title in the blue riband event clocked 10.07 seconds at the Olympic stadium. The 30-year-old world record holder, greeted with acclaim by the large vociferous crowd, will also bid to defend his 200m and 4x100m relay golds for the third time later in the week. Justin Gatlin too romped into the semi-finals of the 100m as he warmed up for the latest chapter of his rivalry with Usain Bolt. The 34-year-old 2004 Olympic champion, the fastest man in the world this year, clocked a comfortable 10.01sec to easily win his heat. Gatlin is aiming to scoe his first victory over Bolt in a major championship having lost to the Jamaican star in the 2012 Olympics and the final of last year's World Championships in Beijing. The semi-finals of the 100m take place today with the final scheduled for 10.25 local time (0125 GMT tomorrow).

2016-08-14 12:00 By AFP www.mid-day.com

25 Tens of Thousands March in Peru Against Gender Violence More than 50,000 people marched in Peru's capital and eight other cities on Saturday to protest violence against woman and what they say is the indifference of the judicial system. Officials said the size of the protest against gender violence was unprecedented in Peru and followed several recent high-profile cases in which male perpetrators were given what women's groups said were too-lenient sentences. The march in Lima ended at the palace of justice. "Today, the 13th of August, is a historic day for this country because it represents a breaking point and the start of a new culture to eradicate the marginalization that women have been suffering, especially with violence," said Victor Ticona, president of Peru's judicial system. Ticona said that a commission of judges would receive representatives of the protesters. Newly inaugurated President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski took part in the march along with first lady Nancy Lange. "What we don't want in Peru is violence against anyone, but especially against women and children," he said. Earlier in the day, Kuczynski said his government is "going to ask for facilities for women to denounce violence because abuse flourishes in an environment where complaints cannot be made and the blows are absorbed in silence — and this is not how it should be. " Peru's march follows similar protests against gender violence in other Latin American countries, including Argentina and Brazil , held under the slogan #NiUnaMenos — #NotOneLess.

2016-08-14 12:00 By abcnews.go.com

26 Rio 2016: Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa lose final group tie Rio de Janeiro: Already out of medal contention, India’s women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa suffered their third successive loss in their final Group A match against Thailand’s Supajirakul Puttita and Taerattanachai Sapsiree here on Saturday. Playing their second Olympics after London Games, Jwala and Ashwini lost 17-21 15-21 in a women’s doubles match.

2016-08-14 12:00 By PTI www.mid-day.com

27 Latest: Woman: Husband in Critical After Missouri Gunfire The Latest on the shooting in Joplin, Missouri , that injured five people (all times local): 6:30 p.m. A woman who was in a Joplin, Missouri, church van when it was fired on says the group didn't know what was happening when the gunfire erupted. Vicki Eby told KOAM-TV ( http://j.mp/2aUCnoe ) she was in the church van early Saturday with her husband Kenneth, who was driving, and two other people. She said they heard "three pops go off" but that it was so dark "we didn't know what was happening. " She said one of the bullets hit her husband's lung, and that he's hospitalized in critical condition. Two other people were also wounded in a pickup truck nearby. A suspect has been taken into custody, but authorities say formal charges haven't been filed. Police also told AP Radio that the suspect's father called police to report the suspect was firing rounds at the family's home. ——— 1:35 p.m. Joplin authorities have identified five people wounded in apparently random shootings as they sat in their vehicles. Police said in a statement that Kenneth Eby; his wife, Vicki Eby; and Heidi Gustin of Joplin's Immanuel Lutheran Church were sitting in a church van at a traffic light when they were shot Saturday. They were headed to St. Louis for a meeting about the church's Comfort Dog ministry. Two dogs were also wounded. The Joplin Globe reports ( http://j.mp/2beO4t1 ) Kenneth Eby is in critical but stable condition. Vicki Eby sustained minor injuries. Gustin has injuries considered serious but not life-threatening. Two other victims shot separately in their pickup, are identified as Donal Pugh, who's in serious but stable condition, and Debbie Pugh, who sustained minor injuries. A 26-year-old suspect is in custody. ——— 12 p.m. Joplin police say a man has been arrested after five people were injured in two apparently random roadway shootings. The Joplin Globe reports (http://j.mp/2aU2yez) that police have arrested a 26-year-old man suspected in the early Saturday shootings. Police said there's no apparent motive for the shooting. Officers were called to a duplex early Saturday and found no victims. Police tried to stop a vehicle, the driver of which fired shots at a church van that was stopped at a traffic light. Three adults in the van were injured, and two are hospitalized with injuries that are not life-threatening. The suspect is also accused of shooting at a pickup truck and injuring two adults. The driver is hospitalized, the passenger was released. Police say the suspect is being held pending formal charges ——— Information from: The Joplin (Mo.) Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com

2016-08-14 12:00 By abcnews.go.com

28 Fidel Castro Thanks Cuba, Criticizes Obama, on 90th Birthday Fidel Castro thanked Cubans for their well-wishes on his 90th birthday and criticized President Barack Obama in a lengthy letter published in state media. He appeared but did not speak at a gala in his honor broadcast on state television. "I want to express my deepest gratitude for the shows of respect, greetings and praise that I've received in recent days, which give me strength to reciprocate with ideas that I will send to party militants and relevant organizations," he wrote about his birthday on Saturday. "Modern medical techniques have allowed me to scrutinize the universe," wrote Castro, who stepped down as Cuba's president 10 years ago after suffering a severe gastrointestinal illness. Just after 6 p.m., he could be seen in footage on state television slowly approaching his seat at Havana's Karl Marx theater, clad in a white Puma tracksuit top and green shirt. He sat in what appeared to be a specially equipped wheelchair and watched a musical tribute by a children's theater company, accompanied by footage of highlights from his decades in power. He sat alongside his younger brother, President Raul Castro, and President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, along with Cuba's highest-ranking military and civilian officials. In his letter, Castro accompanied his thanks with reminiscences about his childhood and youth in eastern Cuba, describing the geology and plant life of the region where he grew up. He touched on his father's death shortly before his own victory in overthrowing U. S-backed strongman Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Castro returns at the end to criticize Obama, who appeared to anger the revolutionary leader with a March trip to Cuba in which he called for Cubans to look toward the future. A week after the trip, Castro wrote a sternly worded letter admonishing Obama to read up on Cuban history, and declaring that "we don't need the empire to give us anything. " In Saturday's letter, he criticizes Obama for not apologizing to the Japanese people during a May trip to Hiroshima, describing Obama's speech there as "lacking stature. " The Cuban government has taken a relatively low-key approach to Castro's birthday, in comparison with the large-scale gatherings that had been planned for his 80th. Along with the Saturday evening gala, government ministries have held small musical performances and photo exhibitions that pay tribute to the former head of state. Castro last appeared in public in April, closing the twice-a-decade congress of the Communist Party with a call for Cuba to stick to its socialist ideals amid ongoing normalization with the U. S. The need for closer economic ties with the U. S. has grown more urgent as Venezuela, Castro's greatest ally, tumbles into economic free-fall, cutting the flow of subsidized oil that Cuba has depended on the South American country for more than a decade. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Cubans are migrating to the United States, hollowing out the ranks of highly educated professionals. The brightest spot in Cuba's flagging economy has been a post-detente surge in tourism that is expected to boom when commercial flights to and from the United States, Cuba's former longtime enemy, resume on Aug. 31. ——— Michael Weissenstein on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mweissenstein

2016-08-14 12:00 By abcnews.go.com

29 Rio 2016: SSP Chawrasia, Anirban Lahiri struggle in Round Two Rio: India’s SSP Chawrasia and Anirban Lahiri scored even-par 71 and two-over 73 to finish tied 30th and joint 51st respectively after the second round of the golf tournament at the Olympic Games here on Friday. Chawrasia, who took his two-day total to 142, showed tremendous fighting spirit after a poor start on Friday that saw him get a bogey on the second hole and a double bogey on the par-four third hole. However, he fought his way back by birding the next two holes before scoring two consecutive birdies on the eighth and ninth to sit on a one- under. Lahiri struggled throughout the day as he got bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes before birding the sixth. He again bogeyed the seventh and eighth hole to get to three-under.

2016-08-14 12:00 By IANS www.mid-day.com

30 BMC orders inspection of small eateries in all parts of Mumbai Soon after the fire incident, municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta ordered inspection of small eateries in all parts of the city through ward offices. The inspection teams will consist of members of the fire brigade, health and license department officials. The teams will check if the commercial establishments have fulfilled the preconditions set by BMC and fire brigade while giving its NOC. They will also check if any illegal alterations were made or if there was any change of use. The drive will start from Monday and grade II and III structures (small ones) will be inspected first. The BMC has set a target of doing 10 per day from every ward.' Watchdog foundation has found out that the entire statement by BMC commissioner Ajoy Mehta was nothing more than publicity stunts. According Peminta, "Many eateries are still running their joints in violation of the safety norms, endangering hundreds of life. Had the BMC Commissioner taken our plea seriously for implementing the recommendations made in the Kalbadevi fire report, Kinara incident would have been avoided. We are holding the civic commissioner accountable for his contributory negligence. "

2016-08-14 11:44 By mid www.mid-day.com

31 New real estate businesses leverage technology for success At her home in Nashua, Stephanie Dolloff shows off the Matterport 3D camera that she uses to create immersive experiences for real estate listings. (ELI OKUN/SUNDAY NEWS CORRESPONDENT) By ELI OKUN Sunday News Correspondent

2016-08-14 11:08 By ELI www.newhampshire.com

32 All eyes on jockey Trevor Patel Pune: Jockey Trevor Patel, who had broken his wrist during a fall at Bangalore in May, will resume riding today at the Pune racetrack. He will ride two horses--King's Canyon & Courtship--and his phenomenal fan following will ensure that both of them will carry the public purse in their respective races. The star jockey, who was under the treatment of Dr Vasudeva of Apollo hospital, Bangalore, was going great guns, winning at every racetrack in India before getting married to girlfriend Snehal P G on May 11. His last riding spell on the western India circuit had created a sensation when he equaled jockey Aslam Kader's record of riding six winners at Mahalaxmi on April 23, the last day of the Mumbai season, even as his arch rival A Sandesh walked away with the championship title. Myrtlewood scares away rivals The Pesi Shroff-trained four-year-old filly Myrtlewood, runner up of the Indian Derby and winner of three Gr 1 races, which included the Indian 1000 Guineas & Oaks at Mahalaxmi, and the Super Mile at Chennai, has scared away most of the eligible competition in the Eve Champion Trophy, Gr 3. Only three runners have dared to face her for the 2000m event, which is slated as the feature of Sunday's nine-race card. Jigsaw is expected to follow her home. First race at 1.30 pm. 2016-08-14 11:28 By Prakash www.mid-day.com

33 Why “natural wine” tastes so unnatural Same- sex marriage might be legal, but gay couples are still considered too “rude” In February, Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England, made the horrifying announcement that she thinks about cancer whenever she has a glass of wine and so should we. Despite all the bad news that has erupted on to our screens and pages since, I can’t forget this statement, which seems to highlight the contradictory nature of humanity. After all, good wine has very few drawbacks. Why focus on the main one, thus ruining your drink without improving your health? Why not just become teetotal and be done? Finding comfort in toxins is a human foible, as is a dislike of moderation. At its worst, this combination causes addiction. The rest of the time, it causes arguments. Think, for instance, of “natural wine” – a term that should be a tautology, given that even Two Buck Chuck is fermented grape juice. Certainly, we are an idealistic species, forever fruitlessly trying to create perfection. We have meddled at points with every step of the winemaking process except the weather – and it turns out that our interference is affecting that, too. Many of us want each bottle of our favourite wine to taste exactly like the bottle before it, and some producers try very hard to supply this certainty, as if an agricultural product consumed by creatures who change and age imperceptibly every moment of their existence could ever offer such reliability. It’s an unreliable world, people: that is why we drink. It’s also why we use sulphur. The element that Pliny called “nature’s wonder” occurs naturally during fermentation. In addition, most vintners add a small amount to stabilise their wine and prevent faults. Isabelle Legeron, a master of wine and natural wine’s most vociferous advocate, points out that in wine’s infancy, millennia ago, there were no pesticides, cultured yeasts or other such inventions. Back then, wine really was natural. Maybe so, but that didn’t stop people adding very dodgy substances to it, from honey to myrrh to seawater: “In Greece. . . they enliven the smoothness of their wines with potter’s earth, or marble dust, or salt,” wrote Pliny, which certainly puts a few sulphites in context. Why is sulphur so demonised? Some people have an unpleasant reaction to it. Lovers of natural wine also claim that wines without it taste better – and maybe some do, but I have tried others so damaged by oxidation or sundry faults that they tasted decidedly nasty. Sulphur zaps bacteria, as the ancient Greeks knew. “Bring sulphur, old nurse, that cleanses all pollution,” said Odysseus, after killing his wife’s suitors. Who can argue with a substance that neutralises love rivals? Some natural wines that I drank recently, such as Lo Sfuso di Collina, a Cabernet Franc from Veneto, are lovely, though its label did bear the telltale words “contains sulphites” – a legal requirement for sulphur content over ten milligrams per litre. Still, before picking that wine, I had sent back another that was just too funky. “Yes, the natural ones take getting used to,” said the waiter, which is just nonsense. Wine is not medicine or greens: it is, as Dame Sally tells us so forcefully, carcinogenic. If there’s no instant gratification, what is the point? Perhaps our palates will have evolved by the next millennium in favour of funkier wines, because people, like wine, are endlessly perfectible, if never perfect. Or perhaps the possibility of bacteria or excess oxygen in one’s wine will have trumped the certainty of sulphur. Pliny’s mira natura can be dangerous in excess: the great man died from inhaling volcano fumes when Vesuvius exploded in 79AD. But everything is dangerous in excess. Moderation is the answer. Sulphur is not the problem. As usual, we are. Next week: John Burnside on nature Who decides what’s rude? On one of those “searingly hot for the UK” days the other week, a man with bigger tits than me toplesssly alighted a train, bearing his resplendent bosom to me and the rest of the nearby world. To be clear, I’m not body shaming this guy. Seriously – good for him and his boobs. He seemed happy. I would’ve been happy too if – on an aggressively warm train – I could’ve taken my top off and just sat there listening to This American Life on my phone, without outraging public decency. It was one of those “why are my nipples rude?” moments that women have. Usually on hot days. Likewise, I often wonder why my dates are ruder than my straight friends’ dates. As a lesbian (all good sentences start this way) I have rude nipples and I kiss rudely. According, that is, to this esoteric Committee for Rudeness that, I’m guessing, decided that not all nipples or kisses were made equal. Speaking of rude , this week Delta Airlines has had to ground hundreds of flights because of a system outage. Selectively perhaps, I initially read this as “system outrage ”. I like the idea of a system outrage. Like, maybe their system was outraged by the lesbian kissing in Todd Haynes’ Carol , a censored version of which is being shown on Delta flights. The ones that are still… flying, at least. The edited, kiss-free, version of Carol , it appears, meets Delta’s rudeness guidelines. Although same-sex kissing, per se, doesn’t necessarily go against these guidelines. According to a statement by Delta, it’s the nudity in Carol that they object to and their preferred, fully clothed, version of the film just happens to be particularly puritanical, omitting both sex and kissing. Although comedian and recent Delta passenger, Cameron Esposito, tweeted that someone sitting next to her was watching a film with BDSM in it. The point is though, even if the idea of same-sex marriage is no longer rude (legally speaking, at least) LGBT people are still being told to keep it in the bedroom. “It” includes hand holding, according to this couple who scandalised a Sainsbury’s security guard. Step outside the context of millennia of persecution for a second and this begins to feel utterly arbitrary. Like the Committee for Rudeness is very real, and is a sort of selectively prudish Illuminati which has dictated that my boobs will rarely get to see the light of day. Whoever decided that rude things are 70 per cent ruder if women do them, and 90 per cent ruder if gay women do them would, in all fairness, have a nervous breakdown if they watched Carol. Gay women do so many rude things in that film. Rudely so. Sure, it’s a mesmerising performance by two wonderfully talented women, but Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara kissing is quite clearly upsetting in-flight viewing. The mere thought of lesbianism at altitude is probably enough to send someone out there over the edge. At least the Committee for Rudeness seem to think so. Even so, I’d be interested to see how the removal of physical intimacy from Carol would alter the overall impact of the film. Perhaps it would transform it into something quite interestingly and accidentally tantalising. More likely though, it goes from “tale of forbidden love” to “some fifties women hang out for two hours”. Which is why it would be sensible of Delta not to show Carol at all, rather than opt for a mildly nonsensical edited version that perpetuates the idea – accidentally or otherwise – that anything lesbian is intrinsically pornographic.

2016-08-14 11:07 Laurie Penny www.newstatesman.com

34 MLB Baseball Box Scores NEW YORK -- These have not been the best of times for the New York Mets, whose defense of the 2015 National League pennant has been threatened by a spate of injuries and an extended offensive slump. But the Mets are hoping an unexpected break Saturday night will serve as the catalyst for a return to the playoffs. Neil Walker raced home from third base on a grounder to second by Wilmer Flores in the 11th inning Saturday night to lift the Mets to a 3-2 victory over the San Diego Padres at Citi Field. The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Mets (58-58), who had just three Opening Day starters in Saturday's lineup. New York is just 11-20 in the last 31 games, a stretch in which it has scored three runs or fewer 20 times. "This game is not easy right now -- we're grinding away," Walker said. "Nights like tonight are testaments to the character of the ballclub. "Ace right-hander Jacob deGrom tossed seven innings of one-run ball, during which he allowed three hits and one walk while striking out nine before exiting with a 2-1 lead. But closer Jeurys Familia absorbed his third blown save in his last six chances when he gave up a game-tying homer to Wil Myers with two outs in the top of the ninth. "When you scratch and claw for two runs and have the lead in the ninth and (a) solo homer ties it to go into extra innings, you find yourself shaking your head like 'How did that happen?'" Walker said. The Mets were asking that about their winning rally two innings later. Walker, whose RBI single in the first gave New York a 1-0 lead, led off with a single against Brandon Maurer (0-3). One out later, James Loney hit an opposite-field single to left as Walker raced to an unoccupied third base. Two pitches later, Flores hit a broken-bat grounder to second base, where Ryan Schimpf decided to throw home instead of trying for the double play. "I thought 'Walk' had a great jump from third base, so I thought it was going to be close at the plate," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "But yeah, I actually thought it was going to be a double play. "The throw from Schimpf beat Walker to the plate but sailed to the third- base side of catcher Christian Bethancourt as Walker slid home. Flores was credited with an RBI fielder's choice. "Once I heard the broken bat. I just decided to make a decision to come in and make the play at home, and I kind of put myself in a bad position to make the throw," Schimpf said. "We had a chance to turn two and I let us down tonight, Just got to learn from it and not let it happen again. "The win snapped a streak of seven straight losses in one-run games for the Mets, who remained 2 1/2 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the race for the NL's second wild card. "We've lost so many tough games, so many close games," Collins said. "So we're just hoping this turns the tide and we start winning some of these games and get ourselves on a big roll. "Right-hander Gabriel Ynoa, promoted from Triple-A Las Vegas earlier in the day, threw a perfect 11th inning to earn the win in his major league debut. Flores had three hits for the Mets while Kelly Johnson had a pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the seventh. Yangervis Solarte homered in the seventh for the Padres (50-66), who received two hits from Alex Dickerson. "Anytime you lose like that in extra innings on the road is tough, but I thought we played well," Myers said. "Just kind of came up short there. "Padres starter Jarred Cosart allowed one run on three hits and two walks while striking out two over six innings. NOTES: The Mets activated INF Jose Reyes from the 15-day disabled list and recalled RHP Gabriel Ynoa from Triple-A Las Vegas. In corresponding moves, INF Matt Reynolds and RHP Logan Verrett were optioned to Las Vegas. ... Mets OF Yoenis Cespedes (right quad) is scheduled to play in rehab games for Class A St. Lucie on Monday and Tuesday before returning to the majors on Friday. ... The Padres purchased the contract of RHP Brandon Morrow from Triple-A El Paso and optioned LHP Buddy Baumann to the same affiliate. Morrow threw a perfect eighth inning in his first major league appearance since May 2, 2015. To make room for Morrow on the 40-man roster, INF Cory Spangenberg (left quadriceps) was transferred to the 60-day disabled list. ... LHP Clayton Richard will make his first start for the Padres this season on Sunday as San Diego begins employing a six-man rotation during a stretch of 16 games in as many days.

