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Total 100 articles, created at 2016-08-09 06:01 1 50 Republican national security officials reject Trump

(2.04/3) WASHINGTON, United States — Fifty senior Republican national security officials issued a stinging rejection of their party's White House nominee Donald Trump on Monday, warning he would be 2016-08-09 06:00 3KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 2 I Will Consider Voting for Evan McMullin Like nearly everyone else outside his family & co-workers, I had no idea that Evan McMullin existed. But now that I... 2016-08-09 04:39 (1.02/3) 1KB spectator.org 3 Paul Pogba: Rejoining Manchester United is like coming back home from a holiday (1.02/3) Manchester United have made Paul Pogba the most expensive footballer in history by bringing the midfielder back from Juventus. 2016-08-09 02:11 4KB www.independent.ie 4 Violence against Trump supporters surges Contact WND (0.03/3) A man has been charged with felonious assault for shooting a Donald Trump supporter during an argument over this year’s presidential election, according to a new report. And it’s raising questions about how far those who oppose the GOP presidential candidate’s campaign will go to stop him... 2016-08-09 02:38 8KB www.wnd.com 5 Is Chad Le Clos playing? Is Chad Le Clos toying with his rivals, or is he really struggling to find the right pace in the 200m freestyle? 2016-08-09 06:00 2KB (0.02/3) www.timeslive.co.za 6 Ex-Secret Service to Hillary-supporting GOPers: 'Are you crazy?' Contact WND (0.02/3) Dan Bongino was trusted to guard the president of the United States. He was a top-ranked Secret Service agent and studied psychology as part of his preparation for the job. Now he’s running as a Republican to be a congressman. And he’s got a simple question... 2016-08-09 02:41 6KB www.wnd.com 7 Is Zika a sign it's time, again, for DDT? Contact WND (0.02/3) WASHINGTON – The Zika virus, ravaging the world today, was eradicated before – in Brazil, of all places, where the Olympics today are taking place under watchful concern about its spread to so many international visitors. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of... 2016-08-09 01:46 8KB www.wnd.com

8 Pope Francis and the decline of the West Contact WND

(0.02/3) Pope Francis made comments last week that reveal the most important single thing you need to know about the modern world: The most dynamic religion of the last hundred years has been leftism. Not Christianity, and not Islam, but leftism. Leftism has taken over the... 2016-08-09 01:44 5KB www.wnd.com 9 Meet a modern-day pastor who casts out demons Contact WND (0.01/3) (This is the second of three-part series. Read Part I, “Psychiatrist goes demon hunting with exorcists.”) WASHINGTON – She was the world’s only fat and ugly fashion model. Or so she thought. The mirror said otherwise. But no one could convince... 2016-08-09 01:46 43KB www.wnd.com 10 'They'd rather kill babies than mosquitoes' Contact WND (0.01/3) Nearly 60 percent of Americans favor allowing late-term abortions for babies believed to be at strong risk for Zika-related conditions, and a leading pro-life activist is furious at the abortion lobby for advancing such an idea and urging expectant mothers not to go down that path... 2016-08-09 01:46 5KB www.wnd.com 11 With rifles, bigger ain't necessarily badder Contact WND (0.01/3) Why we prep Here’s another reason why you – and your friends and family – should prep: Government lies are no longer unacceptable, just graded “Director Comey said my answers were truthful, and what I’ve said is consistent with what I have told the American people,... 2016-08-09 01:43 8KB www.wnd.com 12 Sublime Ralani goal only bright spot after tough weekend for South Africans in Europe Surprise Ralani netted his first goal for top Swedish side Helsingborg this weekend but could not prevent them from slipping to a 3-2 defeat at home to Gefle. 2016-08-09 06:00 3KB www.timeslive.co.za 13 She looked dead, SA cyclist says of Dutch rider hurt in Olympic crash Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio thought former teammate Annemiek van Vleuten was dead when she rode past the Dutch cyclist as she lay motionless after crashing in the women’s road race in Rio on Sunday. 2016-08-09 06:00 3KB www.timeslive.co.za

14 SA Olympic schedule for Monday 4.30pm — rowing: lightweight women’s double sculls (Ursula Grobler & Kirsty McCann) 2016-08-09 06:00 770Bytes www.timeslive.co.za 15 Couple charged with breaking into boss' house, stealing camera that implicates them A boyfriend-girlfriend duo is charged with breaking into the Monitor Township home of their employer and stealing, among other things, a surveillance camera that implicates them in the crime. 2016-08-09 06:00 3KB www.mlive.com 16 Delta shutdown strands 1,000-plus at Narita airport in Japan TOKYO — More than 1,000 people were forced to spend the night at Tokyo's Narita airport because of the computer shutdown that halted Delta Air Lines flights worldwide. Flights were 2016-08-09 06:00 1KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 17 2 drug suspects dead in buy-busts in Cavite, Rizal SAN PEDRO CITY, Laguna -- Two suspected illegal drug pushers were killed in separate shootouts with policemen in Cavite and Rizal provinces, police said on Tuesday. In Cavite, Arthur Alviar was 2016-08-09 06:00 2KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 18 Orlando gay club dead felled by 200 bullets —report MIAMI—The 49 people who were killed in June in the Orlando gay nightclub massacre were struck by 200 bullets, local media reported Monday, quoting coroners. The victims who died sustained 2016-08-09 06:00 2KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 19 Cayman Islands reports 1st case of locally transmitted Zika GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands — The Cayman Islands is reporting its first local transmission of the mosquito-borne Zika virus that has been spreading across the Americas since last year. The acting 2016-08-09 06:00 1KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 20 Paul George sends soothing tweets to French gymnast who broke leg If there’s anyone who can relate to the physical and emotional trauma of breaking your leg while competing on the world stage, it’s US basketball’s Paul George. The Indiana Pacers superstar 2016-08-09 06:00 2KB sports.inquirer.net

21 Soldier to be charged with killing man in Tagum City TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte -- A soldier faces charges here following the killing of a 62-year-old man on Sunday, according to authorities here. Private First Class Ian Paul Pascua surrendered 2016-08-09 06:00 2KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 22 Mom’s love, music, AlDub make these Youtube ads ‘unskippable’ We are all guilty of hitting the “skip ad” button on Youtube. The challenge for brands, then, is to come up with “unskippable” online advertisements, according to Google Philippines 2016-08-09 06:00 5KB technology.inquirer.net 23 7 square miles burn in latest big California wildfire CRESTLINE, California — Smoke plumes roiling from flaming ridges of the San Bernardino Mountains blew all the way across the Mojave Desert to Las Vegas as California's latest big wildfire 2016-08-09 06:00 2KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 24 WATCH: Walk in an infinite VR hallway While VR can seem to transport users to a fantastical virtual reality space, the truth is that each user is still very much limited by the physical world. One solution to overcome this is through 2016-08-09 06:00 1KB technology.inquirer.net 25 Olympics: ‘Pretty boy’ puts modelling aside for boxing gold RIO DE JANEIRO—Boxing and modelling would hardly seem to be two professions that go together too well. But that does not stop Britain's Josh Kelly, the self-declared "pretty 2016-08-09 06:00 1KB sports.inquirer.net 26 LPA up north; habagat over Luzon, Visayas The state weather bureau on Tuesday was tracking a low pressure area (LPA) over northern Luzon The LPA was last spotted 1,200 kilometers east of Aparri, Cagayan, the Philippine Atmospheric 2016-08-09 06:00 1KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 27 Forecast: Apple Watch 2 to be released September An Apple analyst has predicted that the technology company's Watch 2 would be released later this year and possibly alongside the iPhone 7. Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI also predicted that the 2016-08-09 06:00 1KB technology.inquirer.net

28 Olympics: US NBA stars overcome slow start to rout Venezuela RIO DE JANEIRO—Paul George scored 20 points and Jimmy Butler added 17 as the United States team of NBA stars routed Venezuela 113-69 on Monday (Tuesday, Manila) at the Rio 2016-08-09 06:00 2KB sports.inquirer.net 29 Teenage girl charged with planning attack in France PARIS, Franc — A French court on Monday remanded in custody a 16-year-old girl accused of planning a jihadist attack in a country on edge following a series of brutal terror assaults, a judicial 2016-08-09 06:00 2KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 30 Lost in translation: Chinese tourist taken for refugee in Germany BERLIN, Germany — A Chinese tourist got tangled up in the red tape of Germany's migrant influx by mistake and was stuck in a refugee home for nearly two weeks, the Red Cross said on 2016-08-09 06:00 2KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 31 Kansas waterslide remains closed amid probe of boy’s death KANSAS CITY— A Kansas thrill ride billed as the world's tallest waterslide remained off-limits Monday as authorities pressed to figure out how a state lawmaker's 10-year-old son was 2016-08-09 06:00 6KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 32 Oil prices jump on rumors of Opec output freeze NEW YORK, United States — Oil prices continued to rise on Monday, with benchmark crude moving up more than a dollar per barrel in both New York and London. A barrel of West Texas 2016-08-09 06:00 2KB business.inquirer.net 33 Halfpops and Humanaut recruits coders and developers for the AI apocalypse Half-popped popcorn could, quite frankly, be one of the world’s greatest inventions (snack category). Another invention that the industry is uber-focused on and going gaga over? Artificial Intelligence (AI). Thanks, Pokemon Go — now we’ll have to endure the Pokemon-Go-ification of things on the conference circuit. 2016-08-09 04:58 2KB www.thedrum.com

34 Pealfisher opens its doors in San Francisco with Brian Steele at the helm International design agency Pearlfisher, which has offices in London, New York, and Copenhagen, has announced that it is opening up shop in San Francisco. 2016-08-09 04:58 2KB www.thedrum.com 35 Showcasing a city, video depicts the trending tastes of Anaheim, California Visit Anaheim, the official destination marketing organization (DMO) of Anaheim, released last week the first video of an 18-part series showcasing the diverse, regional craft brew and local dining scene. The video series was launched last week in conjunction with National IPA Day... 2016-08-09 04:57 2KB www.thedrum.com 36 Boy killed with machete; uncle suspected A Roy man is believed to have killed his 12-year-old nephew with a machete Sunday and then fatally shot himself while driving out of the neighborhood, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said Monday. 2016-08-09 04:37 1KB www.thenewstribune.com 37 How to look interested in a boring meeting Mastering the correct facial expression in a meeting is vital, writes Financial Times columnist Lucy Kellaway. 2016-08-09 04:36 3KB www.bbc.co.uk 38 Retailers caught selling e-cigarettes to under-18s Almost 40% of retailers targeted in an operation by Trading Standards in England are caught illegally selling e-cigarette products to under-18s. 2016-08-09 04:36 4KB www.bbc.co.uk 39 Greater Manchester mayor: Labour candidate to be announced Labour is set to announce whether Andy Burnham, Ivan Lewis or Tony Lloyd will be its candidate for the first mayoral election in Greater Manchester. 2016-08-09 04:36 1KB www.bbc.co.uk 40 Many families could not afford a month's rent if they lost job One in three families in England could not pay their rent or mortgage for more than a month if they lost their job, research for the charity Shelter suggests. 2016-08-09 04:36 3KB www.bbc.co.uk 41 Retail sales rose in July despite Brexit slump fears, report finds Warmer weather helped Britain's retailers sell more in July than during the same period last year, defying expectations of a post- Brexit slump. 2016-08-09 04:36 2KB www.bbc.co.uk 42 Newspaper headlines: Banking 'revolution' and pool success A 'revolution' in mobile phone banking and success for Britain in the Olympic swimming pool feature on the front pages. 2016-08-09 04:36 756Bytes www.bbc.co.uk 43 Bake Off's Nadiya Hussain 'excited' to judge junior series Former Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain has said she is "excited" to be joining the show's junior version as a judge. 2016-08-09 04:36 1KB www.bbc.co.uk 44 Southern rail strike: Passengers face second day of 'misery' Hundreds more trains are cancelled as the RMT union enters the second day of a five-day strike on Southern railway. 2016-08-09 04:36 1KB www.bbc.co.uk 45 Prep football games are two weeks away, but first MLive Game of the Week polls have arrived It's hard to believe, butopening night of the 2016 prep football season is just two weeks away and our Week 1 polls are up and running. Our polls allow you the fans to tell us which ones do you thi... 2016-08-09 04:36 2KB highschoolsports.mlive.com 46 NY Docs Are Working On Cocaine Version Of Methadone Doctors are starting human trials of a vaccine to prevent cocaine addiction. Medical professionals at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medicine got the green light to expand the 2016-08-09 04:39 2KB dailycaller.com 47 Where in the world is my data and how secure is it? Who has your data? So much of our private details are stored in the cloud, but where is that exactly, and is it secure? 2016-08-09 04:36 6KB www.bbc.co.uk 48 The puppy rescuers of Alexandria Egyptian animal lovers rescue an abandoned puppy trapped under rocks for more than three weeks. 2016-08-09 04:36 3KB www.bbc.co.uk

49 Turkey's Erdogan unnerves West with Putin visit Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chooses Russia for his first trip abroad since the failed coup, as the West watches nervously. 2016-08-09 04:36 4KB www.bbc.co.uk 50 Florida investigating another Zika case outside Miami The Florida Department of Health is investigating another case of Zika contracted in the state. 2016-08-09 04:36 1KB www.bbc.co.uk 51 Irom Sharmila: End of world's longest hunger strike Indian activist Irom Sharmila Chanu is ending her hunger strike against a controversial law after 16 years. 2016-08-09 04:36 2KB www.bbc.co.uk 52 Thai referendum: Why Thais backed a military-backed constitution More than 61% of Thai voters approved a new constitution that critics say will entrench military power - Jonathan Head looks at why. 2016-08-09 04:36 5KB www.bbc.co.uk 53 Enviros Get Anti-Fracking Constitutional Amendment On Ballot Environmental activists claim they turned in enough signatures late Monday to get a pair of anti-hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, amendments to the Colorado constitution on the ballot during the N 2016-08-09 04:39 5KB dailycaller.com 54 Barclays Pays Out $100 Million In Libor Suit The British bank, Barclays, will pay out $100 million to end an investigation into their manipulation of interest rates as a part of the now-infamous Libor (London inter-bank lending rate) scandal. 2016-08-09 04:39 3KB dailycaller.com 55 Pro-Trump Anti-Clinton Spots Dominate Radio In Past Week Donald Trump ruled the radio airwaves in terms of ad buys across the country this past week, according to Media Monitors, a local media monitoring service company. Both the Clinton and Trump campai 2016-08-09 04:39 1KB dailycaller.com 56 Hottest Olympians: Mariafe Artacho del Solar The Olympics are in full swing which means it's time to meet another gorgeous Olympian. Australian volleyball star Mariafe Artacho del Solar is stealing hearts at the games in Rio, and her Instagr 2016-08-09 04:39 1KB dailycaller.com 57 Study: College Benefits Outweigh Costs Pursuing a college degree is still the one of the most important investments an individual can make, according to a recent study by the Council of Economic Advisers. The earnings gap between colleg 2016-08-09 04:39 3KB dailycaller.com 58 Woman Arrested For Vandalizing Trump Sign A woman was arrested in Andover, MA for vandalizing a local resident's Trump campaign sign, and nearly running over the homeowner early Saturday morning, according to CBS Boston. Identified by An 2016-08-09 04:39 1KB dailycaller.com 59 Krauthammer On Hillary: 'She Lies About Her Lying' Charles Krauthammer blasted Hillary Clinton on Monday arguing that there are "so many lies now" about her emails, "she lies about her lying. " [feature] Appearing on Fox News's "Special Report," 2016-08-09 04:39 2KB dailycaller.com 60 Benghazi Victims' Parents Sue Hillary Clinton The parents of two of the Americans killed by Islamic terrorists during the Sept. 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks are suing Hillary Clinton for defamation, negligence and wrongful death. Charles Woods, t 2016-08-09 04:39 4KB dailycaller.com 61 Chevron Avoids $9.5 Billion Pollution Case A U. S. federal appeals court blocked a $9.5 billion Ecuadorian pollution judgment Monday against oil producer Chevron Corp. because it was obtained through fraud and bribery. The 2nd U. S. Circuit C 2016-08-09 04:39 4KB dailycaller.com 62 Public College Defends Offering Blacks- Only Classes A community college in Illinois is trying to defend itself after it decided to offer special classes only available to black people. "College: Changes, Challenges, Choice" is a one-credit introduct 2016-08-09 04:39 3KB dailycaller.com 63 Gay Couple Sues Over Fertility Treatment Coverage A gay couple from New Jersey filed a lawsuit claiming a health insurance mandate on infertility violated their constitutional rights. Erin and Marianne Krupa, a lesbian couple struggling to get pre 2016-08-09 04:39 2KB dailycaller.com 64 The VA Has 167 Full-Time Interior Designers An army of 167 interior designers work at the Department of Veterans Affairs, picking window blind colors and buying millions of dollars of art each year, an investigation from The Daily Caller News F 2016-08-09 04:39 5KB dailycaller.com 65 Saudi Judo Athlete Forfeits Match Against Israeli A Saudi judo Olympic athlete withdrew from her first match against an Israeli competitor in Rio De Janeiro Sunday, but both countries give different accounts as to why the forfeit happened. Israeli 2016-08-09 04:39 2KB dailycaller.com 66 DC Travel Group Says No To NRA Advertising Depicting Guns A Washington D. C.-based travel guide will no longer allow the National Rifle Association (NRA) to run ads that depict guns or ammunition in their guides. Destination D. C. has told the NRA that the 2016-08-09 04:39 2KB dailycaller.com 67 Alessandra Ambrosio And Adriana Lima Play 'Would You Rather' Brazilian supermodels Alessandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima got involved with the games at the Olympics down in Rio de Janeiro. The two Victoria's Secret models played "would you rather" with E! News a 2016-08-09 04:39 1KB dailycaller.com 68 Jury More Likely To Rule Guilty If Evidence In Slow Motion Video evidence shown in slow motion compared to normal speed is more likely to elicit a guilty verdict from jurors, according to a new report. The bias occurs even when knowing the actual amount o 2016-08-09 04:39 4KB dailycaller.com 69 George Bush Endorses Trump! A wondrous thing happened today (someone please point Aaron Goldstein to his fainting couch): George P. Bush, the son of Jeb Bush, endorsed Donald J... 2016-08-09 04:39 2KB spectator.org

70 Uproar after Harrisburg police kill man, as claim he held knife to mother’s throat disputed — RT America A man with a knife to his mother’s throat refused to drop the weapon, police say, before they opened fire and killed him. The mother, however, disputes this version of events. 2016-08-09 04:38 3KB www.rt.com 71 The War Crimes of Robert Mugabe: U. N. Must Act Ken Sibanda 2016-08-09 04:46 7KB www.jpost.com 72 A flight for the ages Percy Skinner decided he wanted to celebrate a milestone birthday in a unique way. 2016-08-09 04:38 6KB rssfeeds.11alive.com 73 Togo’s president sees Syrian rebels battle Assad forces Togo is one of the countries Jerusalem is relying on to help build stronger ties with western Africa, according to one Israeli diplomatic official. 2016-08-09 04:24 4KB www.jpost.com 74 Post-Brexit racism: ‘There are good Britons and bad Britons’ There's been a rise in reported hate crimes since the EU referendum. Here Polish migrants in Boston, Lincolnshire told us their story. 2016-08-09 02:41 688Bytes www.bbc.co.uk 75 Police cook pasta for elderly couple heard crying inside their apartment in Rome ROME — The story of police in Rome cooking dinner for an elderly couple has gone viral on Facebook. One day last week, police responded to an apartment after neighbors reported hearing loud c… 2016-08-09 02:32 1KB fox13now.com 76 Assad bombard rebels after Aleppo defeat The Syrian regime has sent thousands of reinforcements to join the battle for Aleppo after suffering one of its most significant setbacks in the five-year-long civil war. 2016-08-09 02:30 3KB www.independent.ie 77 Trump promises 'biggest US tax revolution since Reagan' Donald Trump promised to jumpstart the US economy with the "biggest tax revolution since Ronald Reagan" in the 1980s, saying he would "make America grow again". 2016-08-09 02:30 3KB www.independent.ie

78 Emperor of Japan hints at his wish to abdicate The Japanese Emperor Akihito (82), in a rare video address, has admitted to worries that age may make it difficult for him to fully carry out his duties. 2016-08-09 02:30 3KB www.independent.ie 79 Suicide bomber kills 70 in attack on Pakistan hospital A suicide bomber killed at least 70 people and wounded dozens in an attack that struck a gathering of Pakistani lawyers on the grounds of a government-run hospital in the south-western 2016-08-09 02:30 4KB www.independent.ie 80 Huge boost for Corbyn as 130,000 win right to vote in leadership ballot Embattled British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has received a huge boost after up to 130,000 Labour party members won the right to vote in the upcoming leadership election. 2016-08-09 02:30 2KB www.independent.ie 81 Weight is over: Jamie welcomes his new son A beaming Jamie Oliver could not wait to take his newborn baby home as he posed for the first family photographs with the new arrival. 2016-08-09 02:30 1KB www.independent.ie 82 Led Zeppelin loses fight for legal fees in Stairway case Led Zeppelin may have won the copyright war over their creation of Stairway To Heaven, but they lost its battle to recoup nearly 800,000 dollars (£615,000) in defence fees. 2016-08-09 02:11 3KB www.independent.ie 83 Trump suggests Clinton email link to Iranian scientist's execution Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has suggested that Hillary Clinton's emails may be responsible for the death of an Iranian nuclear scientist executed for spying for the U 2016-08-09 02:11 5KB www.independent.ie 84 Another Fox News female: I was sexually harassed Contact WND (NYMAG) — Fox News’ senior executives have said they were unaware of sexual-harassment allegations against Roger Ailes before former anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a lawsuit against him in July. But those claims are now being challenged by Fox host Andrea Tantaros, who says that she... 2016-08-09 01:45 1KB www.wnd.com

92 FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs still rules his flock Polygamous prophet Warren Jeffs, in prison, is orchestrating a shakeup of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, officials say. 2016-08-09 01:32 4KB rss.cnn.com 93 Australian women's rowing team at Rio Olympics come dead last in their opening heat The Australian women's rowing eight, affectionately nicknamed 'The Lateful Eight,' were overjoyed to be competing despite finishing dead last in their opening heat at the Rio Olympics on Monday. 2016-08-09 01:31 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 94 Olympics-Swimming-Sun takes men's 200m freestyle gold RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Sun Yang became the first Chinese swimmer to win the Olympic men's 200 metres freestyle gold medal on Monday. Sun, silver m... 2016-08-09 01:30 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk 95 Man-up situations critical in Olympic water polo RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Matteo Aicardi is tough to guard in normal situations in water polo. When Italy plays with the man advantage, he becomes even more dang... 2016-08-09 01:30 4KB www.dailymail.co.uk 96 Hip-hop artist Bow Wow to retire as he can't see himself rapping aged 30 Rapper, now 29-years-old started working aged 13, has made $20m and will turn his attention to acting and TV production 2016-08-09 01:29 2KB www.theguardian.com 97 Serena struggles through at Rio Defending champion Serena Williams ended a three-match losing streak against France's Alize Cornet to keep her hopes of a fifth Olympic gold medal alive Mond... 2016-08-09 01:29 4KB www.dailymail.co.uk 98 Census 2016: Labor urges all Australians to include their names Shadow assistant treasurer criticises Nick Xenophon and Greens senators for refusing to fill in census fully saying that could ‘imperil quality of data’ 2016-08-09 01:28 6KB www.theguardian.com 99 Big 12 urged by LGBT advocacy groups not to admit BYU as expansion school In a letter to Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, several LGBT advocacy groups said that admitting BYU as an expansion school would be "inconsistent with Big 12 membership values. " 2016-08-09 01:27 3KB www.espn.com 100 Jetstar Boeing 787 Dreamliner forced to land in Guam has had two new engines in less than a year A Jetstar Boeing 787 Dreamliner forced to divert to Guam mid- flight on Sunday because of engine problems had the engine in question replaced just three months prior. 2016-08-09 01:27 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk Articles

Total 100 articles, created at 2016-08-09 06:01

1 50 Republican national security officials reject Trump (2.04/3) WASHINGTON, United States — Fifty senior Republican national security officials issued a stinging rejection of their party’s White House nominee Donald Trump on Monday, warning he would be “the most reckless president in American history” if elected. The group, some of whom had already announced they would not vote for Trump, included former homeland security chiefs, intelligence directors, senior presidential advisors and a former US trade representative. They served under Republican presidents from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush. “We are convinced that he would be a dangerous president and would put at risk our country’s national security and well-being,” they wrote in a statement published in The New York Times. While they did not say they would vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton — indeed they expressed “doubts” about her — they were clear in stating that “none of us will vote for Donald Trump.” Lacks character The experts essentially declared the brash billionaire unfit for office, echoing Clinton’s criticism by saying that Trump “lacks the character, values, and experience to be president” and displays “alarming ignorance of basic facts” of international politics. The New York real estate mogul also has shown no willingness to learn about foreign affairs or national security threats, “acts impetuously” and lacks self control, the statement said. “He is unable or unwilling to separate truth from falsehood,” the group wrote, saying Trump possesses a set of “dangerous qualities” that should disqualify him from the presidency. “We are convinced that in the Oval Office, he would be the most reckless president in American history.” They warned that the political neophyte’s “erratic behavior” has alarmed America’s closest allies and that he fails to recognize the indispensible nature of such diplomatic relationships. Homeland security chiefs The signatories include Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff, the first and second homeland security secretaries under President George W. Bush, former director of National Intelligence John Negroponte and Bush- era CIA director Michael Hayden. Also in the group are former US Trade Representative and World Bank president Robert Zoellick and Eric Edelman, former national security advisor to vice president Dick Cheney. Trump issued a sharply worded reprimand of the group, painting them as “nothing more than the failed Washington elite looking to hold onto their power” and saying they should be “held accountable” for making the world less safe. “These insiders – along with Hillary Clinton – are the owners of the disastrous decisions to invade Iraq, allow Americans to die in Benghazi, and they are the ones who allowed the rise of ISIS,” Trump said. “I offer a better vision for our country and our foreign policy — one that is not run by a ruling family dynasty.” The anti-Trump Republicans join members of the security establishment who have already come out against the nominee, including former CIA director Michael Morell, who last Friday accused Trump of being an “unwitting agent” of Russian President Vladimir Putin. GOP top brass line up to pillory candidate independent.ie

Republican security experts rail against Trump in open letter bbc.co.uk 2016-08-09 06:00 Agence France newsinfo.inquirer.net

2 I Will Consider Voting for Evan McMullin (1.02/3) Like nearly everyone else outside his family & co-workers, I had no idea that Evan McMullin existed. But now that I know he does exist, I will consider voting for him as President of the United States in November. Granted, McMullin won’t appear on the ballot here in Massachusetts. The deadline for filing elapsed in January. But I will consider writing him in. I will give McMullin that I was prepared to give to David French and that I have given to Gary Johnson. I use the past tense because I’ve been less than impressed with Johnson thus far. When your running mate is head and shoulders above you and you’re better suited to being a personal trainer than President, it’s time to look elsewhere. Yes, my ballot is going to be a protest vote. But if I’m going to make my protest I want to cast it with someone with some character. McMullin might be #NeverTrump, but that doesn’t automatically guarantee him my vote. I look forward to hearing what he has to offer.