2016-08-14 11:08 The Sports scoresandstats.newyork.cbslocal.com

35 “Midnight Sun”: a short story by Chigozie Obioma Eighties nights: why Stranger Things has me hiding behind the sofa A child does not die because its mother’s breast is empty of milk. Igbo proverb The man to whom she had finally opened her heart, Ikonne, the doctor, now dominated her thoughts for most of her waking hours. She’d come to agree with many people – her friend Jefa and her mother, mostly – that the way to redeem herself was to find a man who could help her achieve what she essentially needed the most: to forget her dead husband and son, or, at the very least, to relegate them to such a distance in her mind as to defang the memory of them from continually tormenting her. For both of them had become uncontrollable performers who danced immemorially on her mind’s stage every night. Ikonne had shown that he was able to do this. With his wholesome and therapeutic kind of love, he’d become the beast that ate the flesh of her recent history and drank its blood. And whenever she was with him, she felt a wild, outsized peace that often wholly overshadowed the memories of her husband and son. She was thinking of him while gazing at herself in the large mirror of her bathroom when a human sound from somewhere nearby, perhaps a dry cough, stirred her, and brought her to stillness. Earlier, she’d slunk to the door and listened for her elder son’s snorts, but had heard only his heavy breathing. She’d hoped that Owoh would continue to sleep till she was gone. There was solace in the closure of his eyes, and in the unconsciousness that attended his sleep. It staved off the unbearable guilt that gripped her at the throat upon the thought that she was abandoning him. But the guilt which, in the past, would have nailed her like a calendar to a wall could not stop her this time. Ikonne had hinted that that night would be special, which she had believed to mean that he would propose to her. When Owoh repeated the coughing twice again, and followed it up with a growl, she glanced at the snakeskin leather wristwatch Ikonne had bought her nearly four months before, picked up her handbag, and fled the house. The night had come down heavy, leaving only a splinter of light across the horizon. Agnes flagged down the first vacant taxi that verged to the end of the road, and throughout the ride she kept thinking about the sound of Owoh’s breathing. It had frightened her husband, Nonso, the first time Owoh made it, and reminded him of his own father on his deathbed. And the last words he’d said that night, I fear it is close, Agnes , had reached out and clung to her, refusing to let go. She’d crawl out of bed later, go into Owoh’s room, and find him wide awake, his prominent eyeballs almost radiant in the stark darkness. But it was not Owoh who would die a few days after that night, it was Nonso himself and Richard, their other son. They were driving back from an excursion to Ibadan when a lorry ferrying timber slammed into their Mercedes, and killed them both on the spot. Agnes looked up to see that the driver had begun to back the car out of the shoulder of the road. “Thank you,” she said. She let the phone’s green light go off and then looked out the window. Although Nonso had always brought her to this part of Lagos, she could hardly identify most places at night, especially during power outages, when the façades of most buildings were either unlit or dimly lit. But as they drove on, slaloming through clotted traffic, she recognised the big pharmacy her husband often went to. A few blocks down, a clique of bright pole lamps illuminated what she immediately recognised to be the hospital where Owoh had been destroyed. Nonso and Agnes had taken him for the compulsory child immunisation at the hospital when he was only four months old in 1990. The nurse on duty had become unhinged but had not degenerated to a noticeable level. The nurse had been told a few days earlier by the army that her husband, an ECOMOG soldier, had just been killed in Liberia. As she took little Owoh into the ward, she’d kept on talking about “strength”. When she entered the closed door of the ward she looked into Agnes’s face and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll make him stronger.” Agnes and her husband had barely sat on the metal benches in the waiting lounge when they began hearing noises from the part of the crowded hospital where the nurse had taken Owoh. One of the nurses had caught the broken nurse injecting Owoh with multiple intravenous injections till Owoh – having cried himself to exhaustion, even though the nurse had taped his mouth with layers of plaster to silence him – was enveloped in a dubious calm. The nurse had, by that time, emptied twenty-two of the small bottles of the intravenous substances into him with the same syringe before she stopped, a dozen more unemptied. She’d done it to make him stronger, she’d reiterated again and again as she was taken away, wearing a wry smile that betrayed the stark fact: that Owoh had been effectively destroyed. For, later, doctors would declare that the overdose of the powerful drugs had not only paralysed Owoh permanently, but caused an irreparable ototoxic damage. Agnes and Nonso would pursue healing with tenacity, yet nothing would help. They stopped trying to cure him when, after nearly twenty hours of marathon medical sessions at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital – one of Nigeria’s best hospitals – the doctors emerged with the verdict that the overdose had collapsed his bones. They added that he had been lucky, that he could have easily become a human “eel” – a complete wreck, with sixty per cent of his organs compromised. The restaurant was packed full when she got there. Ceiling fans with fancy light bulbs swirled overhead, their rattling sound mixing with music from a nearby boom box and the chatter of people seated at the tables. Agnes entered, her body quietening again: a feeling that came upon her every time she was on the cusp of meeting a man. Ikonne sat near a big oil-on-canvas painting of a woman with a calabash. He rose swiftly and hugged her. “Oh, Agnes. I could have, you know, picked you up.” Agnes drew a smile from a well that was now almost dry, but which, before the many adversities that had befallen her, used to overflow with laughter. It didn’t take him long to fall into a deep, passionate discussion on the state of the nation. She laughed quietly at how he’d waxed theatrical when complaining about the inadequacies of things in Nigeria. When one of the servers brought the menu, Ikonne plunged into the laminated pages. Even though they’d been dating for about three months now and had known each other for a little more than that, he was still often visibly nervous around her. But his shyness was one of the reasons she was drawn to him. Although she perceived that men like him were often sincere in character, he seemed to have cultivated his own character with more delicate care, so that he came across as graciously pure – unalloyed, even though the version of his history she knew of was a tainted one. He’d lived for many years in the United States, married an American, and fled the country after he lost his job due to an exchange with a co-worker, what the Americans deemed “workplace violence”, which got his licence temporarily revoked, and ended his marriage. With what remained of his once substantial savings, he opened a clinic in Lagos. He spoke on while they ate the food – fried rice and plantain with chunks of deep-fried meat – raging against what he thought had been responsible for the incessant corruption in Nigeria: successive military rule. He wished Nigeria would some day become like other right-thinking nations and stamp out corruption as this present leader, Obasanjo, had been trying to do since his election. Agnes was startled when he interrupted his speech, reached out and held her hand. “I’m in love with you, Agnes,” he said. “I want to marry you.” Although she’d been expecting him to say this, Agnes looked up at him and, for a moment, she felt something leave her body. She fell silent, unable – even though she was willing – to speak. “What, why are you not saying anything?” he said, waited, and repeated it. His hand seemed to move restlessly on the table, touching the cup, without lifting it. Then, lifting it to his mouth without sipping from it, he asked again and again if she’d heard him. She nodded. “Then, why, what happened?” he said. “Did I offend, darling?” He took her hands, but she did not stir. When she remained silent, he started to apologise. In the unexplainable haze, Agnes did not speak. “It is too early, I know, too early to ask you this. I’m so sorry, you know? We should leave now, you think?” She nodded, took her bag and they left the restaurant. **** He did not mention the incident for the next few days when they talked on the phone. It was Agnes who, having recovered only after feeling guilty about her response to his proposal, felt the need to bring it up. “I’m sorry for the other day,” she said, as softly as she could, setting the words down on tiptoes so that they accrued a certain heaviness. “No, no, it was my fault, you know? I just, you know, think —” She sensed confusion in his delayed response. “No, Ikonne, it wasn’t your fault. It was mine. You did nothing wrong.” “Well, it’s OK. Should I pick you up tonight? I miss you.” They met at a restaurant on Victoria Island beside a massive construction site for what the project sign had boasted would be a Trade Centre, both of them watching the cranes dipping around and lifting objects with their machinery limbs. They were finishing their meal when he asked her again what she thought of his proposal. Although she believed she’d considered it during the intervening days and had carefully prepared her response, she found herself strangely unable to speak again. Then, fearing she’d been silent for much longer than she should, she laid down her grievance with the verbal equivalent of an explosion. “I have told you about him before. I have told you that he is a disabled, crippled deaf-mute, and everything! You hear that? He is —” She heard the things she’d said as if through the noise of a ricochet, and it silenced her. She dropped her head, fighting the urge to break down. “Look, if you want me, eh, you must accept and want him, too.” Of all the men she’d tried to date in the three years since her husband’s death, he was the one she’d warmed to the most. Although she had developed feelings for one of them, and had come close to having a relationship with him, he’d bowed out because of Owoh. It had shocked her. After he’d come to her house and had seen Owoh, he’d said he could not take him in with them. He wanted to have his own children, he’d said, and it was in their best interest to simply put Owoh away at a care centre rather than keep him. The next man she’d dated, a pastor whose wife had deserted him for a younger man, had, upon seeing Owoh, offered to take him to a prayer house where he could be healed. This had killed her. For after the bones of her hope had been broken in the early days of Owoh’s travails, Agnes had taken him from one church to another until she’d visited almost all the miracle-working churches in Lagos. She instantly saw the pastor’s offer as a bad sign. After he left her house, she sent him a text requesting that he should never contact her again. Ikonne released his hands from her grip and nodded slowly. “I see what you say. And, of course – if you marry me, you know? – your son can come live with me.” He nodded again, and she followed his eyes to a group that had just arrived at a table next to theirs, a couple with a child who must have been Richard’s age when he died – eight or nine. The child, a very light- skinned girl with a long, rich mass of trailing hair, stuck out her half-green tongue at him and lolled it left and right. As she watched the girl, Agnes felt her loss grip like an unseen hand. The sight of living children often caused this. Ikonne returned his attention to Agnes with faltering laughter. “I have told you time and again, darling, that I’m fine with him. Not a big deal, Agnes, you know?” She could not go back to eating. The power of her loss had taken rein, turning the food before her into a forbidden thing. She sensed that he might want to hold her hand again, so she held her drink. She’d ordered a beer, which she now drank so much and so frequently that it would have surprised anyone to know that she’d never had a sip before her husband and child died. She’d drunk so much one night two months earlier that she’d woken up on the floor of Owoh’s room. She couldn’t remember much, except that she’d been out for a full day and realised she hadn’t fed him. She’d returned to find him asleep, and so had left the food by his side. Owoh had been seated, and his head – the only thing that seemed to grow with his age – hung limply against his disproportionately sized body. Beside him on the shrunken chaise had sat the plate of food, almost untouched, gathering flies. The toy truck Ikonne had bought him was on the old leather stool near the wall to his right, a cockroach in the blue seat, its antennae curled up against the windscreen. Although she had very little recollection of that night, it haunted her. But most of all, that incident had opened to her the extent of Owoh’s powerlessness – the sense that he could do nothing without her. He could not even eat food placed an inch from his hands. Yet, it occurred to her, as she started stinging him with angry words that morning, that this same helpless son of hers had saved her life. Had he not taken ill that week, excreting almost hourly into the plastic bowl she had placed beneath him, she would have travelled with Nonso and Richard, and would have been killed, too. She drank more as Ikonne talked about his clinic and the different people he’d met there. He seemed to pause in between deep thoughts, shake himself, and then dive, birdlike, into another topic. From an indiscernible psychological distance, Agnes observed that she was slowly beginning to love him. She imagined him in his hospital gown working through the wound of a twelve-year-old girl who’d stepped on a nail. She imagined him operating on people who, like her, were all sufferers. Something in the grace of his hands felt needful to her, as if she herself was one of his patients. Later, she could not tell why she’d grabbed his hands and held them, tightly, asking, in a voice that was barely over a whisper, for him to take her to his home. After they’d driven to his house, and he’d stripped her bare, she knew what she had felt: a desperate need for him. **** For the following two days, she struggled to keep up with giving care to her son. Twice, after she made him food but could not bring herself to feed him, she left the food on the kitchen table until the pablum went cold and congealed into a wrinkled goo. To her, Owoh’s room had become a restricted area where she was too afraid to set foot. After preparing his meal on the second occasion, she went and sat in the garden, which she had not cultivated in the three years since her second son and husband died, except to weed it. She stayed there all morning as the sun rose fiercely. Agnes saw the heat as a reprieve from the harmattan wind, which had arrived a few weeks earlier and toughened the air as if the year was already dead, its last days like the setting in of rigor mortis. She sat in the garden after making the food and allowed herself to sift through deliberations, weighing what was continuing to haunt her. She convinced herself that she had not intended to hurt Owoh. She was merely trying to redeem herself, to live again. But the thought continued to torment her, until, unable to remain in the house in that state or bring herself to feed him, and unable to fend off the smarting, persistent thought that she was letting him starve, she went to Jefa’s hair salon at the end of the district. Jefa’s salon had no power and so they sat on plastic chairs outside. Jefa tried to convince her, as she’d always done, that Ikonne was her best shot at salvation. “You have to save yourself from it,” she said. “You are too young. You’re too beautiful, Aggi.” Her words shook Agnes. And Jefa, who had always been the bigger, stronger, louder woman of the two from their primary school days, pressed harder. “Yes, he is your son, I know, but really, what can you do? You’re not his chi who let this happen to him. You have done your best. This is your chance. In fact, see it this way: this is your chance to have a real child again. Time is running out, don’t you even see it? You can’t afford to lose this man, this Ikonne – he’s a good man. This is you trying to live again after your first life died.” Agnes left Jefa’s salon that evening with her resolve toughened and headed to Ikonne’s house where he took her straight to his bed. She had spent the rest of the day away from her house, away from Owoh, fighting as much as she could to hold off the concerns about not having fed, washed and attended to him, so that they stood waiting behind the bedroom door like a raucous crowd of journalists at a celebrity’s gate. But as time passed, their voices had become louder, their beckoning fiercer. When she arrived home that night she found Owoh asleep, his head tilted sideways across his shoulder, his mouth slightly agape. She searched his face for anything unusual until she was satisfied that he was merely reposed in a restful sleep. She made him a pablum while still in her gown, the one Nonso had bought her from Italy a few months before his death. Sitting on the dining- room chair close to the door of Owoh’s room, she listened above the constant hum of the refrigerator for any sound of him, until she fell asleep. When she woke, it was nearly midnight – about three hours after she had returned and made the food that had now gone cold. Owoh was still asleep and there had been a power outage. She reached for the kerosene lanterns and lit two of them. She placed one by her door and the other by the dining table, making sure not to get it even an inch within the threshold of his room. One of the great trials of Owoh’s life had been the impact of light on him. Seven years earlier, after she and Nonso had decided to remove him from their room and put him in his own, at eight years old, he had started making strange noises, mostly at dawn. Like a rooster, he’d wake up crying and screaming as if his spirit, having long suffered, had started to revolt. Agnes soon found out that it was not the light itself that affected him, but the effect of the light. She observed that, whenever lit, the lantern soon became covered in a muck of insects. The insects would then spread from the bulb and chimney and scatter across the room, crawling and perching all over Owoh, who could only wriggle his unsteady neck in protest and yelp helplessly. Some of the apteral ones would sometimes crawl into his mouth while he slept and he would often wake with dead insects in his mouth. Many times, Agnes would first remove dead insects from his mouth before feeding him. One night, Nonso had been in the room searching for an old briefcase when Owoh, awakened by his father’s presence, began making an unusual sound and moving his whole body in an attempt to gesture at something. Following his suffering son’s eyes, Nonso had realised that Owoh had been looking at the moon. It was then that he’d had the idea of the skylight, and once it was installed, they’d removed the bulb in his room and stopped allowing any kind of light except that which came from the skylight. Owoh did not wake up until the following morning. Agnes fed him before going out to work but stayed away all day, so that by nightfall a spell of guilt had clouded her heart. She hadn’t intended to stay out late, but midway through the day it had become suddenly momentous when Ikonne’s brother called from the US to announce that his former workplace had decided to reinstate him. The news transformed Ikonne into a bowlful of confetti, floating in the air. He proposed to Agnes again, pleading with her to return with him to the US for a new beginning. Agnes said “yes”. They made fierce love afterwards, the way she couldn’t remember ever experiencing, even though it unnerved her. Later, while Ikonne called his brother back, the feeling that she was torturing her son returned. Wasn’t this why she’d agreed to leave with her new lover? Would they move to a new country with her son, an invalid? Surely not; she was disposing of her son in order to have a new life. True, Owoh was perhaps dying; his hands, she’d observed, had felt almost weightless in her grip that morning. It was immediately clear, as she touched him, that he’d emaciated drastically. His collarbones stuck out and when he breathed deeply – as he often did – his flesh seemed to bloat, then deflate and reveal a mere skeleton. It struck her now that she was killing him – a soft, slight killing. She’d indeed hearkened to the collective voices that had been speaking to her and was now disposing of him, not by taking him to the specialist’s hospital that offered to buy all of his functioning organs for a little over half a million naira, but by her own hand. She was paying him back for saving her life with his own death. And now, even worse, she’d agreed to move overseas. In that afflicting moment, all that had been planted into her as firm possibilities now swerved around and bared their hitherto occluded truths like a set of strange teeth: Was Ikonne sincere in saying that he would welcome Owoh? Would he accept to take Owoh to America? Would he not be bothered by the inconvenience of transporting an invalid? What if she agreed and he took them there, and then decided that he no longer wanted him – what would she do, then? Even many years later, whenever memories of that evening drop into her mind like fruit from a rattled tree branch, the haste with which she’d rushed out of the house into the noisy night would always stun her. She gently closed the door of the living room so that Ikonne, who was still speaking with his brother on the phone in the other room, could not hear her. Then she ran up the edge of the street to where a major road tracked back into the town, weeping, until she found a taxi. She sat huddled in it, all to one side, as jaunty Lagos buzzed all around. She closed her eyes until the taxi pulled up outside the gate of her house, which she and Nonso had bought in their first year of marriage. It stood silent, grave-like, and luminescent against the moonlight. She was surprised that she had not noticed the moon until she got near the house. It was almost full, with slight blushes on its bright bulb. It was the kind that Richard had once called the Midnight Sun. She often recalled the night he had first gotten the idea: one of only two times in her memory when Owoh had made a sound that had come close to decipherable human speech. Richard had entered Owoh’s room and found him staring at the moon, which had clothed the room in a bruised turquoise light. Richard had moved to the centre of the room and had stood in the brace of the fixed shower of moonlight, his mind trying to make sense of what he was seeing until the words formed between his lips: It is like the sun at night. It is the sun, a kind of sun at night. A midnight sun. For the first time in many years, as Richard spoke, Owoh moved his head, which was placed perpetually on two pillows while the rest of his body was propped against the wall – a position in which Agnes often left him after he’d eaten, in order to ease digestion. His face lit, and incurvatures formed around his brows in what Richard came to understand as Owoh’s own version of a smile. Then his lips began moving as he let out loud, piercing cries. Richard, awed and moved by this transitory peace on his older brother’s face, had cried for him. Now, although her hands trembled while she typed the message to Ikonne, she felt wholly relieved after it was delivered. Her words had been strong, firm and resolute: there would be no going back. He was not to stay back on account of her, no. He must return to the States and his family, reclaim what was his, and live his life. Her own life was here. She put the phone in her bag and stood still to watch the moon. It lightened her, relieving the burden she’d carried for many weeks. She found her son’s room full of moonlight, all the glory of the midnight sun showering – in a screen of sharp grey – through the skylight. She found Owoh seated in his part of the world, in that decaying chair in which he was confined, staring at it with a kind of silence that only he, a small man of sorrow, possessed. “The Fishermen” by Chigozie Obioma is published in both hardback and paperback by One, an imprint of Pushkin Press I come a little late to the Netflix series Stranger Things. But then, what does that even mean? The days of missing stuff are long gone. All eight episodes of Stranger Things are there on your laptop, and will be for ever more. You could watch them now, in the dog days of summer, or you could save them for when the nights draw in. Either way, you’re in for a supersonic treat. Stranger Things is a coming-of-age sci-fi series – in essence, it’s come out the way ET might have done if Spielberg had wanted to terrify the pants off us – written and directed by the Duffer brothers Matt and Ross, who made the 2015 thriller Hidden. I didn’t know anything about the Duffers before I watched their first outing for Netflix, and I still don’t know much, save that they were born in 1984, so they were only six at the close of the decade in which Stranger Things is set. Crikey. What fanboys they must be: Rob Reiner on their laptops, Giorgio Moroder on their iPods, Stephen King (on old-school paper) in their manbags. I’m guessing that, when they’re stuck in the edit suite, their drug of choice is cherry-flavoured Pez. Their show is set in Indiana in 1983 and almost every scene is a homage: to Reiner, to King and to many others (the soundtrack is the work of an Austin, Texas synth band called Survive, but boy does it whiff of John “ Halloween ” Carpenter). The story begins in the basement of the Wheeler house, where the 12-year-old Mike (Finn Wolfhard) is playing Dungeons & Dragons with his three closest mates. For a few moments, we see their fierce involvement in the game – kids, this was the rabbit hole down which geeks used to slip before the internet – and then the spell is broken. Mike’s mum calls time, and his friends, Dustin, Lucas and Will, must head out into the night. On his way home, Will takes a short cut past a secret government facility run by a scientist played by Matthew Modine (even the casting is retro: Winona Ryder stars as Will’s mum, Joyce), and disappears. He has been taken, it would appear, by a monster, an escapee from the lab. And then all sorts of things happen, almost all of which are creepy and hide-behind-the-sofa exciting. Not that the Duffers needed to do much to keep me onside. I was lost from the moment the boys set out on their bikes, pedalling frantically, their journey down suburban wooded lanes lit as much by boyish exuberance as by their headlamps. Miniature detectives. Having been one, once – I was forever fingerprinting my father – I find them impossible to resist on screen. Ah, the Eighties. Unlike the Sixties, the whole point seems to be to remember them, though surely how you do depends on your background: someone who attended a northern comprehensive, say, will likely feel rather differently about the age of snooker and shoulders pads from a person who was at a private school in the south. I’m not certain where the fortysomething Dominic Sandbrook spent his formative years, but his take on the decade in his latest documentary series is nothing if not upbeat – and no wonder, given that among the booty his family bagged early on were an Austin Metro, a VCR and, for little Dominic, a BBC computer. Meanwhile, I had only to get on the bus (2p a ride, in our magnificent Socialist Republic) to feel as if I was stuck in the video for the Specials’ “Ghost Town”. In the first film, Sandbrook posited, somewhat weirdly, that it’s more useful to see the Eighties in terms of Delia Smith than Margaret Thatcher. In the second, still encased in his does-my-bum-look-big-in-this? parka, he theorised that the miners’ strike is more interestingly viewed not as a struggle between Arthur Scargill and the then prime minister, but as an internal war between the miners, who functioned as a microcosm of society. Those who went on strike in, say, South Yorkshire were collectivists who cared not at all for white goods, while the refuseniks of Nottinghamshire were all about family, aspiration and, perhaps, VCRs and Austin Metros. Hmm. I, for one, don’t really buy it, though I like the series soundtrack. Toni Basil, Blancmange, the minor hits of Tears for Fears: the Duffer brothers would love it to pieces.

2016-08-14 11:07 Laurie Penny www.newstatesman.com

36 Scottish independence would still prompt RBS HQ move Royal Bank of Scotland still plans to move its headquarters out of Scotland should there be a "Yes" vote in any future independence referendum. Chief executive Ross McEwan, however, stressed that such a move would not lead to major job losses in Scotland. Warnings about a possible move of RBS headquarters featured heavily in the campaign ahead of the September 2014 independence vote. Mr McEwan said the bank's position had not changed, despite the Brexit vote. In the EU referendum 62% of Scottish voters wanted to retain membership while the UK as a whole voted by 52% to 48% to leave. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has promised to explore all options to retain Scotland's links with Europe but has said a second independence referendum is now "highly likely". Shortly before the first independence vote in 2014, RBS confirmed it had drawn up contingency plans to "re-domicile" the bank's holding company to England. In a BBC interview, Mr McEwan was asked if that position remained the same now that the UK had voted to leave the EU. He said: "We'd have to make the same moves I suspect because the Royal Bank of Scotland, being domiciled in Scotland, would just be too big for the economy, even in the shape that we're building. "That's around the plaque, it's not about where our people are because we have a very big business up here in Scotland. "I've got 12,000 people who serve both the Scottish people and we also run our retail business from up here along with a lot of our technology. "Two years ago when we had the Scottish referendum, I made it very clear we'd have the people in the right place, that moving the plaque didn't make any difference to them. I think that would be the same. I think for any country, they just need to remain very competitive so businesses like ourselves want to operate in those countries. " Asked what he would say to Nicola Sturgeon if she wanted his views on the economic impact of a second independence vote, he replied: "Just take account of uncertainty - that's what you're seeing after Brexit. "It's uncertainty that slows markets down. Make sure the long game's worth it. But that's going to be up to the people of Scotland. "

2016-08-14 11:08 www.bbc.co.uk

37 37 Jeremy Corbyn accuses Tom Watson of making 'nonsense' Trotsky claims Jeremy Corbyn has dismissed claims by his deputy that hard left activists are trying to infiltrate the Labour party ahead of the leadership vote. Mr Corbyn said Tom Watson's suggestion that "Trotsky entryists" are manipulating young party members to boost his support were "nonsense". But Mr Watson responded saying there was "clear and incontrovertible evidence" to back his claims. The Labour leader is embroiled in a contest with challenger Owen Smith. In an interview with the Observer , Mr Corbyn said: "I just ask Tom to do the maths - 300,000 people have joined the Labour party. "At no stage in anyone's most vivid imagination are there 300,000 sectarian extremists at large in the country who have suddenly descended on the Labour party. Sorry Tom, it is nonsense - I think he knows it's nonsense. " Mr Watson said he believed the "overwhelming majority" of new members joined the Labour Party because they want to build a "fairer and more equal society". But he said: "There is clear and incontrovertible evidence that a small group of Trotskyite activists have taken leading roles in the Labour Party or are seeking to do so. "They are also explicitly targeting Young Labour and Labour student clubs with the aim of recruiting new members. That is beyond dispute. We can't deal with this problem until we acknowledge it exists. " BBC political correspondent Carole Walker said "the open row" between the Labour leader and his deputy "is a further sign of deep divisions within the party". There has been Labour in-fighting over the massive influx of new members that have signed up to the party since Mr Corbyn became leader last September. Mr Watson told the Guardian earlier this week that Labour was being infiltrated by "Trotsky entryists" who had "come back" to bolster Mr Corbyn. The Labour leader's campaign team hit back accusing Mr Watson of "peddling baseless conspiracy theories" but the deputy leader then wrote a letter to Mr Corbyn urging him to take action against infiltrators. Trotskyism has its origins in early 20th Century Russian politics and the path pursued by one of the founders of the Soviet Union, Leon Trotsky. Trotsky was the head of the Red Army and a key player in the violent revolution that toppled the Russian tsar and established the world's first socialist state. But he split with the other revolutionary leaders Lenin and Stalin, who believed they could create a socialist society in their own country without a world revolution. Trotsky believed his country could achieve socialism only if the working classes around the world rose up as one to overthrow the ruling classes - the doctrine of "international socialism". Read more In his Observer interview Mr Corbyn also refused to express full confidence in the party's general secretary Ian McNichol who was a key figure in recent legal action which stopped 130,000 of the new members from voting in the leadership contest. Mr Corbyn said Mr McNichol would face questions over the events of the last few months. "People joined the Labour party in order to take part in the party and were specifically told that they were able to vote in the leadership election and that was decided by the high court that they could," he said. "The appeal court has said they can't and I would imagine that those who brought the case will be considering whether or not to take it to the supreme court... I think that people should have the right to take part and that is surely what democracy is about. "

2016-08-14 11:08 www.bbc.co.uk

38 A Patron Saint for Television Mention the phrase “patron saints” and plenty of people, Catholics and non- Catholics alike, will think it a quaint, outdated custom that assigns a heavenly protector to keep an eye on barrel-stave makers and ward off Viking invasions. In fact, patron saints keep up with the times. Back in the early 1990s, when the Internet was becoming popular, a group of Catholic webmasters adopted St. Isidore of Seville as patron of the web — they took Isidore’s 30-volume encyclopedia on just about every topic as the world’s first database. Typically, as in the case of St. Isidore and the Internet, it’s the folks in the pews who associate a particular saint with a cause, or an ailment, or a profession, but sometimes the pope weighs in and formally names a patron saint. For example, Pope John Paul II appointed St. Francis of Assisi the patron of the environmental movement (an easy call if ever there was one). And so we come to another patron saint named by a pope. During the pontificate of Pope Pius XII, a group of astronomers came to the Vatican for a private meeting with the Holy Father. As they gathered in the audience chamber, they expected the pope would deliver a brief, conventional speech on some religious topic. Instead, Pius XII surprised his visitors by launching into a discussion of sun spots. This example is not out of the ordinary. Consult any listing of Pius XII’s speeches and you’ll find him addressing a host of specialized, non-religious subjects. As a man who made it a hobby to keep up with the latest developments in the sciences, Pope Pius was fascinated by the emergence of television as the hot, new communications medium of the 1950s. The possibilities of the new technology impressed him, so much so that in 1958 he gave television its own patron saint: he chose St. Clare of Assisi, whose feast day was two days ago, August 11. At first glance it is hard to see any link between TV and a 13th-century cloistered nun, but stayed tuned. St. Clare is best known as St. Francis of Assisi’s closest colleague. In 1212, when she was 19 years old, Clare ran away from home in the to become the first female member of Francis’ religious community. But being the first Franciscan nun is not what made Clare exceptional; rather, it was her unswerving commitment to St. Francis’ ideal of Christ-like poverty. Francis wanted the members of his order to be as poor and humble as Jesus Christ had been when He was personally present on earth. But what was appealing in theory could be difficult to put into practice. Within Francis’ own lifetime some Franciscans who found the rule of poverty too hard toned down their founder’s ideal and began to acquire real estate. But not Clare and her nuns. Yes, they had a convent, but they refused to own anything that would generate income; they relied entirely on the good will of donors for their support. Two popes thought Clare was taking St. Francis’ notion of perfection too literally, but she would not back down. For 41 years Clare clung to her principles, and she won — although only at the last minute. In 1253, as she lay on her deathbed, Pope Innocent IV traveled to Assisi to see Clare for the last time, and he brought a gift: a papal document that gave formal approval to Clare’s rule. None of this is remotely related to television, of course, but Pius XII knew what he was doing. He recalled an episode from St. Clare’s life that one could say prefigured TV. A witness at Clare’s canonization proceedings testified that one Christmas Eve St. Clare was so ill she could not leave her bed to attend Midnight Mass. After all the nuns had gone, Clare sighed and said, “See Lord, I am left here alone with You.” At that moment God granted Clare a vision in which she saw and heard the Mass as clearly as if she had been present in the convent chapel. Pope Pius interpreted this vision as a kind of miraculous simulcast, and named St. Clare the patron of television. If Pius were alive today, he’d expand Clare’s patronage to include cable. Thomas J. Craughwell is the author of This Saint Will Change Your Life and Saints Behaving Badly.