How Evan McMullin Could Cost Trump The Presidency dailycaller.com 2016-08-09 04:39 Aaron Goldstein spectator.org

3 Paul Pogba: Rejoining Manchester United is like coming back home from a holiday (1.02/3) Manchester United have made Paul Pogba the most expensive footballer in history by bringing the midfielder back from Juventus. The media will have to wait to speak to the 23-year-old but United's in-house television station MUTV asked him about his decision to return and plans for the future. Here is what he had to say. Paul, welcome back to Manchester United. How do you sum up your emotions right now? "There's no words, to be honest, there's no words. I just came back to Carrington. It was like I'd just came back home. I just went for a holiday, looks like I went for a holiday. I've come back home, I'm happy and I see everyone, the same persons. It's just a great feeling, to be honest. " I suppose it's a funny question after what you've just said but why are you back here at United? What made you come back? "I think it's destiny, I would say it's destiny. First my mum told me I would come back here and I told her, 'You never know, we'll see'. For myself as well it's a big challenge too, just to come back to where I came from, where I grew up, where I started. I just didn't finish what I started here so I think I came here to finish it. " And of course, you have to listen to your mum... "My mum, she says, 'Your mum is always right' so she was right this time, so it's good. And how does it feel to be the world's most expensive footballer? That's quite an achievement with all that you've already achieved on the pitch, isn't it? "The thing with me is I only think about the pitch. I want to do great, I want to be one of the best. I want to win titles, I want to achieve things and that's all - that's why I came here, just to do this, to become one of the best and to win titles because I know this club has to win titles. This club is created to win titles, to win things, to win big things. That's why. I am focused about this and that's it. I'm just ready to go and work on that and just kill it. " Has it been a mad summer for you, playing in the Euros at home for France and then being linked with various different clubs and then signing for United, coming home as you say? "Yeah. There was there a bit of sadness of course because we lost the final at home, but I will say I'm happy. It was a bad thing for a good thing so I'm happy now. I'm back home and it's something crazy, it's really crazy. I cannot explain. I'm very, very happy. The feeling I have in my body is like I can't wait to start. " What's it like being Paul Pogba now, compared to when you were 17 or 18 here in this indoor arena at the academy? "Well, I was younger, now I'm taller and bigger. It's just like, as I told you, it looks like I went for a holiday and I came back home. I was meant to come back here. I feel this. I always had this United thing in my heart and that's why I came back and I'm happy, just happy. " How have you changed as a player since you were here at United the first time around? What have you learned about your game, about yourself? How are you different? "I've got more experienced, I've won titles in Juventus. I've been playing with big players like when I started at Man United, of course. And I came back, I've not come back from the academy now - just I went to play somewhere else and I came back as, I would say, as a person, as an adult. I would say with experience, with more games, so I think that's the difference. "

7 things you may not have known about Paul Pogba independent.ie

Clubs who counted the cost to re-sign former players independent.ie 2016-08-09 02:11 www.independent.ie

4 Violence against Trump supporters surges Contact WND (0.03/3) A man has been charged with felonious assault for shooting a Donald Trump supporter during an argument over this year’s presidential election, according to a new report. And it’s raising questions about how far those who oppose the GOP presidential candidate’s campaign will go to stop him. According to a story on the CBS’ Pittsburgh station website, Darnell Hall, 45, was charged after he turned himself in to police. Bond was set at $15,000 during his initial appearance in court for the shooting July 25 at Winston’s Bar in Cleveland. There was an argument there over the election. Police say when one man praised Trump, saying he would make a good president, Hall allegedly left the bar. Then Hall reportedly returned and fired at the 60-year-old, hitting him in the leg. Hall’s lawyer argued during the hearing that the bar owner tried to grab Hall’s gun, and it was the grabbing that caused the gun to fire. The ‘Stop Hillary’ campaign is on fire! Join the surging response to this theme: ‘Clinton for prosecution, not president’ It’s just one incident among many that already have developed, but they already are fulfilling a prediction just weeks ago from talk-radio giant Rush Limbaugh. “I think,” he said, “people are going to be shocked at the degree to which the left intends to intimidate people into reversing that result [of a Trump victory]. I think they’re going to do everything they can to see to it that Trump never does get inaugurated.” Limbaugh said he doubted very much liberals would “sit idly by” and accept any election result that brings Trump to the White House. Instead, he explained, they’d rather bring on “levels of violence that we have not seen.” What do YOU think? Do you expect more violence against Trump supporters? Sound off in today’s WND poll He also said members of the media wouldn’t likely condemn such violent displays. Rather, they’d press the American viewer to “understand” the angst of the protesters. “The media,” he said, “will tell us that we must dig deep and understand why this is happening.” Within about the last week or so: In the few weeks before these cases, Media Research Center TV reported one anti-Trump protester said he’d like to “cut off Donald Trump’s head.” Protests also turned violent outside a San Jose, California, rally for the GOP nominee when demonstrators simply attacked Trump supporters. “Protesters jumped on cars, pelted Trump supporters with eggs and water balloons, snatched signs and stole ‘Make America Great’ hats off supporters’ heads before burning the hats and snapping selfies with the charred remains,” a report said. In Haymarket, Virginia, Trump signs again were vandalized. A family had put up a sign, and trespassers threw American flags on the ground, spray painted the sign and chucked eggs at it. In May, vandalism and inciting a riot charges were filed in Orange County, California, against Luis Fernando Alarcon, who was caught during an anti- Trump demonstration that turned violent. In April, WND reported a Trump rally in Costa Mesa, California, got rowdy. A mob of “almost entirely Latino” individuals, many waving Mexican flags, prompted the arrests of at least 20. “The Trump supporters were the peaceful people singing patriotic songs, festive and happy, while the protesters were very angry and high aggression,” one rally attendee, Terry Krokosz, told Breitbart. A Los Angeles Times reporter posted a photograph of a man with a bloodied face wearing a Trump shirt on Twitter. Journalist Matt Pearce tweeted, with the photo: “Trump supporter got hurt.” The ‘Stop Hillary’ campaign is on fire! Join the surging response to this theme: ‘Clinton for prosecution, not president’ Salon said protesters should be wary, because their violence might turn more voters toward Trump. Citing the violent 1968 Democratic Party convention in Chicago, the report said, “What happened next – if lessons can be learned from history – should give pause to those who might now, in 2016, deploy militant, confrontational ‘democracy in the streets’ tactics to challenge the legitimacy of Donald Trump’s candidacy at the convention or on the campaign trail. “In 1968, some 89 million Americans had watched the convention and its attendant protests on television. They had seen the police brutally attack the demonstrators. During the worst of it, as television networks broadcast violence into Americans’ homes, the demonstrators had chanted: ‘The whole world is watching.’ They had expected their fellow citizens to be repulsed by the police brutality and to be moved to join them in demanding greater democracy. They were wrong. “Chicago Mayor Daley stated that he had received more than 135,000 letters supporting his use of police – and only 5,000 complaints. Public opinion polls verified his claim. Only 10 percent of white voters believed that the police had used too much force on the protesters, while 25 percent believed the police should have been tougher. On the other hand, 63 percent of African-Americans thought the police had been too violent.” The report noted the result that “white voters fled the Democratic Party.” Even if the party itself was not linked. But this year, according to the Independent Journal Review, “an email dump courtesy of Wikileaks reveals the DNC interfering in the Republican nomination process by fueling protests at Trump events.” The report explained party officials themselves were linked to plans to create a protest that blocked traffic in San Francisco, and another in Indiana. Back in March, t he Washington Post reported a Tucson police officer was worried about “a full-fledged riot” coming from the anti-Trump protesters. The solution, according to radio host Michael Savage? “The Savage Nation” host told his audience recently he is sick and tired of leniency shown to left-wing activists. He said America could learn a lesson from Reagan by revisiting how he squashed the “People’s Park” protests in the late ’60s. “He was a law-and-order candidate who stood up to the street garbage,” said Savage. “There were no more riots in Berkeley after that. The professors shut their mouths and went back to their classrooms to molest the students. And the street protesters disappeared all of a sudden. The ‘We shall overcome’ crowd suddenly fled when there was a little reaction from the police.” He explained Berkeley students vowed to destroy school property in May 1969 if officials turned a plot of land into parking lot. Reagan deployed the California Highway patrol, police officers, and the U. S. National Guard to restore order. One student died and 128 others were admitted to the hospital during a declared state of emergency. Behind-the-scenes footage of Reagan speaking with a college professor shows he had no interest in negotiating with lawbreakers. “Those people told you for days in advance that if the university sought to go ahead with that construction they were going to physically destroy the university,” Reagan said. “What is to negotiate? All of it began the first time some of you who know better, and are old enough to know better, let young people think that they have the right to choose the laws that they would obey as long as they were doing it in the name of social protest.” Savage went on to say there would be a “civil war” in the U. S. if officials continue to allow left-wing groups to flout the rule of law. “Trump is extremely popular. The people are not going to be shut down. There are unarmed groups being formed to protect Trump rallies,” said the radio host. “I warned you this would happen. I warned you there’s going to be a counter-reaction to these street thugs. They think that they have the stage. They’re wrong. They don’t have the power in this country. They’re a small group of people. … They’re going to provoke violence on the other side, and that is bad for America. It’s very bad for America. That is what the left specializes in, which is violence and anarchy of this nature.”

Ready to rumble Contact WND wnd.com

Obama's 'smooth transition' pledge Contact WND wnd.com Media tries to 'Sarah Palin' Donald Trump Contact WND wnd.com 2016-08-09 02:38 Bob Unruh www.wnd.com

5 Is Chad Le Clos playing? (0.02/3) Le Clos clocked a 1min 45.89sec personal best in the afternoon heats on Sunday, but then slowed slightly to 1:45.94 in the evening, although he still qualified for Monday night’s final (?? Tuesday SA time) with the seventh-best time. In the semifinal he torpedoed out on the first 100m, his first 50m was inside world record pace. He had opened up a massive lead but then seemingly tired drastically on the second half. “I think that was a bit too fast, to be honest,” Le Clos said. “I just want to get out there, it’s always hard because you’ve got the best guys in the world and I’m not really a great freestyler,” said Le Clos, who begins defending his Olympic 200m butterfly crown on Tuesday. “I struggled a bit, you know I don’t know what to do. “This morning I turned for the 100m and I’m like ‘whoa, what do I do here?’ I’ve never been so far ahead, ever in my whole life. “I’ve just got to get that right. I’ve still got to find the right [pace]. I like to race, I like to race from behind and [now] I’m in front. I’m like really, I don’t know what to do now.” But is Le Clos, the reigning 200m world short-course champion in this event, really struggling to find his pace, or is trying to play mind games with the favourite, China’s Sun Yang? Le Clos insisted he was battling to work out the pace. “I was definitely hurting a bit, of course. I knew that. “This morning was tiring as well. I just feel I’ve got to slightly pace it better and then it’ll be better. It was slightly too fast. “I’m happy I’m in the final … a medal would be unbelievable.”

Chad le Clos wins silver in 200m freestyle timeslive.co.za 2016-08-09 06:00 DAVID ISAACSON www.timeslive.co.za

6 Ex-Secret Service to Hillary-supporting GOPers: 'Are you crazy?' Contact WND (0.02/3) Dan Bongino was trusted to guard the president of the United States. He was a top-ranked Secret Service agent and studied psychology as part of his preparation for the job. Now he’s running as a Republican to be a congressman. And he’s got a simple question for members of the GOP who are supporting Hillary Clinton. Are you crazy? Bongino unleashed on Hillary-supporting Republicans in a video which has garnered well over 800,000 views on WND’s Facebook account. Hundreds of thousands have also viewed it at other sites. Bongino argued the stakes are too high for any Republican to be supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton. “Understand this … by supporting Hillary you are actively contributing to the destruction of the greatest country on Earth,” he thundered. “This is not a theoretical exercise. You are destroying your kids’ economy. You are destroying your kids’ health care system. You are destroying your kids’ education system. You are destroying any semblance of reality in our court system. You’re destroying any sense of getting the government out of your life through this massive overgrowth of government bureaucracy. And you’re entrenching seven years of Barack Obama. “You. In real time, you’re doing that.” Bongino, who during his time in the Secret Service protected Barack Obama, is the author of the New York Times bestseller “Life Inside The Bubble: Why A Top-Ranked Secret Service Agent Walked Away From It All.” He’s also running for Congress as a Republican in Florida’s 19th Congressional District. Bongino specifically condemned Bret Stephens, the deputy editorial page editor for the Wall Street Journal, who has been arguing for months Republican voters should be taught a “lesson” by what he hopes is a Trump defeat. “Bret Stephens at the Wall Street Journal said at least Mrs. Clinton isn’t a sociopath,” Bongino charged. “Listen, I was a graduate student in psychology. I encourage you strongly to look up the definition of a sociopath. Maybe you’ll re-evaluate that stance.” The former Secret Service officer condemned those who believe the 2016 election is simply some abstract question of ideology. “What is this, some bizarre theoretical exercise to you where you think you’re making some kind of a point by supporting Hillary Clinton?” he asked. “What’s your point? ‘I hate America and I want to destroy it?'” The most closely guarded secrets from the center of American power, revealed for the first time. A former top ranked Secret Service agent reveals what’s REALLY going on in the White House. Don’t miss the shocking true story from Dan Bongino “Life Inside The Bubble,” available now in the WND Superstore. A number of Republicans have come out in support of Hillary Clinton in recent weeks. Lezlee Westine, a former aide of George W. Bush, announced her support for Hillary Clinton on Monday. Former GOP governor of Michigan William Milliken also announced he was backing Clinton. Richard Armitage, Henry Paulson and Brent Scowcroft, all of whom served in the second Bush administration, declared they were supporting Clinton at the end of July. However, Donald Trump scored a surprise endorsement on Monday from George P. Bush, the son of Jeb Bush. The Texas land commissioner and scion of the Bush political dynasty said he understood the primary was divisive but it is time for Republicans to unite. “You get back up and you help the man that won, and you make sure that we stop Hillary Clinton,” he said. Bongino made the same case. He said he does not support everything Donald Trump has said and done and praised what he called the Republican and conservative tradition of independence. “We’re not automatons,” he joked. “We don’t worship the golden calf or any candidate.” But Bongino said supporting Hillary is positively immoral. “Listen, I get it, there’s a lot of bitterness and ill-will over what happened in the Republican primary, I totally understand it,” he admitted. “I’m not asking anyone to forfeit their principles or do anything they don’t want to do. But there are other choices out there too! Supporting Hillary is not being ‘never Trump’ or whatever you want to call it. Supporting Hillary is a totally different level of insanity and depravity. “I saw the inner circle of the Clinton campaign when I was a Secret Service agent back in the day. You are out of your mind if you vote for this woman. She will do anything. She will say anything. You are talking about a woman who knew that her email server had been compromised, that people were getting access to the world’s most sensitive information. She knew this and continued to trade in our deepest, darkest secrets over the Internet. And you’re going to support her? Again, are you insane?” Bongino reframed the question of “conscience” some Republicans are using as an excuse not to support Donald Trump. He said the real question is whether someone with the character of Hillary Clinton can be commander-in-chief. “You’re talking about a woman, again, who lied to the faces of the families of the patriots that died in Benghazi,” he thundered. “Looked them in the eye and knowingly lied. And you’re going to support this woman. What does that say about you?” The most closely guarded secrets from the center of American power, revealed for the first time. A former top ranked Secret Service agent reveals what’s REALLY going on in the White House. Don’t miss the shocking true story from Dan Bongino “Life Inside The Bubble,” available now in the WND Superstore.

Obama's 'smooth transition' pledge Contact WND wnd.com

Obama's Secret Service agent tells all! $4.95 today! Contact WND wnd.com 2016-08-09 02:41 www.wnd.com

7 Is Zika a sign it's time, again, for DDT? Contact WND (0.02/3) WASHINGTON – The Zika virus, ravaging the world today, was eradicated before – in Brazil, of all places, where the Olympics today are taking place under watchful concern about its spread to so many international visitors. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, notes that Brazil used DDT to knock out Zika during the 1950s and ’60s. “They did it successfully but they did it in a way that would be almost non-feasible today – very heavy use of DDT,” he said recently. “So it can be done. But historically it was done in a way that might not be acceptable now.” Of course, that raises an obvious question: Why wouldn’t it be acceptable today? The answer, say experts, is simply politics and irrational public fears stoked by a popular environmentalist treatise published in 1962 – Rachel Carlson’s “Silent Spring.” The proven mosquito killer was banned in the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1972 – even though it had saved the lives of tens of millions from malaria around the world. Carlson convinced the public that DDT represented a threat to bald eagles. She attributed thinner eggshells to DDT spraying, though the evidence never persuaded many scientists. Dr. Jane Orient is one of the voices urgently calling on renewed use of DDT spraying to fight the Zika plague. She got her B. A. in chemistry with honors, a B. S. in mathematics, summa cum laude at the University of Arizona, Tucson, in 1967, before earning her medical degree at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1974. She also serves as the managing editor of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons and is a member of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness. Find about what the Bible has to say about health, in “Bible Health Secrets,” by Reginald Cherry. “If we do nothing,” she says, “a lot of people will get Zika [and] some will get Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which causes a potentially fatal paralysis.” Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control, she says, calls for not getting pregnant, wearing long-sleeve clothing and applying mosquito repellent. But it’s not working very well, she says. “I would say the biggest obstacle to Zika control is unwillingness to do adequate vector control, and refusal to even consider the weapon that worked in the past – DDT,” says Dr. Orient. Created in 1874 by a German chemist, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane wasn’t found to be an effective insecticide until 1939 when Swiss chemist Paul Müller started publicizing its usefulness as an eradicator of mosquitoes and various vermin. Müller justifiably won the 1948 Nobel Prize “for his discovery of the high efficiency of DDT as a contact poison against several anthropods.” Use of DDT became widespread. Typhus that had ravaged U. S. forces during World War II was largely eliminated. In the United States, sickness and death caused by malaria shrank from 15,000 cases in 1947 to compete eradication by 1951. The use of DDT in Africa and elsewhere proved sensationally effective against malaria and other mosquito borne diseases. Dr. Orient says DDT saved at least 500 million lives without killing anyone – except mosquitos. “Current insecticides are less effective, far more expensive, and far more toxic – both to humans and the environment,” she says. “After widespread massive overuse use in agriculture, we know a lot about DDT. It was not killing off the birds. DEET, recommended by the CDC, is probably more harmful.” Less than a century since DDT was first sprayed, the spread of the Zika virus through mosquitoes has left others wondering whether regulators were too quick to move away from the chemical. “It’s a difficult question, and it’s a very controversial question,” says Jonathan Chevrier, an assistant professor at McGill University, of how policymakers weigh the use of DDT to protect public health. “What the Zika virus is potentially doing is terrible. But using any pesticide needs to be considered very, very carefully.” Jillian Kay Melchior, political editor at Heat Street and a fellow with the Independent Women’s Forum, is not so equivocal. “The Zika virus outbreak makes it clearer than ever: It’s time to end the ban on DDT – a ban that was never sensible in the first place, but now is downright unjustifiable,” she wrote in the New York Post. “Unfortunately, alarmism has led to a decades-long ban on the most effective pesticide against the disease-spreading mosquito, even though science has proven it reasonably safe. Mosquitoes are responsible for more deaths than any other creature on Earth.” DDT kills mosquitoes most effectively; in the 1960s, the National Academy of Sciences said that “to only a few chemicals does man owe as great a debt as to DDT,” adding that it had prevented as many as the 500 million death cited by Dr. Orient. She attributes the ban to environmental hysteria in the early 1970s – when the first Earth Day was declared. “Numerous studies directly contradicted environmentalists’ claims that the chemical caused cancer,” she wrote. “Likewise, thousands of studies examining other purported health risks produced results that were ‘weak, inconclusive or contradictory; in other words there is no evidence of harm,’ Namibian health minister Richard Nchabi Kamwi noted in the Wall Street Journal.” She adds: “Yet Carson’s junk science won out, and not just in the United States.” “Globally, discouraged use of DDT has come at enormous human cost,” she wrote. “Dr. Rutledge Taylor’s documentary estimated that the DDT ban could be linked to as many as 1.5 million unnecessary deaths a year.” Malaria was nearly wiped out by DTT, but in a 2001 study published by the London-based Institute for Economic Affairs, “Malaria and the DDT Story,” Richard Tren and Roger Bate found that “Malaria is a human tragedy,” adding, “Over 1 million people, mostly children, die from the disease each year, and over 300 million fall sick.” Some actually applauded the DDT ban because it saved so many lives. Alexander King, founder of the Malthusian Club of Rome, wrote in a biographical essay in 1990: “My own doubts came when DDT was introduced. In Guyana, within two years, it had almost eliminated malaria. So my chief quarrel with DDT, in hindsight, is that it has greatly added to the population problem.” Dr. Charles Wurster, one of the major opponents of DDT, is reported to have said, “People are the cause of all the problems. We have too many of them. We need to get rid of some of them, and this (referring to malaria deaths) is as good a way as any.” Dr. Orient reminds that “extensive hearings were held on DDT before an Environmental Protection Agency administrative law judge, Edmund Sweeney, who concluded in 1972, ‘DDT is not a carcinogenic hazard to man. … DDT is not a mutagenic or teratogenic hazard to man … the uses of DDT under the regulations involved here do not have a deleterious effect on freshwater fish, estuarine organisms, wild birds or other wildlife.'” “But the EPA hearing examiner was overruled by EPA administrator William Ruckelshaus – a lawyer and politician, not a scientist,” she says. “He reportedly did not attend a single hour of the seven months of hearings, nor did he read any of the transcripts, according to aides.” In fact, according to Orient, the latest scientific study on DDT, published in 1985, found no correlation between DDT and cancer. A 1972 study actually found it reduced tumors in animals. Nevertheless, even those calling for the return of DDT in the fight with Zika are not optimistic about a change in the political climate. After all, it only saved 500 million lives – human, that is. Find about what the Bible has to say about health, in “Bible Health Secrets,” by Reginald Cherry.

Obama's 'smooth transition' pledge Contact WND wnd.com

Movie reveals 'prophetic keys' to end times Contact WND wnd.com 2016-08-09 01:46 www.wnd.com

8 Pope Francis and the decline of the West Contact WND (0.02/3) Pope Francis made comments last week that reveal the most important single thing you need to know about the modern world: The most dynamic religion of the last hundred years has been leftism. Not Christianity, and not Islam, but leftism. Leftism has taken over the world’s leading educational institutions, the world’s news media and the world’s popular entertainment, and it has influenced Christianity (and Judaism) far more than Christianity (or Judaism) has influenced anything. On July 26, two Muslims slit the throat of a French Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. Jacques Hamel, 85, while he was saying Mass in his church. Five days later, during his flight returning to Rome from World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland, Pope Francis gave a press conference. He was asked about the French priest and Islam by Antoine-Marie Izoard, a journalist with I. Media, a French Catholic news agency. Izoard said: “Catholics are in a state of shock – and not only in France – following the barbaric assassination of Father Jacques Hamel in his church while he was celebrating Holy Mass. Four days ago … you told us once again that all religions want peace. But this holy priest … was clearly killed in the name of Islam. So I have two brief questions, Holy Father. When you speak of these violent acts, why do you always speak of terrorists but not of Islam? … And then, … what concrete initiative can you launch or perhaps suggest in order to combat Islamic violence?” Pope Francis responded: “I don’t like to speak of Islamic violence because every day when I open the newspapers I see acts of violence, here in Italy: someone kills his girlfriend, someone else his mother-in-law … and these violent people are baptized Catholics! They are violent Catholics. … If I spoke about Islamic violence, I would also have to speak about Catholic violence.” The pope of the Roman Catholic Church, when asked about Islamic terror and the slitting of the throat of a Roman Catholic priest by Islamic terrorists, responds that there is also Catholic terror – that a man who was baptized Catholic who “kills his girlfriend” is the moral and religious equivalent of Muslims who engage in mass murder in the name of Islam. How can anyone compare: Pope Francis then added: “Terrorism is everywhere! … Terrorism … increases whenever there is no other option, when the global economy is centered on the god of money and not the human person, men and women. This is already a first form of terrorism. You’ve driven out the marvel of creation, man and woman, and put money in their place. This is a basic act of terrorism against all humanity. We should think about it.” Terrorism grows “when there is no other option”? The implication that Islamic terrorism is a desperate act arising from poverty is widely held on the left. But it is false. Most Islamic terrorists come from the middle class or above. In the recent case of the Bangladeshi terrorists, for example, nearly every one of them came from some of the wealthiest families in Bangladesh. And, as is well-known, most of the 9/11 hijackers came from middle- and upper middle-class families. Islamic terrorism doesn’t come from economics; it comes from its theology. Terrorism grows “when the global economy is centered on the god of money”? The pursuit of money and terror have nothing to do with each other. Terrorism grows only when some ideology preaches it. All this statement does is provide an excuse for Islamist terror by blaming the “global economy” and the “god of money” instead of the terrorists and their god of death. A “first form of terrorism” is when “the global economy is centered on the god of money”? It is a bad thing when money becomes a god, but there is no comparison between the “god of money” and the horrors of Islamic terror. Yazidi women weren’t gang raped and burned alive because of the “global economy” and its “god of money.” The only explanation for these statements is that Pope Francis has inherited his theology from Catholicism, but unlike his immediate predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, he has inherited much of his moral outlook from leftism. The Western combination of Judeo-Christian morality and political liberalism – with its doctrine of moral accountability, moral absolutes, confronting evil, and political and social freedom – has produced the most moral societies in world history. The pope of the Roman Catholic Church should be its greatest advocate. But because of leftism, he isn’t.

Ready to rumble Contact WND wnd.com Obama's 'smooth transition' pledge Contact WND wnd.com 2016-08-09 01:44 Dennis Prager www.wnd.com

9 Meet a modern-day pastor who casts out demons Contact WND (0.01/3) ( This is the second of three-part series. Read Part I, “Psychiatrist goes demon hunting with exorcists.” ) WASHINGTON – She was the world’s only fat and ugly fashion model. Or so she thought. The mirror said otherwise. But no one could convince her. In reality, she was slender and stunning. Extremely in demand. Extremely successful. Extremely well paid. She lived the “good life” so many only dream about – rich, successful and beautiful. But she was bedeviled by an illusion. She couldn’t see plain reality. Not after all those years of that voice in her head. The thoughts wouldn’t stop. The voice wouldn’t stop. The lies wouldn’t stop. What did she hear? “You are fat and ugly. You’ve got to lose more weight. You are damaged goods. It’s never going to change. You are better off dead. No man is ever going to want you.” Remarkably, this poor, tortured woman had been hearing those voices since she was a child, yet still somehow persevered to become a success. But she was miserable and despondent. She tried everything. Counseling, therapies, you name it. Until, one day, at her wits’ end, she tried something completely different. She showed up on the pastor’s doorstep wearing something decidedly unfashionable: bandages on her wrists. She had flown in from the big city in utter desperation, just 10 days after a two-week hospitalization following an attempt to end it all. She walked in an absolute mess, tormented, in despair and at the end of her rope. She left smiling and in freedom. And never looked back. A dramatically changed and happy woman. What in the world happened? Pastor Karl Payne described it to WND as a fairly simple and straightforward case. A typical case. No screaming. No swearing. No projectile vomiting or spinning heads. They just had a conversation. She was afflicted with demons. He got rid of them. As he has routinely for patients for three-and-a-half decades. Free of charge. No big deal. Except to her. And countless others he’s helped. It’s what he does. Actually, he would say, “God – through His delegated authority, grace and power – got rid of them.” Payne maintains he has quietly and routinely worked with demonized patients for all these years without charge because he considers this ministry part of a pastor’s responsibility, when it is necessary. Are demons real? Decide for yourself. Read Karl Payne’s bestselling “Spiritual Warfare.” ‘It’s real’ In the first part of this series, WND interviewed an accomplished and well- respected psychiatrist who wrote an article for the Washington Post titled, “As a psychiatrist, I diagnose mental illness. Also, I help spot demonic possession.” Although he said cases of genuine possession were rare, he found certain extremely uncommon cases could be explained no other way. “I believe I’ve seen the real thing,” he wrote. He could readily recognize mental illness, “But what am I supposed to make of patients who unexpectedly start speaking perfect Latin?” Dr. Richard Gallagher does not diagnose possession. He rules out medical or psychiatric disorders and then, he told WND , “I let the clergy, the spiritual professionals, make up their own mind.” The doctor also made it clear that he does not treat the possessed himself, and they were not patients of his. “I’m certainly not an exorcist or anything like that. I’m not a clergy member. I’m not really doing anything that’s frowned upon professionally.” Payne doesn’t call himself an exorcist, either. He prefers to describe it as deliverance ministry. Unlike the psychiatrist, he does treat the spiritually afflicted. Both the psychiatrist and the pastor find there are cases that can have only a spiritual explanation. Both have seen the evidence. Payne believes he has the cure. What he calls a biblical and effective response to a spiritual problem. His evidence? It works. He says he has worked with hundreds of demonized Christians with only a handful of less-than successful attempts. “It’s real,” said Payne. “People can say they don’t want to deal with it. Academics can say they don’t want to define it. Pastors can redefine it. But that doesn’t mean it’s not real.” Find out the truth about the way the world really works. Read Karl Payne’s bestselling “Spiritual Warfare.” Spiritual warfare Payne believes his track record and hundreds of testimonials are proof of the validity of the transferable method of deliverance he outlines in his book and articles on the subject. But even though what he does appears to be simple, that doesn’t mean it is. He warns, dealing with demons is particularly dangerous for the unbeliever. “They are real, and they are powerful. But you need to recognize you are confronting them through the delegated authority of the creator, of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are responding as part of his creation. Creator trumps creation.” He calls it spiritual warfare. The pastor welcomed the courage of the psychiatrist as “someone willing to stand up, knowing that his colleagues are going to besmirch him. That’s a brave person. And I respect that. So, whether I agreed with everything in that article or not, I won’t argue with someone who is willing to say this is real.” Payne said even fellow pastors can be reluctant to accept the reality of spiritual warfare, and, “I know the risk I run with colleagues by saying that, but this stuff is real.” A look at his biography shows the pastor is as mainstream as mainstream pastors get. Payne served as chaplain and spiritual counselor for the NFL’s Seahawks from 1994 through 2015, stepping down last year after 21 full seasons. “I continue to stay in touch with players and coaches, and have been told I am welcome back to visit or watch practices with a simple phone call,” he told WND. Payne is currently on staff at Antioch Bible Church of Redmond, Washington, where he serve as the pastor of leadership development and discipleship training. He has written three books on discipleship, co-authored two books on the just use of force and Christian cross training, and collaborated on a number of works on apologetics, biblical ethics and Christian leadership development. Payne is also the author of the phenomenally successful “Spiritual Warfare: Christians, Demonization, and Deliverance,” published by WND Books. He says the book has remained first or second on the first page of Amazon for books in that category for nearly four years. “Spiritual Warfare” is a detailed explanation of what he does and how he does it. What he does is quite straightforward and consists of a few simple steps. While the psychiatrist Gallagher believes cases of actual demonic possession are few in number, Payne does not believe cases of spiritual spiritual oppression and demonization are quite so rare. Payne does not make as clear a distinction as Gallagher between demonic oppression and possession, although the pastor does find the categories useful in describing the intensity of an affliction. He sees demonic oppression, demonization and possession as existing along a continuum of increasing intensity. “There’s just different degrees of control,” Payne explained. “Slight, for oppression. Disconcerting and far more debilitating and discouraging in cases of genuine demonization. And almost total subjection of the will, in cases more commonly described as possession.” What the pastor does is similar to what the psychiatrist does in that they first both look to rule out physiological or psychological causes of a person’s distress. But, where Gallagher then leaves it for the spiritual professionals, Payne provides treatment. He calls it “a simple, pragmatic, biblically consistent response that any genuine Christian can utilize in the case of demonization.” What he actually does is rather simple. He says, to exorcise a demon he has a simple conversation. Payne’s method has three requirements, three steps, two meetings and a few ground rules. Three requirements: Three steps: Two meetings: First meeting Why does Payne’s method seem to work so well? Payne believes it is important to recognize demons are real. But it’s more important to recognize God is real. And to realize God is more powerful than demons. That’s why it works. It is not the power of the pastor that drives out the demons. It is God. That’s the key. Payne also believes it is essential to realize Jesus Christ is God. Payne did not say, but clearly believes, the proof of that claim may be found in the incredible effectiveness of this demon-banishing method. He did say proof that Christ is God is found in “Scripture, with formerly demonized Christians coming to view their minds and bodies as temples rather than prisons, and their walk with God something to enjoy rather than endure.” In the first meeting, Payne said, “I am essentially trying to look them over to figure out if I am even buying this. I’ve got to believe it’s the real thing or I’m just wasting their time.” He said it also gives patients a chance to get to know him and decide if it’s for them, because, “They’re usually scared when they come in, which I understand.” The pastor said people will typically say something like they are challenged by something they have been told to ignore because it’s silly, or they’ve been told it’s so powerful it’s going to destroy them. And that they don’t know what to do, but it has become so bad they have become desperate. “During that first meeting, I try to make several things very clear. I will try to make sure that they understand that, to my knowledge, there are three non- negotiable requirements (listed above) that have to be true or it’s going to go nowhere.” The reasons for insisting upon complete honesty and a disdain for an attitude of victimization may be fairly self-evident. But Payne takes care to explain to people why it is also essential to be a Christian for the treatment to work. “Demons don’t fear people, but they fear Christ who lives in a person. That’s why in Acts 19, if they didn’t recognize the people who were doing the exorcisms and deliverances as believers, they attacked them. If Christ was in them, the demons would have been frightened of them. Not because of the individual or their vocation or their ethnicity or whatever. When demons see Christ in someone, that backs them up.” Once Payne is satisfied the problem is spiritual and that the person seeking help is a committed Christian and committed to solving the affliction, he gives a homework assignment. First, those seeking his help are to read three Bible selections. Patients are then instructed to make a list of their own problems that they see in those verses. “I will say I want you on a piece of paper to work through these three Bible verses and write down anything there that represents a habitual problem in your life. If it’s occasional and not habitual, it’s not demons. They are not kind enough to bother you just once a year,” he explained. “If you feel like they are beating you up 24/7, you just can’t turn it off, it won’t stop, like you’re losing your mind,” then it’s the kind of problem for consideration. Payne explained what he sees as the differences among oppression, demonization and what is commonly called possession. “We are really just talking about degrees of control. We are not talking about ownership. Squatters don’t own anything. Oppression is basically a nuisance. Most of us deal with it. It’s just these irrational little thoughts.” Or maybe the thoughts are rational but nonetheless misguided, “Something like, ‘Trade your wife in for this one. Look at this, look at that.'” Payne described it as a parade of temptations preying upon weaknesses and looking to exploit desires. “It’s mental and it’s contrary to Christ. In oppression, there are what Paul calls little arrows. Paul calls them arrows in Ephesians 6:16. John calls it accusation or accusatory thoughts in Revelation 12:10-11. Same thing.” If oppression is mostly a nuisance, demonization is more serious. “That would be the middle group. And those are the ones I deal with most of the time. That’s where you have the Christian who has through either one of two ways become demonized.” One way is through habitual sin, the other is through ancestral (inherited) sin. He deals with both. “To someone who says I don’t think Christians can be controlled in any way by the devil, I say to them you better take Ephesians 4 and tear it out of your Bible,” because it warns believers not to let the devil gain a foothold. Key to Payne’s system is his conviction that sin gives demons permission to influence even a believer. That’s because the believer can give up “literally a place, space, or territory of control to the devil.” The essential guidebook for every Christian. Find out what you are up against in Karl Payne’s bestselling “Spiritual Warfare.” The pastor said the third type of those afflicted, the possessed, are described in Luke 8. “The ones who run buck naked howling at the moon, hurts people where there’s just no self-control at all, totally subjugated,” he explained. “I have seen people in all three of those stages. None of them are owned by demons. They are just experiencing different degrees of demonic control.” At the end of the first meeting, “I will send them out and say, ‘If you do not complete that assignment and make that list, don’t come back and see me. The only call I want to get from you is when it’s done and when you want to make an appointment to come in.'” They are to call him, not the other way around because Payne wants to make sure they are willing and serious. Second meeting Payne’s treatment for demonization is just a conversation. But, to make sure it does not get out of hand and that all goes smoothly and calmly, first, he lays down some non-negotiable ground rules. Not for the patient. For the demons. No cursing. No controlling the patient’s mind, tongue or body. No direct speaking to the pastor. (The ground rules he lays down before confrontation of demons are fully outlined in Chapter 8 of his book.) Payne doesn’t need to be convinced the demons are real. He’s seen enough evidence in his time. He’s also seen patients run amok when they let the demons control them. He’s tired of that. And it’s counter-productive. “By laying down ground rules, you are making it easier for the person by reminding the demons, ”You are not in control of this. You are losers. You played this game a long time. You have been cruel, and now it’s coming back at you. You are going to do what you’re told to do. It’s not a forum for you to plead your case. You’re leaving. You played the game with this person; you’re now going to pay the dues.'” Payne finds keeping things civilized is the best strategy. “I will tell demons they are not permitted to speak through you, they are permitted to speak to you. There’s a difference. When I would let demons speak through the person, I would get called and effing this, and effing that. Jesus is an effing this or that.” With a wry understatement, he continued, “They don’t like Jesus at all, and they don’t like you, either. I got tired of that. That’s why no profanity is one of the ground rules. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you’re allowed to speak to (patient’s name). Speak to her in the same voice with the same thoughts you’ve been using to harass her for years. You’ll speak to her in response my questions.” Payne stressed the importance of explaining to patients that demons may tell them to do lots of things, but it is crucial to realize that the demons cannot make them do anything that they are not willing to do. “The reason I do that is because I found out early working with people that we would be right in the middle of challenging a demon and the person would jump up and run. And so I would chase them and bring them back,” he recollected with a laugh. “And they’d say something just told me to run.” Payne found a solution. “My mentor finally said, ‘Just leave the door open. Tell them if you want to be here, let’s deal with this. If you don’t, then just get up and go.'” Payne further illustrated why the ground rules are in the patient’s best interest by adding, “What if a woman is 33 years old and loves Jesus and she’s throwing the F-bomb around and breaks into tears and says, ‘I never talk that way’? I’ll say, ‘I know you don’t. I don’t believe that’s you.'” “So, if I tell them in the ground rules, there will be no more profanity, and then there’s no more sweet little old ladies throwing F-bombs at Jesus.” He described another peril posed by theatrics: They can even put the pastor on an ego trip. “When people allow deliverance to be turned into a circus, either they are doing it out of ignorance because they don’t know they can stop it, or they are doing it on purpose so people will go, ‘Man you’re the powerful one.'” Payne emphasized, “You’re not here to build your own name and your own reputation. You’re here to help the person you’re talking with. That’s why when people say, ‘Gosh, I was kinda disappointed. I want to see them barfing and screaming,’ I will say, ‘Do you think that’s best for them?’ No. Are you here for a circus or to see them helped?” But misbehavior is not the only trick up the devil’s sleeve. The pastor explained how demons will employ an arsenal of negative suggestions. They will tell a patient she’s not strong enough to resist or withstand their attacks; it’s not going to work; she will fail; the pastor doesn’t know what he’s doing; she doesn’t know she’s doing; they’re too strong. “In other words, they can lie all day long. And it’s always an attempt to short- circuit this, circumvent this from happening. They’ll say, ‘It can get worse. If you think it’s bad now, if you make us mad it will just get worse.’ They will whisper that kind of stuff to people. They can tell you anything.” But the bottom line, he tells patients, is the one who holds the keys to life and death is the Lord Jesus Christ, not some part of his creation. “As long as he is giving you breath, you have a purpose for life. And when he quits giving you breath, you are done. And there’s not a thing you can do about that, so don’t fear the creation. Fear the creator.” “And if part of the creation tries to tell you to get up and run, interfere, pick up a rock and throw it at Karl, fall out of your chair, whatever, you can say, ‘No I’m not going to play that game.'” Treatment The heart of the treatment in the second meeting consists of what Payne called the three Cs: confession, canceling, commanding. He says the three Cs are like a three-legged stool: Once all a demon’s support is removed, it’s over. “First we confess the sin that opened the door,” Payne explained. Then the sin is canceled by praying, “Oh, father in heaven would you please cancel any permission I have given demons to hold any kind of ground or territory in my life? Then the patient commands the demons to leave, by what Payne says is the authority granted to all true believers by the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s that simple. But that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily easy for someone to accept the reality of something so routinely and thoroughly dismissed by the modern world. Especially, as Payne revealed is often the case, if the person is not even aware he or she is suffering from demonization. As long as the patient is willing, Payne will proceed. First, he said, “I will usually ask four or five questions. I don’t do it because I need the information. I do it because I want the person who has been demonized to understand this stuff really is real.” His first question is, “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ what’s your name?” And, he said, “They will tell you.” He then will ask, “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who commissioned you to do the work you are doing?” Payne said a demon will typically say, “Satan or the dark Lord, or the evil one, or Lucifer, my master, or something like that.” That is often something the patient wasn’t expecting. “The reason I am doing that is not because I need that information. I could command them to go once we’ve taken care of confessing sin and canceling the subsequent ground. But I want people to recognize it wasn’t their imagination whispering those demeaning things to them.” Payne will then proceed by asking, “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, what are the lies the demon has been telling (the patient) on a habitual basis?” And then something like, “You make her think it’s her own thinking, then you condemn her for the lies you whispered to her, right?” Perhaps followed by, “Do you plant a lie in her mind and beat her up when she starts ruminating on the lie?” He will ask, “What are the lies?” “There are things,” he said, “like she waste her time reading the Bible, her husband is having sex with somebody else, God is not strong enough to protect her, it’s never going to change, she’s losing her mind, were going to destroy her, she’s worthless.” Typically, Payne said, the patient will then confirm that is the stuff they have been hearing in their head all the time. “And they believed it.” Patients will tell him they had thought they were losing their minds. Some of them have actually heard a voice speaking to them. Others experienced thoughts that were similar to someone speaking to them. Payne said there isn’t much difference. “I don’t care whether someone says ‘They’re speaking to me, I hear their voices, I get impressions, or I get words.’ It all connects mentally and you are always the loser for it.” He’s had people describe them either way. “I’ve had some people say, ‘Karl, I just hear these voices talking to me.’ I’ve had other people say, ‘I just get these thoughts that just pop into my head, and they’re always so negative: You’re so terrible, you’re no good.’ I’ve had people say it’s just impressions that come out of nowhere.” There is a common thread to what the voices, or thoughts, say. “It’s usually about what you’ve done wrong, and why you always measure up short regarding God’s love and forgiveness and your track record serving Him,” he explained. “All they want is a person to listen to them and isolate themselves. You can get yourself believing you’re so bad no one wants anything to do with you. You can also isolate yourself by thinking you’re so much better than everyone and become so obnoxious nobody wants to deal with you.” Discover the real nature of the hidden powers and influences the Bible warned you about. Read Karl Payne’s bestselling “Spiritual Warfare.” “All they want is the isolation,” he continued. “Because when you’re isolated, you’re no longer looking to Christ. You’re no longer looking to Christian fellowship. You no longer see yourself as worthy of being a Christian friend, or you don’t see anyone else as being worthy of your time.” For example, a demon told the model she’s damaged goods, no man will ever want her, she’s fat. “It’s ridiculous. But she believed it.” Payne recognizes that if a person is hearing voices, he or she may be schizophrenic. But what if the person is perfectly rational in every other way and they actually are hearing voices? The pastor feels doctors can be too quick to prescribe medications, in some cases. “As soon as someone says he hears voices they’ll say, ‘Oh they’re schizophrenic.’ So they drug them because their assumption is that there is no God, there is no devil, there are no angels, there are no demons. So, they think the person is either making this up for attention or this person is psychotic so they drug them.” Payne said the assumption of the naturalist is that none of this is real, so the patients are not really hearing anything. But, he maintained, “I am here to tell you there are people that are getting fed lies almost all day long. It usually ends up with people wanting to kill themselves.” The pastor said the people who come to him usually have already tried everything else. “I’m not opposed to good counselors. I’m not opposed to drugs, if appropriate. If they work, it’s not demons,” he explained. “But I get too many people on the other side of the fence who have been to counselors for 28 sessions at $200 a pop, and they just say, ‘I guess there is no hope for me.'” These are people at their wits’ end. “They’ll say, ‘I went to the pastor, he prayed for me and nothing happened. I went to the elders, they prayed for me, nothing happened. I went to an M. D. and he tried to work with me, nothing happened. I went to a state-mandated counselor, nothing happened. I went to a Christian counselor, but I still hear in my mind you’re beyond hope, there is no help, so just put a bullet in your head.'” WND suggested many, maybe most, of these people were not aware they were under oppression or demonization, so they must be very surprised when in the course of treatment they find out there’s apparently an entity within them that is speaking through them. “Absolutely,” was the succinct response. After that often-shocking revelation, the patient then must be willing to be cured. Or, as Payne put it, “The patient then must be willing to stand on truth rather than actively entertain lies.” “I want them to understand that if we are going to deal with this, you need to understand that they will play the game to try to stay, and they’ll tell you whatever you will listen to. And what they’ve got to hear from you is, ‘I am a Christian, I will be honest, and I am done playing the victim. I won’t play that game.'” Three Cs Payne said once he is convinced it is a true case of demonization, and once the patient realizes what is going on, he will take that perosn’s list of problem areas and goes through the three Cs for each one, beginning with confession. “First, there has to be a confession of the sin. The sin that opened the door. The sin that turned the light out. In word, thought or deed. It’s something that I did. I displeased God. I know I did it, but it went on habitually to the point that it finally opened up a space or territory taken over by a demon.” Payne said a habitual sin is essentially an invitation for a demon to set up house, because, “A demon will see, if you don’t care about this, don’t complain if we set up a playground in your backyard, because apparently you’re open to that.” Payne said he knows of just two ways demons take advantage: One is through habitual sin of one’s own doing, the other is through ancestral sin. “Whether people like it or not, yes, demons can work through ancestral sin. For some of us who grew up in the ’60s, if I had thought that some of the things I did would affect my kids in a negative way, I might have been less stupid about some of the stuff I did,” he confessed. The pastor observed, since the modern world mocks Christianity, it also mocks the idea of ancestral sin. Mimicking such thinking, he mused, “Who thinks that way anyway? People who think the devil wears a red suit and has a pitchfork? But ancestral sin is real. I am not aware of any other ways for demons to ultimately gain that that space or territory, except through my own habitual sin or through ancestral sin.” How does Payne discover when ancestral sin is at play? And how does he find out what the sin was? The same way he gets all the other information he needs from the demons, by interrogating them. “When I first started working with deliverance in the early 80s, I would see ancestral sin come up like maybe one out of every 15 people I’d work with. Now, it’s just the other way around. I see it all the time. And I believe it’s because I am dealing with the children and the grandchildren of my generation that said, ‘God is dead, drugs are great, multiple sex partners are great, to hell with everything, dogs run free why can’t we?'” Payne believes he is dealing with people who are reaping the results of a generation that has turned its back on God. “I really believe that is true. If someone else says how naïve, I say believe whatever you want. I think I’ve gotten more people with problems with ancestral sin in the last 10 years than in the first 20 years combined, probably.” He deals with ancestral sin in the same way as habitual sin. “I can say, ‘In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, if there are any demonic spirits who have attacked this person through ancestral sin come forward now.’ So I learned you can deal with ancestral sin just like I can immorality, or greed, drug addictions, any of that. You don’t even have to identify the specific ancestral sin. You just ask God to forgive all ancestral sin and to cancel any ground related to ancestral sin being carried by the demonized person.” The most common sins? Payne said fear and bitterness come up over and over. “People think it’s all going to be kind of an involved Satanic ritual abuse, yada, yada. Yeah, I run into some of that stuff. Morality, drugs, a lot of stuff I’ve dealt with. But, the two that come up most often are fear and unforgiveness, bitterness. ‘I hate that person and I’m a Christian, but I’ll never forgive him.'” “And the other is, ‘I know God says he’ll protect me, but I just know he won’t, and the other side is going to attack me, so I lived in perpetual fear.’ Both of those are an insult to God.” WND asked: Is fear a sin, in that sense? “Absolutely,” was the immediate response. “Jesus Christ says, ‘I will never leave you, I will never forsake you,’ and yet some people live as though He don’t care about them.” “That’s often because the other side is saying all the time, ‘If God loves you, why would he let this happen? And that? See, He doesn’t love you. Why do you fear God? You should fear us.’ And once a person starts doing that, buying that, what they are saying, whether they know it or not, is a slap to God. You are calling him a liar.” Repentance is part of the confession. In the case of fear, Payne will offer a prayer such as, “Oh, father in heaven, I know that fear should not be controlling my life. I know that you should be. I don’t want to insult you. I am sorry I allowed that to happen. Would you please forgive me for allowing fear to control my life?” “What you just did there was take one leg off the three legged stool,” summed up the pastor. The second C is canceling. “Take the sin of fear,” illustrated Payne. “I just confessed this and You promised in 1 John I:9 that when I confess You will cleanse. So I’ve confessed it, so thank You for cleansing that out of my life. Would You now close any door opened to demons to bother me through my sin of fear?” In other words, the pastor explained, one is asking God not to allow any permission for the other side to bother the patient through this particular sin, because, “I have given that back to you.” The person is asking Christ to cancel their permission to hold any ground against them through the sin just confessed. An appropriate prayer would be: “Oh, father in heaven would you please cancel any permission I have given demons to hold any kind of ground or territory in my life?” “We just tore the second leg of that three-legged stool,” said Payne. The third C is commanding. It can only be done once the patient has dealt with the sin. But then the commands will be effective, the pastor maintains. “Command the demons. Tell them to get lost, and they’ll go because they no longer have any right to be there.” As far as the actual technique goes, Payne said, “I have the person command with me. I tell them, ‘Remember, this is your fight, not mine. I stand with you as a friend, but you’re the one who’s letting them know I want you gone.'” Payne gave a hypothetical of a demon that had identified itself by the name Dragon. “So they (the patient) will say, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we command Dragon, with all of your works and effects, all of your associates and any of their works and their effects working with you, leave me, go to the pit, and don’t ever come back. We command that in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Payne noted that Matthew 12 says when you sweep out a room, you need someone stronger than the demons to fill that room. He will tell patients, “Since God swept it out, I want you to ask God, the Holy Spirit to fill and control everything that was vacated by that demonic spirit and his buddies? Holy Spirit of God, please come in and enter the area that was just vacated. I turn that all over to you. I want you to control that area in my life, thank you. I pray this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Then, said the pastor, “I’ll say what’s in the next room?” He then repeats the three Cs and the entire process for each individual sin until the patient is delivered from demonic bondage. When all the sins the patient has identified have been addressed, Payne will ask one last question: “Do you yet hold any ground against (the patient) that keeps you from leaving? When the ground is gone they will say, ‘No, my permission to be here is gone.’ There’s nothing then that could allow them to stay.” Then he commands them to leave in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Commands are not asking permission for demons to cooperate. Commands are telling demons what they are going to do,” Payne clarified. “When you’ve been told you’ve been delegated authority to step on demons you don’t treat them as equals. They are losers.” Mopping up “Once we get to where we thought we’ve covered everything, we needed to check, I’ll say we mop up now. This is the last room.” Just in case there is something they’ve missed, Payne will have patients say one last confession-canceling prayer. But, most importantly, he wants to make sure they’ve expelled what he called the bandleader. He will pray, “Lord Jesus we are asking that you would forgive any sin and cancel any ground associated with that spirit holding highest authority in my life other than the Holy Spirit.” Because, he explained, “That one’s the bandleader. That’s one that is typically the administrator, who kind of orchestrates the work. Now, if you have already got the boss as you were walking through different areas, there will be total quiet. They’ll be no more voices, it just stops.” “On the other hand, if we didn’t get the bandleader, since they’re the one who represents the highest authority other than the Holy Spirit, they’ll come forward. I’ll say, ‘Are you the boss of this whole game?’ They’ll say, ‘Yes, I am.'” Payne will then ask, “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, when did you take advantage of this person?” and, “They might say, it was ancestral, I’ve been with them since their birth. If it was at some point in time, they’ll say I’ve been with them since a certain date. “And I’ll say tell them exactly when you took advantage of the patient. They’ll respond something like, ‘I took advantage of them on January 2, 1980, at the picnic,’ or something. They know exactly when they took advantage of this person. I will often have people say, ‘I never put that together, but that’s when my life turned upside-down. That’s when I start hearing I’m worthless.’ “So, I’ll say, ‘In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ your ground is gone. Your permission is gone. You understand when you leave this person is to be free?’ And they’ll say, ‘Yep.'” At this point, the demonized person will exercise the third C, commanding that demon to leave with all of it works, effects, associates and their effects. The patient will then ask the Holy Spirit of God to fill every area “the boss and his buddies” have vacated, and say, “I want my whole life turned over to you. I want to walk with you. Thank you in the name of Jesus Christ.” “Then that person is done.” Why does it work? Payne stressed that what he does works not because of his power, but because of God’s. What the pastor brings to the table is knowledge about the nature of that power and how to use it. WND asked: Why are demons eventually compelled to tell you the truth? “Because they recognize, with Christ living in me, I have delegated authority that is higher than theirs,” he explained. “Demons are soldiers. And they defer to the highest authority directing commands at them. Usually, it is their demonic upline. That’s why I said when non-Christians try and get involved in deliverance or exorcism, they (demons) don’t recognize that person’s authority. When they recognize someone who has Christ within them, then they realize they are no longer dealing with the person but the master, of that person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And they do not have the authority to oppose Christ.” Payne emphasized he is just the messenger. “When people say it’s all about my personality gifting, it doesn’t have anything to do with that. I’ve seen both introverts and extroverts deal very effectively with demons. I’ve seen people who have silver tongues that can deal with demons. I’ve seen people do it who are socially awkward, but they understand their authority in Christ.” It’s not about him; it’s all about God. Or, as he put it, “It’s not about the ambassador, it’s all about the God the ambassador serves, who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” “The whole point of my book is, because Christ lives in you and you’ve been delegated authority, you don’t have to go to one particular exorcist or one particular person of deliverance because the same Jesus that lives in them, assuming their Christians, lives in you. And demons fear Christ who lives in the believer.” WND ask what happens when he’s not successful with someone who was willing to be helped? “Great question. I have found two things. When someone is wanting help but things don’t go right, usually there were one of two things going on. There was an ancestral sin that was never approached, because most people don’t approach it, and demons think you are too stupid to figure it out. Or, a person was purposely holding on to something’s, saying, “I won’t let go of it.'” Does that happen often? “Very seldom. I now know to weed out the problems before I start. I’ve had about five people in 35 years who I don’t think they were better off when we finished. I’ve had hundreds and hundreds of Christians walk away free.” And his success has put him in great demand. “I have more people calling me then I have an ability to call back on a daily basis. I have more people sending me emails than I have an ability to respond.” It is finished How does he know when a treatment is done? What happens? It’s simple, he explained. He doesn’t hear about any more problems from the patient. He returned to the example of the model to illustrate. The pastor asked what she heard the voice tell her and, “She looked right at me and said, ‘It’s just like I told you, I’m fat. I’m ugly. I’m damaged goods. And my prayers bounce off the ceiling.” He pointed out that was not what she had said at first. She said she had heard, “You are fat and you are ugly.” Payne asked her, “Why did you flip-flop the pronouns?” She didn’t even realize she had done it. He explained to her, when demons are speaking they are not the person. “They are a real entity. But, as Paul said, they shoot these little darts. And as John said they throw these accusations that you. They are not you so they don’t say I.” The pastor explained how, if a person has heard it long enough, she will just flip the pronouns herself. “I said what did you actually hear, and she burst into tears. She said it’s, ‘You. You this, you that. It started when I was five or six years old.'” Payne then asked her when she was sexually abused. He described how her eyes got big and she looked over at her friend, an athlete’s wife who had brought her in, and said, “Did you tell him I was sexually abused?” And her friend said no. The model said, “How did you know that?” “You keep saying you’re damaged goods,” he replied. “And you keep saying you are ugly. And yet, no one would believe that. You say you need to lose more weight. I said, ‘How do you make your living?’ She said as a model. And I said, ‘How many fat ugly models do you know? And she said, ‘Well, I guess I’m just the exception.’ “I said no, you think all of that is true, because you’ve heard it for so long. But it’s not true. And when you say it to other people, they tell you it’s not true. If you tell it to girls, they won’t believe you. If you tell it to guys, they will find a way to use it, they’ll find a way to play you. It’s just not true. You don’t find big fat ugly models making a living doing what you’re doing, do you?” And she just started weeping. And she said she’d heard it over and over and over. It won’t stop. “And I said, ‘That’s what drove you to cut your wrists finally, wasn’t it?'” She said she was just so tired. She just thought, maybe it’s true. “Maybe I’m not strong enough to make it. Maybe God doesn’t love me enough to help me, because I can’t get this to stop.” Payne said none of this was true. It was being whispered at her. “You’re this, your that. That’s how the game is played.” The pastor assured her it was not God telling her that she was fat and ugly and stupid. “He loves me enough to die for me, he wouldn’t be saying that.” And then they got to work. “I have not heard back from her since that day she flew here, which usually means things are going well. I am in regular contact with the person who originally asked me on her behalf if I would meet with her. I feel quite certain if things were not going well that I would have heard about it from one or both ladies.” And he does his best to make sure the treatment sticks. “I give people follow-up assignments which I also outline in the book. People are free to call me or email if questions arise. In the case of successful deliverance, no news is usually good news. So as far as I know, she is enjoying her freedom in Christ, and probably enjoying it more than people who have never experienced what it means to be demonized.” Payne described the change in a healed person as usually dramatic. “The mental torment a demonized person had learned to just accept as their normal goes quiet. Their new norm now involves a serene sense of peace in the midst of daily conflicts, and confidence rather than confusion. When people who have been demonized begin winning battles they have lost for so many years, their countenance often changes to a smile, hope and determination.” And in the case of the model, as with the overwhelming majority of those Payne has helped over the decades, no news is the best news of all.