2016-08-14 11:08 Thomas J spectator.org

39 Reefer Madness and the Election For the first time since 1988, both major parties’ nominees — Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump — say that they have never smoked or experimented with marijuana (without inhaling). President Obama has been open about having used marijuana and other drugs in his youth, yet his administration has taken insufficient steps to inject some sanity into the federal government’s approach to marijuana policy. In 2008, the Obama campaign talked about keeping federal prosecutors from going after medical marijuana dispensaries in states that have legalized medical use such as California. To the contrary, in his first term especially, Obama’s Department of Justice was merciless on medical marijuana providers, as well as users. If you hoped for big change, get over it. Wednesday, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced it would not change marijuana’s classification from the Schedule I drug status it has held since 1970. Drug Enforcement Administration acting head Chuck Rosenberg explained in a letter that the administration will expand research into marijuana’s medicinal benefits, but marijuana will remain a Schedule I drug because it “has no currently accepted medical use in treatment” in the United States, is not safe for use under medical supervision, and has a high abuse potential. Rosenberg understands it makes little sense to many Americans that marijuana should share the same schedule as heroin. (And, I would add, there have been no known human lethal overdoses from marijuana. The harm from marijuana is less dramatic, but real; chronic usage among teens and young adults can reduce the chances that they will marry, have children, or graduate from college.) “It is best not to think of drug scheduling as an escalating ‘danger’ scale,” Rosenberg wrote, and better to focus on medical and scientific evidence. Here’s the problem: There is no evidence that the DEA recognizes. For decades, the government effectively prohibited large-scale studies of marijuana’s medicinal properties. That hasn’t stopped Americans from finding out for themselves. “Talk to some patients,” countered Marijuana Majority founder Tom Angell. “My mom has MS. It has medical value, believe me.” Californians legalized medical marijuana in 1996. Since then, many of us have seen friends with cancer overcome nausea and diminished appetite because they had access to marijuana. Acquaintances credit marijuana with controlling their epileptic seizures. I’ve heard from many medical marijuana users who believe weed enabled them to use fewer opioids and other potentially lethal pain medications. It’s amazing the DEA can argue that marijuana is not safe under medical supervision when there have been no marijuana lethal overdoses, but opioid overdoses are the leading cause of accidental deaths in America. Three years ago, CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported on marijuana’s efficacy in controlling neuropathic pain for some patients and helping children who suffered from constant seizures. If Washington politicians truly cared about helping people in need, then the Democrat in the White House and the Republicans in Congress would have enacted legislation like the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States Act right then and there. In saying he has to follow the legal criteria for Schedule I, Rosenberg is ignoring the gulf between legal requirements and reality. He says there is no currently accepted medical use in treatment, yet the government has barely researched medical use. Nobody believes what the DEA says, said Angell. I don’t think prohibition works, and I expect to vote for the California ballot measure to legalize recreational adult use in November. Still, I readily acknowledge that people of goodwill can stand on either side of this issue. When it comes to medical use, however, the federal government should get out of the way and let people decide what works for them and the people they love. And, really, how can drug warriors who want to make it harder to prescribe opioids also want to make pain-alleviating medical marijuana off- limits? There is only one reason to cling to the status quo — willful institutional blindness. The worst part is, Obama knows better. 2016-08-14 11:08 Debra J spectator.org

40 Georgia Nicols horoscopes for Aug. 14, 2016 We have the “all clear” today to do business. The Moon is in Capricorn. It’s important to know that you are highly visible today whether you intend to be or not. In fact, people might learn private details about your personal life. Quite likely, you won’t mind because you feel relaxed and easygoing with everyone. (Do not expect too much from co- workers.) Because your appreciation of beauty is heightened today, give yourself a chance to see and enjoy beautiful places: museums, art galleries, pristine parks and university campuses. Romantic love might disillusion you today but only if you expect what is unrealistic. This is a lovely day to entertain at home because relationships with family members will be warm and friendly. However, stay realistic because that’s the best way to be. Don’t expect others to deliver more than they can (keeping in mind that even your in-laws are just frail mortals). Because you want to get along with others today, especially siblings, neighbors and relatives, you are willing to cut someone some slack. Naturally, if anyone takes advantage of you or disappoints you, it will hurt. The key is to have realistic expectations of others. Be careful with financial matters today because you might spend too much money in an extravagant way. Your desire to please others is a wonderful thing, but don’t go into debt! If shopping, be careful about large gestures that will empty your wallet. (You know who you are.) It’s a cruel truth that unexpressed expectations lead to disappointment. After all, others cannot read our minds. Nevertheless, we hope that loved ones and close friends will do so! This is why we are let down and disappointed when life is left up to guesswork and unspoken expectations. Something hidden or behind the scenes might cast a shadow on events today. Perhaps you’re waiting for someone to come forth with something but nothing happens? Perhaps you want someone to show their true love? Or at least, pick you up on time. Don’t expect too much from friends and members of groups today. If you can do this, this is a good day to schmooze with others. Nevertheless, because feelings of idealism are high, this can lead to disappointment because nobody’s perfect. You might think you are the favored one with a boss, parent or someone special. Today, this hope might be dashed or shaken up. The key is not to expect the impossible from others, especially someone in authority who is busy with others as well. Avoid controversial subjects today because you might be disillusioned if someone close to you disagrees with your values. Instead, enjoy the beauty of gorgeous architectural buildings, parks and galleries because your appreciation of beauty is heightened today. These things will delight you. Others are generous to you now, which is a good thing. However, today there is some kind of confusion regarding your expectations. You might expect more than someone is prepared to deliver? Naturally, this will lead to disappointment. Make sure everyone is on the same page. Don’t fall into martyr trap and make sacrifices for others because you think it’s a noble thing to do. And don’t let anyone do this for you today, either. This kind of manipulation is a guilt trip. Instead, be honest and genuine and hope for the best. (Forgive your enemies but never forget their names.) The Far Side cartoonist Gary Larson (1950) shares your birthday today. You are friendly, enthusiast and warm of heart. You are charismatic because of your charm, your generous sprit and your fast, insightful mind. This year you will be a student and a teacher. You will be excited as you start to see the fruits of your efforts for the past six years. Expect your well- earned rewards soon!

2016-08-14 11:18 Georgia Nicols chicago.suntimes.com

41 Dear Abby: Stop checking facts on your phone She’s my brother’s girlfriend, “Marla,” and she’s not a teenager. She’s in her late 40s. I consider it rude. She invariably interjects a comment to confirm or dispute whatever has been said by saying, “Well, according to …” That said, because you don’t trust your brother or his lady friend, then it is only logical that you would avoid them as much as possible. Last year, I gave her some simple coloring books and crayons, and she did enjoy that, but she has told me she is kind of tired of coloring. She has adamantly insisted she doesn’t want crosswords or word search books. She should not be encouraged to spend all of her time at home. A senior center can help to give her structure and physical and mental stimulation. In her generation, connection with peers is important because it provides debate and socialization. As to what she should be doing at home besides filling in the pages of coloring books, consider activities she did in the past such as knitting, chess, and watching sports or soap operas if she enjoys them. If you would rather not submerge yourself in the blood and tears, you have my permission not to watch. Instead, make sure to schedule activities that bring you pleasure and joy for balance — i.e. ones that involve music, exercise, friends or the outdoors. For everything you need to know about wedding planning, order “How to Have a Lovely Wedding.” Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $7 (U. S. funds), to: Dear Abby, Wedding Booklet, P. O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)

2016-08-14 11:18 Abigail Van chicago.suntimes.com

42 Small parties tell DA to join line of political suitors Political parties have been locked in closed-door negotiations on how to form coalition administrations in municipalities where there were no outright winners after last week's local government elections. The Protea Hotel in Midrand has served as the meeting place for several coalition discussions. ANC Gauteng chairman Paul Mashatile and secretary-general Gwede Mantashe held a private meeting described as "talks about talks" with EFF leader Julius Malema at the hotel last Sunday. Floyd Shivambu, Malema's deputy, confirmed that the party's decision on coalitions would be taken by its central command team at a meeting scheduled for tomorrow. The EFF is the kingmaker in these negotiations as it holds the balance of power in most hung councils, particularly in major metros such as Johannesburg and Tshwane. DA leader Mmusi Maimane had approached several opposition parties including Bantu Holomisa's UDM, COPE, the IFP and the African Independent Congress. Holomisa, the go-to person on negotiations between the ANC and the smaller parties, said they told Maimane to await the conclusion of the NEC' s meeting before entering into formal talks. "The DA came. We told them that some of us are talking to the ANC and we can't commit ourselves yet until we hear from their NEC meeting. The DA must understand that this is not a simple process," said Holomisa. AIC leader Mandla Galo said he, too, was waiting to hear from the ANC first before he could entertain the DA. Galo said his party wanted feedback from the ANC about the AIC's demands, especially that of moving Matatiele, the small opposition party's stronghold, back to KwaZulu-Natal from the Eastern Cape. "The ANC has asked for a meeting with us - and we will only engage with the DA after we have heard what the ANC has to offer regarding our demands," said Galo. The delays have forced the DA to abandon its planned first council meeting in Nelson Mandela Bay after it became clear the party was struggling to secure enough support to push through the election of Athol Trollip as mayor. The DA won the most votes in Nelson Mandela Bay but does not have enough seats to govern on its own. The small parties fear the DA wil use the coalition arrangement to swallow them as it did with Patricia de Lille's Independent Democrats. But the ACDP and the FF PLUS have committed to working with other parties to squeeze the ANC out of power. The ANC is expected to announce its formal plans tomorrow. The Sunday Times can report that last Sunday, Mantashe and other members of the ANC's top six met President Jacob Zuma in Pretoria, where the secretary-general told the party head that they had started talks with the EFF and Zuma gave them his blessing despite earlier reservations. The "premier league", an ANC faction, is said to be strongly opposed to a coalition with the EFF. Mantashe is leading the ANC's negotiations team, with deputy secretary- general Jessie Duarte, treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize, Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe and Deputy Co-operative Governance Minister Andries Nel. Mashatile also met Malema separately at a follow-up meeting on Tuesday when the EFF leader set eight conditions on which the two parties could form coalitions. Malema is demanding the ANC remove Zuma and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa before the EFF can swing it back into power in Tshwane and Johannesburg. Spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said the EFF would be guided by two basic principles in arriving at a decision. "Everything agreed to would have to better the lives of the black poor and the EFF would not give up its identity," said Ndlozi. Ndlozi has indicated that, depending on the benefits to the black poor, the EFF would prefer to work with the opposition rather than the ANC. DA sources confirmed that negotiations between the two parties were fruitful. A key sticking point is the EFF seemingly loath to govern with the DA. [email protected] , [email protected] , [email protected]

2016-08-14 11:17 THANDUXOLO JIKA www.timeslive.co.za

2016-08-14 11:17 www.thedrum.com

44 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Some were saved, some were not, in one deadly August in Washington County J essica Neal walks through the doors of her old high school gym wearing a black “Fight Against Heroin” T- shirt. She tries to calm her nerves. Eight years is a long time to be away. “I get goosebumps being back in here,” she says. Jessica has lived a few lives since then. The teenager who played basketball on this same parquet floor for Washington High's Lady Prexies and wanted to make her parents proud is gone. Her classmates would not believe what she’s been up to since graduation, unless they happened to read about it in the newspaper last August, or hear about it on Facebook. “How many people remember the young lady who overdosed in Walgreens last year?” M. J. Markley, the organizer of this May event, asks the 40 or so people in the audience. “Remember seeing that story in the news, in the paper? And, you know, thinking, who is this girl? “Jessica is that girl.” Jessica is 27 years old. She is the mother of 3-year-old Julianna, who follows her around and has now licked all of the pink icing off her doughnut. Julianna has been through a lot, but she seems happy. She tends to worry when she loses sight of her mother. Julianna was there, sitting in her stroller, when Jessica collapsed on the floor of a Walgreens bathroom stall because she injected too much of a lethal batch of heroin. All around Washington County, you can still feel the reverberations from August 2015, when nearly 40 people overdosed in the span of a week from heroin laced with the almighty opioid fentanyl, when first responders armed with a nasal spray antidote called Narcan held families’ futures throughout the Mon Valley in their hands. In seven days, six would die -- three from the fentanyl batch and three from unrelated opioid overdoses. Those who survived were the lucky ones. Using 911 dispatch records, the Post-Gazette identified four of the approximately 30 survivors. The overdoses of Jessica Neal, Melanie, Brenda and David were set apart by 36 hours stretching from the night of Aug. 16, 2015, to the morning of Aug. 18. For all practical purposes, each of them died, and strangers with syringes arrived to bring them back. “Hi everyone. I am Jess, and I am an addict.” Melanie, 20, handed the end of her teenage years to heroin and became a criminal. Brenda, 50, felt alone in this world after a great loss and used drugs to escape it. David, 43, yearned for the love of his wife and children but also couldn’t say no to the needy pangs in his stomach. Melanie, Brenda and David requested that their last names not be used, out of fear that an addict’s stigma would follow them forever. They had been given a second chance at life, but what were they going to do with it? All four survivors followed during the past year by the Post-Gazette shared two things very much in common: They say they were led to heroin through the use of painkillers prescribed by doctors, and they never imagined they would stick a needle into their arm. Because of her public embarrassment, Jessica Neal doesn’t have the option of protecting her identity. She now lives with the shame that any mother would feel. It has taken her nearly nine months, but she is ready to open the wound, potential judgment be damned. Jessica takes the microphone. The lone person stirring in the old gymnasium is blonde and blue-eyed Julianna, who is being corralled by her great grandma. “Hi everyone. I am Jess, and I am an addict.” Advertisement The lost ones Six months to the day of her brother’s death, Valerie Mack picks up the phone and hears the news she’s been waiting on. “Oh my God! Thank God!” she screams. “They indicted somebody!” Valerie hadn't heard much from the police since Aug. 16, 2015, when they took the leftover heroin from Sammy Mack’s Washington bedroom. Sammy, 50, had only started using a few months prior, after he had gotten addicted to prescription painkillers while recovering from a motorcycle accident, Valerie says. She felt he was coming out of his funk — he had just gotten a new painting job — but then he crossed paths with the heroin labeled “Made in Colombia.” Sammy came home, went upstairs, locked the door and never awoke. “Are they going to try him for murder?” Valerie asks the caller. Down at the courthouse, U. S. Attorney David Hickton and Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone are announcing an indictment against Ronald McMillian for his role in the distribution of the deadly heroin that shook awake this sleepy rural county that stretches southwest of Pittsburgh to the West Virginia border. He was not charged with murder. Even in February, the dark cloud of August casts a long shadow. Vittone vividly remembers that Sunday afternoon he spent out campaigning at the Washington County Fair. Unbeknownst to him, as he mingled with voters in the summer sun, hundreds of stamp bags of heroin laced with fentanyl — an opioid 100 times more powerful than morphine — were seductively snaking their way through the county’s green hills. Vittone was about to be put to the test. Two months before, in June 2015, he had made the controversial decision to approve the use of Narcan by first responders. The less empathetic and more Darwinian of his constituents railed against the use of Narcan, saying that he was allowing cops to play God and to slow the methodical drum of natural selection. But Vittone, who worked for many years as an emergency medical technician before he entered the practice of law, had chosen to gamble on the good inherent in all of us, that a person’s life was always worth saving no matter how desperate it had become. In the months since Vittone’s decision, Washington County had introduced a new statistic into the ledger: The save. The ones who didn’t wake up after using the fentanyl-laced heroin were often those new to the drug, who hadn’t built a tolerance. On this day in February, with the cameras turned on to trumpet this first indictment related to the August overdoses, Vittone would declare proudly that 36 saves had been made by the use of Narcan, compared to 33 fatalities since August. No, not everybody could be saved. And, as tragedy would have it, the ones who didn’t wake up after using the fentanyl-laced heroin were often those new to the drug, who hadn’t built a tolerance. Sammy Mack was, and so were the other two who died that week, 35-year-old Tony Terrant and 21- year-old Brooks Watkins. When the autopsy came in on Brooks, he showed just one other faint mark on his arm, which likely meant that the young man was no addict. Not yet, anyway. When notified of McMillan’s indictment, Brooks’ parents, John and Amy Watkins, take little consolation. It doesn’t help to lessen the hurt in the house on the hill in Monongahela, where a boy once dreamed of being a baseball star and a mother can’t bring herself to enter the quiet bedroom where he left her. Saving David The first responders at the car wash in Washington weren’t surprised to see the two men laying lifeless in a Lexus, one with a second bag of heroin already loaded up and a needle in his arm. “It seemed to me that, after it became news that everyone knew we were giving Narcan, they would be going to a public place, where if they OD’d, someone would be coming to help,” said Alan, a first responder who arrived on the scene around 1 p.m. on Aug. 17. They had learned to apply the Narcan by putting the syringe up a dummy’s nostril, but now David and his friend were depending on them. David had just gotten out of rehab. He was hoping to win his family back. That morning, he recalled later, marked 28 days clean, and, when he went to get the heroin they were calling “fire,” he was only planning to make some fast cash by selling it to clear up some debts. But then David figured, hey, why not? He could go to his Narcotics Anonymous meeting high and no one would notice. As it turned out, Alan would not have to make his first Narcan save. Paramedics quickly came and sprayed the antidote. “I died,” David would say. “I was unresponsive. They had to Narcan me twice. It scared me.” David’s was the first save Alan had witnessed, the first of many he’d see in the coming year. “I’d like to tell you that I think they’re all going to be revived and they’re going to go get clean and not do it again,” said Alan, who did not want his last name used to protect his identity in the field. “But from what I’ve seen, it just seems like they keep doing it. It’s almost like we’re enabling them to continue doing it. Other times, you see someone come out of it and they completely change.” No wakeup call David fidgets. He checks his phone often. He doesn’t have a job, but that doesn’t mean he isn't busy. It’s late afternoon, and he’ll need another fix to get him through the day and protect him from the horror of heroin withdrawal. David considers himself a maintenance user. He needs about 10 bags per day to function. That will run him near $100. So, he hustles. He drives other addicts around. He’s always on call. He wishes he didn’t crave it. He wishes being a husband and a father was enough. “Once you’ve become an addict, regular life is just too boring,” David says. “The all-powerful opiate is heroin. It’s the perfect drug. The euphoria, it gives you energy, it takes the pain away. If you don’t share needles, and you don’t overdose, it’s perfect.” Of course, David did overdose. Yet, the shock didn’t send him back to rehab. He has taken time out of his schedule to provide some context, to show that he isn’t just some junkie. David’s whole life, he has been enticed by adrenaline. In high school, he was an expert mogul and aerial skier with the dream of going to the Olympics. But he partied too much on the weekends and had so many absences from high school that he didn’t graduate. College probably wasn’t for him anyway. He became an alcoholic, but stopped drinking cold turkey a decade ago. He became addicted to cocaine, but licked that five years ago. He felt strong again. Four years ago, at age 39, he says an emergency room doctor prescribed him 160 Vicodin 750 milligram pills without asking if he had a history of addiction. Once the pills ran out, David needed something for his pain, and heroin was much cheaper. “Once you’ve become an addict, regular life is just too boring.” As he tells his story at the Washington Starbucks, his friend, Frank, sits by his side. If David ever needs a reminder of the craziness of life on heroin, all he has to do is look at Frank, who recently lost an eye to addiction and whose face is covered in red scars. Frank overdosed, fell and hit his head, bled, and was then attacked by a friend’s Rottweiler. “I want to be clean,” says Frank, who is currently on a Suboxone plan to get there. “I want to wake up normal. I got mauled, and then six months later, I’m using again. You would have thought I would have learned my lesson, but that’s how strong it was.” For Frank, it started six years ago when he was prescribed painkillers after a dirt bike accident. Frank was a welder, and David was a contractor. It didn’t have to be like this. “I’m numbing my feelings,” David says, “so that I don’t care.” David’s phone rings. He thanks you for your time, but he has to go. Saving Melanie The contents of the creamy brown heroin were no mystery to Melanie. She knew that the “Made in Colombia” stamp bags she and her boyfriend bought had been cut with fentanyl, and, to her, that only made it more desirable. Melanie understood how dealers thought because she was one. The chaos of August simply came down to some cruel math: Fentanyl is cheaper than heroin, yet immensely more powerful. So addicts would pay more for a product that costs less to make. With this stuff, she only used half a bag. She still overdosed. To the heartless supplier, it didn’t matter that fentanyl was deadly and could kill a loyal customer. “They were so strong, and when you tell other addicts how strong they are, they want it automatically,” Melanie would say. Usually, Melanie would use five to 10 bags at a time. With this stuff, she only used half a bag. She still overdosed. Her boyfriend took her to the bathroom, laid her on the floor and threw water on her face. Before the paramedics arrived, Melanie came back. She told them that she didn’t need to go to the hospital. They told her the police would be on their way. Melanie wasn’t going to hang around for that. There were warrants out for her arrest because she had been caught with drug paraphernalia. She ran into the woods behind her mother’s trailer and hid until it was safe. Rite of passage Melanie adjusts the mirror of the blue SUV and moves the driver’s seat forward. She hits the gas a little too hard and giggles. “Lead foot!” her godmother, Lynette, jokes. Will today finally be the day Melanie, now 20, gets her drivers license? She has already passed the written part. Now she pulls into the front of the line for her driving test and waits. The instructor approaches. He sees a small, blue-eyed girl with her hair and makeup all done up for her picture. She wears strategically ripped jeans and hot pink nail polish. Looking at Melanie, there is no way anybody could imagine the depths of hell that she used to call home. “I was someone who looked at someone who uses as ‘Oh, you’re a junkie. Just quit. You have a choice,’ ” Melanie says. “I didn’t know anything about it. I was never around any drugs. I hadn’t even heard of heroin.” At 17, Melanie attended vocational-technical school and worked at a fast food joint. She had played soccer in high school, but had to stop because of her knee. She went to see an orthopedic doctor, who recommended surgery to repair a genetic condition. He prescribed her Percocet. For nearly a year, she said, all she had to do was ask, and he’d leave a prescription with his nurses. She didn’t even have to see him. The day Melanie turned 18, she moved in with her boyfriend, who introduced her to heroin. “Just once is all it takes,” she says. “And actually, when I started doing heroin, I hated it. I’d puke, my stomach would hurt, but I’d keep doing it. I don’t know why. “After a month, it’s a physical thing. I had to have it to get up and function. I wouldn’t even open the door in the morning until I was high.” Melanie lived in Washington County’s alternate universe where the only thing that mattered was the next fix. For a while, she and her boyfriend worked doing construction for a man who built his business model around employing addicts and paying them exclusively in drugs. They would get in on the action, too, selling enough heroin so that they could always be high and still have money left over to stay in cheap motel rooms, buy cigarettes and pay for the rental car. “I wouldn’t even open the door in the morning until I was high.” “It was constant, all day long,” she says. “We robbed a couple houses. We used to carry guns. I did some dumb stuff, but at the time, you don’t care.” The overdose didn’t exactly scare her straight. Her mother and sister turned her in to police, and she spent a month in jail, which was the best thing that could have happened. She had no choice but to fight through 10 days of intense withdrawal. When she came out of it, she realized she actually had a chance to beat her addiction and return to the mainstream. Melanie hasn’t used since August. She’s gotten a job. She’s getting her GED. She’s a part of her family again. She’s … Melanie. “When I got out of jail, what I wanted the most was a chocolate milk shake,” says Melanie, who has added 30 pounds of healthy weight. Melanie has learned to appreciate boredom — and to exist with pain. Her other knee is acting up, but she can’t take that risk of surgery. The driver’s license is an important step. Her mother has promised to get her a car, because Melanie earned back her trust. Now, the instructor has taken his seat. Melanie drives to the back parking lot, where her first challenge is to parallel park. The only problem is she had not attempted the maneuver from this angle, with the driver reversing toward the passenger side. She inches the car back, turns into the spot but cuts it directly into a cone. She flunks. “Well, I’ve got to reschedule now,” she says, getting out of the car. She feigns a laugh. “It’s the first time, babe. It happens,” Lynette says. “I didn’t practice going that way,” Melanie says. “I was like … STOP!” Lynette says. “You almost had it.” Advertisement Saving Jessica Jessica had never overdosed. In the addict community, that was a source of great pride. The night of Aug. 16, she saw her brother’s girlfriend overdose from the “Made in Colombia” stamp bag that was making its way through town. Still, Jessica wanted some. She felt immune. The next day, with $10 to her name, she bought two bags. “Be careful,” the woman who sold it to her said. “I will,” Jessica said. “That doesn’t happen to me.” Jessica took her 2-year-old daughter, Julianna, with her to a bathroom stall at Walgreens and began to shoot up. Jessica went blank until she was being picked up off the floor by a first responder who had revived her with Narcan. “The first thing on my mind was, ‘Where is my kid?’ ” Jessica said. “You become very aggressive once you’re hit with Narcan. I was freaking out. They had to restrain me.” In the ambulance, Jessica was told that Child and Youth Services was on the way. But, Jessica said, she would later find out that a friend of Julianna’s father had heard the toddler crying in the bathroom and opened the stall door. She had recognized Julianna and called the man, who arrived at Walgreens shortly before CYS. A stroke of luck had kept Julianna with her family, but Jessica would still be charged with child endangerment. The next day, Jessica returned home from the hospital. A friend stopped by with unwelcome news. “I’m just warning you now,” she said. “Your name is all over Facebook.” Clean living You can find Jessica Neal sitting in the front pew of Judge John DiSalle’s courtroom, drinking a Pepsi as she waits for her name to be called. Every few weeks here at treatment court, Jessica updates the judge on her progress. Listening to others’ struggles to stay clean can serve as inspiration for her to rise above temptation. The first man to speak has had a relapse. “You were doing so well,” Judge DiSalle says. “This shouldn’t have happened at your stage. You have to have resolve.” The next man up failed a screen for alcohol and is claiming he used too much VapoRub. “It will be much easier if you come clean on this,” the judge says. “You’re not showing sincerity.” Then, a woman in cuffs and an orange jumpsuit has been caught trying to falsify a drug test because she used heroin. “I need these spots for people who truly want to be in recovery,” he says. “This is your last chance.” Jessica tells DiSalle that she remains clean, having not used since Aug. 17, 2015. Jessica sees her daughter often and is hoping to move soon into a three- quarter way house where Julianna can live with her. She goes to a daily Narcotics Anonymous meeting, has a sponsor and has established a relationship with her higher power. DiSalle is pleased. The system has worked for Jessica. In jail, she spent 10 days in medical lockdown due to an abscess. “That’s where the obsession got lifted,” Jessica says. “I started praying, reading the Bible, did a lot of thinking in there.” If Jessica wanted CYS to back off and let her be a mother to Julianna again, she would have to prove that she wanted recovery. The county’s chief adult probation officer, John Moschetta, recommended her for treatment court, which is reserved for those with serious addiction issues. “I’m thinking, ‘This is going to save my life. I can’t do this anymore,’ ” Jessica says. Through her soul searching, Jessica has realized that she had been using — first opioids prescribed by doctors and later heroin — to fill an emotional void and numb the sadness that befell her when her mother became sick with Lou Gehrig’s disease. “You use this substance, you feel like you matter,” Jessica says. “It took all my worries away. You don’t care about your family. You don't care about your kids. You don’t care about anything. Your job. Your car. I’ve lost three cars due to my engine blowing up because I didn’t change the oil. I was renting my vehicle out to drug dealers. You don’t care. I’m not sick for the day. That’s all that matters. “When I overdosed, that was a big wakeup call to me.” Judge DiSalle hears more sad stories than happy ones, and he likes the direction that Jessica is heading. “Keep up the good work,” he says. Saving Brenda On the night of Aug. 16, eight overdose calls came into dispatch in the span of 70 minutes. Donnie, a concerned citizen, listened to his police scanner at his Washington home, as he often did to stay informed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with this town,” he thought. Donnie mostly worried for his 50-year-old wife, Brenda. She had been clean for more than a month and had just driven to the corner store to buy cigarettes. What state would she be in when she returned? At the 7-Eleven, Brenda ran into a familiar face that triggered a familiar feeling. “I almost died. My first thought was, ‘How could I do this to myself?’” In July, she had gone to rehab and received a Vivitrol shot to help prevent a relapse, but she had moved back her August appointment for the monthly shot (which works like Suboxone) to go on vacation. Her chemical defenses weakened, she was now confronted with a demon disguised as an old friend offering her two bags for 10 bucks. “Being clean so long, I thought, ‘It’s going to be a good high,’ ” she said. Now Donnie stood on their front porch, watching as his wife drove her Jeep past their driveway and hit a neighbor’s parked car. His fears were confirmed. He dialed 911, and soon an ambulance arrived. Brenda’s eyes were rolling back in her head. The paramedics gave her Narcan. She came to before the trip to the hospital. The next morning, when she awoke at home, she felt numb. It was not a good high. “I almost died,” she said. “My first thought was, ‘How could I do this to myself?’ ” Managing pain Brenda and Donnie keep their house dark. She doesn’t get out much during the long winter, partly because she doesn’t like the cold, and partly because she can’t move very easily with her back problems. With Donnie working a 9-to-5 she lives each day here with no company but her physical and emotional pain. In mid-March of this year, all she can do is cry as she talks about the events that brought her to the brink of death. This is how it had been since 2011. When her sister died of kidney cancer, she felt she had nothing to live for, despite having two children and five grandchildren. Then her best friend passed away from lupus, and her niece died from a heroin overdose. “God started plucking all these people out of my life,” she says. In the vast void, Brenda latched onto the sweet sensation she got when she would drink down the painkillers prescribed to her by doctors. The high would wash over her, and, inside the opioid’s protective cocoon, she could forget. Before long, Brenda was selling her pills — which can go for about a dollar per milligram on the street — to fund a heroin addiction she masterfully hid from her husband. Her two sons suspected what was going on with their mother, but the overdose broke down her wall of secrecy. “I thought, ‘I’m going to put all these people through this,’ ” Brenda says, the tears flowing. “I had already lost probably a good bit of respect from my kids. I want them to be able to trust me again. I mean, I don’t know how to show them …” The only way, of course, is to get clean and to stay clean. In November, she hadn’t used since the overdose, but she went to the hospital complaining of a toothache. Donnie says the hospital doctor prescribed her 10 Vicodin and a prescription signed by her neurosurgeon gave her 40 more. She says nobody asked if she had a history of addiction. “They’re basically like legal drug dealers,” Brenda says. On this day, Brenda says she hasn’t used in 39 days. She hasn’t been going to NA meetings. The weather, you know. Until it warms up, she will stay inside and continue counting the days, with each one a bigger victory than the one before it. A failed save It was a classic summer Saturday. John and Amy Watkins watched their youngest son, Jake, play soccer for Charleroi High in the morning. Their oldest son, Brooks, said he would join them in the afternoon to go to his aunt’s house. When they returned home from the soccer game, Amy yelled up to Brooks. No answer. She didn’t think anything of it — they were always trying to give their 21-year-old his space — and took the dog outside. Soon, Amy would hear Brooks’ phone ringing continuously. Jake told her that he was probably sleeping. She yelled again that it was time for him to start getting ready. No answer. Amy walked up the stairs and peeked in his bedroom. She didn’t see him. She checked the bathroom. Nothing. This time, she entered the bedroom and circled the bed. “And there he was, on his knees, like he was just going to jump up and surprise me,” Amy would say. “And I shook him and shook him and, when I pulled him back onto me, that’s when I saw the syringe and the spoon.” She screamed for John. He ran up to the room where he had installed baseball- and football-themed wallpaper and put up the sign that said “Watkins Field,” the room where Brooks would stargaze from his telescope and imagine the big world outside of Monongahela. Brooks was going to go see it — he had just decided to join the Navy. Now he laid on the floor, his lips blue. He was cold. John tried to breathe warmth back into him. “Having to give your son CPR when you know it’s not going to work… it’s haunting,” John would say. When the paramedics arrived, it was too late. Brooks Watkins was dead, and the scariest thing was, his parents never even knew he had a problem. Brooks’ mystery John and Amy Watkins need there to be a heaven. Just the other day in church, the sermon made Amy feel like they’re going to see Brooks again. “I am working on believing,” John says. “Maybe the saddest thing would be if that were the last time we ever see him.” They do a lot of thinking, mostly in the past. You know that Harry Chapin song, “Cat’s In the Cradle”? The lyrics stick with John. I don’t know when, but we’ll get together then You know we’ll have a good time then At a Pirates game last fall, John caught himself having a conversation with the empty seat next to him. “One of the most difficult things is getting older without him,” John says. “I will never forget him, but I have difficulty thinking of being an old fart and still thinking about what happened. As they say, whatever he struggled with is over for him. But it’s a struggle that we have as long as we live.” “The old thought of what an addict is, under the bridge, down and out, that’s not Brooks. It’s starting to be in any given social strata. It doesn’t discriminate.” They don’t know what Brooks’ struggle was. They’ve spent the past year desperately trying to figure it out, to understand where they failed so that they can move on and give Jake the best of what they have left. There have been few satisfactory answers. Was it pills? Brooks, a star catcher on the Charleroi baseball team, had a high tolerance for pain. They remember him having surgery to repair a torn labrum his senior year, and, while he took some painkillers, they recall Brooks saying he didn’t want anymore after just a day. At 19, he had his wisdom teeth out. Amy took a video of him in a loopy state from the morphine saying he had taken something that made him feel “real good,” which made his mom laugh. But they have no evidence that Brooks ever abused pills. So, they play detective, putting every little thing under the microscope. The few months before Aug. 22, 2015, he was mostly himself. He interacted with the whole family on their annual trip to the Outer Banks, N. C. He wore shorts and sandals and T-shirts, so he wasn’t hiding any needle marks. He hadn’t lost any noticeable weight. He was playing for a competitive softball team with friends. Still, looking back, they realize he had begun to tell them small lies. He would ask Amy for money more often. She wondered if he had an online gambling problem. The one time she pressed him on the issue of drugs, he responded that he wasn’t using anything and she could drug test him. She chose to trust him. On the morning he died, Brooks called his mother’s cell phone around 11:45 a.m. She was at Jake’s soccer game, and she had mistakenly left her phone in the car. That missed call will be ringing in her heart forever. John and Amy Watkin discuss the death of their son, Brooks. (Michael Henninger/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) “You may think it’s not to going to happen to you, but you’re better off to be safe than sorry,” says Amy, who has told her family’s story at several public forums. “I struggle with the feeling I let him down, because I should have known more. But we weren’t brought up around people that had any form of addiction.” Brooks’ parents and grandparents all went to college, but they simply didn’t gain enough education during the last decade about opioids and heroin. John’s father, John Sr., was the president of California (Pa.) University. He and Brooks started their own club, reading the same books and trading notes. “The old thought of what an addict is, under the bridge, down and out, that’s not Brooks,” the younger John Watkins says. “It’s starting to be in any given social strata. It doesn’t discriminate.” John and Amy don’t believe their son was an addict, but they can’t deny that he may have been headed down that path. Someone actually had the nerve to tell them that they had been spared the pain of watching your loved one spiral away. “We would have done anything to save him,” John says. “I think he could have overcome this,” Amy says. They don’t take any chances with Jake, who just graduated high school. They drug test him. This summer, they decided that they had OK to go on a family vacation. But it wouldn’t be the Outer Banks, where they’d been so many times with Brooks. They opted for the beaches of Sand Bridge, Va., where John Watkins would ask the extended family to honor Brooks’ memory one last time. Each person walked to the edge of the Atlantic, said something to Brooks and dropped a flower into the surf. Advertisement Two directions These four who lived don’t have anything promised to them. In the middle of another hot summer, David is still out there hustling and hoping someday he will have enough of a reason to slow down. Brenda’s husband, Donnie, recently found his wife passed out in the morning with heroin lying next to the bed. She had been clean for 120 days. This ongoing dance between temptation and desperation is the daily reality today for Washington County — and for the many other rural counties of Appalachia. Despite the consistent effort by Washington County district attorney Gene Vittone and the county’s public safety team, there is no end in sight. In February, there was another outbreak of fentanyl-laced heroin, and, while Vittone felt they were much more prepared the second time, they could not prevent the deadly toxin from hitting the street. “We have to realize that addiction is a medical condition and treat it as such.” As of July 19, county 911 dispatch records show that there have been more than 340 overdoses reported since Aug. 1, 2015, resulting in 63 fatalities and 65 saves. “I do not believe we’ve seen the peak of it yet,” says Washington County coroner Tim Warco. “The numbers that we’re having … putting people in jail is not helping. We have to realize that addiction is a medical condition and treat it as such.” Melanie and Jessica needed incarceration to get clean. For them, nearly a year later, recovery is fragile but ongoing.

2016-08-14 11:07 www.post-gazette.com

45 Anthony Weiner Sends Flirtatious Messages To Republican Activist Posing As Woman Here is one more reason for Hillary Clinton to short circuit. “Carlos Danger” just re- invented himself as a mongoose. The New York Post on Saturday published Anthony Weiner’s racy direct Twitter messages to a male college Republican leader who catfished him from the girlie handle “Nikki.” Weiner, at a Los Angeles hotel last month for an appearance on “Real Time With Bill Maher,” playfully described himself as a “mongoose,” joked about his “staff” and even gave “Nikki” his personal cell phone number so “she” could locate him. “Text and I’ll hit that location button thing,” the husband of Clinton’s top-aide says hopefully. But his virtual heartthrob was actually the male head of a school’s Republican club who borrowed a female friend’s Twitter account to entrap Weiner. In one message Weiner suggested to “Nikki” he is just wearing a towel. “I moved the tv so I could hear/see it while in the shower. I dropped it. Neighbor complained. Me Towel. Tv. Floor. And now concierge on the way.” “She” responds, “Come out with just the towel on when he/she knocks, would pretty much = a tip for the concierge.” Weiner first plays coy. “This is definitely a porn set up.” But he then said hopefully, maybe the the concierge is “wearing strappy black heels and just left work to come welcome me to LA.” In the exchange, Weiner joking refers to himself as a “mongoose” and even sends “Nikki” one. Just Friday Page Six reported claims by Weiner’s ex-online honey Sydney Leathers that he was sexting a woman who sought her advice. But Weiner told Post reporter Mara Siegler that he knew “Nikki” was setting him up. He called the July 27 exchanges, “a playful joust with an obvious catfish,” and, with the kind of insouciance people use to feign innocence, said, “I can confirm that I am indeed deceptively strong like a mongoose.” Weiner sent over 60 texts to Nikki, according to exchanges the Post published online. Indeed, after Weiner sent “Nikki” his number but “she” cuts the conversation home, claiming to need to get home to “her” roommates. The ex- congressman sounded disappointed after hearing the excuse. “Btw, thanks for your help with wardrobe. Sheesh.” “Nikki” told the Post that he enticed Weiner into direct messaging him simply by re-tweeting and comment on one of his posts. “The amount of effort this took was the most alarming thing given his history,” he said. “I was trying to think how to get him to say something stupid without making it so obvious.” Brian Fallon, press secretary for the Clinton campaign, did not immediately respond to a tweet Saturday night asking if he thought Weiner’s defense that he was deliberately toying with a “catfish” is transphobic.

2016-08-14 11:08 Investigative Journalist dailycaller.com

46 Soros Groups Get Hacked, Hundreds Of Documents Leaked Hundreds of internal documents from groups run by prominent billionaire liberal donor George Soro were leaked online Saturday after hackers infiltrated the groups. The 2,576 files were released by DCLeaks, a website which claims to be “launched by the American hacktivists who respect and appreciate freedom of speech, human rights and government of the people.” The documents are from multiple departments of Soros’ organizations. Soros’ the Open Society Foundations seems to be the group with the most documents in the leak. Files come from sections representing almost all geographical regions in the world, “the President’s Office”, and something named SOUK. There are documents dating from at least 2008 to 2016. In June, the Open Society Foundations also had several documents leaked by DCLeaks. Bloomberg reported that the foundation notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation to the hacking. Documents in the leak range from research papers such as “SOMALIS IN EUROPEAN CITIES PORTFOLIO REVIEW” to specific financials of grants. DCLeaks previously released emails from Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, the supreme commander of NATO forces in Europe. The emails showed Breedlove upset with Obama’s reluctance to address Russian aggression. DCLeaks has been alleged to be a Russian-backed source.

2016-08-14 11:08 dailycaller.com

47 Fashion police down on Nciza for rowdy show The 20-minute show on Thursday to launch her NN Vintage line started with Khanyi Mbau performing her song Shake in an umbrella top and underwear, followed by actress Jessica Nkosi, TV personality Luthando "LootLove" Shosha, Big Brother Mzansistar Babalwa Mneno and Idols SA judge Somizi Mhlongo, among others. Nciza said she had wanted to move away from the stiff and serious ramp showcase to a more vibrant African show. "I am an entertainer and a designer, which is what I wanted to showcase through my show. "I chose all sorts of shaped celebrities because I wanted to show support to other female celebrities, since it's Women's Month, while also showing my potential buyers that you don't have to be a skinny person to wear NN Vintage," she said. But there were a few glitches. One model was left exposed when her black top snapped as she walked the ramp, leaving her breasts in full view of the cameras and guests. Gasps turned into a cheer of encouragement when she appeared to be unfazed. A commentator on SABC show Trendz , Leroy Marc, said he felt Nciza should have done better as it wasn't her first fashion show. "It was a good show, but there were so many elements that left me disturbed. Had the models not been dancing and moving about as much as they were, those garments could have survived the runaway. "Her use of pear-plum has been done to death and is not flattering to the African [figure]," he said. Another model stepped on her long mesh skirt and the audience watched in dismay as it slowly ripped. "Getting on stage anything can happen, unfortunately. That is life but I am glad the model handled it really well," said Nciza. But designer Gavin Rajah said local fashion shows left much to be desired. "There is a huge discussion in the fashion industry at the moment, where many are asking if shows are targeted for a fashion audience or are put on for entertainment. "

2016-08-14 11:15 GABI MBELE www.timeslive.co.za

48 Japan boy band SMAP to break up One of Asia's biggest pop groups, SMAP, is to break up at the end of the year after a 25-year career. The Japanese boy band, which sold 35m records up to last year, will disband on 31 December, its management agency said on Sunday. Rumours of a split had been rife since the turn of the year, but had all previously been denied. Its five members, who are aged between 39 and 43, are now expected to pursue solo careers. The band, formed in 1988, has built up a huge fanbase in Japan and throughout Asia with members appearing frequently in films, soap operas, and commercials. Members of SMAP, which stands for "Sports Music Assemble People", have also appeared on cookery shows and Japanese coverage of the Rio Olympics. Their popularity has even made them ambassadors for diplomatic relations between Japan, China and South Korea. In 2011, they were the first Japanese pop group to visit China in a decade, amid a row between the countries over disputed territory. Their Beijing concert was attended by 40,000 people. A statement by the group's managers Johnny and Associates said they were "truly and deeply pained and sorry" to not be able to take part in 25th anniversary celebrations.

2016-08-14 11:07 www.bbc.co.uk

49 Little drought relief in metro Atlanta 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

2016-08-14 11:11 Lauren Foreman www.ajc.com

50 Filipina nanny helped raise Singapore golden boy Coaches, teammates and rivals may have seen the evolution of Joseph Schooling the swimmer. But very few would have witnessed the boy-to-man story of Singapore’s Olympic champion from diapers to the Mizuno trunks who went prospecting in Rio de Janeiro and struck gold. Ms Yolanda Pascual, or “Auntie Yolly”, is Schooling’s loyal domestic helper who has seen him through his formative years to adulthood, although in her loving eyes he is always her “waterboy”. In a Sunday Times phone interview yesterday, she said: “I’ve always believed in him. I was watching and shouting for him. I cannot express how happy I am… I was jumping and crying after he won.” Still working for the Schooling household after 19 years, the pair have always been close. The 21-year-old Olympic gold medallist has even called her a “second mum” in a YouTube video made by Singtel, where he showed his appreciation for her support. She said: “When I miss him, I read our messages (on the phone). He’s like my own son.” The Filipina started working for Schooling’s family in 1997. She recalled: “He was playful like all boys, but (has) always been loving and caring and a very good boy. He never shouts at me or anybody.” The 56-year-old has a file filled with newspaper clippings of him. She said: “He’ll always say ‘I want to be No. 1′. I remember once we were watching (Michael) Phelps on TV, he told me he wanted to be there and be like him, and I knew he could do it. He has a very strong will; if he wants something, he’ll get it.” But he never quite had a normal childhood – a sacrifice he made to get into the record books. “When friends asked (him) to go out, he usually couldn’t because he had practice early the next day,” said Ms Pascual, who is married with two daughters. When he experienced lows, she would always be there, behind the scenes, to pick him up. She said: “He told me when he was very tired, and I’d give him a massage. Even now, when he comes back, he still asks for massages and he’s still like the young boy he was before he left.” 2016-08-14 11:01 The Straits globalnation.inquirer.net

51 Jewish activists lead global protest in Palestinian village of Sussiya As around 30 mostly American and Israeli- American Jews brought in the Shabbat with Hebrew prayers, a strong wind carried the muezzin’s evening call for prayer from the nearby Palestinian city of Yatta, interweaving the Jewish and Islamic melodies. This group of Jewish activists was spending Shabbat evening in the Palestinian village of Sussiya as part of a “global Shabbat against demolitions,” which gathered around 300 Jews from some five countries to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian villages of Sussiya, Umm el-Kheir, al-Araqib and Umm el-Hiran. These villages are illegal under Israeli law as they were built without permits, and Sussiya is slated for demolition by the government. Be the first to know - Join our Facebook page. Over the weekend, activists from Israel, the UK and the US hosted Shabbat dinners in more than 10 cities and five countries, including: New York, London, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Belgium, and Australia; and protested in front of the Israeli Embassy in London and consulate in New York. The global protest is coordinated by All That’s Left, an anti-occupation collective of Diaspora Jews in partnership with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence and T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. The ground zero for this movement of mostly young Jews standing with Palestinians is in Sussiya – the heart of the conflict over housing demolition. Here overlooking the South Hebron Hills, young Jews have assembled with Palestinian residents and activists to oppose Israeli policies head-on. “We are speaking for a growing portion of the Jewish community that realizes the situation is unsustainable and we need to work with Palestinians to build a common future,” stated Erez Bleicher, an organizer with All That’s Left. With a population of only 400, the Palestinian village of Sussiya has garnered international attention as it faces a demolition order from the government. A dialogue was established last year between Sussiya residents and the Civil Administration for the West Bank to see whether the two parties could come to an agreement. The negotiations, however, were halted as Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman considers the government’s stance on Sussiya. The High Court of Justice has ordered Liberman to submit his position on the demolition of Sussiya by August 15. But other organizations like Regavim, an NGO aligned with the settler movement, holds the position that the land was used only for grazing sheep, and shepherds in Yatta would occasionally sleep there. A few weeks ago, Regavim’s international director, Josh Hasten, commented on the situation. “The Palestinians have no legal or historical claim to this land. They have been squatting illegally in the area for the past 15+ years,” he said. “We call upon the Supreme Court to enforce its decision against illegal construction carried out in deliberate violation of explicit court orders.” For these Jewish activists, many of them coming from a background of involvement in Jewish summer camps and with Jewish institutions, the mainstream Jewish community has turned a blind eye toward some Israeli policies which they consider unjust. Thus, they are seeking to harness their interpretations of Jewish ethics and morality toward solidarity with Palestinian issues. Sussiya is located right next to a Jewish settlement of the same name, situated in the West Bank’s South Hebron Hills. “I know that tonight in the [Jewish] settlement of Sussiya, they are singing the same prayers as we are, but they have a different interpretation,” said Frima Bubis, a participant on the trip whose friend attended high school in the settlement. “I know that the heart that mourns for Gush Katif is the same heart that can mourn Palestinian suffering,” she said. Bubis served in the IDF in the Civil Administration of Nablus, and was raised in a Conservative family with a strong connection to her Jewish identity. While her current activism has given her a “different relationship with Israel,” it has nevertheless strengthened her connection with Israel and her Jewish identity. “I think that having to constantly insist on our connection to Israel and our legitimacy as Jews has actually strengthened my connection,” she said. Bubis also works for the controversial group, Breaking the Silence. According to a statement by All That’s Left, the purpose of the Shabbat protests is to “say emphatically that forced displacements, dislocation, and demolition do not represent our values... As members of a people who have experienced expulsion, persecution, and dispossession, we stand with all Palestinian communities facing eviction.” In Sussiya the residents clearly appreciate the presence and impact of the Jewish activists. Nassar Nawaja, a resident and field researcher for B’Tselem was happy that Jewish activists were supporting the village in its dispute with the Israeli government. “It is extremely important that Jewish people tell our message to the world,” he stated. Fatimah Nawaja, the head of the South Hebron Hills Rural Women’s Association, which is based in Sussiya, told The Jerusalem Post that the presence of Jewish activists “feels very special.” She thanked the activists for their visit and said “it is good for Jews to stand behind us in nonviolence.” The Shabbat against demolitions campaign comes as Israel is facing increasing pushback from the United States and some American-Jewish organizations protesting a possible Israeli demolition of Sussiya. A diplomatic source told the Post’s Tovah Lazaroff last week that demolishing the village would be “crossing a redline.” A letter from the president of the Union of Reform Judaism, Rabbi Rick Jacobs to Ambassador Ron Dermer urges Israel to preserve the village, while a recent J Street petition asking US Secretary of State John Kerry to “stop the demolition of Sussiya” has received thousands of signatures, according to J Street. “We urge you to share with [Liberman] our strong support for a solution to this impasse that recognizes the interests of Sussiya residents and does not lead to the community’s destruction,” the Union for Reform Judaism letter read. While the small village has gained a lot of international attention, the activists hope that their distinctly Jewish voices will help the Palestinian village in its dialogue with the government to resolve the dispute. “I think it will contribute to a larger effort pressuring the US and governments in Europe and Australia to pressure Israel to not to go forward with these demolitions,” said Bleicher. “This global Shabbat against demolition is one representation of a Jewish mass movement that is emerging.” Think other should know about that? Please share | |

2016-08-14 10:54 Eliyahu Kamisher www.jpost.com

52 Rio 2016: Dutee Chand flops, Anas and Ankit crash out Rio de Janeiro: Sprinter Dutee Chand (below), who made it to her first Olympics after fighting the odds arising out of a ‘gender test’, finished a disappointing seventh in her 100m heats on the opening day of athletics event. Dutee Chand She clocked 11.69secs. Men’s quarter-miler Muhammad Anas also crashed out at the heats while long jumper Ankit Sharma failed to advance to the final round to pile on the Indian misery.