Obama's 'smooth transition' pledge Contact WND wnd.com 2016-08-09 01:46 Garth Kant www.wnd.com

10 'They'd rather kill babies than mosquitoes' Contact WND (0.01/3) Nearly 60 percent of Americans favor allowing late-term abortions for babies believed to be at strong risk for Zika-related conditions, and a leading pro-life activist is furious at the abortion lobby for advancing such an idea and urging expectant mothers not to go down that path. The survey from Harvard University’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health shows 59 percent of Americans “favor a woman being allowed to obtain a legal abortion” if her unborn child is like to have microcephaly or some other “severe” condition related to Zika. That 59 percent is a huge jump from just 23 percent of Americans who favor allowing late-term abortions in healthy pregnancies. The jump is remarkable among both Democrats and Republicans. The poll shows 72 percent of Democrats favor late-term abortions for Zika-related pregnancies compared to just 34 in healthy patients. In addition, 48 percent of Republicans are on board with late-term abortions in Zika cases as opposed to 12 percent in normal circumstances. Susan B. Anthony National Campaign Chair Jill Stanek is appalled. “It’s horrifying that people of both parties do not respect the rights of children with disabilities,” Stanek told WND and Radio America. “The real culprits here are the abortion lobby, who would rather kill babies than mosquitoes,” she said. “They are fomenting panic for their own personal benefit and gain, rather than promoting the best course of action, which would be to eliminate the mosquitoes carrying the virus and then, long-term, develop a vaccine.” Finally! The tested and proven strategies to defeat the abortion cartel: “Abortion Free: Your Manual for Building a Pro-Life America One Community at a Time.” She is mystified as to why so many Americans suddenly believe some patients are not worthy of quality health care. “We find the abortion lobby promoting abortion for disabilities across the spectrum, but the pro-life community believes that adult victims, child victims and pre-born children who are victims of the Zika virus deserve the same standard of care,” Stanek said. “With what other illness do we end the lives of the afflicted, rather than try to heal them?” Stanek argued that the unborn babies impacted by Zika not only have a right to life but could be very important in developing treatments or a cure for Zika. “Killing the patient is not medical treatment,” she said. “Furthermore, how are we going to make advances in medicine if we destroy the patient before we find treatments and cures for them?” Stanek is also livid with Senate Democrats for bogging down the effort to pass Zika response funding. “Democrat senators are blocking approval of funding of their own bill,” she said. “They’ve blocked votes twice because they want Planned Parenthood to get funding in this, which is ridiculous.” Listen to the WND/Radio America interview with Jill Stanek: However, it’s not just Zika. Abortion rates also skyrocket for pregnancies involving Down Syndrome, cystic fibrosis and other conditions. While the estimates vary, anywhere from 67-85 percent of babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted. Some studies in recent years put the number as high as 90 percent. Stanek said there is a disconnect in America between the opinion people have on the right to life in general and their attitudes when challenging circumstances arise. “There’s a schizophrenic breakdown in thinking because you would never think to recommend that a child be killed who has Down Syndrome or cystic fibrosis or any number of maladies,” she said. “Why would you automatically jump to killing a pre-born baby who might suffer maladies?” Get the hottest, most important news stories on the Internet – delivered FREE to your inbox as soon as they break! Take just 30 seconds and sign up for WND’s Email News Alerts! This is not an abstract concept for Stanek, who was a delivery nurse for years before becoming a pro-life activist. In fact, one episode in her life actually triggered her activism. “I held a baby who had been aborted because he had Down Syndrome. He survived his abortion for 45 minutes. He was a 21 weeks,” Stanek recalled. “I’ve also had a lot of dealings since then with mothers who aborted their pre-born babies, who had something wrong with their babies and also mothers who didn’t. “I have never met a mother who regretted carrying her baby to term if her baby had challenges or only if her baby was going to live for only a couple of minutes,” she continued. “But I have met many mothers who have had to live a life of regret for knowing that they killed their baby rather than carry their baby to term and care for their baby as a mother should.” Stanek has also seen the fulfillment and joy of welcoming such children into her own family. Two of her 10 grandsons are dealing with health challenges diagnosed in the womb, one with cystic fibrosis and another with cerebral palsy. She said life is infinitely richer with those boys around her. “Taking care of people who have challenges brings out the best in us,” Stanek said. “Having those boys in my life has made me a better person, and they are both certainly happy to be here as well.”

Obama's 'smooth transition' pledge Contact WND wnd.com 2016-08-09 01:46 Greg Corombos www.wnd.com

11 11 With rifles, bigger ain't necessarily badder Contact WND (0.01/3) Why we prep FBI DIRECTOR JAMES COMEY: “Our investigation found that there was classified information sent.” GOWDY: “Okay. … Secretary Clinton said there was not marked classified on her emails either sent or received, was that true?” COMEY: “That’s not true …” GOWDY: “Secretary Clinton said ‘I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email, there is no classified material.’ Was that true?” COMEY: “There was classified material email.” GOWDY: “Secretary Clinton said she used just one device. Was that true?” COMEY: “She used multiple devices during the four years of her term as secretary of state.” GOWDY: “Secretary Clinton said all work-related emails were returned to the State Department. Was that true?” COMEY: “No. We found work-related emails, thousands that were not returned.” GOWDY: “Secretary Clinton said neither she nor anyone else deleted work- related emails from her personal account. Was that true?” COMEY: “… There’s no doubt that the work-related emails that were removed electronically from the – the email system.” GOWDY: “Secretary Clinton said her lawyers read every one of the emails and were overly inclusive. Did her lawyers read the email content individually?” COMEY: “No.” “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” – Benjamin Franklin And that’s one of the reasons we prep. “Pick up a rifle and you change instantly from a subject to a citizen.” – Jeff Cooper So now we get to the third leg of the prepper gun stool: the rifle. First comes the most important decision of all. Do you even need one? Sure, nothing looks “badder” than a tricked out AR-whatever. But rifles are designed primarily to perform a function that may be unnecessary for your specific situation. Rifles are the long-distance runners of the personal-arms Olympics. An experienced shooter with a handgun may be more likely than not to hit his target at 100 feet (less, if the target is shooting back). A shotgun specialist might be able to do some serious damage at 200 feet (a little more with a slug instead of shot). But a rifle, properly handled, can tag someone at significantly greater distances than either a handgun or a shotgun. And that reality is where you need to be to determine your needs: If you live in a dense urban area and have no intention or plan to leave when the lights go out, then you’re probably better off investing in handguns and shotguns. I’ll leave that to you to decide. But for those of you who want or need to have a longer-range weapon, we can start figuring that out by taking a look at the 4C’s: Caliber, Composition, Capability and Cost. Caliber The 4C’s are just as important for a rifle selection as they are for a handgun. So let’s start out with caliber. Although it’s not entirely true (since velocity and bullet type can play a significant part), as a general rule of thumb, the larger the rifle caliber, the greater the stopping power. “Yeah Pat! I want maximum stopping power!” Not so fast there, pilgrim. Here’s a video of a some folks shooting a.577 T- Rex (bullet with a .577 inch diameter). Great stopping power – for both the target (if you can hit it) and the shooter: For the prepper, your rifle caliber should be selected – as usual – on a combination of multiple uses and availability. A great deer rifle chambered for ammunition that can be found in most stores beats out a gun chambered for a larger, more powerful round that is uncommon. Composition As previously described , composition concerns gun quality, durability and ease of maintenance and repair. In my humble opinion, that means a military or military-patterned weapon. When I have some serious work to do around the homestead, especially if I’m headed for the brush, I wear some variety of BDU (Battle Dress Uniform). I don’t wear BDU’s because I have a camo fetish (well, maybe a little), but because they are tough. It’s the same thing with military-grade weapons versus their civilian counterparts. Is prepping the right thing for to do for Christians? Or should we just be trusting in the Lord? Learn about that balance in “Be Thou Prepared” by Carl Gallups – “Equipping the Church for Persecution and Times of Trouble.” Capability Capability is a user category. In the video above, the gun wasn’t the problem; the users were. That might be corrected to some degree with training. But the “flinch” that those folks developed as a result of their first encounter with the T-Rex will be hard to mitigate. So the correct choice of prepper gun has to be tailored to the user. And no matter how tough you are, body mass plays a key roll in that selection. Cost Last but absolutely not least is cost. I don’t know too many well-heeled preppers. And if you’re just starting out, and depending on how much time you think you have, you’ve got a fair amount of initial outlay ahead of you for more things than just firearms. Unless you’re planning to go outlaw, there are other acquisitions every bit as important as self-defense. That’s why beans comes before bullets and bandages in the “3B” meme. Many years ago, my rifle recommendations for the prepper were much different than they are today. Once upon a time, you could buy a 7.62 x 39mm SKS for $150 at a gun show. I still own two and I think they’re hard to beat as a workhorse short-to-medium range rifle. But a couple of changes in the long-gun world has caused me to rethink my recommendations for the new prepper. One is that the price of a good quality SKS has gone up significantly. Now couple that with the fact that practically every gun manufacturer in the U. S. seems to have created it’s own AR-style weapon and most of them are pretty good. Further, while a good SKS is now in the $400 plus range, the price of a quality AR-15 has dropped to around $700, and if you look hard enough you can get one for less then that. Even AR platforms chambered for the 308 Winchester (7.62mm) can be found for only a hundred bucks more. Okay, I just gave half the gun guys out there a blood-pressure spike. For those who don’t know (and that’s probably a lot), there’s a vicious verbal and print battle raging over the the suitability of using military-grade ammunition in weapons chambered for civilian-produced ammunition: principally the 308 Winchester versus the 7.62mm NATO, and the .223 Remington versus the 5.56mm NATO. Like the War Between the States, whole families have been split apart over this issue. In a nutshell, the argument goes that the difference in certain casing dimensions and higher power loads could cause the military ammo to materially damage the civilian gun, even to the extent of destruction. There are a lot of real gun experts who think this is possible; there are other, just as well-papered pros who disagree. Check out some options in the WND Superstore preparedness department. New products of all kinds being added regularly for all your prepper needs – from informational books, movies to shovels, water purifiers, and food from soup to nuts! So here’s the McLene take on this matter. Purchase and use the ammo recommended for the gun you buy. All sides say that you can safely fire the civilian ammunition in those rifles chambered for the military rounds. If you have a choice, buy an AR-type gun chambered for the NATO rounds. If you don’t have a choice, or the deal is just too good to pass up, buy the civilian- chambered gun and a boat-load of civilian ammo. Then, if the end-of-the- world-as-we-know-it occurs and the only ammo available at the Post- Apocalypse Dance and Swap Meet is the military equivalent, buy that too. A gun without ammo is a poorly designed club. And when the BG’s are headed your way, what do you have to lose? My recommendation for the first rifle for the new prepper is an AR-style rifle, chambered for either 5.56mm (can use 223 Remington) or 7.62mm (can use 308 Winchester). Both of these rounds are easily obtainable. The 7.62mm packs a decent wallop; but the 5.56mm has lower recoil and uses a lighter, and therefore easier to transport, round in bulk. One further suggestion: look for, and get, a .22 caliber rifle. For small game hunting and training, you can’t do better. And in a post-apocalyptic world,.22 cartridges will probably be a common form of currency. Until next week, keep your eyes on the lies, your thoughts with God and get prepared.

Obama's 'smooth transition' pledge Contact WND wnd.com 2016-08-09 01:43 Pat McLene www.wnd.com

12 Sublime Ralani goal only bright spot after tough weekend for South Africans in Europe Ralani‚ who recently reunited with coach Henrik Larrsen after being signed from Danish side Lyngby‚ came off the bench after an hour and curled home a sublime goal to give his side the lead. That drew immense praise from Larrsen‚ but he was left bitterly disappointed when Gefle managed two goals in the final four minutes to steal the points. It was a first goal in the Swedish top-flight for the highly-rated‚ but injury- prone Ralani‚ who spent five years at second-tier Landskrona‚ two of them under Larrsen. That was about as good as it got for South Africans competing overseas this past weekend. Mandla Masango was again absent for Danish side Randers as he continues his self-imposed exile from the first team in the hope of pushing through a move away from the club. Lebogang Phiri played for Brondby as they were held to a 3-3 draw by Midtjylland‚ again gifting their opponents a point as they conceded two penalties in the final four minutes after seemingly cruising to victory. The South African junior international put in a fine personal display‚ including having a hand in his side’s second goal. In Belgium‚ Andile Jali was missing for KV Oostende as he continues to battle an ankle injury and Ayanda Patosi was left on the bench for Lokeren. Ntuthuko Radebe and Phakamani Mngadi were not in the match day squad at all for Eupen‚ while Anele Ngcongca continues to train with the reserves at Genk. Kamohelo Mokotjo lasted just 25 minutes of his first game of the season for Dutch side FC Twente before being forced off through injury as they lost 2-1 at home to Excelsior Rotterdam. Daylon Claasen was a second half substitute for 1860 Munich in the German Bundesliga II as they lost their opener 1-0 at Greuther Fürth‚ while Kagisho Dikgacoi was not in the match day squad for Cardiff City in the English Championship. Sweden-based Tefu Mashamaite had to settle for a place on the bench as his Hacken side won 4-2 at Elfsborg. Finally in friendly action‚ South African-born Joel Untersee played the final 30 minutes for Italian giants Juventus against West Ham as he came on for Brazilian superstar Dani Alves. Untersee is back at the Turin club after two years on loan in the Swiss league and is likely to act as cover for Alves this season.

2016-08-09 06:00 Nick Said www.timeslive.co.za

13 She looked dead, SA cyclist says of Dutch rider hurt in Olympic crash Van Vleuten was leading the 136.9km race with 10km to go when she lost control as her back wheel slid slightly while negotiating a corner at high speed. She then went over the handle bars onto the pavement and ended up draped over the curb like a rag doll. Van Vleuten reportedly suffered three small fractures in her back as well as concussion. “That was really quite a shock, I mean when I went past her she looked dead,” said Moolman-Pasio, who ended 10th. “I’m just really grateful to hear she’s conscious because it looked like her neck was solidly broken, so I really hope that she’s okay. “She was a teammate last year and it was quite shocking to see that.” Moolman-Pasio, well supported by An-Li Kachelhoffer, was disappointed she had not succeeded in making the podium. But they were up against several teams with up to four riders each. “It was a tough day, very tactical. I suppose if we’d had more teammates it would have helped. “There were some moments in the race where I was a little bit isolated and made me put in too much in the wind, a bit nervous of breakaways going up the road. “But I gave it everything and An-Li gave everthing as well, she did her best to support me. “I got to the bottom of the [last] climb with a good chance, in the mix and I just didn’t have what it took to be up there at the very end but, ja, happy with a top 10, disappointed not to have a medal.” Moolman-Pasio will have another chance for silverware in the individual time trial on Wednesday. “There’s a fair amount of climbing in the race so I will do my best to use the climbing to my advantage and just to give it my all. “It’s a tough course so there is a chance to go for a medal. “I’m going to have to pick myself up a little bit — I must admit I am disappointed, but I’ll give it my all on Wednesday again.” Moolman-Pasio believes more of an effort needs to be made to develop women’s road cycling in South Africa. “We do need to develop a bit more depth in our cycling. “We need more girls coming over and spending a majority of the year in Europe like I am, gaining experience, because that’s the only way to move forward. “More effort or money needs to go into building up a base for South African girls to come over in a protected environment to gain experience.” It was a very gruelling race, a very tactical race… i gave everything I could to the bottom of the big climb and Ashleigh had to take over from there and I think 10th for her, that’s a fantastic result.

2016-08-09 06:00 DAVID ISAACSON www.timeslive.co.za

14 SA Olympic schedule for Monday Following up on its pledge to bring serious performance to all customers across as many vehicle ranges and price points as possible, Ford has given its compact crossover the ST treatment. 2016-08-09 06:00 TimesLIVE www.timeslive.co.za

15 Couple charged with breaking into boss' house, stealing camera that implicates them BAY CITY, MI — A boyfriend- girlfriend duo is charged with breaking into the Monitor Township home of their employer and stealing, among other things, a surveillance camera that implicates them in the crime. The night of Saturday, Aug. 6, Bay County sheriff's deputies responded to a home in the 3100 block of Haberland Drive for a breaking-and-entering complaint. The male resident told deputies he and his girlfriend arrived home to find their house burglarized, with jewelry, a tablet, a DVD player and a camera missing, court records show. The resident showed deputies footage the purloined camera had captured, depicting two people entering his home that morning, rummaging through the house, and unplugging the camera, court records show. The man identified the culprits as Dominic S. Spadafore, 28, and Lacy A. Schatzer, 29, both of whom he'd hired the week before to help him power wash condominiums, court records show. The man went on to say Spadafore and Schatzer were supposed to meet him at 9 a.m. that morning so they could go to a job in Midland, but that they called him at 9:45 a.m. saying they weren't going to make it, court records show. At deputies' suggestion, the man called the suspects and asked them to come to his house so he could pay them for previous work. A short time later, Schatzer and Spadafore drove into the man's driveway and were stopped by deputies, court records show. Spadafore, sitting in the vehicle's passenger seat, denied any wrongdoing. He stepped from the car and deputies found a small cylinder and a knife in his pockets. The deputies set the cylinder on the car's roof and after they cuffed Spadafore's right wrist, he grabbed the cylinder and struggled against deputies, court records show. Deputies grappled with Spadafore and repeatedly stunned him with a Taser before he ceased resisting, court records show. Deputies pried the cylinder from Spadafore's hand, discovering that it contained a crushed white substance, court records show. Spadafore refused to tell deputies what the substance was, court records show. Schatzer also denied being involved in the burglary, court records show. In the couple's vehicle, deputies found a knife and a push dagger, as well as a DVD player, a camera, and jewelry the victims identified as belonging to them. In the trunk, deputies found several pill bottles and syringes. Bay County District Judge Timothy J. Kelly on Monday, Aug. 8, arraigned both Spadafore and Schatzer on single counts of second-degree home invasion and carrying a concealed weapon, which are 15- and five-year felonies, respectively. Kelly also arraigned Spadafore on two counts of assaulting, resisting, or obstructing police, a two-year felony. Kelly set Spadafore's bond at $30,000 cash-surety and Schatzer's at $20,000 cash-surety. Spadafore was probation at the time of the incident, having been sentenced to four years of it in January 2013 on a conviction of embezzlement by an agent or trustee between $1,000 and $20,000. Spadafore and Schatzer are to appear for a preliminary examination at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 24.