2016-08-14 10:35 By PTI www.mid-day.com

53 2k civilians used by ISIS as 'human shields' freed Beirut: Some 2,000 civilians used by the ISIS as human shields have been released as the jihadists retreated in northern Syria. A source from Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which pushed ISIS out of the city of Manbij this week with the aid of US-led air strikes, said some of the civilians were able to escape while "others were freed". The SDF, an Arab-Kurdish alliance, launched an assault in May on Manbij, a key jihadist supply route.

2016-08-14 09:56 By Agencies www.mid-day.com

54 Chinese foreign minister meets PM, Swaraj; talks NSG New Delhi: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and held talks with his counterpart Sushma Swaraj during which India's bid for membership to the NSG is understood to have figured among other regional and bilateral issues. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj welcomes her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in New Delhi on Saturday. Pic/PTI Wang and Swaraj also discussed issues relating to the annual BRICS summit which will be hosted by India in Goa in October. "Discussing issues of mutual importance. EAM @SushmaSwaraj meets with her counterpart Chinese FM Wang Yi in New Delhi," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted, along with a photograph of the meeting of the two foreign ministers. Wang had arrived in Goa on Friday on a three-day visit to India. He had met Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and discussed about preparations for the BRICS summit. The Chinese Foreign Minister arrived here last night. He called on Modi first and then held talks with Swaraj. China had stalled India's bid for membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) at the plenary meeting of the 48-nation grouping in June on grounds that it was not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

2016-08-14 09:51 By Agencies www.mid-day.com

55 Police foils separatist attempts to march Srinagar: Police on Saturday thwarted attempts by separatist leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who are under house arrest, to take out processions from their residences to Lal Chowk. In the first instance, Mirwaiz, the chairman of moderate Hurriyat Conference, came out from his Nigeen residence, located on the outskirts of Srinagar, this afternoon. He was immediately detained by the police and taken to Nigeen police station, officials said. Separately, Geelani, who heads the hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference, also tried to take out a march from his Hyderpora residence on Srinagar- Airport road. However, the police stopped the octogenarian leader, following which he along with his supporters staged a sit-in on link road.

2016-08-14 09:31 By Agencies www.mid-day.com

56 30-year-old conned, kidnapped on date in Mumbai A resident of Malad could not have guessed what lay on the other side of his new virtual friendship. On July 29, the 30-year-old victim became friends with Sahil, alias Jack, on Planet Romeo. Police sources say the two exchanged phone numbers and began chatting regularly. As they had become good friends, the victim asked Jack to meet him at his residence on August 2. While Jack kept the date, minutes into their meeting, the doorbell rang. An unknown person, claiming to be a police official from the Chembur police station, forced his way into the house. He said they were violating laws with their homosexual acts, and forced them into an autorickshaw claiming that he was taking them to the police station. When the autorickshaw was on its way through the Powai end of Aarey Colony, it became clear that Jack and the other man, who had posed as a cop, were working hand in glove. They demanded Rs 50,000 from the victim. When the victim responded that he didn't have much money to part with, the kidnappers stopped at an ATM near Powai's L&T Company, where they forced him to withdraw R25,000. Once the accused had the cash in hand, they fled in the same auto. The victim has registered a complaint at the Kurar police station. Inspector LT Vhanmane said, “We are investigating the case. It seems like a racket of harassers who cheat people by making friends through various social networking sites.”

2016-08-14 09:29 By Samiullah www.mid-day.com

57 57 Mumbai boy held for stalking ex The Byculla police has arrested a 20-year-old for stalking and threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend if she didn't get back with him. The BMM student met Viraj Pednekar through a Facebook friend last year, and their relationship lasted for about 10 months. After their break-up in May, Pednekar would threaten to send their personal selfies to her parents if she refused to him. After the family lodged a complaint with the police, he was booked and arrested.

2016-08-14 09:28 By A www.mid-day.com

58 Mahad bridge tragedy: Wreckage of second bus found Two days after rescue agencies fished out one of the two missing ST buses, which fell into a river following a bridge collapse near Mahad in Raigad district, the wreckage of the second bus was found on Saturday. The Jaigad-Borivli bus was fished out from the river on Saturday night The Jaigad-Borivli bus, which was located 200 metres from the first ST bus, was dragged ashore with the help of cranes late in the night. While the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Coastal Guard and Navy are carrying out rescue operations together, Sushma Satpute, sub-divisional officer (Mahad), said it was the Navy commanders who found both the missing buses. Shirish Pavle, lieutenant commandant, Navy, said though both the buses were located just around 200 metres from each other, search operations took time because they could enter the river only when the water levels weren't too high. "To avoid the heavy flow of water, we carried out search operations at 5 am," he said. He added that since the river was muddy, the visibility in the water was poor, making it impossible for divers to find the bus. "We traced the bus at 10 am on Saturday, but our divers had to go inside and confirm if it was the same missing vehicle," Pavle said. The cranes were brought to the site early evening. According to officials, mud from the water had seeped into the bus, causing the heavy vehicle to sink further below, delaying rescue work.

2016-08-14 09:26 By Faisal www.mid-day.com

59 Tweens wake up to stylish Saturday in Mumbai It was a regular Saturday morning at Lower Parel's Phoenix Mills, as we absent- mindedly tugged at the gate of the Palladium side of the mall, without realising that it doesn't open until 11 am. Finding it locked, we followed the sound of an MC who was at it making non- stop announcements. (From left) The first, second and third visitors to the store As we approached the scene of the buzz, we noticed that the courtyard of the mall looked quite unlike its calm exterior. There were hordes of women dressed in high heels and sunglasses, crop tops and ripped denims, patiently waiting, in a scene that reminded us of the unending queues at the Shirdi temple in Nashik. Red barricades marked the winding boundaries that led to the mall's latest entrant, the H&M store. Around 1500 shopaholics stood outside the door (some squatted on the floor) of the outlet. "People have been here since last night! " we heard a tween say, as she plonked her sunglasses on her head. A volunteer, however, confirmed that the first shopper in the queue had lined up 30 hours before the opening and received a gift card of Rs 10,000, while the next two fashionistas in line received gift cards worth Rs 7,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively. The stores's first few customers happened to be boys, and the fourth one was a girl who we were told was furious at her loss. We decided to brave the lines just to figure out what the fuss was all about. Customers cheer at the store opening Just ahead of us, a pre-schooler complained to a yummy mummy about the weather. She was promptly pacified with a 'another five minutes' promise (we were in the queue for about half-an-hour after that). At 11 am sharp, the MC did a dramatic countdown, the DJ played Maroon 5's, Moves like Jagger and many members of the crowd couldn't help but acknowledge the song as they bobbed heads and shook their shoulders to the groovy sound. As the line started to move forward volunteers handed out bottles of mineral water to the crowd. It felt as if we were part of a retail marathon. There was mayhem inside the store as well. Getting anywhere close to a trial room seemed impossible. The collection, as is the case with those in other Indian metros, was nowhere close to the spunky lines we've seen in international shopping pit stops like London. The 31,000 sq ft H&M store, marked a late debut in Mumbai after making its presence felt in Delhi and Mohali. As we got away from the maddening crowd, we walked past an empty line of stores including Zara, Burberry and a few others. It was just another day at the office for Mumbai's shopaholics.

2016-08-14 09:24 By Suprita www.mid-day.com

60 10 boys break window, scale wall to escape from remand home In what could be a scene from The Shawshank Redemption, 10 juvenile boys fled from the David Sassoon Industrial School in Mahim on Friday night. They snuck out with the help of a makeshift rope, constructed with the help of wires, cloth and bedspreads. Of the 10 boys who fled, four had come from the Yerwada juvenile home on July 23 while the others were from Mumbai. Officials from the remand home, which houses a total of 131 boys, filed a formal complaint with the Shivaji Park police on Saturday morning, and claimed that the boys had plotted the escape. An officer from the Shivaji Park police station said, "The boys usually stayed in groups of ten in each room and had been planning their escape by collecting ropes and cloth. " A source from the remand home said that the boys were kept in the second floor of the home and they broke the iron rods of the window one by one over time. "They jumped out of the window, and then scaled the walls of the remand home, with the help of a rope they had made," the source added. The remand home's boundary walls are about 18 feet high. The four escapees who had been transferred from Yerwada have a history of breaking out of correctional homes. They had earlier fled from a home in Nashik. They were caught and shifted to Yerwada, before being sent to the school in Mahim. "The remand home officials lodged a complaint saying that they found the boys missing during the night attendance. We have registered a missing complaint and have formed several teams to search for the boys," said Gangadhar Sonawane, senior police inspector of Shivaji Park police station.

2016-08-14 09:18 By Vinay www.mid-day.com

61 6-year-old beats sister to death as mom shops in West Florida Miami: A six-year-old boy beat to death his 13-day-old sister after their mother left them alone in her van for nearly 40 minutes in west Florida. Kathleen Steele The mother, Kathleen Marie Steele (62), appeared in court on Friday and was charged with aggravated manslaughter and neglect in the infant's death. Pinellas County sheriff Bob Gualtieri said Steele took her children — Frankie (6), Philip (3) and 13-day-old Kathleen — in a mini-van while running errands. She left them inside, with the windows and doors closed. After the baby began to cry, Frankie picked her up and "began flipping her, multiple times back and forth, dropping her around the floor, slamming her head against the ceiling, striking her in the face and causing severe trauma". When Steele returned, her son told her what happened but she decided to continue with her errands, not returning home until two hours later. By then, the baby was blue. Steele told a neighbour, who called 911. The baby was pronounced dead at a clinic. Steele had appeared on a TV show, 'I'm Pregnant and 55 years old'.

2016-08-14 09:17 By Agencies www.mid-day.com

62 Girlfriend-beating tech mogul gets a year in jail San Fransisco: Indian-origin Silicon Valley mogul Gurbaksh Chahal, who sold his startup for $300 million at the age of 25 and appeared on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' as a highly eligible bachelor, has been sentenced to a year in jail for violating his probation in a domestic violence case. Gurbaksh Chahal has been given time to appeal the ruling. Pic/PTI But, Chahal (34) will not immediately begin serving the sentence because San Francisco Superior Court Judge Tracie Brown cited questions about the evidence while giving him time to appeal her ruling. Brown determined last month that Chahal had violated the probation ordered after he pleaded guilty in 2014 to misdemeanour charges of battery and domestic violence battery. Prosecutors said surveillance footage from his San Francisco penthouse showed him punching and kicking his girlfriend 117 times and trying to smother her with a pillow. Video of violence finally made admissible Chahal entered his plea to the reduced charges after the woman stopped cooperating with authorities and a judge said the video could not be used as evidence because it had been improperly obtained. He was accused of violating his probation by kicking another girlfriend, who also didn't cooperate with prosecutors. Brown allowed the penthouse video to be admitted as evidence in the probation hearing, and she reviewed it privately before issuing her ruling last month. USD 300mn The deal for the sale of Chahal's digital advertising company, Blue Lithium, to Yahoo in 2007 117 No. of times he was shown beating up his girlfriend in a video obtained in 2013

2016-08-14 09:14 By Agencies www.mid-day.com

63 Political activist detained over Thailand blasts Bangkok: A political activist, Prapas Rojanapithak, has been detained in connection with the string of coordinated blasts that rocked Thailand, killing four people, with police indicating that the attacks were an act of "local sabotage". On alert: A Thai policeman searches a visitor's bag at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok yesterday. Pic/AFP There were unconfirmed reports on Friday that two suspects had been detained for questioning following the spate of low intensity bomb blasts that killed four people and injured 35, including at least 10 foreigners, in five southern provinces — Hua Hin, Phuket, Phangnga, Trang and Surat Thani. However, the only detention that has been confirmed by police is that of a 67-year-old political activist and former Consti-tution writer in the southern province of Trang.

2016-08-14 09:14 By Agencies www.mid-day.com

64 Mumbai Diary: Sunday Dossier When Greig grovelled at the Oval One of the most controversial statements in cricket was made 40 years ago. Before his home Test series against Clive Lloyd's West Indies, England captain Tony Greig let it rip in a television interview even as the apartheid regime continued in South Africa: "I'm not really quite sure that they [West Indies] are as good as everyone think they are. If they are down, they grovel and I intend, with the help of Closey [recalled England batsman Brian Close] and a few others, to make them grovel. " England's captain Tony Greig (left) is bowled for 1 in the second innings by West Indies' Michael Holding at The Oval in London during the 1976 Test series. Pic/Getty Images The Little Oxford English Dictionary defines 'grovel' as: 1. Crouch or crawl on the ground. 2. Act very humbly towards someone to make them forgive you or treat you favourably. West Indies were not the No 1 Test team in the world then. Australia were. But Lloyd's side had beaten India at home (1975-76) and away (1974-75). They had won the inaugural World Cup in the 1975 English summer as well. The late Greig seemed unconvinced though. The comment incensed the Caribbean tourists. Poor Close, who Greig had named in his comment, nearly got killed by the ferocious Michael Holding, but the most unplayable deliveries were reserved for Greig. Viv Richards, who plundered 829 runs at 118.43 in four Tests, said even if the fast bowlers were exhausted they got revitalised when they got asked to bowl at Greig. On August 14, 1976, Greig, in a way, apologised for the comment by grovelling on his hands and knees in front of West Indian spectators at The Oval. West Indies played brilliant all-round cricket to win 3-0, but no one can say they were not fuelled by Greig's 'grovel' comment. Some West Indians forgave Greig, but we can't say they forgot. An ode to a sister's love Everyone's favourite poet, Prasoon Joshi, has penned a poem for Raksha Bandhan, one that expresses gratitude to his sisters for not just being sisters but mothers too. "I have two sisters — Kaumudi and Maulshree — and though they are younger to me, I have been been witness to a display of mature emotions," he told this diarist. Prasoon Joshi He wants that people will read it and realise that "It's the best relationship in the world," he said. Here's a sampler: "Behen aksar tumse badi hoti hai; Usse maloom hota hai tum der raat lautoge; Tabhi chupke se darwaza khula chhod deti hai" The elusive Mr Adiga There's some good news for Aravind Adiga fans. The Man Booker Prize winning author is coming out with another novel, Selection Day, after five years. And this time, it's about cricket. With all the media frenzy surrounding the book, this diarist thought a chat with Adiga would be timely. Aravind Adiga Turns out, Adiga doesn't want to talk. And we've heard, he has also informed his publishers, HarperCollins India, against entertaining interview requests. The man lets his work do the talking. Sorry, fans. We tried! The art of the gift This month end, gallerist Dr Arshiya Lokhandwala will unveil a project that she has been engaged with for over a decade. Titled Given Time: The Gift & Its Offerings, the exhibition, which will open at Lower Parel's Gallery Odyssey, will unpack ideas based on philosopher Jacques Derrida's theories. Dr Arshiya Lokhandwala Lokhandwala says, "This exhibition has been on my backburner for over 10 years and excited that it's finally taking in my home city. " Meet Hansal Mehta, the chef Hansal Mehta might be known for his stark, socio-political films, like Aligarh and Shahid, but he's an equally passionate chef. The 48-year-old has collaborated with food startup, EatwithIndia, as creative director and board member. Hansal Mehta "I've always been a foodie. When we launched Khana Khazana, the idea was to bring new recipes to Indian homes. But, in today's highly social media-tised age, we wish to bring chefs to Indian homes," says Mehta, who discovered celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor in the 90s. The start-up will have expert chefs prepare multi-course dinners, offer individuals the chance to dine with professional chefs and opportunities for culinary travel. "Food is all about sharing and socialising. So, I'll make sure people get a chance to experience my cooking as well. I make great Nalli Nihari," he smiles.

2016-08-14 09:13 By SMD www.mid-day.com

65 President's daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee faces online harassment New Delhi: Sharmistha Mukherjee, Delhi Congress spokesperson and the daughter of President Pranab Mukherjee, claimed on Saturday that a man harassed her by sending lewd messages and put up screenshots of the texts on her Facebook page. Sharmistha Mukherjee "The person is completely unknown to me and he sent me dirty sexual messages last night. I first thought of ignoring him and blocking him but then (I) thought my silence will encourage him to find other victims," she said, identifying the man as Partha Mandal. The Congress leader said she would lodge a complaint with the cyber cell of Delhi Police. In her Facebook post, she said, "I strongly feel such ppl shd be publicly exposed & humiliated. I'm posting screenshots of his profile & messages he sent me. I'm also tagging him. Pls share this post & tag this rat as a msg that these pervert acts will not be taken lightly (sic). " "Police might have thousands of such cases with them. I will fight as an ordinary woman and do not require any preferential treatment as a daughter of the President of India. The police must work all such cases with equal diligence," she said.

2016-08-14 09:12 By Agencies www.mid-day.com

66 Mumbai: Realtor shoots self while showing off gun to friend A 22-year-old real estate agent from Pratiksha Nagar died after he allegedly misfired a country-made revolver and shot himself while showing it off to a friend. The police detained the friend, but let him off later in the day. Police officials question Mangal Singh's neighbours in Adarsh Chawl in Pratiksha Nagar. Pic/Atul Kamble Mangal Singh, a resident of Adarsh Chawl, Pratiksha Nagar, on Saturday invited a friend and colleague, Dinesh Namgude, home. After Namgude arrived at 11 am, Singh told him that he had recently bought a country-made revolver and offered to show it to him. As he went on to demonstrate how the revolver worked, he allegedly misfired and shot himself in the chest. Namgude rushed him to Sion Hospital. He was later shifted to JJ Hospital, owing to the seriousness of his injury, but was declared dead there. The police detained Nam-gude and recorded his statement, but gave him a clean chit and let him off. According to a police source, rushing Singh to the hospital, instead of fleeing the spot, had tilted the scales heavily in Namgude's favour. The police have seized the revolver, and is investigating where Singh bought it from and for what reason. They are also ascertaining if he had any criminal antecedents. Sunil Kadam, inspector, Wadala TT police station, said, "Since Namgude was given a clean chit, we have filed a case against Singh under Section 304A (causing death by negligence) of the IPC. We are investigating Singh's background. " According to the police, Singh's brother is lodged at the Taloja jail in a murder case. Singh is survived by his wife, who is in Uttar Pradesh.

2016-08-14 09:11 By Santosh www.mid-day.com

67 India trounce WI by 237 runs, ensure series win by 2-0 margin Gros Islet (St Lucia): India today produced a splendid performance to clinically decimate West Indies by 237 runs in the third cricket Test thereby taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series. India's captain Virat Kohli, left, shows the wicket as he leaves the field with wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, right, and Shikhar Dhawan after defeating West Indies for 237 runs during day five of their third cricket Test match at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in Gros Islet, St. Lucia. Pic/AFP Having lost an entire day, it was a superb effort by the bowling unit that saw them bundle out West Indies for 108 in 47.3 overs while chasing a stiff victory target of 346 in 87 overs. Incidentally, this is the first time in over six decades that India has won more than one Test match in the Caribbean islands. The previous three series victories -- 1971, 2006 and 2011 has been by an identical 1-0 margin. If Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the hero in the first innigs, Mohammed Shami (3/15 in 11 overs) and Ishant Sharma (2/30 in 7 overs) did the maximum damage in the second innings. Bhuvneshwar (1/13), Ravichandran Ashwin (1/28) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/20) also complemented the two pacers as none of the batsmen save Darren Bravo (59) showed any stomach for fight. The historic moment came when Shanon Gabriel (11)'s slog was easily pouched by Bhuvneshwar at deep mid-wicket off Jadeja's bowling. Skipper Virat Kohli was visibly ecstatic but there wasn't any over-the-top celebrations. Earlier, India batted for seven overs in the morning declaring their second innings at 217 for seven with Ajinkya Rahane remaining unbeaten on 78 off 116 balls. India bowled 20 overs before lunch in which they reduced West Indies to 53 for 3. In the post lunch session, the home team lost 7 more wickets for 55 runs. Bravo and Roston Chase (10) looked to bat for time and resurrect the innings from a precarious 53/3 in the post lunch session. They faced a testing spell from Ishant and Bhuvneshwar who were using the 20-over-old ball well enough. The former was pitching the ball up a lot more than he has done in this series and found instant result, as one swung in sharply in the 26th over, and knocked back Chase's stumps, bowling him through the gate. When spinners came into the attack, Jermaine Blackwood (1) was stumped off Jadeja as keeper Wriddhiman Saha did some excellent work. Shane Dowrich (5) then played out 8 overs with Bravo, though only adding 16 runs for the 6th wicket. It allowed Bravo enough breathing space to complete his 15th Test fifty off 73 balls, but it was never going to be enough. Shami then came back to bowl another brilliant spell to go with his pre-lunch one, and had the keeper-batsman caught at second slip. Ashwin completed the all-round display from the bowlers, as first, he ran out Jason Holder (1) who was in a terrible mix-up with Bravo going for a non- existent run, and then Alzarri Joseph was caught in the 43rd over. In between Shami bounced out Bravo yet again, the ball lobbing to Rohit Sharma at short leg, the fielder having spent the entire day chatting with the left-hander. In the morning, the visitors had declared their second innings at 217/7d (48 overs) as the hosts struggled in front of a 346-run target with 87 overs to bat. Kumar and Shami had started off proceedings, and the duo was right on the money with the new ball. While the former tied down the batsmen with some tight swing, the latter used pace to force them back. It resulted in a double success in the space of four balls, as Shami had Leon Johnson (0) caught at forward short leg, with Rohit Sharma completing a good anticipatory catch in the 4th over. Four deliveries later, Kumar trapped Kraigg Brathwaite leg before even as the ball stayed low just a bit. Marlon Samuels (12) then resisted for a short while and saw off the two bowlers, but he found Ishant Sharma (1-17) tough to handle as well. He played an uncharacteristic stroke to an incoming delivery and was bowled. This was after India had declared their innings closed after 40 minutes of play in the morning session. Starting from the overnight 157/3, Rohit Sharma (41 1 four, 3 sixes) came out looking for quick runs but got a poor leg before decision from umpire Nigel Llong ended the former's stay after only two balls. There was a thick inside edge, which the umpire failed to detect, and it wasn't his only howler as Wriddhiman Saha (14) was adjudged caught behind off a massive no-ball. Llong didn't even bother to go upstairs to the third umpire and the keeper-batsman was given his marching orders. Miguel Cummins (6/48) benefitted on both occasions, and then picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket when Jadeja (16) was caught at deep cover going for a big shot. Ashwin (1) then became his 6th dismissal and the last batsman out for India, as skipper Virat Kohli decided that it was time to bowl.

2016-08-14 09:05 By PTI www.mid-day.com

68 EXCLUSIVE: Zuma friend's R550m bonanza Johannesburg - Mystery surrounds payments in excess of R550 million to a known ANC benefactor and friend of President Jacob Zuma by a tender- rich IT security company. News24 can reveal that Siyangena Technologies, a Pretoria-based company that won disputed contracts from the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) worth R4 billion, paid large sums of money to companies directly linked to Chockalingam (Roy) Moodley. He is a well-known Durban businessman and public friend of Zuma and the ruling party. Three independent sources have confirmed the payments. Siyangena is co-owned by soccer boss Mario Ferreira, whose relationship with Moodley seems to involve more than just business; they are co-owners of local race horses One Man's Dream and Hi Societi. These developments follow a criminal complaint lodged against Siyangena by private forensic investigator Paul O'Sullivan in 2015. O'Sullivan says authorities have not informed him of any progress in their investigation. O'Sullivan says the investigation into Prasa's contractors should determine whether any payments to individuals like Moodley were corrupt. Moodley did not responded to News24's queries about the payments his companies received. The security tycoon often appears in public with Zuma. He was previously ward chairperson for the ANC's Umhlanga branch in KwaZulu-Natal. In 2014, Zuma attended Moodley's birthday party in Durban. He made a speech in which he referred to Moodley's contribution to the ANC's election campaign during that year's national and provincial elections. Moodley's millions In November last year, Prasa, under the leadership of board chairperson Popo Molefe, approached the High Court in Pretoria to have Siyangena's contracts set aside. The company clinched tenders in 2011 and 2014 to install security cameras, access gates and other security equipment at Prasa’s train stations across the country. In her report on Prasa's financial management under former CEO Lucky Montana, which was released last year, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found that the first contract awarded to Siyangena was improperly extended beyond the original scope of the tender. The payments from Siyangena to Moodley are the third example of large, unexplained payments Prasa contractors made to individuals closely linked to Zuma and his family. Rapport newspaper revealed in January that Angolan businesswoman Maria da Cruz Gomes received payments totaling about R40 million from Swifambo Rail Leasing, the company that supplied Prasa with the controversial Afro4000 locomotives. Da Cruz Gomes has described Zuma as her friend and he has visited her at her Johannesburg home on several occasions in recent years. Swifambo paid another R40 million to George Sabelo, a lawyer and business partner of Zuma's eldest son, Edward. But the latest payments to Moodley's companies eclipse the above- mentioned payments and include: Moodley and Zuma Moodley's ties to the Zuma family have made headlines over the years. In 2010, Zuma famously won R15 000 at the Durban July horse race and was pictured flaunting the cash alongside Moodley. The two were again pictured together at this year's Durban July (see picture). In Zuma's speech at Moodley's birthday party in 2014, the president praised Moodley's support of the ANC. "There is a particular organisation that Moodley votes for to keep the country fixed," Zuma was quoted as saying. "You're a friend, comrade. We have something to do with you during elections which we have discussed with you," Zuma added. Shortly after Moodley's birthday party, EFF leader Julius Malema told his supporters at a manifesto launch in Limpopo, that one of Moodley’s companies bankrolled Zuma after he was fired as South Africa's deputy president in 2005. Malema maintained Zuma remained on Moodley's payroll for four months into his presidency in 2009. "Zuma didn't declare that salary when he became state president," The Star newspaper quoted Malema as saying. In 2012, the Sunday Times reported that the High Court in Durban had granted a local wedding planner permission to attach Edward Zuma’s assets after he failed to settle his wedding bill. It then turned out that a luxury vehicle found at Zuma's house in Durban was Moodley’s. Siyangena responds Gert van der Merwe, Siyangena's lawyer, who also represents the Gupta family, neither confirmed nor denied that his client had made the payments to Hail Way Trading and Royal Security. He questioned how News24 had obtained the information. He demanded to be told who News24's sources were before responding to each query, including whether Siyangena's payments to Hail Way Trading and Royal Security related to the Prasa security contracts. "What was of grave concern when I read your queries was the fact that it seems as if reference is made to information obtained from bank statements belonging to my client. You refer to payments and even the fact that these payments allegedly followed payments received from Prasa," Van Der Merwe stated in an email. "Whilst I therefore invite you to disclose the nature and extent of the source of information (in order to ensure that it was not obtained illegally) I record that my firm instruction is that your adverse assumptions are incorrect and when afforded the appropriate opportunity, I will address you on each and every query. My client’s business (and its relationship with its strategic partners) is sound and this can be confirmed if duly investigated," he wrote. In a second e-mail, Van Der Merwe again failed to confirm or deny whether Siyangena had paid Moodley's companies, and if it had, why. "Despite my client’s legitimate concerns regarding unauthorized access to its bank account and a reasonable request to be advised on the circumstances surrounding your enquiry, you replied that you found 'beyond reasonable doubt' that certain payments were made and that 'it is up to my client to respond'. "My client will not be held hostage pursuant to your bullying tactics and I will advise them on the appropriate steps to be taken in order to ensure that their rights are protected, the detail you will be advised of by the relevant authority. "Your efforts to force a blindfolded response are unfortunate. The general public should be made aware of the true and relevant facts, not only those you hope would support your predetermined views. All my client’s rights remain reserved," he concluded. News24 made several attempts to obtain Moodley's comment. He did not respond to calls to his cellphone or to text messages.

2016-08-14 09:02 www.news24.com

69 69 Rio Olympics: Lalita Babar qualifies for 3,000 metre Steeplechase finals Rio de Janeiro: Long distance runner Lalita Babar kept India's hopes alive by qualifying for the women's 3,000 metre Steeplechase finals while rower Dattu Bhokanal topped the Final C to finish 13th overall in another dismal day which saw the women's hockey team's quarter-final dreams dashed by Argentina. Kenya's Beatrice Chepkoech, right, and India's Lalita Babar, center, competes in a women's 3000-meter steeplechase heat during the athletics competitions of the 2016 Summer Olympics at the Olympic stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Pic/AFP Two more Indian runners -- Sudha Singh and Nirmala Sheoran -- alongwith the women's badminton doubles duo of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa and shooters Gurpreet Singh and Mairaj Ahmad Khan also flunked to add to India's misery at the 31st Olympic Games here on Saturday. Later in the day, the Indian duo of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna went down fighting in the semi-finals of the mixed doubles tennis event to the US team of Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram. The Indians won the first set quite comfortably before squandering the lead and going down 6-2, 2-6, 3-10 in one hour and 17 minutes at the Olympic Tennis Centre. Sania and Bopanna will now have to contest the play-off for the bronze medal. The golfers also could not provide any cheer as S. S. P. Chawrasia and Anirban Lahiri finished tied 22nd and joint 57th after posting two-under 69 and four-over 75 respectively in the third round. Chawrasia, who took his three-day total to two-under 211, was looking set for a top-15 finish but two closing bogeys forced him to settle for a 69. Lahiri continued his struggle and posted 75 -- his worst score in three rounds. His 54-hole total stands at nine-over 222. Disappointed Indian fans can however, take solace from Lalita's performance, who shattered the national record in the women's 3,000 metre Steeplechase to qualify for the final round. She finished fourth fastest, clocking 9 minutes 19.76 seconds in the Round 1 Heat 2 at the Olympic Stadium to end overall seventh among the 15 qualifiers. She qualified as a lucky loser, managing to squeeze in among the next top eight fastest outside the top two of each heat who qualified directly. Lalita also became the first Indian woman to qualify for an individual Olympic track event final since P. T. Usha did so in 400m hurdles in the 1984 Games. She had finished fourth in the final. The performance by the 2015 Asian Championship gold medallist was all the more praiseworthy as she had suffered a fall early in the race before putting in a stupendous effort to position herself in the leading group and even wresting the lead at one stage. But Sudha failed to qualify for the final round after finishing a distant 30th in the overall rankings. She clocked 9 minutes 43.29 seconds in Round 1 Heat 3. In women's 400 metre, Nirmala Sheoran finished overall 44th among 57 athletes to crash out. The Haryana athlete clocked 53.03 seconds in the Round 1 Heat 1 event at the Olympic Stadium, to be placed sixth among seven athletes in her heat. Rower Dattu also impressed one and all by finishing on top of Final C in men's single sculls. He finished 13th overall. Already out of medal contention, Dattu topped the final ranking race in 6:54.96 minutes, which was best timing among the four races he participated in the Games. But it was the performance of the women's hockey team, which conceded five goals in a single quarter to further douse the spirits. A higher-ranked Argentina thrashed the Indians 5-0 as Sushila Chanu's side suffered its fourth consecutive loss in Pool B to end their chances of a quarter-final berth. In the must-win game for both the teams, Argentina sealed the match in the second quarter which yielded them five goals in a mesmerising display of attacking hockey. Martina Cavallero (16th and 29th minutes), Maria Granatto (23rd), Carla Rebecchi (26th) and Agustina Albertarrio (27th) scored for the world No.2 side. With this loss, India remained in the sixth spot, while the United States, Britain, Australia and Argentina made it to the quarters. Shooters continued their dismal show in Rio, as Gurpreet failed to qualify for the finals of men's 25 metre Rapid Fire Pistol qualifying event while Mairaj crashed out of men's Skeet qualification round after a shoot-off for the final two spots. Gurpreet finished seventh, just outside the six qualifying spots, with a cumulative 581 points with 24 inner 10s at the Olympic Shooting Centre. Gurpreet, who was ranked 10th, scored 289 points with 10 inner 10s after the first qualifying stage. He scored 292 points in the second stage. In Skeet, Mairaj shot a total of 121 along with four other shooters, requiring a shoot-off for the final two spots to reach the semi-finals at the Olympic Shooting Centre. The 40-year-old found himself out of the race after managing to shoot a +3 to drop to the ninth place. Shuttlers Jwala and Ashwini added insult to injury after losing their inconsequential Group A match against Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand to bow out of the Olympic Games. Already out of the quarter-final race, Jwala and Ashwini lost 17-21, 15-21 against Puttita and Sapsiree. With this loss, the Indian pair ended the Group A campaign with three consecutive losses. The Thai pair managed a win but it was not enough to take them through. At the tennis courts, Sania and Bopanna imposed their domination in the early stages before Venus and Ram staged a superb comeback. Bopanna stood out with his excellent returns and pinpoint placements at the net. Sania also played well with some intelligent service and good returns. Venus and Ram took their time to settle and find their groove. They were somewhat subdued in the opening set and were totally outplayed by the Indians. But a fired up Ram led the US comeback in the second set.

2016-08-14 09:00 By IANS www.mid-day.com

70 70 Cleveland Indians minor leaguer Francisco Mejia's hit streak at 50 after scoring change LYNCHBURG, Va. -- Cleveland Indians minor leaguer Francisco Mejia's hit streak reached 50 games -- more than an hour after the game ended. Mejia's streak survived when the official scorer changed a ruling on an error from the third inning of Class A Lynchburg's 7-5 loss Saturday night in the Carolina League. Mejia chopped a grounder down the line, and Winston-Salem third baseman Gerson Montilla missed trying to backhand it and got a two-base error. The scorer changed the play to a double hours later, after reviewing video and conferring with the teams. "After reviewing additional data and watching video of the play, the official scorer decided to rule Mejia's batted ball in the third inning a double," the Hillcats said in a statement. "The video review showed that the ball was struck far enough away from the backhand of the third baseman and hit with enough force and topspin to prevent Montilla from making the play with ordinary effort. Based on this, the official scorer changed the error to a hit. " The 20-year-old switch-hitting catcher was 0-for-4 when he drew a full-count walk with two outs in the ninth and the Hillcats trailing 5-4, which appeared to end his streak. Lynchburg lost in 10 innings without Mejia batting again. Mejia's string is the longest by a catcher in pro ball, surpassing Harry Chozen's 49-game streak in the Southern Association in 1954. The professional hit streak record is 69 games by Joe Wilhoit of the Western League in 1919.

2016-08-14 09:00 Doug Padilla www.espn.com

71 'God help us' - Robert De Niro compares Donald Trump to Travis Bickle from 'Taxi Driver' As endorsements go, it was not particularly flattering. Robert de Niro, star of the 1976 movie Taxi Driver, has said Donald Trump reminds him of the iconic film’s mentally disturbed main character, Travis Bickle. “God help us,” De Niro said on Saturday at the 22nd Sarajevo Film Festival, when asked what he thought of Mr Trump’s candidacy. Yet the actor is just one of many to have spoken out after a week in which the Republican candidate’s campaign lurched into even more uncharted territory and sought to even question the very legitimacy of the election itself. The week began with Mr Trump suggesting that people could shoot his rival Hillary Clinton (something that earned his campaign a visit from the Secret Service), saw him claim President Barack Obama was the founder of Isis, and concluded with him speaking in Pennsylvania where he said the only way he could lose the fiercely-contested state was if the Democrats cheated. “We’re going to watch Pennsylvania. Go down to certain areas and watch and study and make sure other people don’t come in and vote five times,” he said at a rally in Altoona. “If you do that, we’re not going to lose. The only way we can lose, in my opinion - I really mean this, Pennsylvania - is if cheating goes on.” The comments have created fresh concern among some about the direction Mr Trump’s campaign is taking, as did his announcement that he wants to recruit election observers to ensure the process is not rigged. Politico said the New York tycoon’s move was unprecedented in a US election. Mr Trump also took another chance to attack the media, something he has done so in vitriolic terms. “I tell you, the lowest,” he said. “They are the lowest form of humanity.” The comments led Mr Obama’s former campaign manager, David Axelrod, to comment: “Basic rule of presidential politics: The candidate who blames his problems on the news media is generally losing.” An average of national polls collated by Real Clear Politics places Ms Clinton anywhere up to ten points ahead Mr Trump. Pennsylvania is always one of the battleground states in a general election, and it will be where he hopes his appeal to working class white voters could defeat his Democratic rival. Ms Clinton’s lead in the polls in the state is currently more than solid. A Quinnipiac survey of likely voters released this week found her leading 52 to 42. Both campaigns are pouring considerable resources into the state. Yet Mr Trump has insisted he can win there, as long as the election is fair. “She can’t beat what’s happening here. The only way they can beat it in my opinion, and I mean this 100 percent, if in certain sections of the state they cheat,” he said. In comments that echoed, and went further than, his statements last week in Ohio that he’s “afraid the election is going to be rigged”, he claimed that Republican leaders in the state were “very concerned” about the possibility of cheating., “We have to call up law enforcement, and we have to have the sheriffs and the police chiefs and everybody watching,” he said. This is not the first time that Mr Trump has raised the issue of potential for fraud in Pennsylvania, one of 20 states that has no ID requirement for polling places and which Mr Obama won in 2008 and 2012. He said Mr Obama’s result was proof of fraud, something that sparked backlash on social media from election inspectors involved in the process who dismissed the tycoon’s claims. A comprehensive study of in-person voter fraud between 2000-2014, conducted by Loyola Law School professor Justin Levitt, found 31 incidents nationally out of more than 1 billion ballots cast. Yet on Saturday, Mr Trump’s spokesperson insisted the concerns were genuine. “There is no evidence because the election hasn’t occurred yet,” spokeswoman Katrina Pierson told CNN. “This is not far-fetched. Election fraud has been a concern for a very long time.” According to the Associated Press, in Sarajevo, De Niro could only shake his head about the way the way the media had treated the New York magnate’s campaign. Only now, he said, were they starting to say: “Come on Donald, this is ridiculous, this is nuts, this is insane.”

2016-08-14 08:53 www.independent.ie

72 Mumbai: Toddler raped by 24-year-old neighbour, in critical condition Amrut Nagar in Ghatkopar went on the boil for almost three hours on Saturday after news spread about a two-and-a-half-year old girl being kidnapped and raped by her 24-year-old neighbour at Ramnagar in the same suburb. The 24-year-old accused was beaten up by residents when they found him with the child. Pic/Rajesh Gupta Around 150 people blocked streets and forced shops to down shutters in protest against the heinous assault. The child has been admitted to Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar and her condition is said to be critical. The crowd dispersed only after senior police officers accepted their application asking for the strictest punishment for the rapist. According to the Parksite Police, the accused kidnapped the toddler on Friday night when she was eating dinner with her mother on the staircase of their house. The mother had gone into the kitchen to bring more rice for the child and returned to find her missing. She immediately raised an alarm and started searching for her daughter. Several others joined in the search. When residents reached Khandoba Tekdi, which is about 500 metres from her house, they found the child on the ground crying bitterly and bleeding from her private parts. "It was a good thing that the residents managed to reach the spot around 10.30 pm. If they had waited until morning, anything could have happened. We will now make a strong case against the accused," Chougule said. Shops in Ghatkopar remained shut for a couple of hours on Saturday to protest against the rape of a 2-year-old that took place in Vikhroli. Pic/Prabhanjan Dhanu The 24-year-old was with the child when they found her and the residents started beating him up. He initially told them that his friend had raped the child and he was only pacifying her. "We took the accused into custody and when we questioned him, he admitted to the crime," said Prakash Chougule, inspector of Parksite police station. The police said the accused used to work in a medical shop as a delivery boy, but had recently become jobless. The girl is the only child of her parents. The accused was taken to the Bhoiwada holiday court, which granted him police custody till August 16. He has been booked under section 363 kidnapping, 376 (2) rape by known person and various sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).

2016-08-14 08:52 By Santosh www.mid-day.com

73 Once homeless, Mumbai heroes revolutionise shoe industry Ramesh Dhami's life seems scripted from a Bollywood film. Starting out homeless and hungry, being found by a Good Samaritan, befriending a rich boy and chancing upon an idea that is both conscionable and profitable, Dhami has come a long way. At the GreenSole factory at Mahape, a worker sorts through a pile of old footwear Dhami (22), who is today the co-founder of GreenSole, a social enterprise that recycles discarded shoes, refurbishes them and makes comfortable footwear for the underprivileged, was born as Prachinti in a small village in Pittoragarh, Uttarakhand. The youngest in his family, he ran away when he was just 10 because of trouble at home. For two years, he travelled across northern India and survived doing odd jobs. Coming to the city of dreams He came to Mumbai when he turned 12 in 2006, with the dream of becoming an actor. He says, "I would roam from one place to another as the police would not let me sleep. I then got a job at a hotel in Ghatkopar. " Another worker puts new soles on old footwear for better use "But, I had worked for just 10 days when the Mumbai floods happed and the hotel had to be shut down. The owner gave me R1,000 and told me to leave," said Dhami. Dhami says, "I lived on the footpaths in and around Mumbai Central and did odd jobs. Many times, I was so hungry, I committed petty crimes and also did drugs. I did not want to do these things, but I had no choice," he said. One day, Sachin, a worker from the NGO Saathi, which works with street kids and runaway kids, found Dhami near Mumbai Central and invited him to the shelter. "Sachin told me he would give me a place to stay and food to eat and also educate me and make me self-reliant. I did not believe him at all, but went along out of curiosity. " At Saathi, Dhami met others like him and realised he was not alone. Old shoes refurbished by GreenSole "At Saathi, they taught me to read and write and I also learnt to make paper bags. Apart from that, the organisation encouraged me to take up a sporting activity such as running or adventure sports. They were getting the boys professionally trained in adventure sports and mountaineering. I tried everything, but decided I preferred running," Dhami says. Marathon man In 2008, Dhami ran his first half marathon in 1 hour 31 minutes. Thereafter, he participated in competitive long-distance running events and started winning cash prizes. In 2012, at Priyadarshini Park in Napean Sea Road, where he practised, Dhami met Shriyans Bhandari. Bhandari came from a business family in Rajasthan and was in Mumbai pursuing his Bachelor of Management Studies at Jai Hind College. "I used to meet Shriyans almost every day while practising at the park and we started running together. We soon became good friends. " Ramesh Dhami and Shriyansh Bhandari It was during this time that Dhami hit upon his great idea quite by chance. "My shoes would wear off within 4 to 6 months. Once, I had bought an expensive pair of running shoes and those too tore in two months. While the soles of the shoes were intact, the upper portion would tear. I just could not discard them, and began to think of what I could do with the soles. I bought some glue and took the soles and some tyre rubber and fashioned a pair of slippers out of them. Shriyans saw the slippers and liked them very much. " A great idea The duo then began to think of what they could do with this idea. Having himself grown up with no shoes, Dhami decided he would provide footwear for as many of India's underprivileged as possible. Bhandari, with his business management and entrepreneurial leadership skills, and Dhami, with his idea of making refurbished shoes from discarded shoes, set up a full-fledged social enterprise, GreenSole in July 2015. They funded this with the cash rewards they got from participating in business competitions. Within a few months of establishing the start-up, they had provided footwear to 10,000 people in need across villages of India. This year they expect to provide footwear to more than 50,000 people in need. GreenSole also retails online through its website. They offer various schemes for buying and donating. The company also allows individual buyers or those keen on reusing their old shoes can order from GreenSole's website — www.greensole.in "If you give us an old pair of shoes, we can give you a new pair for R199- R1,499, depending on the design," Bhandari says. Those wishing to donate to the needy can buy a pair for R199. The price includes transportation to remote donation sites The social enterprise has tie-ups with educational institutions, companies like Rolls Royce, JLL, Tata Power, GOQii — the health and lifestyle Start- up, DTDC, Sports Authority of India, Maharashtra Police and even local sports clubs. "They collect discarded shoes and send them to us. We then send them to our workshop in Navi Mumbai to refurbish and make new footwear," says Bhandari. Patented designs GreenSole has received two industrial design patents for their footwear. "Our focus will, however, be on providing footwear for the needy," Dhami says. Dhami is clear what he wants to do in the future. "I want to work with underprivileged children. I feel sad when I think about my past. If Saathi had not found me, I am not sure where I would be today. " Dhami is already counselling some young, runaway boys and helping them find a purpose in life. Dhami is also focusing on working in villages. As for GreenSole, Bhandari and Dhami want it to be a cottage industry that employs as many people as possible to make footwear and eventually eliminate the problem of having to walk bare feet.

2016-08-14 08:51 By Anusha www.mid-day.com

74 Security stepped up around Bethlehem, Nablus holy sites for Tisha Be'av In preparation for Tisha Be'av prayer services, the IDF and other security forces deployed increased forces in sensitive parts of the West Bank. Security was stepped up at Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem and historic parts of the Sebastia Village near Nablus. Many worshipers go to ancient holy sites to hold special prayer services on Tisha Be'av, which commemorates the destruction of Judaism's two ancient Jewish Temples. Be the first to know - Join our Facebook page. Security has been especially tight at Rachel's Tomb since a pipe bomb was discovered and disarmed nearby on August 7. The IDF also arrested two wanted Palestinians residing in the Gush Etzion bloc of the West Bank overnight between Saturday and Sunday. At the El Aruv refugee camp, Israeli forces arrested a man suspected of involvement in nationalist- motivated terror and public disorder and in Beit Ula they arrested a wanted Hamas agent. Think other should know about that? Please share | |

2016-08-14 08:45 YONAH JEREMY www.jpost.com

75 Dandiya queen Falguni Pathak to sing for Rs 1.40 crore, or more While the exact rate for which singer Falguni Pathak decided to perform in Borivali isn't yet known, sources from the organising team confirmed to mid-day that Pathak was offered Rs 1.30 crore against the Rs 1.40 crore she had demanded and then they compromised with a third amount. However, they didn't disclose the figure. Falguni Pathak What's interesting this year is that all the three large Navratris celebrations in Mumbai will be held in Borivali with Pathak and Preeti-Pinky as the main performers. One of the organisers said as this is election time, festivals will be used to attract voters. Pankaj Kotecha, of Kora Kendra, claims that this year, most of the Dandiya Mandals have come to Borivali because of the elections. "The BMC elections are close this year and hence many dandiya events are being organised only in Borivali in order to target the vote bank," he said. However, he claims this will allow people more options and once again, the whole focus has turned to the western suburbs. Last year, Falguni had performed in Ghatkopar. Shivanand Shetty, local Congress corporator, who is one of the organisers associated with Falguni's event, said, "I am not aware about the money paid to Falguni, as I am taking care of the ground and other issues. " The highest Falguni had drawn was R2 crore, in 2013. Falguni didn't respond to mid-day's calls and messages.

2016-08-14 08:35 By Varun www.mid-day.com

76 Man kills wife over suspected affair, drowns son in nullah in Mumbai The police on Friday night arrested a 35-year-old man, who killed his second wife along with his two-year-old child, because he suspected her of having an illicit affair. After committing the murders, the accused had approached the police to file a missing complaint. However, the crime only came to light when the police recovered the wife's body on Friday. Victim: Parvati Dhangar and Accused: Laxman Dhangar The accused, identified as Laxman Dhangar, worked as a daily wage labourer and had been married thrice. During investigation, the police learnt that Dhangar lived with all his three wives in the Juhu Galli area. The victim, Parvati (35), was his second wife, whom he'd married six years ago. The couple had a two-year-old son Akhil. While the entire family lived under the same roof, Dhangar and Parvati would fight often because he suspected that she'd had an affair and that Akhil was not his child. On August 6, following another argument, Dhangar strangulated Parvati and dumped her body at the Wireless Compound say cops. After committing the crime, he allegedly took his child, who was asleep at home and dumped him in a nullah in Juhu. Two days later, he approached the DN Nagar police to file a missing complaint. While the Juhu police found Akhil's body in the nullah on August 8 and was investigating the case, Parvati's decomposed body was found in Wireless Compound late on Friday afternoon. According to Dhanaji Nalavde, police inspector of DN Nagar police, Dhangar was summoned to the station. After cross-questioning, the police managed to blow the lid off Dhangar, who confessed to the crime. He has been arrested Dhangar under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC for murder and giving false information.