2016-08-09 06:00 Cole Waterman www.mlive.com

16 Delta shutdown strands 1,000-plus at Narita airport in Japan TOKYO — More than 1,000 people were forced to spend the night at Tokyo’s Narita airport because of the computer shutdown that halted Delta Air Lines flights worldwide. Flights were resuming Tuesday morning at Narita, but Delta spokeswoman Hiroko Okada said some more delays were expected. Narita is the Asia-Pacific hub for Delta and several other US airlines. Okada said six flights were cancelled Monday and 15 more were delayed. The delays for many stretched overnight forcing them to find hotels, go home or stay at the airport. One passenger who stayed at Narita said all the hotels were full, and he and others were given air mattresses and a sleeping bag. Narita is located outside of Tokyo in neighboring Chiba prefecture. READ: 100,000 travelers hit by Lufthansa flight attendants’ strike

2016-08-09 06:00 Associated Press newsinfo.inquirer.net

17 2 drug suspects dead in buy-busts in Cavite, Rizal SAN PEDRO CITY, Laguna — Two suspected illegal drug pushers were killed in separate shootouts with policemen in Cavite and Rizal provinces, police said on Tuesday. In Cavite, Arthur Alviar was killed after he exchanged fire with policemen conducting a buy- bust operation in Barangay Castaños Cerca in Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo town at 2:45 p.m. Monday. In a report on Tuesday, the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) police said authorities planned to arrest Alviar and Chona Melo in the drug bust. But during the transaction, Alviar drew his gun, prompting policemen to shoot back. Melo was arrested. In Rizal, a drug suspect identified only as “Kalkal” died in a shoot-out with policemen in Barangay San Jose in Rodriguez town on the night of Aug. 5. The report said police recovered a pistol, 12 sachets containing suspected shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) and P2,556 from the slain suspect. SFM

2016-08-09 06:00 Maricar Cinco newsinfo.inquirer.net

18 Orlando gay club dead felled by 200 bullets— report MIAMI—The 49 people who were killed in June in the Orlando gay nightclub massacre were struck by 200 bullets, local media reported Monday, quoting coroners. The victims who died sustained 200 bullet wounds — without counting shots that hit the 53 injured people who survived, a report by the Orange County coroners’ office said, according to the Orlando Sentinel newspaper. Reached by Agence France-Presse, the coroners’ office said it would release a full statement on Tuesday. Lone gunman Omar Mateen — a 29-year-old American of Afghan descent — opened fire early on June 12 at about 2:00 am (0600 GMT) in the Pulse nightclub before taking hostages in a bathroom. READ: ‘Terror, hate’ in America Three hours passed as he remained in contact with police negotiators, who blasted their way into the club around 5:00 am. New York-born Mateen was ultimately killed in the crossfire. Americans have reeled from a string of recent shootings, including the Orlando massacre — the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history — which was carried out by a man authorities say was radicalized online. In Dallas, Texas, five police officers were killed in July in a sniper-style attack, while three officers were gunned down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana just days later. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has pledged to strengthen gun safety laws including expanding background checks for all gun purchases. Clinton’s Republican White House rival Donald Trump has sought to paint Democrats as soft on crime and national security.

2016-08-09 06:00 Agence France newsinfo.inquirer.net

19 19 Cayman Islands reports 1st case of locally transmitted Zika GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands — The Cayman Islands is reporting its first local transmission of the mosquito-borne Zika virus that has been spreading across the Americas since last year. The acting medical officer of the British Caribbean territory announced Monday that a Grand Cayman man appears to be the first local case of Zika on the three islands. Dr. Samuel Williams-Rodriguez says the patient has not traveled recently. The government says seven Cayman Islands inhabitants have been confirmed to have contracted Zika abroad. Zika causes a mild illness in most people. But it can lead to severe brain- related birth defects if women are infected during pregnancy. In recent days, US authorities announced cases in Florida believed to be first of people contracting the virus from mosquitoes within the 50 states. RELATED STORIES Puerto Rico reports elderly victim infected with Zika dies Brazilian scientists ID common mosquito as a Zika source

2016-08-09 06:00 Associated Press newsinfo.inquirer.net

20 Paul George sends soothing tweets to French gymnast who broke leg If there’s anyone who can relate to the physical and emotional trauma of breaking your leg while competing on the world stage, it’s US basketball’s Paul George. The Indiana Pacers superstar has posted an inspirational tweet for French gymnast Samir Ait Said, a fellow Olympian, who suffered a horrific leg injury on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) while vaulting during the Rio 2016 Olympic games. READ: French gymnast’s horrific leg break chills gymnastics arena George himself suffered from a grotesque leg injury during a warm-up game for the 2014 FIBA World Cup. “I feel for you brother. You’ll be in my prayers! You’ll come back stronger from this trust me…” George wrote on Sunday (Monday in Manila), while adding the hashtag #GodBlessSamir.” George successfully recovered from his injury and finished with arguably his best season as a pro, after posting a career-best 23.1 points per game last year. The lanky All-star is is also eager to meet Ait Said, although it remains unclear when, as the gymnast was not accepting visitors yet, according to a USA TODAY report. Ain Said, meanwhile, posted a video from his hospital bed, thanking people for their support and vowing to return for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Khristian Ibarrola

2016-08-09 06:00 sports.inquirer.net

21 Soldier to be charged with killing man in Tagum City TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte — A soldier faces charges here following the killing of a 62-year-old man on Sunday , according to authorities here. Private First Class Ian Paul Pascua surrendered to his Army superiors hours after allegedly shooting to death Juan Clarion Alcarez in Barangay (village) Cuambogan here. He was subsequently turned over to the Tagum City Police Station, said Capt. Rhyan Batchar, 10th Infantry Division public affairs officer. Batchar said the shooting happened around 12:45 a.m. on Sunday at Purok (Community) Maharlika, with the suspect, assigned with the Army’s 60th Infantry Battalion, attacking Alcarez with a firearm of an undetermned type and caliber, for still unknown reason. The soldier initially fled after the shooting, and surrendered to his superiors around 5 p.m. on the same day. “The commander of the 10th ID has directed the commander of the 60IB to cooperate with, and support the investigation being conducted by the Tagum City police,” Batchar said. SFM

2016-08-09 06:00 Frinston Lim newsinfo.inquirer.net

22 Mom’s love, music, AlDub make these Youtube ads ‘unskippable’ We are all guilty of hitting the “skip ad” button on Youtube. The challenge for brands, then, is to come up with “unskippable” online advertisements, according to Google Philippines country head Ken Lingan. So what makes an ad unskippable? It boils down to two things: These ads had to be “relevant and creative,” said Lingan during a Google event held recently at Discovery Primea in Makati City. “When it comes to creating effective and unskippable ads, two things matter the most: relevance and creativity,” said Google in a statement. “Creativity comes in many forms, such as the use of animation or jingles, while relevance relies on the brand’s ability to capture realities of life or take snippets from popular culture.” The act of skipping ads “is not just a digital issue. It’s consumer behavior,” Lingan said. “Attention is gold,” he said. With so many distractions nowadays, raising the bar on creativity is important. “It speaks (volumes) if (people) don’t skip the ad,” he added. To illustrate its point, Google Philippines has released its list of the top 10 digital ads for the first half of the year through its Youtube Ads Leaderboard. Google notes some key trends based on the list: Filipinos love homegrown ads, with all 10 spots on the leaderboard taken by local entries; excellent stories resonate well with the audience; and those geared toward children are always appreciated. The ranking is not just based on the number of views, but a combination of popularity and promotion, according to Google. 10. “Sabaw at Pagsasama” (Knorr) The ad is all about “championing the far-reaching influence of mothers in our lives” and “the wonders of mom’s cooking” while “breaking the mold” of traditional Knorr advertising of just a family enjoying a meal, said Marj Orosa, brand manager for Unilever. “Is it only the traditional family who can enjoy this kind of wonderful moment with mom’s influence?” 9. “When Minutes Turn Into Moments” (Nescafé) “It’s all about helping our consumers rediscover Nescafé,” said Odie Eustaquio of Nestlé. One of the things people remembered most about the brand, apart from the red mug, was Nescafé’s music, especially the lines “a cup in hand,” she said. Eustaquio shared some trivia: Did you know that Nescafé was instrumental in launching the careers of Zsa Zsa Padilla and Kuh Ledesma, who both sang the jingle “One World of Nescafé”? In line with the brand’s thrust to promote up-and-coming artists, the voice behind this most recent ad is singer Marion Aunor. Tapping as endorsers the popular “AlDub” pair of Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza also helped turn the video viral, she added. 8. “#MomsNeverGiveUp” (Milo) “What does it take to be a champion? What does a child undergo to become a champion?” said Ellen Isturis, vice president for consumer marketing of Milo for Nestlé. “We know that behind a champion is a champion parent who supports them.” 7. “Todo-puti na kagulat-gulat!” (Tide) “What we wanted to do is feature how consumers go through the everyday challenges of laundry,” said Procter & Gamble marketing head Lester Estrada. “How do you put humor into the everyday challenge of pukpok (pounding) and using bareta (detergent bar) and add the surprise of may ipuputi pa pala (it could be whiter)?” 6. “All Day No Check!” (Whisper) This is an example of execution taking the product “to the another level,” according to Estrada. “Finding the right song, the right celebrity, (and) making sure the dance moves relate to the product benefit.” 5. Side A 30s TVC, Bear Brand Choco “Moms want to make sure they give their best to their children,” said Nestlé category marketing manager Willy de Ocampo, but “milk satiation (has been) a concern.” “What we’re trying to do here is educate and entertain at the same time.” 4. “Sofia’s Fan” (Downy) The “rubbing action” idea started with Downy’s “Rubadabango” ad, said Estrada. “We wanted to try something new and feature what it would be like in a school where a mom or the shopper isn’t there,” he said. 3. “Tuloy Pa Rin” (McDonald’s) Why heartbreak? “Why not?” said group account director Judy Medina of Leo Burnett, the agency behind the ad. “Everyone can relate to a story like this,” she said. “It’s really about change.” 2. Bonakid Pre-School 3+ TVC, (Bonakid) “Our consumers are mothers who are very simple, warm, affectionate,” said Inez Claudine Serrano of Wyeth. “Their happiness is their children. They are happy when they see their children healthy and happy.” 1. “A Mommy’s Sacrifice” (Nido) Perhaps the most tear-jerking of the lot, Nido’s three-minute long animated ad focuses on a mother’s love for her child. “It was a fun project,” said Paolo Fabregas, executive creative director of Publicis Manila. “We knew (the idea) was such a risk.” RELATED STORY YouTube’s most watched ads resonate Filipino values

2016-08-09 06:00 Rissa M technology.inquirer.net

23 7 square miles burn in latest big California wildfire CRESTLINE, California — Smoke plumes roiling from flaming ridges of the San Bernardino Mountains blew all the way across the Mojave Desert to Las Vegas as California’s latest big wildfire chewed through timber and brush Monday. Hundreds of firefighters, aided by 16 aircraft, battled flames that spread across 7 square miles on the northern side of the rugged mountain range east of Los Angeles. Dozens of homes were ordered evacuated, and authorities recommended voluntary evacuations for more than 5,000. READ: Wildfires burn in 7 Western states, prompt evacuations Helicopters sucked loads of water from nearby Silverwood Lake to douse flames leaping across slopes. Air tankers swooped low to paint the dry vegetation with pink fire retardant. The fire, which erupted for an unknown reason Sunday, was just 5 percent contained. Across the Mojave, officials in southern Nevada issued an air quality advisory because of smoke from the fire more than 200 miles away. The Clark County Department of Air Quality said the air was unhealthy for sensitive groups, including young children, senior citizens and people with respiratory problems and cardiac disease. Like some of the state’s other fires this summer, the blaze burned near a popular recreation area. But Silverwood Lake’s waters had been closed to swimming, fishing and boating since Aug. 4 because of an algae bloom. On the central coast, meanwhile, California’s biggest fire expanded to more than 94 square miles north of scenic Big Sur. An army of more than 5,000 firefighters and an air force of tankers and helicopters made progress, however, surrounding 45 percent of the 18-day- old blaze. Firefighters set fires to burn out vegetation between the main body of the fire and prepared control lines. Long-suffering residents of Palo Colorado who had been under evacuation orders since late July were finally being allowed to return. Some evacuation orders remained in place, while others were reduced to warnings. Five state parks on Highway 1 between San Francisco and Los Angeles remained closed. The fire, which has destroyed 57 homes, damaged three others and led to the death of a bulldozer operator in an accident, was caused by an illegal campfire.

2016-08-09 06:00 Associated Press newsinfo.inquirer.net

24 WATCH: Walk in an infinite VR hallway While VR can seem to transport users to a fantastical virtual reality space, the truth is that each user is still very much limited by the physical world. One solution to overcome this is through “redirected walking.” Redirected walking is basically having a system trick a person into walking in circles while immersed in virtual reality. This would maximize the limited space that most users will have to contend with while still being able to feel they are freely exploring the virtual landscape, The Verge reports. The University of Tokyo created an experiment to build an “unlimited corridor” using a game engine from Unity Technologies. Alfred Bayle

2016-08-09 06:00 technology.inquirer.net

25 Olympics: ‘Pretty boy’ puts modelling aside for boxing gold RIO DE JANEIRO—Boxing and modelling would hardly seem to be two professions that go together too well. But that does not stop Britain’s Josh Kelly, the self-declared “pretty boy” who made a winning start at the Rio Olympics on Monday after climbing off his sick bed. Kelly, who said he had been on antibiotics and had a viral infection in the lead-up to the bout, defeated Egypt’s Walid Mohamed, also 22, in a scrappy welterweight clash. “I just keep away from punches, I didn’t do that all that well,” he said after his unanimous points victory, sporting few visible signs of punishment, when asked by Agence France-Presse how he combined boxing with part-time modelling. “But my nose is not all that bad at the moment so we will see how we get on in the next couple of fights.” Kelly’s victory was the only high point for Britain, with middleweight Anthony Fowler — cousin of former England football striker Robbie — light flyweight Galal Yafai and Lawrence Okolie all falling to defeat on a black Monday for British Olympic boxing aspirations. RELATED STORIES Boxers will make us proud Pinoy boxer bigo sa Rio Olympics

2016-08-09 06:00 Agence France sports.inquirer.net

26 LPA up north; habagat over Luzon, Visayas The state weather bureau on Tuesday was tracking a low pressure area (LPA) over northern Luzon The LPA was last spotted 1,200 kilometers east of Aparri, Cagayan, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said. Parts of Luzon will have cloudy skies with moderate to occasionally heavy rain and isolated thunderstorms. Areas affected by the southwest monsoon in Luzon are Metro Manila, Ilocos region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Calabarzon and the provinces of Bataan, Zambales and Mindoro. Western Visayas and the rest of Luzon will have cloudy skies with light to moderate rains and thunderstorms, while partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rains or thunderstorms is expected over the rest of the country. Moderate to strong winds blowing from the southwest will prevail throughout the entire archipelago and coastal waters will be moderate to rough.

2016-08-09 06:00 Frances Mangosing newsinfo.inquirer.net

27 Forecast: Apple Watch 2 to be released September An Apple analyst has predicted that the technology company’s Watch 2 would be released later this year and possibly alongside the iPhone 7. Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI also predicted that the appearance of the Apple Watch 2 would take the path of iPhone S. Thus, a thinner Watch 2 would seem to be out of the question. It is in the future Apple Watch 3 that the more major changes in design could be expected he said. Some of the major changes in Watch 2, he said, would include a barometer, GPS, waterproofing and a new internal system on a chip (SoC) for better performance, according to a report on 9To5Mac. An interesting forecast made by KGI is that, apart from Watch 2, the company may release alongside it a souped-up version of the original Apple Watch with updated specs. The new Apple watch could be expected on Sept 6 and the iPhone 7 on Sept. 16. Alfred Bayle

2016-08-09 06:00 technology.inquirer.net

28 28 Olympics: US NBA stars overcome slow start to rout Venezuela RIO DE JANEIRO—Paul George scored 20 points and Jimmy Butler added 17 as the United States team of NBA stars routed Venezuela 113-69 on Monday (Tuesday, Manila) at the Rio Olympics. George’s highlight reel- worthy slam dunk with 2:50 remaining in the fourth quarter brought the loudest cheers of the night. Kevin Durant added 16 points and five assists while Carmelo Anthony and DeAndre Jordan each scored 14 points. Jordan added nine rebounds and Kyle Lowry had nine assists for the Americans. Venezuela, with no NBA players, was level with the US NBA lineup at 18-18 after the first quarter. The South Americans actually led the US millionaires by a point three different times as the NBA squad struggled with five early turnovers and missed free throws. And Venezuela had given the US team its toughest test in pre-Rio warm-up games, even in an 80-45 defeat July 29 at Houston. But the fairy tale dream faded quickly as the US team outscored Venezuela 30-8 in the second quarter for a 48-26 half-time edge. Carmelo Anthony, trying to become the first man to win three Olympic basketball gold medals, scored 10 points in the period. Chicago guard Jimmy Butler scored six points in the second quarter while Kyrie Irving, who played a key role in Cleveland’s run to this year’s NBA crown, and Jordan each added five. Venezuela never came within 21 points in the second half. There was also plenty of smooth passing and solid teamwork from the US lineup, a group that has not spent a full month together. John Cox, a 35-year-old guard who led Venezuela with 19 points, is the cousin of Kobe Bryant. RELATED STORIES Team USA’s NBA players go out for spa relaxation, end up in brothel Olympics: US NBA stars want to spark unity through gold

2016-08-09 06:00 Agence France sports.inquirer.net

29 Teenage girl charged with planning attack in France PARIS, Franc — A French court on Monday remanded in custody a 16-year-old girl accused of planning a jihadist attack in a country on edge following a series of brutal terror assaults, a judicial source said. The teenager was charged with “criminal conspiracy with terrorists” and “provocation to committing terrorist acts using online communication”, the source said on condition of anonymity. Even at her young age, the “highly radicalized” girl was an administrator of a group on the encrypted messaging app Telegram. “She relayed numerous Islamic State group propaganda messages calling for attacks, and she also expressed her own intention of taking action,” a source close to the investigation said. The girl, with no criminal record, was taken into custody last Thursday, during an anti-terror sweep in the Paris suburb of Melun. The security forces then raided her family home, but found neither explosives nor firearms there. “At this stage in the probe, investigators have not identified a planned target,” the source said, adding that the girl’s phone and computer have been seized. On July 26, two 19-year-olds stormed a church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray and brutally murdered an elderly priest. The two attackers had pledged allegiance to ISIS. On July 14, a 31-year-old Tunisian rammed a 19-ton truck into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 85 and wounding more than 400. A state of emergency was declared in France after the November 13, 2015 ISIS attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead. That coordinated assault plunged the country into shock less than a year after the January 2015 attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine and a Jewish supermarket.

2016-08-09 06:00 Agence France newsinfo.inquirer.net

30 Lost in translation: Chinese tourist taken for refugee in Germany BERLIN, Germany — A Chinese tourist got tangled up in the red tape of Germany’s migrant influx by mistake and was stuck in a refugee home for nearly two weeks, the Red Cross said on Monday. Officials thought the 31-year- old backpacker, who spoke neither German nor English, “needed help” after landing in Stuttgart airport in southwestern Germany on July 4, Christoph Schluetermann of the German Red Cross told AFP. The man, who had lost his wallet, was taken to a reception center in the nearby town of Heidelberg, where he unwittingly filled out an asylum request form, following the local authorities’ instructions, Schluetermann said. Then on July 6, he was transferred to a reception center in the western city of Dortmund, where his passport was taken from him, and then to another shelter in Duelmen near the Dutch border. “Machinery kicked into gear from which he couldn’t immediately escape,” Schluetermann told news agency DPA. Public broadcaster WDR said the man complied with standard procedure for refugees including allowing his fingerprints to be taken, undergoing a medical examination and accepting pocket money. But staff eventually noticed that the man was unusually well-dressed for an asylum seeker and when the likelihood of a mistake dawned on them, sought help at a local Chinese restaurant. The owners suggested Schluetermann try using a Mandarin smartphone translation app and it soon became clear that the man didn’t want asylum but to continue his European tour. “I want to go walking in a foreign country,” one of the translated messages said, WDR reported. Twelve days into his stay in Germany, the man was able to set off for France and Italy. Germany let in nearly 1.1 million migrants and refugees last year, posing an enormous challenge for its overstretched bureaucracy. “It isn’t how I imagined Europe,” WDR cited the tourist as saying.

2016-08-09 06:00 Agence France newsinfo.inquirer.net

31 Kansas waterslide remains closed amid probe of boy’s death KANSAS CITY— A Kansas thrill ride billed as the world’s tallest waterslide remained off-limits Monday as authorities pressed to figure out how a state lawmaker’s 10-year-old son was killed on a day the park honored elected officials and their families. Details remained murky about how Caleb Thomas Schwab died Sunday on the 168-foot-tall “Verruckt” — German for “insane” — that since its debut two years ago has been the top draw at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kansas. READ: Boy, 10, dies on ‘world’s largest’ water slide In a statement Monday afternoon, Schlitterbahn said it was “deeply and intensely saddened for the Schwab family and all who were impacted by the tragic accident.” The park was tentatively scheduled to reopen Wednesday, but “Verruckt is closed,” according to the statement. Officer Cameron Morgan, a police spokesman, said no police report about the incident was available. He said investigators were treating Caleb’s death as a “civil matter” rather than a criminal one and referred additional questions to the park. Schlitterbahn spokeswoman Winter Prosapio declined interview requests Monday but told reporters a day earlier that Caleb had been at the park with family members, adding that “we honestly don’t know what’s happened.” It wasn’t immediately clear whether results of an autopsy Monday on Caleb would be publicly released or, if so, how soon, said Margaret Studyvin with the Wyandotte County coroner’s office. Leslie Castaneda, who was at Schlitterbahn on Sunday, told The Kansas City Star that she saw Caleb’s crumpled shorts or bathing suit at the bottom of the ride, along with blood on the slide’s white descending flume. “I’m really having a tough time with it. I really am,” said Castaneda, of Kansas City, Kansas. “I saw his (Caleb’s) brother. He was screaming.” On the waterslide certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s tallest, riders sit in multi-person rafts during “the ultimate in water slide thrills,” subjecting “adventure seekers” to a “jaw dropping” 17-story drop, the park’s website says. Passengers then are “blasted back up a second massive hill and then sent down yet another gut wrenching 50 foot drop,” the website adds. Each rider must be at least 54 inches tall, and the group’s weight is limited to a total of 400 to 550 pounds. Authorities didn’t release information about Caleb’s height or the combined weight of his group of riders. Caleb’s parents — Republican state Rep. Scott Schwab and his wife, Michele — have requested privacy as the family grieves, saying in a statement Sunday that “since the day he was born, (Caleb) brought abundant joy to our family and all those he came in contact with.” “As we try to mend our home with him no longer with us, we are comforted knowing he believed in our Savior Jesus, and they are forever together now. We will see him another day,” the statement added. The tragedy happened on day the park offered lawmakers and other elected officials a buffet lunch, hot dogs and hamburgers. Authorities initially said the victim was 12 years old, but Clint Sprague, a pastor acting as the family’s spokesman, said Caleb was 10 and is among the couple’s four sons. According to rules sent to the media in 2014, riders had to be at least 14 years old, but that requirement is no longer listed on the park’s website. Verruckt’s 2014 opening repeatedly was delayed, though the operators didn’t explain why. Two media sneak preview days in 2014 were canceled because of problems with a conveyor system that hauls 100-pound rafts to the top of the slide. In a news article linked to the news release announcing a 2014 delay, Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry told USA Today that he and senior designer John Schooley had based their calculations when designing the slide on roller coasters, but that didn’t translate well to a waterslide like Verruckt. In early tests, rafts carrying sandbags flew off the slide, prompting engineers to tear down half of the ride and reconfigure some angles at a cost of $1 million, Henry said. A promotional video about building the slide includes footage of two men riding a raft down a half-size test model and going slightly airborne as it crests the top of the first big hill. The Unified Government of Kansas City, Kansas, and Wyandotte County said it does not inspect the operations of such rides and is responsible only for ensuring they’ve adhered to local building codes. Without specifically mentioning water slides, Kansas statutes define an “amusement ride” as any mechanical or electrical conveyance “for the purpose of giving its passengers amusement, pleasure, thrills or excitement.” Such rides, by statute, commonly are Ferris wheels, carousels, parachute towers, bungee jumps and roller coasters. State law leaves it to the Kansas Department of Labor to adopt rules and regulations relating to certification and inspection of rides, adding that a permanent amusement ride must be scrutinized by “a qualified inspector” at least every 12 months. Kansas’ Labor Department didn’t return messages Monday. Prosapio said Sunday the park’s rides are inspected daily and by an “outside party” before the start of each season. Kansas state Sen. Greg Smith, an Overland Park Republican, said that although state law doesn’t specifically address waterslides, it’s clear they “would fall into that category.” He called any potential legislative response to Sunday’s tragedy premature, saying the investigation should be given time to play out.