2016-08-14 08:30 By Samiullah www.mid-day.com

77 Rescuers find two Indian fishermen, 10 still missing Bangladeshi and Indian rescuers pulled two Indian fishermen alive Sunday from the Bay of Bengal one day after their trawler capsized, but 10 others were still missing, officials said. Five bodies have also been recovered, as naval and coast guard rescuers search an area just south of the huge Sundarbans mangrove forest that straddles both countries. "So far two fishermen were rescued alive and we recovered five bodies," Tapushi Rabeya, a Bangladesh defence ministry spokesperson, told AFP. The trawler sent out a distress signal in rough seas on Saturday, some 40 nautical miles (70 kilometres) south of Hiron Point, a docking station in the Sundarbans. Rescuers have located the sunken boat but efforts to find the fishermen were being hampered by continuing bad weather. Two Bangladesh naval ships, three coast guard speedboats and a maritime patrol plane have been deployed in the search. "Indian coastguards and patrol aircraft have also joined us in the rescue mission," a senior naval officer told AFP. "The sunken vessel has been located and the Bangladeshi and Indian rescue teams were trying to salvage it. But the rescue efforts have been hampered by very rough seas," he said. The Sundarbans is the world's largest mangrove forest and the Hiron docking station is popular with both fishermen and tourists. 2016-08-14 08:25 Afp www.dailymail.co.uk

78 Mumbai hotel blaze: What killed these kids? Ten months after a blaze that started on the mezzanine floor of Kurla's City Kinara restaurant, killing eight persons, seven of whom were teenaged students at the nearby Don Bosco College, an Andheri-based lawyer/activist says that Vinoba Bhave Police Station have conducted a shoddy investigation. Bernadette D'Souza and Erwin D'Souza Soon after the fire Godfrey Pimenta (who is close to the family of one of the deceased) had filed a series of RTI applications with the various agencies involved — HPCL, BMC, Mumbai FIre department, PWD etc (copies with mid-day). He now says that their responses are contradictory in nature and show that the cops haven't conducted a detailed investigation enough to allow the prosecution to nail the owner of City Kinara Sudesh Hegde, and tenant Sharad Tripathi. A case against the two has been lodged under sections 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire), 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 34 (common intention) of IPC. A charge sheet was filed at the Metropolitan Magistrate Court by the cops in January this year. (From left) Friends Sharjeel Shaikh, Brian Fernando, Sajid Chowdhari and Akash Thapar Lapse no 1 Pimenta says that according to the cops, Tripathi had secured a fire NOC for the restaurant. However, the Mumbai Fire Brigade in its RTI response said this was not the case. The charge sheet, Pimenta adds, says that the hotel managed to get shops and establishments and health licence without a mandatory fire NOC from the local 'L' ward office. The irony is that the local ward office, instead of cancelling the licence on account of the fire and subsequent revelations of illegal construction inside the restaurant, said in its RTI response that the licence was cancelled on account of the hotel being found shut in January 2016, when an inspection was done. Taha Shaikh That the restaurant's mezzanine floor (where the fire started) was illegal, as per BMC's Development Control Regulation, should have been used only for storing inventory and not converted into a dining area, raises concerns that the officials at the local ward office had connived with the hotelier. "Why was this not probed? " Pimenta asked. Lapse no 2 The second lapse is the fire reports submitted by three different agencies (Fire Brigade, HPCL and PWD). While the Fire Department claims that the fire was caused by leaked and accumulated LPG gas from a defective main valve /regulator assembly of an LPG gas cylinder when it came in contact with an unknown spark, HPCL has a contrary statement. HPCL's report stated that the fire was not due to gas leakage as there was no leakage and it might be due to short circuit. The PWD's report remained inconclusive. The PWD stated that the cause of fire could not be ascertained as the entire mezzanine floor was gutted in the fire. (middle) Jacqueline D'Souza, mother of Erwin D'Souza, at his funeral on October 17, 2016 Lapse no 3 Police investigation revealed that every alternate day, cylinders were supplied to the said hotel by M/s Laxmi Gas Agency an HPCL authorised dealer in Kurla (E). However, in its RTI response, HPCL has said the restaurant was neither its customer nor was it a registered customer of the said agency. Interestingly, the over 500-page charge sheet doesn't mention any action by either the cops or HPCL against the said LPG dealer for black marketing cylinders, even after a recommendation by the Mumbai Fire brigade. A video from the CCTV placed on the mezzanine floor of City Kinara, which was gutted in the fire. Besides the seven students. Arvind Kanojia (32), a civil engineer with M/s Sterling Engineering company, was also killed Pimenta asks that if Kinara was not an HPCL customer, why were the oil company officials allowed to inspect the site and even submit a report. "Moreover, a two-page note in which HPCL highlighted six points which said there was no gas leakage and that the fire could be a result of short circuit has been admitted and made part of the charge sheet, thereby benefiting the accused," Pimenta says. Now, Pimenta and the families of the eight who died in the fire have approached the State Lokayukta demanding a reinvestigation into the fire. Pimenta's NGO, the Watchdog Foundation has now demanded a CBI probe into the case. The cops say A senior police officer who supervised the probe, on condition of anonymity, said, "We have submitted a fool-proof charge sheet. What is being referred here by the activist are expert opinions, which they will discuss in court during the trial. The fire department report is conclusive, which clearly states that there was a gas leak and the ignition (through a short circuit) might have cause the fire. The hotelier's actions are a fit case for a trial under section 304 of the IPC and we have booked him under other relevant sections. " Jacinta D'Souza (48), mother of Bernadette Savio D'Souza said , "It is unfortunate that the police have done a shoddy investigation in our kids' death. They, instead of ascertaining the exact reason for fire, have submitted an incomplete and inconclusive charge sheet which will only benefit the accused to go Scott free and the trial is yet to begin. We want Lokayukta to intervene and give justice to us. "

2016-08-14 08:21 By Vinod www.mid-day.com

79 Airstrike on Yemen school kills 10 children, wounds dozens Sana’a - Yemeni officials and aid workers say an airstrike on a school purportedly carried out by the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen has killed at least 10 children and wounded dozens more. The Islamic school says in a statement that the Saturday strike in Saada, deep in the Houthis' northern heartland, was part of raids that have resumed against the rebels after peace talks collapsed earlier this month. Aid group Doctors Without Borders condemned the attack on social media, saying that all 10 killed and 28 injured were between 8 and 15 years old. The school has released some of the names of those killed. The conflict in Yemen pits the internationally-recognised government backed by the Saudi-led coalition against the Shi’ite rebels, who captured the capital in September 2014.

2016-08-14 08:21 www.news24.com

80 Nigeria wrestles with 'suddenly poor' status Lago - First it was falling oil prices that plagued Nigeria, then came inflation, power shortages, and a humanitarian crisis in the north. "Suddenly, we're a poor country," Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said on Thursday in Abuja, the nation's capital. "Before we came to office, petroleum sold for about $100 per barrel. Then it crashed to $37, and now oscillates between $40 and $45 per barrel. " By the end of the month it's likely Nigeria will officially enter a recession. Adding insult to injury, this week the International Monetary Fund said that South Africa overtook Nigeria as Africa's biggest economy in dollar terms - a result of the anaemic naira. "Both countries are experiencing difficulties, but Nigeria is taking a more slower pace to recover. I don't think Nigeria can regain its position anytime soon," Manji Cheto, Sub-Saharan Africa analyst at London-based Teneo Holdings, told AFP. That's because Nigeria's problems, a result of decades of mismanagement, have no easy fix. Just a few months ago, Nigeria was the number one oil exporter on the continent. Not anymore. According to figures released Friday by OPEC, Nigeria is now producing just 1.5 million barrels per day, compared with Angola which is pumping out 1.7 million. Militant attacks on oil infrastructure in the increasingly volatile southern swamplands are to blame. The Niger Delta Avengers, a new armed group fighting for political autonomy and a bigger cut of oil revenues, have been bombing pipelines since the beginning of 2016. They have vowed not to stop until their demands are met. Not fit Today Nigeria is an economic heavyweight on the back foot, with its economy not fit enough to survive this round of blows exposing its structural issues. Now the country is literally sinking into darkness. Electricity production, which already was faltering before the crisis, barely reached 2500mW for its 170 million inhabitants, according to local reports, thanks to oil militants sabotaging the lines that fuel the gas-powered stations. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, tried to reassure the representatives of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday, promising that "great" effort is being put into improving non-oil revenues. In the streets of Lagos, posters on the street remind people that not paying taxes is a crime. Nigeria loses too much to corruption, with Oxfam, an organisation focussed on ending global poverty, reporting that Nigeria loses the equivalent of 12 per cent of its GDP in illicit channels - the largest share of any African country. In his speech, Osinbajo reiterated his commitment to diversifying Nigeria's crude-addicted economy with a focus on agriculture to avoid costly imports. Another solution is looking to private business. Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa, is building a gigantic refinery project that could inject the economy with much-needed energy, according to BMI Research. "We expect that the development of a massive refinery by the Dangote Group will lead to a sharp improvement in the current account deficit from 2018 onwards," the consultancy said in an August note. Restoring credibility Still, Dangote has to convince wary investors to back his project. Last week, the Transnational Corp. of Nigeria, a giant company whose interests range from agriculture to energy, said it hadn't attracted enough funding and was consequently suspending plans to build one of the largest power plants in the country (1 000 MW). "The priority now is to restore credibility," Cheto said, explaining that Buhari needs to implement his economic policies with some more urgency. "When it takes one year to implement what you said, don't expect confidence from the investors. " While Nigeria will still be an economic powerhouse for years to come, in the foreseeable future its once-skyrocketing growth will be subdued. As one IMF analyst put it in July: "Nigeria is in a particularly difficult situation. "

2016-08-14 08:12 www.news24.com

81 Brexit could be delayed until late 2019 because officials won't be ready to start talks for months yet, ministers warn senior City figures Ministers have warned that Britain could remain in the European Union until the end of 2019 - a delay which is likely to infuriate millions of Leave voters who wanted a smooth and quick Brexit. More than half of Britain, 52 per cent, voted to leave the EU on June 23 but the decision to begin key negotiations to exit might be delayed as Prime Minister Theresa May's new departments might not be ready in time. Mrs May, 59, was expected to invoke article 50 - the formal trigger to start the move towards the EU exit - in a five months' time in January. But the former Home Secretary might have to postpone the move due to a number of reasons which could halt the process. City sources told the Sunday Times that her new Brexit and international trade departments are behind schedule and might not be ready for January. Meanwhile, elections are to be held Germany and France later next year and one city source told the newspaper: 'You can't negotiate when you don't know who you're negotiating with'. This means that Britain may not start the formal two- year process to leave the EU until France has voted in May or until the German election has concluded next September. But one City source told the newspaper that their new Whitehall departments are 'chaotic' as they are being built from scratch. And it seems the pair are understaffed as Davis has only recruited less than half of the 250 workers he needs. Meanwhile, Fox has less than 100 trade policy experts - far short of the figure of 1,000 he is looking to bring on board. One source said that ministers believe the article 50 trigger could now take place in autumn 2017 - meaning it won't be until 2019 when Britain finally leaves the EU. They added that the ministers 'don't even know the right questions to ask when they finally begin bargaining with Europe'. If the UK leaves the EU in late 2019 it will be almost one year later than predicted. It is thought Britain wants to launch preparatory talks with EU leaders in a bid to understand the key issues, but a senior government insider told the paper that there was uncertainty about the discussions. They said: 'I'm not sure they are going to be ready. There is an issue about these preliminary talks.' A No 10 spokesman said: 'The prime minister has been clear that a top priority for this government is to deliver the decision of the British people to leave the EU and to make a success of Brexit. 'The PM has set out the government's position on article 50 and has established a new department dedicated to taking forward the negotiations.'

2016-08-14 08:01 Abe Hawken www.dailymail.co.uk

82 Dubai to open Hilton hotel with a rainforest Dubai is already famous for the world’s tallest building, massive artificial islands and mind-boggling extravagance, but it will soon be home to another spectacular claim to fame. The world's first hotel with its own rainforest is scheduled to open in the desert city in 2018 - complete with an artificial beach, splash pool and trees that spray mist. With a reported build cost of £230million, the Rosemont Hotel & Residences is the latest example of over-the-top luxury in the emirate, which has fast become a go-to destination for holidaymakers and a major hub for air travel between the West and Asia. Renderings of the five-star hotel and apartment project, which will be operated by the Hilton brand Curio, offer a glimpse into what the 75,000-square foot, man-made jungle will look like when it opens to visitors. It will be located inside a five- storey podium at the base of two 47-storey towers, and filled with exotic plants to make for a unique guest experience. The attraction will cater to families thanks to its artificial beach and pool, and is said to be the first rainforest in the Middle East. The hotel will have 450 guest rooms and suites in a tower that will also have a lobby on the 26th floor, an upper-floor pool that extends over the edge of the building, fine dining, VIP lounge, spa and meeting rooms. Other family-friendly amenities include an adventure play area for children, a bowling alley and trampoline park. Located on a three-acre site, the project, owned by Royal International, also calls for 280 private residences in a serviced apartment tower with shops and places to socialise. The hotel and apartment towers were designed by ZAS Architects, which has offices in Canada and the United Arab Emirates.

2016-08-14 08:00 Chris Kitching www.dailymail.co.uk

83 Broad fined for questioning umpire's decision on Twitter LONDON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - England fast bowler Stuart Broad has been fined 20 percent of his match fee for publicly criticising an umpiring decision during the ongoing fourth test against Pakistan, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Sunday. Broad tweeted his frustration regarding the controversial dismissal of Alex Hales on the first day of the test at The Oval after the England opener was given out caught by Yasir Shah off Mohammad Amir. Hales was earlier fined 15 percent of his match fee for showing dissent to the television umpire, who upheld Shah's catch at midwicket though the batsman believed the ball had touched the ground before carrying to the fielder. Broad had admitted his offence and accepted the fine proposed by match referee Richie Richardson and there was no need for a formal hearing, the governing body ICC said in a statement. "One of the most fundamental principles of the sport is to always accept and respect an umpire's decision," former West Indies captain Richardson said. "In this case, Stuart ignored this golden rule and made inappropriate comments in regard to the umpires' decision. " Pakistan go into Sunday's final day of the test in a strong position to level the series at 2- 2. (Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by Clare Fallon)

2016-08-14 07:59 Reuters www.dailymail.co.uk

84 DeAndre Yedlin being targeted by Derby and Hull as Tottenham right back looks to kickstart his career Tottenham right back DeAndre Yedlin is wanted by Derby County and Hull City. The USA international was on loan at Sunderland last season and Tottenham would be open to selling the 23-year-old. Derby and Hull have both made offers in the region of £3.5million and Yedlin is keen to move on and kickstart his career. He made 25 appearances for Sunderland last season and was also used a right-sided midfielder to maximise his pace. Yedlin has 39 caps for USA, beginning his international career in a friendly with South Korea in February 2014. Spurs bought the American from Seattle Sounders in August 2014 but he stayed in MLS for a further season.

2016-08-14 07:58 Simon Jones www.dailymail.co.uk

85 Nineteen killed in clashes in central DRCongo Nineteen people have been killed in clashes between police and militia in the centre of the Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities said. The dead included the leader of the militia group, Kamwina Nsapu, the governor of Kasai-Central province, Alex Kande, told public television late on Saturday. He said Nsapu was among eight militia members killed in the fighting in the town of Tshimbulu on Friday. Eleven policemen also died, Kande said. In recent weeks Nsapu has resolved to "rid Kasai-Central of the security forces, who have carried out all kinds of harassment against the population," the UN- backed Radio Okapi said, quoting local sources. Kande said four other policemen were missing and about 40 militia members were captured including 17 children aged between five and 12. Police also seized weapons and ammunition. He said the fighting erupted "following an intervention by security forces who sought to protect and safeguard the peaceful citizens of Tshimbulu, before being "dangerously attacked by terrorists of leader Kamwina Nsapu".

2016-08-14 07:54 Afp www.dailymail.co.uk

86 86 SARAH OLIVER: These smothering, myopic mummies DON'T know best Miss Sharples, she was called. She already seemed as old as a fossil by the time I met her, wore tweed skirts and stout brown shoes, and had a crinkly face, like a walnut. She always, always smelled of Woodbines. The fag I mean, not the flower. She taught history without any idea that she would become part of ours. For Miss Sharples was the stern one we still remember. Not a terrifying Miss Trunchbull who roasted children’s backsides with a belt or birch, but a teacher whose natural authority, as understood by her, and her pupils – and by extension our parents – was complete. I was reflecting on this because the authority of another teacher respected by generations of pupils has taken a clattering in court this past week. Jane Edmands, headmistress of Burton Pidsea Primary School near Hull, was accused of common assault after leading a weeping three-year-old boy who wanted to stay with his mother from cloakroom to classroom. Hands up class, who’s ever done the ‘Be firm, don’t fuss’ routine on a howling child to get them to do something they don’t want to do, but have to. Right. All of you. Me too. Since for ever. Here the mother said the head grabbed her son’s wrist and dragged him away, his feet almost off the floor, making him cry hysterically. She called the council which, given that it was a safeguarding issue, called in the police. They prosecuted, her barrister tells me, without taking any pre- charge advice from the Crown Prosecution Service. It was left to Hull magistrates last Wednesday to clear Mrs Edmands of using excessive force. They took less than 30 minutes after hearing ‘inconsistent and uncertain’ evidence against her, with the mother admitting she hadn’t actually seen Mrs Edmands manhandle her son – she’d ‘assumed’ it had happened because his jumper was tugged up. Not so much a legal case as trial by partisan parenting opinion, then. Although she has been cleared, Mrs Edmands remains suspended and will do until East Riding of Yorkshire Council concludes the professional standards inquiry it had no choice but to launch. No 30-year career tarnished like this can ever be buffed to its previous polish. All the joyous little things which are the calendar of the school year – the assemblies, egg-and-spoon races and nativity plays – will now always come second to the day she was wrongly accused of common assault on a small child. She will never escape the ignominy. Stop just for a second and imagine you were her, a woman believed to have hurt a three- year-old so badly the police had to be called. Now imagine that you were a teacher – and that helping schoolchildren be the best that they can be was your vocation, your livelihood, your pleasure and your pride. All mums are enthusiastic advocates for their children, Mother Nature sees to that. But if we vest authority in teachers, then we must respect them. Yes, there are some bad ones but they are mostly a beloved species for a reason, which is that many of them are good and some are wonderful. On the other side of the classroom door, we mums can be myopic in comparison. I am not the first to say that our understanding of boundaries and discipline and ‘the stuff that just has to be done to ensure you grow up properly’ (like dealing with very normal separation anxiety) has been bent out of shape by the need to have children who like us, rather than respect us. That’s how when someone in authority tells a screaming three-year-old, ‘actually I’m the one in charge here’, they can find themselves accused of common assault. Love and kindness and time are the cornerstones of raising children but you can’t just nourish, you have to rule too. Both at home and in class. The age of the dunce’s cap is long gone. Let’s offer one anyway to the mum who has done so much damage to Mrs Edmands, and by extension, the wider teaching profession. Her wailing three-year-old would have dried his eyes and been building the Millennium Falcon out of an egg carton and foil with his chums before she’d even got back out into the playground. Still, you’re never too old to learn, eh? Justin Trudeau, the young and handsome Canadian PM, has joined Vladimir Putin in the very small club of world leaders who look good topless. We know this because he’s been snapped minus his shirt twice in the past fortnight. I can’t work out if this makes him cool and relevant or too slimy even for politics, but clearly there can be no informed decision until I’ve seen him in a pair of shorts. He’s going to have to do something to upstage Prince William when he takes the family to Canada next month, so hopefully we won’t have long to wait. Carol's fab tips as I count down to 50 Carol Vorderman, the new ambassador for a website aimed at fiftysomething women, looks sublime as she tells us this is the age when we can achieve all our outstanding ambitions. As I head for my own 50th, I only have one, which is to be able to play ZZ Top’s La Grange on my drums. I’m just praying that – cut from a different, less glamorous cloth to Vorders – I don’t start growing a ZZ Top beard as well. Friends visited last week bringing their new labrador pup Piper, who came with a rucksack of dog baby bits. The most fabulous had been sent by some furry godparents in America: a roll of poo bags from dumpsfortrump.org with The Donald’s face on the front. Currently $9 for three rolls. Gets my vote.

2016-08-14 07:50 Sarah Oliver www.dailymail.co.uk

87 87 David Gest 'died after suffering a stroke'.. as police confirm his 'natural death won't be probed' David Gest reportedly died after suffering a stroke. The popular entertainer - who passed away in April this year, aged 62 - died of a stroke, according to US attorney Edward Bearman, who has been dealing with his estate. Edward told The Sun on Sunday newspaper: 'I've been told David died from a stroke.' Scroll down for video David was found dead in his hotel room on April 12, with police saying his death was being treated as 'non suspicious'. According to The Sun Scotland Yard confirmed there would be no investigation into Gest’s death in his room at London’s Four Seasons Hotel. A subsequent post- mortem said David died of 'natural causes'. Gary Veazey, the executor of David's will, has confirmed the reason for his passing, saying: 'He died of a stroke.' In May, David's bodyguard, Imad Handi, claimed to have heard the star suffer a fatal heart attack during their last phone conversation - four days before his body was found. Imad - who was friends with David for 16 years - said he received a silent phone call, which he believes was the entertainer trying to ask for urgent help, in the days before his body was found. He explained: 'I answered the phone and was like, 'Hello, hello, hello?', and I heard something smash on the floor. 'Part of me froze and then the phone went dead. Knowing David and his OCD I thought, 'He's dropped something on the floor, he's going to hang up and clean it up. He'll call me back'. Unfortunately he didn't call me back. 'I did try and call that evening and on Saturday and there was no answer. I believe he passed away on the Friday.' The ashes of David were scattered in a small ceremony in York. Tourist attraction Clifford's Tower was closed for a day to allow the service to take place in private, with 20 close friends and family members in attendance, including David's sister Barbara Gerber, who gave a reading. The small ceremony comes after a funeral was held for the US star on April 29 at Golders Green crematorium in London, which was attended by a large number of his UK celebrity friends. According to friends he was planning to move to York in the weeks before his death, a city he previously said he'd like to die in. After a pastor led a short service on the turret, the ashes were tipped to the grass below as guests released white doves and balloons from the tourist attraction which overlooks the flat to which David had moved all his possessions the weekend before he died. Imad explained: 'He said that in his estate if he passed away he just wanted somewhere nice in York. We decided it was a peaceful place.' A spokesman for English Heritage, custodians of the tower, added: 'We were approached by David Gest's family who asked if they could scatter his ashes from the top of Clifford's Tower in a small, private memorial. 'As he was an adopted son of York, we thought it an appropriate thing to do for his family.' The Celebrity Big Brother star previously said of York: 'I've lived in New York, Beverly Hills, I still have property in Hawaii, I lived in Claridge's for two years. But here it's so special. 'When you have the Minster, all other churches fade by comparison. It has an elite beauty and the people are so special. I think I'd like to die here.' With the scattering of his ashes, it had been revealed that David's request for his favourite sandwich shop to be his resting place was the star's final joke. During his frequent visits to York, Gest had been a regular at York Hog Roast, now called the York Roast Company, where he liked to eat standing up at the counter at the smaller of the two shops in Stonegate. Twelve days before his death, he said in a BBC interview that he wanted his ashes scattered outside the shop. Thinking that was what he would have wanted, David's pal and York Roast boss Wayne Chadwick had been waiting to receive the remains. Following the funeral at Golders Green, hog roast boss Mr Chadwick planned to install the ashes in a disused part of the shop with a fireplace where the scattering could take place rather than out in the street. But Mr Chadwick said he had not been told about the ceremony and had assumed the scattering would take place at the shop. 'On the other hand, David always was a bit of a joker. It was an interview he gave on the BBC which started all this off so I don't know exactly what was in the will,' he said. 'I had been asking what was going to happen but was told the decision was going to be taken by the estate. 'I am a bit disappointed. But we don't have any rights over what was to happen to the ashes and if his inner circle wanted to scatter them without any publicity I can understand that. 'There were practical difficulties in disposing of the ashes in a land- locked shop so from a respect point of view I wanted to leave the final decision to David's friends and family.'