2016-08-09 06:00 Associated Press newsinfo.inquirer.net

32 32 Oil prices jump on rumors of Opec output freeze NEW YORK, United States — Oil prices continued to rise on Monday, with benchmark crude moving up more than a dollar per barrel in both New York and London. A barrel of West Texas Intermediate for September delivery gained $1.22, rising to $43.02 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, a barrel of North Sea Brent for October delivery also rose $1.12 to $45.39 on the Intercontinental Exchange. READ: Oil prices up in Asian trade | Oil continues climb on mixed US data Oil prices had a very bearish July, given recurring worries on the state of supply and inventories but have been rising for several trading days. “The market continues to bounce,” said Gene McGillian of Tradition Energy. “We fell all the way to the $40 levels and the correction seemed to be a little extreme.” “The market is refocusing on the expectations we’ll have a drop in North American production levels and the expected increase in global fuel demand,” said McGillian. “Right now you see a covering rally,” he added, “and this triggers more buyers jumping in the market.” According to Mike Lynch of Energy and Economic Research, oil markets may be reacting to rumors that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may freeze output levels. “The rumors OPEC is considering a freeze are giving a little bit of impetus to the bulls,” he told AFP. “Not sure it will last very long but for now, that’s the only news that’s really up there.”

2016-08-09 06:00 Agence France business.inquirer.net

33 33 Halfpops and Humanaut recruits coders and developers for the AI apocalypse Half-popped popcorn could, quite frankly, be one of the world’s greatest inventions (snack category). Another invention that the industry is uber-focused on and going gaga over? Artificial Intelligence (AI). Thanks, Pokemon Go — now we’ll have to endure the Pokemon-Go-ification of things on the conference circuit. But I digress. In yet another Humanaut-ish stroke of whimsy , the Chattanooga independent has struck gold with Halfpops (it’s what it sound like it is, half- popped popcorn — and it’s delicious) in a campaign, the "Halfpocalypse", that is both entertaining and unique in its targeting: coders and developers. See, lunks like you and me, who failed miserably at that COBAL class we took in high school, are at the mercy of some of the smartest people on the planet. “We may be geniuses when it comes to popping popcorn perfectly halfway, but we have no clue what’s going to happen when AI advances beyond human intelligence,” explains Mike Fitzgerald, Halfpops CEO. “We figured we should probably make friends with the people who speak these robots’ languages, before it’s too late.” It’s Halfpop’s contention that the planet’s demise will come courtesy of the AI apocalypse and, in a savvy move, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based brand is aligning with those well-schooled in the 1s and 0s by offering a month’s supply of the treats to coders and developers. Those who can demonstrate their AI-fighting code skills receive a box of Halfpops to share (or not) with their team. There is one caveat though. Coders and developers must sign the legally binding “Halfpocalypse Agreement,” pledging to protect Halfpop’s employees when the machines take over the world. The national digital effort, featuring the main microsite where the coding takes place, is supported with a very funny video (the payoff at the end is fantastic) and a social campaign featuring the use of the very-easy-to- remember #0110100001100001011011000110011001110000011011110111000001110011 (code for 'Halfpops') on Twitter — the first-ever binary hashtag. For those of us who will swing and miss at coding, all is not lost. The company is offering a 20% off coupon for at least making the effort.

2016-08-09 04:58 www.thedrum.com

34 Pealfisher opens its doors in San Francisco with Brian Steele at the helm International design agency Pearlfisher, which has offices in London, New York, and Copenhagen, has announced that it is opening up shop in San Francisco. The West Coast team will be led by Brian Steele, who will serve as creative director. He joins from San Francisco-based branding agency CBA, where he also served as creative director. Throughout his career, he has worked with brands including Coca-Cola and Levi’s and has won a number of awards from organizations including D&AD, Cannes Lions and AIGA. In his new role, he will be tasked with spearheading the strategic creative direction and leadership of the California office. In a statement, Steele that he is “incredibly excited about the launch of Pearlfisher in San Francisco – an iconic city that’s become synonymous with innovation and the challenger spirit.” Pearlfisher has worked with a number of brands including Blue Bunny, Jim Beam, Viagra and Starbucks. Mike Branson, founding partner and New York CEO of Pearlfisher, said that since agency already works with a number of West Coast brands out of its New York office, one of the San Francisco office’s main areas of focus will be to grow organically and work with new clients. “Going from east to west feels like a natural part of our growth,” he said. ““It almost felt like it was probably just a matter of time in terms of actually opening on up on the west coast. We’re focusing on these cities of creative excellence, so I think for us it builds on the progression from London, New York, to earlier this year Copenhagen, and now San Francisco. They are creatively exciting cities that have got a very strong design focus.” Pearlfisher expanded to Copenhagen earlier this year to strengthen its relationships with Nordic clients. 2016-08-09 04:58 www.thedrum.com

35 Showcasing a city, video depicts the trending tastes of Anaheim, California Visit Anaheim, the official destination marketing organization (DMO) of Anaheim, released last week the first video of an 18-part series showcasing the diverse, regional craft brew and local dining scene. The video series was launched last week in conjunction with National IPA Day, with Noble Ale Works as the first featured video. The series comes in part as a response to the massive growth in the last two years of the local dining and the IPA scene — IPAs typically have a strong hop and aromatic flavor — and each brewery can set itself apart from the competition with Noble Ale Works now considered an award- winning IPA. "All the new craft breweries and restaurants popping up around town have added a new dimension to the local dining and nightlife scene," said Jay Burress, president and CEO, Visit Anaheim. "Anaheim has really become a hotbed for new and established chefs and beer makers wanting to experiment and explore fresh takes on their craft. " Visit Anaheim partnered with Santa Ana-based content publisher Foodbeast, a leading source for food news, information, and entertainment, to create the series, which will be rolled out through the end of the year. Visit Anaheim will highlight a total of six local dining establishments and five craft breweries to uncover unique items exclusively available within the destination. "Our goal with this program was to create digestible and entertaining content that authentically captured the energy of the local brew and food scene," said Charles Harris, senior vice president, marketing. "Foodbeast has mastered the art of food and beverage storytelling reaching an audience of loyal followers. Understanding our story was key to help us build a series that was able to reach visitors directly and get them excited about our dining and entertainment scene. "

2016-08-09 04:57 www.thedrum.com

36 Boy killed with machete; uncle suspected She wrote a note demanding a teller put $2,000 into an envelope. Sights and sounds as police investigate a quadruple shooting in Tumwater on Wednesday morning. Four people are taken to the hospital after a quadruple shooting and then a standoff with SWAT officers Wednesday morning on Gerth Street in Tumwater. Garrett Harrell retells the story of how he was attacked inside a Dairy Queen in Lakewood Tuesday, July 12, 2016. As he drives the roads of South Hill, Pierce County Sheriff's Sergeant Pat Davidson talks about how the shooting of police in Dallas has affected him, his deputies, and their families. Dugan Lawton faces murder charges in Thurston County Superior Court for the shooting deaths of three people on June 22. Thurston County Sheriff John Snaza announces an arrest in the June 22 triple homicide on Dutterow Road. Son Timothy and daughter Tracy Fabre deliver emotional statements during the sentencing of their father, Milton, on Friday in Pierce County Superior Court in Tacoma. The 81-year-old pled guilty to first-degree manslaughter for the fatal stabbing of his daughter, Tamara, and was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison Sights and sounds as investigators follow up on a quadruple shooting on Dutterow Road SE. Thurston County sheriff’s detectives are investigating an early morning shooting near Lacey that left three people dead and one injured.

2016-08-09 04:37 www.thenewstribune.com

37 How to look interested in a boring meeting Adopting a suitable facial expression for a meeting is a skill worth mastering, writes author and Financial Times columnist Lucy Kellaway. A colleague of the new prime minister was recently asked to describe his boss's style. "She just sits there in cabinet looking exasperated in a poised way. " I read this and a light bulb went on. To go through meetings looking exasperated but poised is what we should all be aiming for. It is superior but never rude. It is powerful but not dishonest. It is a bit forbidding. A little regal. It is just perfect. This question of how to arrange your face when you are sitting round a table at work listening to other people talk is important. The average executive spends about four hours a day in meetings, most of which is spent in silence half-listening to the person talking while studying the faces of the people who are not. This suggests we have got it all wrong. We fret about the impression we make when we speak, but spend no time worrying about how we come across when we are silent. The other day I was sent a photo of a panel I had recently been on, taken by someone in the audience. Two of the panellists are looking away from the person talking. Two appear catatonic. I am looking a little mad, with eyes popping in incredulity and a slight smirk around the mouth. Only one of us got it right. He had composed his face into a mask of polite yet sceptical interest. Our meetings faces are too important to be allowed to compose themselves. The most common look in meetings (at least on the faces of those not talking) is boredom, which is never a good look. The vacant slouch creates an air of gormlessness, while the slack muscles make you look ancient and exhausted. Being so bored that you go to sleep is the worst look there is. Kay Whitmore, chief executive of Kodak in the 1990s, was more infamous for falling asleep in a meeting with Bill Gates, than for helping to run his company into the ground. While nodding off is fatal, nodding in general can be excellent. For nine years I sat on the board of a company and so must have spent several hundred hours watching some of the country's finest non-executive directors nod. It turns out there are different sorts of nods that come in handy at different times. The more complex the material under discussion, the more a medium speed nod makes you look clever and on the ball, while a slower 'I'm considering this' nod can also come in handy. Otherwise, the rules for meetings faces are the opposite of the rules for office expressions in general. While smiling is usually a good plan as it makes other people feel better, in meetings it is to be avoided, unless someone has made a joke, as it can make you look unserious, too keen, and possibly sycophantic. Sucking up, though sometimes necessary, is so demeaning it must never be done in public. Frowning, generally bad in offices, is essential in meetings. It implies you are thinking deeply and can distance you from whatever decisions are being taken. Better still it implies superiority: you could do it better yourself. You could say that we are stuck with the expressions we were born with. But that's not true. I have been spending quite a bit of time in front of the mirror being poised and exasperated. It was hard at first, but I've just tried again and, by George, I think I've got it. Lucy Kellaway is an author and Financial Times columnist. Listen to her on Business Daily and World Business Report on BBC World Service every Monday.

2016-08-09 04:36 www.bbc.co.uk

38 Retailers caught selling e-cigarettes to under- 18s Almost 40% of sellers targeted in an operation by Trading Standards in England were caught illegally allowing under-18s to buy e-cigarette products. Children aged 14 to 17 were sold vaping devices by 246 of the 634 retailers visited between January and March 2016. The operation's report said compliance with rules prohibiting sales to under-18s was "disappointingly low". The British Retail Consortium said major retailers had "rigorous policies and training" to ensure compliance. E-cigarettes deliver a hit of addictive nicotine and emit water vapour to mimic the feeling and look of smoking. The vapour is considered potentially less harmful than cigarette smoke and is free of some damaging substances such as tar. In October 2015, it became illegal for retailers to sell e-cigarettes to under- 18s. The operation, which was funded by the Department of Health, highlighted the wide variety of businesses supplying nicotine e-cigarettes and vaping liquids. Most of the illegal sales (68%) were made at markets and car boot sales. High levels of sales were also found at "other" premises, which included independent pharmacies, specialist e-cigarette shops and discount stores. Fewest sales were made by national newsagents, petrol station kiosks and convenience stores, which are generally experienced in the sale of age restricted products and "specifically in the principle of challenging a young person about their age and asking for proof", the review said. The operation found most of the vaping liquids were flavoured but some could be considered to be particularly "child appealing" - notably bubble gum, cherry cola and chocolate. Trading Standards said the figures should be seen against the results from a 2014 drug survey, which showed that while one fifth of 11-15 year-old respondents had used electronic cigarettes, only 1% were regular users of the products. Leon Livermore, chief executive at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, said that while the results were disappointing it was important to consider them in context. "More than 2.5 million adults use electronic cigarettes and evidence suggests the products are now the most popular quitting aid for smokers in England," he said. "And these products are being sold in a wide variety of retailers and many of them will have little or no experience of challenging age restricted sales. " He said that where an illegal sale was made, further advice and guidance were given to help the business achieve compliance, but that penalties for the offence can be a fine of up to £2,500. Nicola Blackwood, the public health minister, said there was strong support for restrictions from businesses when they were consulted, and added: "As the school holidays are upon us, this is a timely reminder of their obligations under these regulations not to sell nicotine products to under 18 year olds. " Commenting on the results of the operation, the Electronic Cigarette Industry Trade Association said it welcomed the introduction of legislation to prohibit sales to under-18s and it was "disappointing" that compliance was "so low". Chief Scientific Officer Tom Pruen said: "While e-cigs offer the potential to save many lives by reducing the harm caused by smoking, it is important that they do not form a gateway into nicotine addiction for people, especially teenagers, who do not already use nicotine. "Fortunately, while teenagers appear to be experimenting with vaping, this does not seem to be transferring into regular use, unlike with smoking. "However, this is a genuine concern and one which requires careful monitoring, and responsible action from the industry at all levels. " The British Retail Consortium said: "The sale of e-cigarettes and vaping liquids is regulated by law and is subject to the same levels of control as tobacco products. "Every major retailer has rigorous policies and training practices, including awareness campaigns and till prompts, to ensure that the sale of such products is in full compliance with the law. "

2016-08-09 04:36 www.bbc.co.uk

39 Greater Manchester mayor: Labour candidate to be announced Labour will announce its candidate for Greater Manchester's first mayoral election later. Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham, Bury South MP Ivan Lewis and interim mayor Tony Lloyd are on the shortlist. Voting by local party members closed on Friday. The election is set to take place in May. The deal for the elected mayor, which will include control of transport, social care, housing and police budgets, was announced in 2014. Agreed by council leaders with the then chancellor George Osborne, it will give Greater Manchester control of about £2bn of government funding previously administered from London. Labour will be the first party to announce a candidate for the election. It will also confirm its candidate for the contest in the Liverpool City Region on Wednesday.

2016-08-09 04:36 www.bbc.co.uk

40 Many families could not afford a month's rent if they lost job One in three families in England could not pay their rent or mortgage for more than a month if they lost their job, a study for the charity Shelter suggests. High housing costs and a lack of personal savings are cited by the charity as reasons for this. The online survey by pollsters YouGov in July questioned 1,581 people in working families with children. "Strong protections" are in place for "those who fall on difficult times," a government spokesman commented. The spokesman said: "We are introducing the National Living Wage , increasing the personal tax allowance and giving the next generation choice and flexibility in their savings, including the Help to Save scheme for people on low incomes. "We are continuing to spend around £90 billion a year on working age benefits to ensure a strong safety net for the most vulnerable. "And for those who do fall on difficult times, there are strong protections in place to guard against the threat of homelessness, and ensure we don't return to the bad old days when homelessness in England was nearly double what it is today. " The online YouGov survey questioned 8,381 adults, including 1,581 members of working families with children. It concluded that 37% (585) of such families would be unable to cover their housing costs for more than one month with no job, while 23% (364) said they would be unable to pay their housing costs at all. Some 48% (759) of families in the survey named the cost of housing as the biggest drain on their budget, the charity reported. "These figures are a stark reminder that sky-high housing costs are leaving millions of working families stretched to breaking point, and barely scraping by from one pay cheque to the next," Shelter chief executive Campbell Robb said. What kind of life can you live on £7.20 an hour? How much of a savings buffer do people need? 'Sky-high' rental hotspots across England revealed Mr Robb said the government had a "real chance to show working families they're on their side, by protecting and improving our welfare safety net". A single mother of two children, named only as Lou, told researchers that although she was working full-time as a complex needs carer, and has moved into a small flat, she still finds keeping up with the rent every month a struggle. She said: "I'm working hard, but it still makes me feel like a failure. I recently changed jobs and hit a rough patch when I thought I wouldn't be able to pay the rent. "An employer had given me some work and didn't tell me that my hours wouldn't be guaranteed, I lost a chunk of my income all of a sudden, and very nearly lost my home. It was really scary. "There's never a cushion. You'd think if you were working you'd be able to save a little bit every month, but it's just not a possibility when just paying for the basics is so expensive. "

2016-08-09 04:36 www.bbc.co.uk

41 Retail sales rose in July despite Brexit slump fears, report finds Warmer weather helped Britain's retailers sell more in July than during the same period last year, defying predictions of a post-Brexit slump. Total sales increased by 1.9%, according to the British Retail Consortium and KPMG's latest survey. A separate report, by Barclaycard, showed that spending in restaurants, pubs and cinemas had also increased in the month following the vote. However, Barclaycard found that overall spending fell by 1%. David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG, said sunny days had "helped blow away some of the post-referendum blues, boosting the UK feelgood factor and giving consumers a sense that 'life goes on' following the initial shock of the Brexit vote". He added that picnics and barbecues had helped lift sales of food and drink, while summer promotions and holiday preparations had helped boost fashion sales. Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said the rise was not surprising, given that "little has materially changed" for most UK households since the EU referendum. A monthly report by Barclaycard, which processes nearly half of all the nation's credit and debit card transactions, found that consumer spending growth fell to 2.6% in July, down from 3.6% in May and June. But the warmer weather may have played a part in a 12.2% increase in spending in pubs and a 12.8% rise in what card-holders spent in restaurants, it said. There were some less positive results in the company's consumer confidence research, which found that Britons were more cautious about their future spending plans, with nearly 50% not confident in their ability to spend more on non-essential items. Paul Lockstone, managing director at Barclaycard, said: "These are the first full month's figures since the EU referendum, so it's too early to say if this is the start of a long-term trend, but it seems likely consumers will be watching the external environment carefully ahead of any major spending decisions. "

2016-08-09 04:36 www.bbc.co.uk

42 Newspaper headlines: Banking 'revolution' and pool success Diver Tom Daley is pictured on many of the front pages after winning a bronze medal with Dan Goodfellow for Great Britain at the Olympics. Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph reports that the watchdog Competition and Markets Authority will order banks to offer the same services through mobile phone apps that they provide in High Street branches.

2016-08-09 04:36 By Nigel www.bbc.co.uk

43 Bake Off's Nadiya Hussain 'excited' to judge junior series Former Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain has said she is "excited" to be joining the show's junior version as a judge. Hussain, who won 2015's Great British Bake Off, will judge alongside chef and food writer Allegra McEvedy. CBBC's Junior Bake Off sees 40 youngsters aged nine to 12 competing for the title. Hussain said: "This time last year I was in the Bake Off tent and now I get to go back and help encourage the next generation to get their bake on. " The contestants will each complete two bakes over 10 heats, including a technical bake and showstopper challenge, with four youngsters in the grand final. The show's previous judges have included Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood, James Martin and Graham Hornigold. Hussain, 31, has built a career since winning Bake Off which includes her first cook book, a column for The Times and a request from Buckingham Palace to make a cake for the Queen's 90th birthday. She will also present The Chronicles of Nadiya, a TV show tracing her culinary roots in Bangladesh. She won last year's final on BBC One after baking a "big fat British wedding cake" adorned with jewels from her own wedding day as the showstopper. It became the most-watched TV programme of the year with an average audience of 15.1 million people, according to consolidated figures, which include catch-up viewing. Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts , on Instagram , or email [email protected] .

2016-08-09 04:36 www.bbc.co.uk

44 Southern rail strike: Passengers face second day of 'misery' Southern rail passengers face further disruption as the RMT union enters the second day of a five-day strike. Southern is cancelling 946 of its normal 2,242 services each day of the stoppage. The RMT has said the dispute, over plans for drivers to operate carriage doors, relates to passenger safety. The prime minister has "strongly condemned" the five-day strike, which she said was causing "more disruption and misery". It follows a series of one-day strikes since April following a ballot of 393 RMT members. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said on Monday the action had been forced on the union by the "arrogance and inaction" of Southern's parent company, Govia Thameslink, and the government. "Our fight is with the company and the government, who have dragged this franchise into total meltdown," he said. See Southern's map of revised rail services during the strike Southern, which has about 300,000 passengers a day, said on Monday it was operating nearly 60% of its regular timetable during the strike and 88.5% of those services were running on time. Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club has said reduced rail services could cost it £300,000 due to lost matchday revenues . Falmer station, which fans use for Brighton's Amex Stadium, has a restricted service during the strike with no trains running after 17:00 BST. An EFL Cup game against Colchester United on Tuesday evening is followed by a Football League Championship match against Nottingham Forest on Friday.

2016-08-09 04:36 www.bbc.co.uk

45 Prep football games are two weeks away, but first MLive Game of the Week polls have arrived It's hard to believe, but opening night of the 2016 prep football season is just two weeks away and our Week 1 polls are up and running. Our polls allow you the fans to tell us which ones do you think we need to pay closer attention to, which ones are going to be important opening night games. Here is your first look at the Week 1 polls in 8 regions around Michigan, for games played Thursday, Friday and Saturday, August 25-27. Voting continues through Monday, August 15, when we will begin a poll to determine the MLive statewide Game of the Week from our regional winners. Your MLive Game of the Week vote determines what games we’ll highlight in our regional previews each week before the action. (Each week, just before the games, we will have a story listing all the great storylines of this week’s GOW games!) Then we’ll send two reporters and a photographer to the winning games to provide lots of in-depth coverage, including a live blog and comments from the game. One of the MLive Game of the Week regional winners will also be our statewide MLive Game of the Week, with another whole level of great coverage. (Voting for the statewide game starts each Tuesday after the regional polls close and we have each region’s winners.) So keep voting until the regional polls close next Monday. You can vote once every hour. Check out the games in our Week 1 polls. Ann Arbor News See More Sports News »

2016-08-09 04:36 Maxwell Harden highschoolsports.mlive.com

46 NY Docs Are Working On Cocaine Version Of Methadone Doctors are starting human trials of a vaccine to prevent cocaine addiction. Medical professionals at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medicine got the green light to expand the reach of their drugs after testing it out on rodents and monkeys. Thirty patients will be part of the trial process and all of them will be cocaine addicts. The three-year study is funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse and National Institutes of Health. The 30 prospective patients will receive $25 each time they go through with attending a meeting for the study. The leading doctor behind the study, Dr. Ronald Crystal, explains the importance of the study, saying in part, “While there are drugs like methadone designed to treat heroin, there aren’t any therapeutics available to treat cocaine addiction — we hope that our vaccine will change that.” Ultimately, if a vaccine proves to be successful as a result of the study, it will, “protect cocaine from entering the brain,” according to Crystal. Aside from payment per meetings, Crystal hopes that the $2,400 compensation for participating in the entire study will be a helpful incentive for getting addicts to sign on. An effective vaccine is expected to “gobble up cocaine like Pac-Man,” says Crystal. Most cocaine gets into the U. S. through cartel drug trafficking. Colombian and Peruvian cocaine producers team up with Mexican cartels to get their product north of the border. Even though heroin is currently considered the major drug epidemic in the U. S., cocaine use has slowly been on the rise — including in major cities such as Chicago. The Colombian and U. S. government both hope that cocaine production and trafficking will soon be greatly reduced by a peace deal between the Colombian government and Marxist rebels. The guerrilla fighters, the FARC, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, have funded their decades-long fight against the government through cocaine trafficking. In the terms of the peace deal, the rebels agree to refrain from illicit activities such as drug trafficking if they wish to continue their political struggle in a peaceful manner. Follow JP on Twitter Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-08-09 04:39 Foreign Affairs dailycaller.com

47 Where in the world is my data and how secure is it? When Max Schrems, an Austrian privacy activist, requested to see his personal data that Facebook stored on its servers, he was mailed a CD-ROM containing a 1,222-page document. That file, which would stretch nearly a quarter of a mile if printed and laid end-to-end, offered a glimpse into Facebook's appetite for the private details of its 1.65 billion users. The information included phone numbers and email addresses of Mr Schrems' friends and family; a history of all the devices he used to log in to the service; all the events he had been invited to; everyone he had "friended" (and subsequently de-friended); and an archive of his private messages. It even included transcripts of messages he'd deleted. But Mr Schrems, who says he only used Facebook occasionally over a three-year period, believes a sizeable chunk of information was withheld from him. He received data records for about 50 categories, but believes there are more than 100, he tells the BBC. "They withheld my facial recognition data, which is a technology that can identify me through my pictures. They don't disclose tracking information either, which is the even creepier stuff they do - things like whether you've read a webpage about a sports car and how long you read it for. " Facebook can even track non-members' internet usage through the use of cookies place on their machines, as a recent legal decision in Belgium confirmed. Mr Schrems' experience vividly illustrates the challenges we face in a digital age full of messaging apps, social networks, tailored search engines, email clients, and banking apps, all collecting personal data about us and storing it, somewhere, in the cloud. But where is all this data exactly, how is it being used, and how secure is it? More than half of the world's rentable cloud storage is controlled by four major corporations. Amazon is by far the biggest, with about a third of the market share and 13 massive data centres in the US, three in South America, five in Europe, 11 spread across Asia, and three in Australia. The next three biggest providers are Microsoft, IBM and Google, and each of them adopts a similar global pattern of server farms. These major public cloud providers habitually duplicate user data across their networks. It means that information uploaded to the cloud in, say, the UK or the US, is likely to be transferred at some point to servers in major cities around the world, from Sydney to Shanghai. The problem with this, says Prof Dan Svantesson, an internet law specialist at Bond University, Australia, is that "there is always a risk that the country your data goes to doesn't have the same level of protection [as your own]. "If your data ends up in another country, it can be unclear who has access to it, be it network providers or law enforcement," he says. Benjamin Caudill, a cybersecurity consultant at Rhino Security Labs in Seattle, also has concerns about how this data is distributed. "No-one really quite knows how the sausage is made," says Mr Caudill, whose work includes testing firms' defences though "ethical hacking". "It's very difficult to understand where your data is stored. A lot of times the companies themselves aren't sure where all the data could reside. " He says a client of his, who was using Microsoft's Azure cloud service, fell victim to a hack - all data and back-ups were deleted. But after some digging, it emerged that a portion of the lost data had been stored elsewhere on Azure's servers. While that was a relief to Mr Caudill's client, the apparent random nature of data placement across Microsoft's servers didn't fill him with confidence. "No-one really knows how secure the cloud services are from the major providers," says Mr Caudill, who suspects that "both Amazon and Azure have had major security compromises at some point. " For their part, all the big public cloud providers say security is a priority. At Google's server facility in South Carolina, for example, guards patrol the doors and employ biometric iris scanners at the entrances to the inner sanctum. Underfloor laser beams detect intruders. But none would say they've never had security breaches. A Microsoft spokesperson told the BBC: "Microsoft has a customer commitment to help safeguard customer data and empower them to make decisions about that data. We recommend customers visit the Microsoft Trust Center to learn more about how their data is managed and kept secure. " Amazon emphasises that customers "retain ownership and control of their content. They choose which location to store their data and it doesn't move unless the customer decides to move it. " This ability to choose which region your data is stored in is proving increasingly popular with firms, particularly in the European Union where the new stringent General Data Protection Regulation is due to come into force in 2018. But we consumers often don't have this luxury. "The data of your Gmail account is absolutely on more than one server. It's absolutely in more than one country," says Prof Svantesson. But why should we care? The more of our data that's out there scattered throughout the world, the more vulnerable it is to hackers, argues Mr Caudill - a supposition borne out by the fact that identity fraud is on the rise. As people continue to upload their digital information online, into a marsh of territorial legal complexities and undisclosed national security protocols, Prof Svantesson offers some practical advice - which many people still do not follow. "I would suggest never putting anything sensitive on the cloud, such as credit card information, or personal images that you don't want others to see. "Some things you should just leave to yourself," he advises. Follow Technology of Business editor @matthew_wall on Twitter Click here for more Technology of Business features

2016-08-09 04:36 By Rob www.bbc.co.uk

48 The puppy rescuers of Alexandria "No one can tell you that we are a nation without hope. " Words from a viral Facebook post in praise of Egyptian animal lovers who acted to save a puppy that was trapped under large stone boulders for more than three weeks. The puppy had reportedly been abandoned to a slow lingering death by its owners. But a group of volunteers banded together to mobilise a rescue mission which hundreds of thousands followed on social media. The story begins in early July when Mariem Taha, a 36-year-old resident of Egypt's port city Alexandria, began to hear the unsettling sound of whimpering when she was at a cafe on the famous sea front corniche. "It was very upsetting sound so I asked the cafe owner what it was, " Taha told BBC Trending, "He said that on the previous day some people had a come with a puppy and the puppy had fallen in between the gaps of the of some stone boulders. The people then abandoned the puppy. The whimpering was very upsetting so I decided to go in search of the puppy. "The first three days I could hear the puppy but I couldn't see her. So I wasn't sure where to throw food for her, and she may have been scared. By the third day, she was familiar with my voice so she appeared in the gaps. I couldn't reach for her but I could feed her. I decided to name her Babsy Rock. " Taha returned daily to feed Babsy Rock but couldn't work out a way to rescue her. So she turned to a Facebook group called 'Save Innocent Souls'. The group was known to be frequented by animal welfare activists. A post requesting help was met with several people offering to help. The progress of the rescue was documented on social media and this gallery has been viewed more than 300,000 times online on the photo sharing site IMGUR. After persistent lobbying, the local authority sent a crane to aid the rescue. And Babsy Rock was finally freed having spent a total of around 25 days under the rocks. The rescuers told Mariem of Dr Mahmoud Abdelmaksoud a local vet who did check up on Babsy Rock. "Dr Abdelmaksoud is an incredible man, a hero. Many volunteers call him to check up on the animals they have rescued and he offers his services for free," says Mau Hamada , who is the founder of one of the animal rescue groups in Alexandria. Hers is called Animal Zone and she says that they are completely volunteer based, and accept no donations. "Social media was crucial in the rescue of Babsy Rock. Mariem's posts on Facebook mobilised a lot of us volunteers and many people pitched in with the rescue. A lot of information is shared on digital platforms so that we can do our work," Hamada told Trending, "There are dozens of people in Alexandria helping to rescue animals, they either work in self-organised groups like us or individually. " Campaigners have often been critical of Egypt's record on animal welfare. Mau Hamada says that there a range of factors which can result in the mistreatment of animals; "the fear of stray animals, sadistic individuals and some people that say that dogs are not a welcome part of Islam, although they are in the minority. " But there was a happy ending for Babsy Rock who has been adopted by Mariem Taha. And how is she doing now? "She's very naughty," laughs Taha. Blog by Megha Mohan and additional reporting by Abdirahim Saeed NEXT STORY: The Nigerian man making Africans laugh You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending , and find us on Facebook. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending .

2016-08-09 04:36 By BBC www.bbc.co.uk

49 Turkey's Erdogan unnerves West with Putin visit Turkey has seen an upheaval in its foreign and domestic politics, exacerbated by the near-disastrous coup attempt on 15 July. In view of the current "frost" in the AKP government's relations with both the US and the EU, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's decision to choose Russia for his first official visit abroad since the botched coup appears rich in symbolism. And Western leaders will be looking on nervously. The EU's migrant deal with Turkey has run into trouble and the US is under pressure to extradite self-exiled Islamic leader Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey blames for the coup. But Tuesday's visit is not a snap decision by the Turkish state in reaction to a perceived lack of visible and credible Western support in times of crisis, nor is it in appreciation of President Putin's swift support. The history goes farther back than that. Some years ago Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey's then foreign minister and later prime minister, coined the slogan "Zero problems with all neighbours" as Turkey adapted its policy to meet the wave of changes during the so-called Arab Spring. By the end of last year, the Turkish leadership had problems with all its neighbours and partners and a diminishing crowd of friends, because of negative developments in Syria and Iraq as well as failures in Turkish policy. And as Turkey's security interests have worsened in Syria, with Kurdish militants either side of the border, it has clearly become a strategic necessity for Ankara to bow to realities and look for opportunities for an honourable retreat. This applies in particular to the Turkish government´s policy towards Russia. Earlier relations were based essentially and pragmatically on a number of points of economic interdependence. Turkey needed Russian petroleum deliveries, access to nuclear and other elements of technology. It also relied on access to the Russian market and a continued flow of Russian tourists. Russia needed Turkey's energy market and its territory too, to transport energy supplies. Both also had a joint interest in basic stability in the Black Sea area, in view of the 1936 Montreux Declaration on access to the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits. But the downing of the Russian SU-24 fighter jet on 24 November 2015 dramatically raised Turkish-Russian tensions within weeks of Russia's military intervention backing up President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Syria's leader has become President Erdogan's sworn enemy of late. and Mr Putin's ensuing punitive actions have hurt Turkey economically and politically. It came as no surprise when Turkey signalled a change in policy in mid-May. Out went Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and in came Binali Yildirim, who soon announced that the time had come for Turkey to "decrease the number of enemies and increase the number of friends", clearly alluding to Russia and Israel for starters. Since then President Erdogan has issued some kind of rare "apology", deemed politically sufficient by team Putin - although Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has insisted that sustainable normalisation will depend on how the two countries co-operate in the quagmire of the Syria crisis. Mr Erdogan takes to St Petersburg a very broad agenda and a huge delegation. The two states are expected to reset the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, as well as cover nuclear power plant construction and perhaps other energy related items. They will also include resuming tourism, food exports and construction, which have all been hit hard since Russia imposed sanctions in November. Presumably some efforts will also be made to clear the way for some understanding on Syria. But the symbolic nature of this visit within weeks of the botched coup is far from lost on those in the US and EU who are searching for signs of possible permanent policy change. Turkey is after all a key Nato power. And it has new sensitivities since the traumatic events of 15 July, while the West has been uneasy at President Erdogan's heavy-handedness before and especially since the attempted coup. To the delight of President Putin, Mr Erdogan is presumably happy to keep the West wondering, and sweating, for now. By Dr Michael Sahlin, retired Swedish Ambassador and distinguished associate fellow at Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies (SUITS)

2016-08-09 04:36 By Michael www.bbc.co.uk

50 Florida investigating another Zika case outside Miami The Florida Department of Health is investigating another case of Zika contracted in the state. The person lives in West Palm Beach County about 70 miles (113km) north of the initial transmission zone. Florida Governor Rick Scott said the state officials still believe that active transmission zone for the virus is one square mile (3sq km) in Wynwood neighbourhood in North Miami. The infected person had recently travelled to the Miami area. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention previously issued a travel warning for the neighbourhood, particularly focused on pregnant women. The virus is known to cause a severe birth defect called microcephaly, which can infants to develop abnormally small heads. With the school year about to begin, Governor Scott said the state is sending mosquito repellent to school districts in affected and neighbouring counties. The outreach covers primary school through public universities. In Miami, where 16 locally transmitted cases of Zika have been confirmed, the state has sprayed against mosquitoes and tried to remove standing water, where the insects breed. They've also encouraged the public at large to use insect repellent on their own.

2016-08-09 04:36 www.bbc.co.uk

51 Irom Sharmila: End of world's longest hunger strike Indian activist Irom Sharmila Chanu is ending her hunger strike against a controversial law after 16 years. She told a court last month that she would end her protest on Tuesday and begin campaigning as an independent candidate for the upcoming assembly elections in the northeastern state of Manipur. Ms Chanu had been protesting against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which gives soldiers sweeping powers to arrest without warrants and even shoot to kill in certain situations. AFSPA is in effect in several Indian states, including in Manipur and Indian- administered Kashmir. Photographer Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist has closely followed her journey in the past few years. Ms Chanu has been force-fed through a tube in her nose for more than a decade. She started her fast 16 years ago after 10 civilians were killed by Indian soldiers in Manipur. She has spent most of the last 16 years in judicial custody in a hospital in Manipur's capital, Imphal, where she was force-fed a cocktail of medicines and baby formula. Ms Chanu was released in August 2014 after the court rejected the charge that she was "attempting to commit suicide". But she was re-arrested two days later after she refused to end her protest. Ms Chanu appeared in the Manipur High Court every two weeks to reaffirm her protest. Her protest has won her worldwide recognition, with Amnesty International describing her as a prisoner of conscience. The activist has received considerable attention from local and international media outlets in recent years. Ms Chanu has the support of women and civil rights groups in the state. A memorial has been built at the site in Manipur where the 10 civilians were killed by Indian soldiers. The state has a population of about 2.5 million people and a huge force of army, paramilitary and state police are deployed there to fight insurgent groups.

2016-08-09 04:36 www.bbc.co.uk

52 Thai referendum: Why Thais backed a military- backed constitution The result of the referendum on Thailand's new constitution has left many observers around the world baffled. Why would an electorate, denied any say over who governs them since a coup two years ago, vote to approve a charter which offers them only a semi-democracy? A charter which was condemned by human rights groups and by the two largest political parties as a means to entrench military rule for many years to come? Unofficial results of the referendum showed more than 61% of those who voted approved the charter. More than 58% also approved a controversial second proposal to give the now unelected Senate to right to help choose a potentially unelected prime minister. Turnout was low at around 54%. But it was enough to give the military government, which has been losing popularity because of its erratic performance, a green light to implement its controlled return to a democratic form of governance. Many factors have been cited for the result. The repressive climate that preceded it is one. All campaigning was banned, and dozens of activists who tried to criticise the constitution were detained and charged. That meant that very few Thais were exposed to arguments about the charter's flaws and merits: few even saw a copy, and those that did were hardly likely to wade through its 279 articles. So most voters went to the polling stations with little idea what was in the charter. They had frequently heard the drafters' argument that it would address political corruption and help reform the country. But it was very difficult to hear an opposing view. Some people believed in the military's project to restore a guided democracy. Others trusted the generals to do the right thing. But many voters were simply weary of Thailand's endless crisis, and saw this constitution as the only way back to some kind of normality. The military had not said exactly what would happen if the charter was rejected, but made it clear they would remain in charge. "This is not the standard of democracy we would expect in this day and age", Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the second largest party, the Democrats, told the BBC, "but I respect the wishes of the people who voted". The first task now of the Constitutional Drafting Committee is to draw up ten so-called organic laws, which will govern the new political system. No one is sure yet what will be in these laws, but the established political parties fear one may require them all to dissolve themselves, and reform, possibly leading to fragmentation into smaller parties. The new proportional voting system will in any case make it harder for the larger parties to win an overall majority, resulting in weaker coalition administrations. Once those laws are completed, ideally within eight months, an election can be held as early as the latter part of next year. After a new government is elected, it will find itself subject to supervision by the 250-seat Senate, which will be appointed by the military and its allies. It will also be held more tightly to account by other so-called constitutional bodies, like the top courts. Impeachment of politicians will become easier. And there is every possibility a non-MP may become prime minister, given the likelihood of deadlock in multi-party coalitions; some even see this as a vehicle for the coup-maker General Prayuth to stay in the job as prime minister in the first elected government. Future governments will also be required to adhere to the military's own 20- year reform plan for the country. The military will remain a significant force in Thai politics for many more years. The obvious loser in this system is the party of ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Phuea Thai, which, under different names, has won every election since 2001. The new voting system is likely to cost it 10-20% of the seats it has won in the past, and Ms Yingluck, the party's best vote-winner, has been banned from office for five years by the current military-appointed assembly. Her brother Thaksin lives in self-imposed exile, after being convicted of abusing his power in 2008. Even if Phuea Thai, or a reformed version of it, wins a plurality of the votes, the other parties could be organised, perhaps with quiet military involvement, as happened in 2008, into a coalition that denies it a mandate. Thailand's military rulers have made no secret of their dislike of the Shinawatra clan, and it is hard not to see this constitution as primarily concerned to keep them out of office. Overshadowing all these developments is the poor health of the ageing King Bhumibol Adulyadej. This is a taboo topic in Thailand, but everyone here knows they will have to confront a future without the king soon. During his 70 years on the throne, the king has been elevated to such an exalted status in the Thai hierarchy that he has become the essential source of authority for all power-brokers, the ultimate referee. His eventual passing, and the accession of a far less popular son, will shake up the network of military officers, senior bureaucrats, tycoons and courtiers who currently wield influence at the top, with unpredictable consequences for Thailand's political stability. The armed forces pride themselves on being, above anything else, defenders of the monarchy. They will not let go until the difficult succession has been completed.

2016-08-09 04:36 By Jonathan www.bbc.co.uk

53 Enviros Get Anti-Fracking Constitutional Amendment On Ballot Environmental activists claim they turned in enough signatures late Monday to get a pair of anti-hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, amendments to the Colorado constitution on the ballot during the November elections. Ballot initiatives 75 and 78 , if approved by voters, would add language to Colorado’s state constitution allowing local governments to ban fracking. The measures require more than 98,000 signatures to get on the ballot. Supporters of both ballot initiatives claim to have “over 100,000 signatures” for each measure, however, the number of invalid signatures is unclear at this point. Activists previously stated that they needed “over 130,000 signatures” to absolutely ensure that the measures would be on the ballot. Several state and federal courts , including Colorado’s Supreme Court, have concluded that only the state government has the legal authority to regulate fracking, as any ban would be “preempted by state law and therefore, is invalid and unenforceable.” The oil and gas industry of most states, including Colorado, has historically been regulated by state, not local, government. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has made statements supporting local control while Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has stated that she will respect the state Supreme Court’s decision . Environmental groups, including The Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Food and Water Watch, Earthworks and a local group called Coloradans Resisting Extreme Energy Development (CREED) currently support local bans on fracking in the state. Campaign finance disclosure reports show that these environmentalist groups have donated time and money supporting these initiatives, including time to collect signatures and advertisements for signature gatherers on behalf of the initiative. Activists with the group are calling the initiatives “the biggest,” most important fight on behalf of the environment this year. “Even if these out-of-state activist organizations manage to get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, they face significant opposition from actual Coloradoans,” Randy Hildreth, Colorado Director for the pro-industry group Energy In Depth, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “The state’s business community and prominent Republicans and Democrats –including Gov. John Hickenlooper and U. S. Senator Michael Bennet – stand with the thousands of Coloradans who are safely developing our energy resources, rather than national activist groups seeking to end the economic and environmental benefits oil and gas development brings to our state.” Colorado’s Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, a former geologist , has bucked his own political party to oppose these local fracking bans for years, often fighting with the state’s environmentalists. When The Denver Post asked Hickenlooper why he opposes the ballot measures, the governor responded, “if you turn over total responsibility to the local communities, they are subject to the voters who aren’t anywhere near the (fracking site) but will, in many cases … vote to ban any oil and gas activity at all.” “Out of state billionaire eco-radicals like Tom Steyer, need to leave Colorado the hell alone,” John Kinkaid, the commissioner of Moffat County in Colorado, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “I hope that the defeat of the initiative signals a new day for the state. Better schools, better highways and a better lifestyle for everyone.” One of the ballot initiatives is estimated to cost $14.5 billion in lost economic output and 104,000 jobs, according to a study by economists at the University of Colorado. The ballot measures were part of a larger green political campaign of 11 measures proposed to the state legislature in January. Energy is a huge portion of Colorado’s economy and fracking has caused an economic boom. The oil and gas industry added $29.6 billion to Colorado’s economy in 2012, or about 10 percent of all annual economic activity in the state. The industries also supported 111,500 jobs, allowing the state to recover from the Great Recession faster than its neighbors. Follow Andrew on Twitter Send tips to andrew@ dailycallernewsfoundation.org . Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-08-09 04:39 Energy Environmental dailycaller.com

54 Barclays Pays Out $100 Million In Libor Suit The British bank, Barclays, will pay out $100 million to end an investigation into their manipulation of interest rates as a part of the now- infamous Libor (London inter-bank lending rate) scandal. Barclays marks the first bank to come to a settlement with states — 44 to be precise — that artificially inflated borrowing costs, reports Bloomberg. Coming four years after the British bank had laid to rest similar charges, this ignites a new controversy surrounding the London based financial firm. Barclays attempted to hide the dwindling health of their bank from 2005- 2009 by manipulating interest rates at “the expense of government entities and not-for-profits whose contracts were linked to the rates,” according to Bloomberg. These agencies report they were jilted out of “millions of dollars when they entered into swaps or other financial contracts based on Libor, without knowing that Barclays and other banks were working to manipulating the benchmark,” reports the Wall Street Journal. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said recently that “there has to be one set of rules for everyone, no matter how rich or how powerful,” in a statement released by the attorney general’s office . Even more states are speaking up about this controversy, with Virginia’s Attorney General Mark R. Herring announcing that his state too is part of the $100 million dollar payout. Herring told the press Monday, “investors have a right to rely on accurate, sound information when making financial and investment decisions that could have a real impact on retirement accounts and the bottom line of a Virginia government entity or nonprofit,” in a press release by the attorney general’s office. Attorney General Brian Frosh of Maryland told the press Monday that Barclays agreement is “the first, but certainly not the last, with major international financial institutions that manipulated interest rate benchmarks for their own gain,” underscoring the shady practices currently ongoing in the financial marketplace, reports Bloomberg. Barclays has admitted to manipulating benchmark interest rates in a way that would help their trading positions, and also admitted to making false financial statements to disguise their financial position in the market during the crisis of ’08. Follow Robert on Twitter Send tips to [email protected] Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-08-09 04:39 dailycaller.com

55 Pro-Trump Anti-Clinton Spots Dominate Radio In Past Week Donald Trump ruled the radio airwaves in terms of ad buys across the country this past week, according to Media Monitors , a local media monitoring service company. Both the Clinton and Trump campaigns along with super PACs supporting both nominees have been running radio spots in 85 major markets across America from July 29 to August 7. “In the last ten days, all the radio spots run were either for Donald Trump or Against Hillary Clinton. The Clinton campaign and the super PACs that support her ran no radio ads from July 29 to August 7, 2016,” Media Monitors said in a statement. The spots run in favor of Donald Trump were 69 spots by the USA Business Freedom PAC, a PAC “created in California last December by a local chamber of commerce and a large medical group.” Media Monitors Political Radio Spots The Great America PAC, an anti-Hillary Clinton Super PAC, ran 239 spots on the radio in the past ten days against Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president. According to the Carey Committee, this super PAC is a hybrid PAC/super PAC. Media Monitors notes that OpenSecrets.org, says that the Great American PAC can have two separate accounts: “one for contributions to federal candidates and parties, and the other for independent expenditures, to which unlimited contributions can be made.” Follow Kerry on Twitter

2016-08-09 04:39 dailycaller.com

56 Hottest Olympians: Mariafe Artacho del Solar The Olympics are in full swing which means it’s time to meet another gorgeous Olympian. Australian volleyball star Mariafe Artacho del Solar is stealing hearts at the games in Rio, and her Instagram account is only further proof why she has so many fans. ( SLIDESHOW : This Blonde Bombshell Is The Hottest Chick On The Internet) A photo posted by Mariafe Artacho del Solar (@mariafe_beach1) on Aug 7, 2016 at 6:04am PDT A photo posted by Mariafe Artacho del Solar (@mariafe_beach1) on Aug 4, 2016 at 3:08am PDT A photo posted by Mariafe Artacho del Solar (@mariafe_beach1) on Jul 29, 2016 at 10:56am PDT A photo posted by Mariafe Artacho del Solar (@mariafe_beach1) on Jul 11, 2016 at 3:53am PDT Australia: the home of kangaroos and hot Olympians. Follow David on Twitter and Facebook

2016-08-09 04:39 dailycaller.com

57 Study: College Benefits Outweigh Costs Pursuing a college degree is still the one of the most important investments an individual can make, according to a recent study by the Council of Economic Advisers. The earnings gap between college and high school educated individuals is growing steadily, reaching a climax in the past few years. While college graduates accrue, on average, some $30,000 in student loan debt, they typically earn $1 million or more over their lifetime when compared to those with just high school degrees. Those with Associate Degrees also earn $360,000 more over their lifetime than high school degrees. Furthermore, the majority of people who borrow money to attend institutions of higher learning are able to pay back student loans over the course of their lifetimes, reports the World Economic Forum. In current education discourse, much discussion centers on the rising student debt burden in the United States, causing alarm in some quarters. But alternative explanations reveal that these fears may be unfounded. Other analysis focuses on the increase in the number of people attending college, which drives up the total amount of student debt dramatically, as well as the average amount of debt it appears each student carries based on this big picture view. Another very important factor in judging student loan debt is whether the student completed the degree program. Strong correlations indicate that even if students have relatively small amounts of debt, not finishing a program will severely impact repayment of student loans. ( RELATED: Grads With Lower Levels Of Debt Are Most Likely To Default ). Some 59 percent of those with student loans “owe less than $20,000 in debt, with the undergraduate borrowers holding an average debt of $17,900 in 2015,” reports the World Economic Forum. The benefits of a college education are not only financially tangible for proponents; they are measurable in other ways. Economists note that societies with higher levels of college graduates also see “higher tax revenues, improvements in health, higher rates of volunteering and voting, and lower levels of criminal behavior,” reports the Council of Economic Advisers. Others challenge the positive assessment of groups like the Council, pointing to evidence that post-secondary education is believed to automatically secure high income, and easy hiring after graduation. Research finds that “the direct effect of having a college degree on job satisfaction tends to be negative,” and this is likely due to the fact that a degree acts to “raise workers’ expectations,” according to a University of Illinois study. With higher expectations, the worker is likely to remain unemployed longer and view a lower starting salary with disdain, unlike less educated counterparts, according to the study. Critics of student debt also dispute the view that an undergraduate major “plays a significant role in the promotion to the highest levels of corporate leadership.” Follow Robert on Twitter Send tips to [email protected] Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-08-09 04:39 dailycaller.com

58 Woman Arrested For Vandalizing Trump Sign A woman was arrested in Andover, MA for vandalizing a local resident’s Trump campaign sign, and nearly running over the homeowner early Saturday morning, according to CBS Boston. Identified by Andover police as Susan Bryant, the North Reading resident spray painted the words “Gold Star Fail!” as well as a vulgar reference to Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. With several other incidents of vandalism on the same property, Bryant was arrested and charged with four counts of defacing property, as well as one count of assault by means of a dangerous weapon. Homeowner Art Gonsalves reportedly caught Bryant in the act, causing her to make a panicked getaway in her car and for Gonsalves to dodge the oncoming vehicle. Otherwise unharmed, the homeowner expressed he was “absolutely terrified.” Andover Police Chief Patrick Keefe urged the importance of freedom of speech during a presidential election season. “Opinions as to who the next President should and may differ. The ability to express those opinions openly and freely is the cornerstone of democracy in our country.” The vandal will be arraigned in the Lawrence District Court on Tuesday.