2016-08-14 07:47 Jessica Rach www.dailymail.co.uk

88 Yorkshire ripper Peter Sutcliffe furious as Broadmoor staff seize £5,000 Rolex sent to him by his brother 'Sutcliffe moaned he wasn't allowed the Rolex and was furious when he saw a member of staff had one,' a source told The Sun. The source added: 'He said that was unfair and breached his rights... But the fact that he was even sent it shows the kind of life he has been enjoying.' The price of a Rolex Submariner can range from £3,950 to £13,950, according to the website Watch Finder. Sutcliffe was jailed in 1981 for 20 life terms for butchering 13 women and trying to kill seven others. His victims' families have welcomed the decision to put Sutcliffe back in jail. Neil Jackson, 58, the son of his second victim Emily Jackson, 42, who was killed in 1976, said earlier: 'I'm glad he is finally losing his cushy lifestyle, but it's not a moment too soon. 'He gets better fed in Broadmoor than I do and I work six days a week. 'Life has been far too easy for him up to now but he is in for a rude awakening.' Denise Long, 58, whose mother Maureen suffered devastating injuries when Sutcliffe attacked her with a hammer in 1977, said: ‘He should have been hanged. 'I don’t believe he was ever ill – he was just pure evil. He knew exactly what he was doing. 'He should never have been in Broadmoor and I am pleased and think it’s right he suffers in prison. 'I try not to talk about it because it still upsets me. He left the scars on my mum and she couldn’t get over it. You never forget. 'He shouldn’t have had the cushy life he has had in hospital all these years. It’s scandalous the taxpayer has been paying for this.' It costs £300,000 a year to keep him in Broadmoor, with a TV in his room and other privileges, compared with £50,000 for a place in a high-security prison.

2016-08-14 07:46 Harvey Day www.dailymail.co.uk

89 Grand slam in 8th sees Cardinals end Cubs' 11-game streak CHICAGO (AP) — St. Louis' Randal Grichuk hit a grand slam to cap a six-run burst in the eighth inning that lifted the Cardinals to an 8-4 win at Chicago on Saturday, ending the Cubs' 11-game winning streak. The result trimmed the gap between the National League Central division's top teams to a still yawning 13 games, and a wildcard playoff berth still appears to be the limit of St. Louis' ambitions. It's much closer in the NL West, where San Francisco retained its one-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers by winning an interleague clash with Baltimore. That loss dropped the Orioles out of the American League East lead, slipping behind Toronto which beat Houston. Detroit ended a five- game losing sequence and boosted its wildcard hopes with a shutout victory over AL West leader Texas. St. Louis took control at Wrigley Field with two outs in the eighth. After a run-scoring wild pitch and a bases- loaded walk, Grichuk connected for his four-run shot to put the Cardinals in command. Brandon Moss and Jedd Gyorko also hit homers for St. Louis. Cardinals starter Luke Weaver got through four innings in his major league debut, giving up two runs. San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner snapped a five-start winless rut with seven scoreless innings to steer the Giants to a 6-2 victory over Baltimore. Bumgarner had lost five of his previous seven decisions but was back to his best form, striking out eight. Denard Span sparked the Giants with two-run singles in the second and sixth innings. Both came with two outs. Toronto capitalized on the Orioles' defeat and returned to the top of the division with a 4-2 win against Houston. Russell Martin hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning while Aaron Sanchez survived a shaky first inning to pitch seven frames. Detroit's Matt Boyd pitched seven scoreless innings while opposing starter Cole Hamels had a rare bad day as the Tigers defeated Texas 2-0. Boyd limited the Rangers to two hits in his longest start this season and has won his past four decisions. Hamels allowed a career-worst 14 hits, and was lucky to get away with only conceding two runs, as the Tigers stranded 11 runners on base, seven in scoring position. Four of the hits against him were by Casey McGehee. The Los Angeles Dodgers kept up their dogged pursuit of San Francisco by beating Pittsburgh 8-4. Joc Pederson produced a two-run homer and had three hits for the Dodgers, who accumulated 17 hits in all as they came from 3-1 down by scoring in each of the first six innings. Los Angeles was in control despite losing starting pitcher Brandon McCarthy to a right hip injury in the second inning. Chicago's Dioner Navarro scored the go-ahead run on a strikeout, capping a bizarre eighth-inning comeback that led the White Sox to an 8-7 victory at Miami. The White Sox blew an early 4- 0 lead and trailed 7-6 to start the eighth. They rallied against Marlins pitcher Kyle Barraclough with the help of a walk, two wild pitches and Justin Morneau's double. After Morneau tied it, the Sox had runners at the corners with two out. Melky Cabrera took a weak swing at a 2-2 pitch in the dirt, but the ball skipped away from catcher J. T. Realmuto, allowing Cabrera to reach first base while Navarro came home from third for what proved the winning run. Cleveland rookie Mike Clevinger held the Los Angeles Angels hitless for the first five innings to set up a 5-1 win. Clevinger allowed one hit in his 91 pitches against the team that drafted him in 2011 but traded him three years later. The Angels have lost nine in a row; their worst losing sequence for 17 years. Seattle's Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz homered as the Mariners edged Oakland 4-3 to notch their seventh win in eight games. Cruz hit his 29th home run of the season leading off the fourth inning. Seth Smith singled in the go-ahead run with two outs in the fifth, and Cano hit the next pitch over the center-field wall for his 26th homer. Washington's Daniel Murphy hit a two-run homer and drove in four runs to power the Nationals to a 7-6 win against Atlanta. Philadelphia's Maikel Franco hit a three-run homer, then was in the middle of a testy exchange that led to the benches clearing and a pair of ejections as the Phillies downed Colorado 6-3. Boston's Brock Holt hit a two-run homer and Sandy Leon had a solo shot as the Red Sox won 6-3 against Arizona. New York's Wilmer Flores drove in the winning run when San Diego's rookie second baseman Ryan Schimpf made a wild throw to home plate in the 11th inning, giving the Mets a 3-2 win over the Padres. The Mets' crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees, also won as Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge became the first teammates to hit home runs in the first at-bats of their major league debuts in the same game, sparking the Yankees past Tampa Bay 8-4. Minnesota's Brian Dozier hit his 25th home run of the season and the 100th of his career, leading the Twins past Kansas City 5-3. Cincinnati's Eugenio Suarez hit a three-run home run during an eight-run sixth inning that powered the Reds to an 11-5 win at Milwaukee.

2016-08-14 07:45 Associated Press www.dailymail.co.uk

90 Jared Goff of Los Angeles Rams suffers shoulder injury in first series LOS ANGELES -- Rams quarterback Jared Goff 's NFL debut was cut a bit short Saturday night, when head coach Jeff Fisher sat him after only two series. Fisher said he planned to play Goff throughout the third quarter against the Dallas Cowboys in the teams' preseason opener, but when he learned at the half that the rookie quarterback had a sore non-throwing shoulder after taking a hit in the second quarter, Fisher decided to sit him. "At halftime, he was getting stiff, and I didn't want to mess around with it," Fisher said. Editor's Picks Sources: Rams working to extend Fisher, GM The Rams are trying to reach contract extensions with coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead, sources said. Both Fisher and Goff said the injury was not serious. "I'm fine," Goff said. "I've played through much worse. " Goff, the No.1 overall pick in April's draft, completed just four of nine passes for 38 yards in the Rams' 28-24 win. Two passes were dropped. He also threw an interception. Goff was banged up when hit by Dallas linebacker Derek Akunne in his first series. "He got hit, and the ball floated," Fisher said. "He understands that. " Fisher said he expects the rookie to be able to practice this week. The Rams host the Chiefs next Saturday. "He was fine," Fisher said. "Nothing was too big for him. He was at ease. It was fun. " Goff did return for a second series and might have thrown his first touchdown pass, if rookie receiver Pharoh Cooper had not dropped the ball. "It would have been great, but I have a lot of football ahead of me," Goff said. "Hopefully next week I can have a little more production. "

2016-08-14 07:40 Steve Dilbeck www.espn.com

91 Pokemon hunt leads to glory for Google-born Niantic Born in Google's shadow, Niantic strode into the spotlight with a mobile internet spin on hunting Pokemon but can the obsession with the game lead to long-term financial success? Niantic founder and chief executive John Hanke has told a story of naming the company after a whaling ship abandoned in San Francisco Harbor by crew members who rushed off to seek fortunes during the famed Gold Rush. The ship was run aground and converted into a store. The notion of such long-forgotten wrecks prompted Hanke six years ago to use the name Niantic to christen a quest to combine gaming, mobile mapping and augmented reality to playfully reveal virtual things hidden in the real world. Niantic was a side-project for Hanke at Google, which had bought the entrepreneur's startup Keyhole in 2004 and turned it into the free mapping service Google Earth. Hanke spent years as a top executive in a Google "geo" division producing widely used services such as Maps and Street View. The gamer wanted to go beyond helping people navigate and have fun with the ability for mobile devices to detect people's locations. The entrepreneur toyed with the idea of launching a new startup, but instead kept Niantic anchored in the Silicon Valley technology powerhouse. "Staying at Google gave us the advantage of being able to tap into the data we have at (mapping division) Geo and the infrastructure of Google," Hanke was quoted as saying in a 2012 Inc. magazine article. - Portals to Pokemon - The Niantic project fielded its first offering in 2011 in the form of a mobile application called Fieldtrip that served up information about where smartphone users were or nearby places of interest. The following year, Niantic launched a game called "Ingress," seen as a predecessor to "Pokemon Go. " Ingress, which has been downloaded more than 15 million times, also uses real world surroundings as the game board. Instead of trying to catch cartoon monsters such as iconic Pikachu by targeting them with "Pokeballs", Ingress players battle for control of virtual portals. Early Ingress fans submitted pictures of places as possible portals complete with satellite position metadata, essentially crowdsourcing a rich geo-location database that was put to use in Pokemon Go. When Google underwent a corporate restructuring last year to divvy its endeavors into arms of a freshly-created parent company called Alphabet, Niantic went independent. Google did invest in Niantic, as did Nintendo and The Pokemon Company. Niantic claims from 50 to 100 employees. The private company does not make its financial information public but some analysts value it at more that $3 billion. To justify such a valuation, Niantic will have to prove that Pokemon Go is a lasting and profitable, not just another passing fling for notoriously fickle mobile game players. Pokemon Go has shown it can make money. Industry tracker Sensor Tower estimated that Pokemon Go generated more than $200 million in revenue during the month after its release in early July. The game is free, but players can buy virtual supplies such as PokeBalls and lures to attract Pokemon. Cafes, pubs, restaurants and other venues have taken to buying lures that tempt players to linger, and hopefully spend money, while waiting to catch Pokemon. - Sponsors - During a recent Venture Beat technology conference, Hanke said that the game was designed from the outset for in-app purchases, and that revenue could also be made from sponsorships along the lines of what was done in Ingress. Ingress has portals hosted in commercial spots such as shopping centers, and Pokemon Go launched in Japan with fast food giant McDonald's sponsoring in-game locations. "We are talking to a bunch of other businesses that want to take advantage of that model for Pokemon Go in other parts of the world," Hanke said at the conference. "It's promising. " A strong selling point for Pokemon Go sponsorships is that they get people swarming to places in a way that typical advertising does not. The power of Pokemon Go has, to some, become a bane. Parks and other public venues ripe with PokeStops or "gyms" where cartoon creatures battle are at times over run with players. Authorities have taken to warning Pokemon Go players against venturing where it is dangerous, illegal, in poor taste, or they are simply not wanted. The game and its creator are already in the sites of lawyers intent on suing to hold them accountable for trespassing or injuries involving players. The Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center has called for US regulators to investigate whether Niantic is collecting too much information about players and their whereabouts.

2016-08-14 07:40 Afp www.dailymail.co.uk

92 Five dead, tens of thousands flee Philippine floods Five people have been killed in the Philippines and tens of thousands have fled from floods caused by days of unrelenting rain, rescuers said Sunday. Civil defence officials warned residents of Manila and nearby provinces to expect more heavy seasonal rain over the coming days as more than 24,000 people sought refuge in schools and government buildings. "We are expecting more low-lying areas to experience flooding," National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council spokeswoman Romina Marasigan told AFP. "Those who are already in evacuation centres should stay there until the weather improves," she added. Those evacuated include nearly 9,000 Manila residents displaced by flooding from the Marikina River on Saturday. The council said three Manila slum residents were crushed to death Saturday by walls that collapsed in the floods. A man drowned crossing a swift-flowing river on the central island of Panay on Wednesday, it said, while the authorities retrieved a body from a Manila canal on Friday -- the cause of death is under investigation. A fisherman went missing at sea off the central island of Marinduque on Monday, while a man was injured by falling rocks at a highway east of Manila on Friday, it said. In all, more than 70,000 people have had their houses swamped by floodwaters, the council said, though the majority of residents have remained at home. The western section of the Philippines has been swamped by heavy rain over the past week, forcing the cancellation of some domestic commercial flights and the suspension of classes. 2016-08-14 07:40 Afp www.dailymail.co.uk

93 The glamorous side of the Rio Olympics - Aussie athletes unwind off the track They might be in Rio to push their bodies to the limits, but Australia's Olympians have been letting their hair down, too. Snaps show even our sporting stars take a chance to relax in between their strenuous training and competitive schedule every now and then. Charlotte Caslick, one of the country's gold medal-winning women's sevens team, took to social media to share a picture of a social volleyball match against the Dutch women's hockey team. In the lead-up to the games, she shared a snap from a coastal resort in Brazil. Australian beach volleyballer Mariafe Artacho del Solar has shown she knows how to make the most of her spare time, sharing seaside snaps and pictures next to the Olympic rings monument. In other pics, she can be seen enjoying some of the local sights around Rio de Janeiro. Fellow beach volleyballer Taliqua Clancy shared a courtside picture with rugby player Nick Cummins - who's nickname is 'The Honey Badger'. Jenneke showed she can mix business and fun, posing for a cheeky selfie with fellow athlete Ella Nelson while still at the running track. Nelson, a 200 metre sprinter, revealed her love for coffee in pictures in the lead-up to Rio and at the Olympics. Photos posted to Instagram showed her relaxing with cups of coffee in casual attire and in Australian Olympic team kit. In another shot, she is seen relaxing poolside, looking laid back in a swim suit - a far cry from sweating it up on the running track. Swimmer Kotuku Ngatawi shared some down-time snaps from the Olympic village where she appeared to be enjoying her time in Rio. The women's soccer team showed their lighter side too, posing for some fun snaps together and at beaches - which seemed to be a popular spot for athletes with some time up their sleeve. Women's sevens player Ellie Green was among those who headed for the beach as well. And despite being starstruck, team mate Chloe Dalton managed to get a picture of herself with tennis player Rafael Nadal.

2016-08-14 07:39 Leith Huffadine www.dailymail.co.uk

94 94 West Brom close to securing £11.5m signing of Leicester's Jeff Schlupp West Brom are closing in on the £11.5million signing of Leicester City utility player Jeff Schlupp. The 23-year- old was left out of Leicester's side to face Hull City on Saturday and is expected to formalise his move to the Hawthorns on Monday. Albion have made three offers for the 23-year-old with the latest offer revised to include more of the fee up front. Schlupp, who can play at left-back or left wing played 24 times for Leicester last season. A single goal from Salomon Rondon was enough to secure the Baggies three points on the opening day of the season, but Tony Pulis is still keen to add options to his squad. So far this summer, West Brom have only added Matt Phillips to their squad, a £5.5million addition from QPR.

2016-08-14 07:34 Simon Jones www.dailymail.co.uk

95 SpaceX lands Falcon 9 rocket after launch SpaceX successfully landed a reusable Falcon 9 rocket on a floating drone ship at sea early Sunday after the vehicle had sent a Japanese communications satellite into orbit. The California-based company's launch and landing was part of its ongoing effort to re-use costly rocket parts instead of jettisoning them into the ocean. The white rocket launched under a dark night sky from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 1:26 am (0526 GMT). The landing on the Of Course I Still Love You drone ship was especially challenging because the JCSAT- 16 satellite had to be carried into geostationary transfer orbit, or GTO, a highly elliptical orbit. "The first-stage will be subject to extreme velocities and re-entry heating, making a successful landing challenging," Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, known as SpaceX, had said prior to the mission. SpaceX mission control erupted in cheers as live video footage showed the successful landing of the first stage of the rocket. The communications satellite will help provide more stable satellite services for video distribution and data transfer communications in Asia, Russia, Oceania, Middle East and North America.

2016-08-14 07:34 Afp www.dailymail.co.uk

96 Chandimal century drives Sri Lanka to 299-7 Dinesh Chandimal scored a defiant century to power Sri Lanka to 299 for seven at lunch on the second day of the third and final Test against Australia in Colombo on Sunday. Chandimal's overnight partner Dhananjaya de Silva advanced from 116 to 129 before falling in the first hour, but not before the pair had rescued the innings with a 211-run partnership for the sixth wicket after coming together with Sri Lanka at 26 for five. Chandimal, scoring his seventh Test ton, remained unbeaten on 105 at the break with strong support from Rangana Herath on 14. Chandimal and de Silva started the second day cautiously, playing out three straight maiden overs, but soon gained momentum after hitting a couple of boundaries. Off-spinner Nathan Lyon finally provided the breakthrough by claiming de Silva, who had scored his maiden Test century on the opening day. Lyon, rewarded for his persistence, pitched the ball outside the off-stump, with de Silva nicking the ball to Shaun Marsh at short leg. The 24-year-old, playing in only his third Test for Sri Lanka, was given a loud ovation by the home crowd as he left the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) ground. An undeterred Chandimal continued to frustrate the Australian bowlers with some aggressive strokeplay. The wicketkeeper-batsman's signalled his intent with a six off Lyon on a reverse sweep and he continued to score regular boundaries. Chandimal, whose 300-ball stay was laced with nine fours and a six, punched the air in celebration after reaching his century off Lyon. However soon after, Chandimal survived a dropped chance at first slip by Australia skipper Steven Smith with left-arm spinner Jon Holland the unlucky bowler. Australian pace spearhead Mitchell Starc and Lyon, who wreaked havoc in Sri Lanka's top order on Saturday, have taken three wickets each.

2016-08-14 07:30 Afp www.dailymail.co.uk

97 'I feel like I'm him': Ex On The Beach's Charlotte Dawson left in tears as she filmed emotional documentary about late comedian father Les Before Ex on the Beach I filmed an ITV programme about my dad – Les Dawson. I filmed a show about that so that’s coming out at Christmas... 'It’s very emotional. I find letters from him that I’ve not seen before and find different videos and voice recordings of him. 'There’s a couple of letters to me and I find out quite a bit about him. It’s very, very emotional and I absolutely cried my eyes out filming it. But I feel like he’s with me anyway – I feel like I’m him.' The reality telly star is set to join her siblings, Stuart, Julie and Pam, on the documentary – despite the fact she has only spoken to her brothers and sisters on rare occasions since their dad passed away in June 1993. Reports have surfaced claiming Charlotte enjoyed a dalliance with Geordie Shore Lothario Gary Beadle - making for dramatic viewing.

2016-08-14 07:29 Ciara Farmer www.dailymail.co.uk

98 Health warning over deadly paralysis toxin in Tasmanian shellfish Health authorities are warning people not to eat wild shellfish from the east coast of Tasmania due to the risk of potentially fatal paralytic poisoning. Blooms of toxin-producing algae off the east coast, including in waters around Hobart, mean there are high levels of toxins in the shellfish. “Shellfish feed on algae and concentrate the toxin – this makes them dangerous to eat and may cause serious and even fatal illness,” the state’s acting director of public health, Dr Mark Veitch, said in a statement on Sunday. “The large scale of this algal bloom and the high levels of toxin in tested shellfish mean the risk of shellfish poisoning from eating shellfish collected from the wild is very real.” Two types of shellfish toxin have been detected: one causes paralysis while the other causes diarrhoea. People are being warned off wild oysters, mussels, clams, pipis and scallops from anywhere along the east coast. Cooking the shellfish does not destroy the toxins. Many commercial harvesting sites have been closed due to the algal blooms. Three people were poisoned in Tasmania by toxic mussels in October 2015, with two admitted to hospital. Symptoms of paralytic shellfish poisoning included tingling and pins and needles around the mouth and face, hands, and feet. People may also experience unsteadiness and blurred vision; or have difficulty swallowing, talking and breathing.

2016-08-14 07:26 Australian Associated www.theguardian.com

99 Zoe Buttigieg's tragic last hours: How the 11- year-old was 'sexually abused and murdered after a marathon drinking binge' at her family home A man raped and murdered 11-year-old Zoe Buttigieg after spending hours drinking bourbon and smoking cannabis with her mother at a 'rowdy party' at her home. Bowe Maddigan, 30, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Friday to indecently assaulting and murdering 11-year-old Zoe Buttigieg. Scroll down for video The court also heard Maddigan vanished between 4am and 5am, after vomiting in the backyard of the Wangaratta house in north-east Victoria. Ms Saunders went to bed about 7am on October 25, and woke four hours later to find her daughter had been murdered in her bed. Ms Saunders had met Maddigan a week prior through a mutual friend. The 30-year-old man had only been released from prison a week earlier. In May he pleaded not guilty to the attack in north-east Victoria but he changed his plea to guilty on Friday, the Herald Sun reported. Police found Maddigan barefoot and walking along the Hume Highway in a paranoid and erratic state. When police found him, he was not wearing any shoes and was dressed only in cargo shorts and a singlet. Ms Saunders said in court last year that Maddigan was extremely talkative earlier in the night. 'He was full of stories and he was just rambling and rambling and you couldn't get a word in…He was very attention seeking,' she said. Ms Saunders moved into the house with Zoe between three and four years ago. She has since received psychological counselling. 'We don't know how she is, we haven't heard anything since it happened,' a close friend of Ms Saunders said at the time. 'This is a very tight little street.' One neighbour who lives off Inchbold Street said ice had made huge inroads into the suburb known as 'Wang'. 'You'd have a couple of users on just about every street, ' the neighbour, who didn't want to be named, said. One 30-year resident of the street where Zoe lived, Heather Mann, said the area attracted some dangerous characters and that she had been threatened with assault recently. 'It's required intervention orders,' she said. 'Alcohol and ice and the two together are a problem here.' Maddigan is next set to appear at his sentencing hearing on November 11 at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Wangaratta.

2016-08-14 07:26 Hannah Moore www.dailymail.co.uk

100 Borrowed medal? No thanks, Henderson wins own Olympic gold RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Jeff Henderson had an Olympic gold medal in his grasp. Just not one he could call his own. With a pressure-packed jump on his last try of the night, the American long jumper changed all that. He won his own gold medal in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday and returned the one he carried for motivation to its rightful owner. And now both Henderson and his coach, 1984 triple jump champ Al Joyner, really have something to celebrate. "He said, 'I want you to give me back my gold medal and keep your gold medal,'" Henderson recounted. "I gave it back before I went out there. I knew I was going to win. " He was clutch on his last attempt. It's becoming an American trend. The night before, Michelle Carter won the shot put on her final attempt. Henderson rocked back and forth before starting down the runway. He flew into the air and when he landed in the sand, he instantly knew that was good enough for gold. His jump of 8.38 meters surpassed South Africa's Luvo Manyonga, who finished with silver. Defending champion Greg Rutherford of Britain was left with the bronze. "I came here to win," Rutherford said. "I'm going away disappointed. " Just imagine how Jarrion Lawson feels. The American had the last jump of the evening and thought his was well out there — maybe even gold-medal worthy — but he dragged his left hand in the sand before landing. That was the spot to where officials measured. He finished in fourth place. "I still think I had it. Maybe I hit my hand, maybe I didn't," said Lawson, who was an All- American at the University of Arkansas. "Just can't argue with technology. "But I think that was a No. 1 jump. " History will reflect Henderson as the winner, though. He said Joyner had used a similar ploy as motivation before — with his late wife, Florence Griffith-Joyner. It certainly got Henderson's attention. "He's always like, 'You're a champion. Believe in yourself,'" explained the 27-year-old Henderson, who's from McAlmont, Arkansas. "The last jump I was just like, 'OK, just keep everything the same, don't change nothing.' "I knew it was the winning jump after I saw it. " How's this for a little more history: Henderson captured gold medal No. 999 for the United States in the Summer Olympics. He was about 30 minutes shy of winning the magical 1,000th, but it went to the women's 4x100-meter medley relay swim team. "Feels amazing," Henderson said. "To be in that group and that category is awesome. To have that, 999, I didn't know that. It feels like I'm in a dream, honestly. " Still think the long jump is boring, Carl Lewis? The track icon recently took issue with his former event and the lack of more star power. Henderson has no issues with Lewis' sentiment. Although, he will give his good friend some good-natured ribbing. "I know Carl Lewis, he's biting his tongue right now," Henderson said. "I have nothing against Carl. Wait to see what he says after this. "

2016-08-14 07:24 Associated Press www.dailymail.co.uk

Total 100 articles. Created at 2016-08-14 12:01