2016-08-09 04:39 dailycaller.com

59 Krauthammer On Hillary: 'She Lies About Her Lying' Charles Krauthammer blasted Hillary Clinton on Monday arguing that there are “so many lies now” about her emails, “she lies about her lying.” Appearing on Fox News’s “Special Report,” Krauthammer weighed in on Clinton’s “short-circuiting” and raising taxes on the middle class comments, saying, “Candidates often do that. I’ve been on here once or twice where you had to correct me where I refer to the president as ‘Osama’, which is not exactly right. So look, this happens all the time.” (RELATED: Hillary Promises ‘We Are Going To Raise Taxes On The Middle Class’ [VIDEO]) “It’s a bit of a cheap shot, but what the hell. There’s a lot of cheap shots going on in this election,” Krauthammer said. “What she meant by ‘short- circuited’ is that she was answering a question that was slightly different and it’s not that she had a short circuit up in her neurons. So look, this is just tit for tat.” (RELATED: Trump: Hillary ‘Short-Circuited’ And ‘Accidentally Told The Truth’ [VIDEO]) “I thought that what was interesting was number one, [Clinton] can’t escape her lies on emails,” Krauthammer continued. “There are so many lies now, that she lies about her lying. And when you have to say ‘My testimony to the FBI which the FBI director says was truthful,’ when somebody has to cite someone else as an authority on the truthfulness of their speech, they’re in trouble.” (RELATED: Hillary Clinton: I ‘Short-Circuited’ With My Email Answers [VIDEO]) Earlier on Monday, Judge Andrew Napolitano said, “It is a danger when she hides the truth and she gets caught and she continues to lie, lying about lying, and lying on top of lies.” (RELATED: Napolitano: If Hillary Told The Truth About Her Emails, She’d Be Removed From The Ticket) Last week, CNN’s Jake Tapper made a detailed video about Clinton’s lies. (VIDEO: CNN’s Tapper Calls Out Clinton For Email Lies: You’re Not Entitled ‘To Your Own Facts’) Follow Steve on Twitter and Facebook

2016-08-09 04:39 Media Reporter dailycaller.com

60 Benghazi Victims' Parents Sue Hillary Clinton The parents of two of the Americans killed by Islamic terrorists during the Sept. 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks are suing Hillary Clinton for defamation, negligence and wrongful death. Charles Woods, the father of Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods, and Patricia Smith, the mother of State Department information programs officer Sean Smith, filed the lawsuit in federal court in Washington D. C. on Monday. They are being represented by Larry Klayman, a well-known conservative activist who routinely sues federal government agencies and politicians. Woods and Smith, both of whom have endorsed Donald Trump for president, have publicly claimed that at their sons’ memorial service at Joint Andrews Air Force Base on Sept. 14, 2012, Clinton blamed the maker of a YouTube video for the attacks. Clinton has denied ever making those statements. “During the private meeting, Defendant Clinton lied to Plaintiffs and told Plaintiffs that the Benghazi Attack was the result of the anti-Muslim YouTube video that had been posted online and that the creator of the video would be arrested,” the suit reads. It also notes something that Woods has said in various interviews — that he took notes of that conversation with Clinton shortly after it took place. He wrote in his diary that “I gave Hillary a hug and shook her hand, and she said we are going to have the film maker arrested who was responsible for the death of my son.” Clinton has publicly denied that those conversations took place. The filing points to several interviews in which Clinton disputed Woods and Smith. In a Dec. 6, 2015 with George Stephanopoulos, Clinton was asked if she told the Benghazi victims’ families that the attacks were sparked by the film. “No. You know, look I understand the continuing grief at the loss that parents experienced with the loss of these four brave Americans,” she said. Clinton also denied that she was lying about that exchange during a Dec. 30, 2015 interview with the Conway (N. H) Daily Sun editorial board. “Somebody is lying. Who is it?” Clinton was asked. “Not me, that’s all I can tell you,” she responded. The lawsuit asserts that Clinton’s denials constitute defamation. “These lies were perpetrated despite the fact that she knew immediately that this video was actually not the cause of the attack,” the complaint reads, pointing to emails which show that Clinton acknowledged in private conversations in the hours and days after the the attacks that the YouTube video was not the catalyst for the onslaught. The complaint also accuses Clinton of waged a “defamatory smear campaign” against Smith and Woods “in an attempt to save her reputation” and win the general election in November. Clinton has attempted to “paint Plaintiffs as liars in the public eye in order to discredit Plaintiffs, who have been vocal about Defendant Clinton’s pattern and practice of dishonesty regarding what caused the Benghazi attack, its aftermath, and the death of their sons,” read the court papers. The complaint also accuses Clinton of putting the Benghazi victims at risk by using her private email system: Islamic terrorists obtained the information sent and received by Defendant Clinton about the location of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and thus the U. S. Department of State and the covert CIA and other government operations in Benghazi and used it to plan, orchestrate, and carry out the horrific and devastating attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012 (“Benghazi Attack”), resulting in the death of four Americans, including Sean Smith and Tyrone Woods. While Clinton has been heavily criticized for using a private email system as secretary of state — FBI director James Comey called the decision “extremely careless” — few have alleged that her emails were intercepted by the Benghazi terrorists. Woods and Smith, who are seeking monetary damages and a jury trial, are also suing Clinton for negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress. [ h/t Mediaite ] Lawsuit against Hillary Clinton Follow Chuck on Twitter

2016-08-09 04:39 dailycaller.com

61 Chevron Avoids $9.5 Billion Pollution Case A U. S. federal appeals court blocked a $9.5 billion Ecuadorian pollution judgment Monday against oil producer Chevron Corp. because it was obtained through fraud and bribery. The 2nd U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upheld a lower court ruling against Steven Donziger, an attorney defending 30,000 Ecuadorians alleging harm from pollution they sourced to the company. The lawsuit, which has been raging for 23 years, began in New York and eventually shifted to Ecuador in 2003. The case alleged Chevron had for decades pumped pollution into Northern Ecuador’s rainforest. U. S. Circuit Judge Amalya Kearse wrote in a 127-page court opinion that Donziger had failed to convince the New York court that he and his clients did not violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Donziger and his Ecuadorian legal team, according to a lower U. S. court ruling in 2014, fabricated evidence in an effort to paint Chevron in a guilty light, coerced an Ecuadorian judge, and ghostwrote most of the Ecuadorian trial ruling against Chevron. Kearse, quoting the lower court, said the “ends do not justify the means.” She added: “And the defendants’ ‘this-is-the-way-it-is-done-in-Ecuador’ excuses—actually a remarkable insult to the people of Ecuador—do not help them.” Kearse also said that the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision is in line with decisions in the South American nation arguing that U. S. courts should determine corruption charges. “This decision, which is consistent with the findings of numerous judicial officers in the U. S. and South America, leaves no doubt that the Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron is the illegitimate and unenforceable product of misconduct,” R. Hewitt Pate, Chevron’s general counsel, said in an email. Deepak Gupta, the attorney for Donziger, railed against the court’s final ruling, claiming the decision was a miscarriage of justice and an entirely “unprecedented in American law.” “Never before has a U. S. court allowed someone who lost a case in another country to come to the U. S. to attack a foreign court’s damages award,” Gupta said in an email. “The decision hands well-heeled corporations a template for avoiding legal accountability anywhere in the world.” Corporate watchdog group Public Eye foisted upon Chevron the “Lifetime Award” in 2015 for being the most irresponsible company in the group’s ten-year history. “At the gates of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Berne Declaration and Greenpeace Switzerland have bestowed upon Chevron the ‘Lifetime Award’ for being the most irresponsible corporation in the ten-year era of the Public Eye Awards,” Public Eye announced in a press release at the time. “Chevron’s refusal to comply with the 2013 verdict which ordered the company to pay U. S. $9.5 billion in damages and clean up costs,” Paul Paz, a spokesman with the nominating group Amazon Watch, said at the ceremony. Amazon Watch has a direct connection to Donziger, as its executive director, Atossa Soltani, admitted to hiring a liege of activists to intimidate judges in Northern Ecuador. Follow Chris on Facebook and Twitter Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-08-09 04:39 dailycaller.com

62 Public College Defends Offering Blacks-Only Classes A community college in Illinois is trying to defend itself after it decided to offer special classes only available to black people. “College: Changes, Challenges, Choice” is a one-credit introductory course at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, and is intended to help new students “assess your purpose for college, assess your study strategies, set college and career goals, examine your values and decision- making skills, and develop an appreciation for diversity.” But while the class may want students to appreciate diversity, the school doesn’t practice what it preaches. Two sections of the class are specifically set aside exclusively for black students, who make up about 10 percent of Moraine Valley’s 34,000 students. The special classes were first reported on by The Chicago Tribune after it was notified by the parents of several students. Moraine Valley says it’s simply trying to improve the odds of success for black students, who are typically less likely to graduate from the school. The school has defended its action by pointing out that it has been creating classes targeted to certain demographic groups for some time. Previous classes have been open exclusively to veterans, older students and Hispanics. Whatever its justifications, though, it’s not clear that Moraine’s policy is even legal. The federal Title VI law prohibits racial discrimination in all programs that receive federal funds, and it’s hard to imagine a genuine case of racial segregation not violating the law. Margarent Lehner, the school’s vice president for institutional advancement, told Inside Higher Ed that the classes should be fine because separate but equal versions of the class are available for members of other races. “Because a few people object to it should not be a deciding factor in limiting these opportunities for at-risk students,” she said. “We certainly are not hampering other students also being successful. We have the same courses available to them as well.” Moraine Valley’s predicament is similar to a recent one at Michigan State University, where a longstanding women-only study lounge was shut down shortly after a college professor discovered it and argued that it was a violation of Title IX’s ban on sex discrimination. (RELATED: MSU Hit With Civil Rights Complaint Over Girls-Only Study Lounge) Send tips to [email protected] . Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-08-09 04:39 dailycaller.com

63 Gay Couple Sues Over Fertility Treatment Coverage A gay couple from New Jersey filed a lawsuit claiming a health insurance mandate on infertility violated their constitutional rights. Erin and Marianne Krupa, a lesbian couple struggling to get pregnant due to infertility, are suing the commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, reports The New York Times. The couple’s lawsuit alleges the healthcare mandate is discriminating against their sexual orientation. Erin, the one who is going to carry the child, was determined to be infertile after a doctor diagnosed her with benign cysts on her uterus and Stage 3 endometriosis. The couple’s healthcare provider, Horizon Blue Cross Shield, said that it would not provide coverage for Erin’s fertility treatments. They referred to a state insurance mandate that said that most women under 35 have to prove they are infertile by having unprotected sex for two years. The couple, along with two other women, are suing the commissioner because they say the mandate is discriminating against them. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim that because the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that the 14th Amendment guaranteed same-sex couples the right to marry, it also protects their right to reproduce. “These women are already going through what can be a difficult experience, and they have the added stress of affording it financially and the added insult of being treated like a second class citizen,” Grace Cretcher, the lawyer for the women, said. Cretcher also claimed that the language of the mandate violates gay women’s constitutional rights. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs ask for damages associated with having to pay for their own fertility treatments. “There is a growing consciousness of how unfair these exclusions [are], and we expect more and more litigation seeking to invalidate them,” said Shannon Minter, the legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Follow Amber on Twitter Send tips to [email protected] . Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-08-09 04:39 dailycaller.com

64 The VA Has 167 Full-Time Interior Designers An army of 167 interior designers work at the Department of Veterans Affairs, picking window blind colors and buying millions of dollars of art each year, an investigation from The Daily Caller News Foundation has found. The designers’ salaries are not included in recent findings that the VA has spent $16 million on art during the Obama administration. At least a dozen individual pieces of art cost a quarter million dollars or more each. Nearly $700,000 was spent on two sculptures at a hospital for blind veterans, the Palo Alto Polytrauma and Blind Rehabilitation Center. At $100,000 in combined salaries and benefits — many actually make more — the cost of employing those 167 designers would add up to $17 million a year, or $136 million during the eight years of the Obama administration, making the salaries of the people in charge of picking out art dwarf even those art costs. The list of VA interior designers from 2011 — created by a company seeking to sell to the VA, and spotted online by the Daily Caller News Foundation — shows that virtually every hospital has an interior designer, with some having many. It’s unclear what could possibly keep them busy full- time, considering the bulk of the work would come during major renovations or construction of a new wing. The 167 designers are spread among the VA’s 75 hospitals and regional offices. The Cleveland hospital has five on staff. The Pittsburgh and Dallas hospitals have three each. The scandal-plagued San Juan, Puerto Rico hospital — which has multiple felons in high-level positions — also has three. In San Juan, Aurelio Martinez is the designer in charge of purchasing art for the hospital, which has spent $600,000 on art since 2009, including $56,000 to the small local gallery Omart Gallery Inc. The picture below, obtained by theDCNF, shows that on at least one occasion, Martinez selected art created by … himself. The artwork of a VA interior designer Axel Roman, spokesman for the hospital, told TheDCNF that “the art attributed to Mr. Martinez was provided by him at no cost to the VA, as a way to honor our veterans by contributing to the healing environment.” He said the hospital has added “more than 600,000 square feet… The amount spent in artwork for these projects represents less than one half of one percent of the total cost of the constructions. “The scope of an interior designer in the VA system goes beyond selecting artwork. Among other functions, they design space for services to veterans, select and coordinate the installation of furniture and design areas where high- technology medical equipment will be installed. Artwork is one of the many facets that create a healing environment for our nation’s veterans.” Non-profit government spending watchdog OpenTheBooks.com first reported the story about the VA’s acquisition of art at prices associated with the most elite artists in the world. “The VA needs more doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals and fewer public relations officers, lawyers and interior decorators and designers,” OpenTheBooks.com chief Adam Andrzejewski told TheDCNF. He said there is no reason to spend hundreds of thousands of tax dollar on a single piece of art when veterans create artwork the VA could have for free, sometimes as part of department’s therapeutic programs. “Veterans have their own art museum. Why is the VA spending millions on lavish art when veterans are already producing great art? Veterans themselves should benefit from art displays, not vendors who sell the VA pricey art,” Andrzejewski said. The art spending has irked Congress and veterans because the VA has claimed it will be forced to let veterans go neglected unless Congress increases its budget. Patients have died waiting for care, and the department reneged on its obligation to pay for veterans’ doctors bills from private doctors. The VA’s 2016 budget is $168.8 billion, a 7.5 percent increase over its 2015 total, according to the department. President Barack Obama’s proposed 2017 federal budget includes $182.3 billion for VA. And VA has refused to prioritize patient care over make-work and employee benefits. The Tomah, Wisc., hospital infamously became known as “Candy Land” because doctors prescribed abnormally high doses of sedatives rather than treating patients’ underlying conditions. After repeatedly being on the front pages and before congressional committees, Tomah officials revealed their “100 day plan” for a dramatic turnaround. The plan barely addressed veterans, and called for building an “employee wellness center” and hiring more minorities. Also part of the plan was hiring an interior designer at $77,000 a year, plus benefits. The recruitment ad said the person hired would be in charge of “accoutrements” like “window treatments” and said the facility preferred either a current federal employee or someone with a “Ph. D. or equivalent doctoral degree” in interior design. Follow Luke on Twitter. Send tips to [email protected]. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-08-09 04:39 Investigative Reporter dailycaller.com

65 Saudi Judo Athlete Forfeits Match Against Israeli A Saudi judo Olympic athlete withdrew from her first match against an Israeli competitor in Rio De Janeiro Sunday, but both countries give different accounts as to why the forfeit happened. Israeli reports say that Joud Fahmy wanted to leave the competition because she would be able to go up against meet 25-year-old five-time Israeli champion Gili Cohen in the next round if she beat out Christianne Legentil from Mauritius. However, the Saudi Olympic Delegation tweeted that Fahmy’s forfeit from the Olympic games was a result of injuring herself during training, and politics had nothing to do with it. Saudi Arabia 2016 Rio Olympic Tweet The Saudi delegation met with Israeli officials in July signaling that relations between the two nations have softened, despite Saudi Arabia refusing to recognize Israel. Ultimately, Legentil moved on from the first round of 32 competitors by Fahmy’s default, which advanced her into the round of 16 competitors where she beat Cohen. Lebanese Olympic athletes refused to board a bus of Israeli athletes last week until a separate bus was available for Israel’s competitors to travel on. According to The Times of Israel a Lebanaese official claimed the spat was misconstrued by media Officials at the Olympics. Saleem a-Haj Nacoula, the head of the Lebanese delegation, however, told Lebanese media Saturday the Israelis were “looking for trouble” when they insisted on boarding the same bus as the Lebanese athletes. Follow Kerry on Twitter

2016-08-09 04:39 dailycaller.com

66 DC Travel Group Says No To NRA Advertising Depicting Guns A Washington D. C.-based travel guide will no longer allow the National Rifle Association (NRA) to run ads that depict guns or ammunition in their guides. Destination D. C. has told the NRA that they will no longer runs ads in their guide that show either guns or ammunition in response to the recent Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, even though NRA has been running those types of ads since 2012, according to a recent Washing Free Beacon article . “We are constantly evaluating how best to promote Washington, D. C., for visitors and have decided not to include images that can be considered controversial, which includes the confederate flag and weapons,” Destination D. C. told The Washington Free Beacon. “We certainly recognize that the museum is a place to learn about American history and we are willing to promote the museum without weapons imagery in our publications.” “While we respect the company’s right to decide what ads they do and do not wish to run in their publication, we feel this decision is an overreaction,” media relations manager for the NRA, Jason Brown, told The Daily Caller News Foundation in regards to Destination D. C.’s Orlando narrative. The recent ads denied by Destination D. C. did not depict AR-15’s or other “assault” weapons used in recent shootings, rather they depicted Civil War- era muskets, one from The Mayflower and another used by famed French military General Napoleon Bonaparte. In response to the notion that the NRA is promoting guns, Brown told TheDCNF the NRA “does not promote weapons to anyone, the museum serves as a foremost institution of education and history.” “In an effort not to offend potential readers, Destination DC officials have disenfranchised one of the most incredible historic resources and attractions in the country,” Brown continued. “Allowing fear to come between American heritage, history and education.” Destination D. C. did not respond to TheDCNF’s requests for comment. Follow Craig Boudreau on Twitter Send tips to craig@ dailycallernewsfoundation.org . Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected]. 2016-08-09 04:39 dailycaller.com

67 Alessandra Ambrosio And Adriana Lima Play 'Would You Rather' Brazilian supermodels Alessandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima got involved with the games at the Olympics down in Rio de Janeiro. The two Victoria’s Secret models played “would you rather” with E! News at the Summer Games Friday. Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio walk the runway at the Victoria’s Secret fashion show at Earls Court on December 2, 2014 in London, England. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images) Alessandra and Adriana fielded playful questions about what kinds of bikinis they prefer, their favorite Brazilian beaches and were forced to choose between Neymar or Cristiano Ronaldo. They’re Brazilian, sorry Cristiano. Adriana faced an especially difficult question when she was asked “Alessandra or Gisele?” A question she dodged with grace and appreciation for her fellow Brazilian models. The Victoria’s Secret duo seem to be having a good time in their home country. (RELATED: Gisele Bundchen Deserves A Gold Medal For This) . Alessandra Ambrósio and Adriana Lima pose for a photo with samba dancers on the NBC Today show in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

2016-08-09 04:39 dailycaller.com

68 Jury More Likely To Rule Guilty If Evidence In Slow Motion Video evidence shown in slow motion compared to normal speed is more likely to elicit a guilty verdict from jurors, according to a new report. The bias occurs even when knowing the actual amount of time elapsed “because slow motion video caused participants to feel like the actor had more time to act” and plan their actions, according to a study conducted by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. A lot of crimes and the potential sentencing are dependent on criminal intent (or ‘ Mens Rea ‘). Jurors are all over the country are always instructed to not let “bias, sympathy, prejudice, or public opinion influence [their] decision,” according to the Judicial Conference of California. But often technical components can play a difference. Videos, for example, are frequently used to help determine if the person in question deliberately committed the offense or if it was an accident. “To determine the appropriate punishment for a harmful action, people must often make inferences about the transgressor’s intent,” the report’s abstract reads. The experiments included “real surveillance footage from a murder” as well as “replays of violent contact in professional football.” Participants were shown a video of NFL linebacker James Harrison tackling an opposing player in such a way that a helmet-to-helmet collision ensued. While the act of tackling is obviously intentional, if Harrison meant to have his own helmet hit the other player’s was intentional is not obvious. The exact live broadcast footage of the plays were used, but all other artificial graphic or sound effects were removed. Participants of the study also watched surveillance footage of a a fairly explicit incident outside of a convenience store, in which a victim was killed. Whether viewers considered it a manslaughter or a murder depended on if they were shown the normal speed, or the slowed down version. The experiments show that providing viewers with both the regular speed and slow motion replay decreases the chances of bias, but does not rid of it. “The present investigation cannot determine whether slow motion replay makes viewers more or less accurate in premeditation in these situations,” the authors explain. “But it does demonstrate that slow motion can systematically increase perceptions of premeditation itself.” Conventional wisdom would say that digital records would equate to more fair court proceedings and justice in general. “Slow motion can be a better version of reality, sometimes it’s very helpful for seeing how actions unfolded,” Eugene Caruso, the lead author of the study told BBC. But the rate of frames per second can subconsciously alter people’s perceptions of potential criminality. “In legal proceedings, these judgements of intent can mean the difference between life and death,” the authors conclude. “Thus, any benefits of video replay should be weighed against its potentially biasing effects.” In other words, the report’s findings reveal that video evidence should be taken with with a grain of salt if the speed is changed. Follow Eric on Twitter Send tips to [email protected] . Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

2016-08-09 04:39 dailycaller.com

69 George Bush Endorses Trump! A wondrous thing happened today (someone please point Aaron Goldstein to his fainting couch): George P. Bush, the son of Jeb Bush, endorsed Donald J. Trump. “It’s time to put it aside,” says George P. Bush. “You know on Team Bush it’s a bitter pill to swallow, but you get back up and help the man who won.” What to make of this? Well, George P. Bush is a Texan. He knows the ways the political winds are blowing and he wants to have a future here. So, the Republican party in Texas does not want to be divided. Interestingly, with Ted Cruz’ seeming “dis” of the Donald, Bush’s Trump endorsement would be strengthening the Bush family in opposition to the grassroots who are even more conservative. These are strange times, but the realignment you’re seeing makes sense, in a way. I’ve thought all along that Trump represented the extreme establishment. Guys like Mitch McConnell and John Boehner jumped on board. Why? Because they view Trump as one of their own. Notice John Cornyn standing next to George P.? Well, this is not the Cruz coalition who is conservative-libertarian. This is the Chamber of Commerce Republican types. Even in Texas, there’s different breeds of conservative. What I wonder is this: Will George P. and the other more open-borders GOP-ers in Texas start to change their mind? There are some big Texas donors who worry about losing cheap labor. Perhaps the GOP in Texas is starting to see that the open-borders stance is going to lose them elections and they’re shoring up their flank. P. S. This is all buying the assumption that Trump would actually put up a wall–something I don’t actually believe he’ll do.

2016-08-09 04:39 Melissa Clouthier spectator.org

70 Uproar after Harrisburg police kill man, as claim he held knife to mother’s throat disputed — RT America Earl Pinckney, 20, was allegedly holding a knife to his mother’s throat when Harrisburg, Pennsylvania police were forced to Taser, then shoot him. However, his mother, Kim Thomas, vehemently denies that this was the case. " No you didn't Tase my son. You shot him right in the heart, " Thomas told Penn Live. " They need to know. " She also claims the district attorney’s version of events is fiction. Thomas said the incident began with an argument. " We had a little fight, argument like families have arguments, " she said. The argument turned into a scuffle between Pinckney and other relatives, but it was quickly de-escalated. " I stopped it ,” she told Penn Live. “ I told everybody to get out of the house. I hold my son. I was talking to my son. I know how to control my son. He was calming down. Everything was getting fine. " Moments later, a light shone into the room, and her son was shot. When she learned that police were claiming her son had a knife, she denied it. " No, no ,” she said, showing that there were no marks on her neck indicating a knife being held to her. " He never had a knife.” Pinckney suffered from bipolar disorder, and Thomas claims that the police were aware of that. However, his older brother, Marques Thomas, said police shot his brother through a window on the second floor at the back of the house. He told Penn Live that the house was “ swarmed ” by police; they even used their back porch overhang to climb to the second floor. Thomas’ version of events is in direct contrast with the Dauphin County District Attorney's statement. The officer involved in the shooting is on leave for the duration of the investigation. Harrisburg Police Chief Tom Carter held a press conference Monday, where he retold the police statement that Pinckney had a knife to his mother’s throat and was told to “ get back, ” before they opened fire. He also claimed that there were four officers in the room when the shot was fired, despite Pinckney’s brother’s statement. The family released a statement in response to the District Attorney and Police Chief, saying: “ While we understand that the criminal investigation into the shooting is in its preliminary stages, and there are still many more facts to be gathered, we want to be clear that we disagree with the preliminary statements made during the press conference as they directly contradict the eyewitness account of a family member who was at the scene prior to, during, and following the shooting. ” Meanwhile, protests have already begun in Harrisburg, where families have hit the streets to march.

2016-08-09 04:38 www.rt.com

71 The War Crimes of Robert Mugabe: U. N. Must Act If World War II history has taught us anything, it is that the crimes of repressive and fascist governments will be catalogued and adjudicated after those governments have been removed, whether those governments like it or not , and Zimbabwe is no exception. The rot in Zimbabwe did not happen over night but is the culmination of decades of repressive and systemic misrule. The United Nations Security council must invoke Article 39 powers to evaluate the current situation in todays Zimbabwe. Article 39 of the UN Charter reads in pertinent part: The Security Council shall determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security. Every system can be compared to Nazi Germany, but it is in the manner of authoritarian rule coupled with the use of State machinery that suggests a true comparison. Take Zimbabwe for example, last week the government threatened to use the army to fight internet opinions of the government classifying them as "Cyber warfare. " Be the first to know - Join our Facebook page. It is a blatant act of racism for Nations to suggest that a black government's assault on its own black people does not rise to the infraction of current International law as stated by the Geneva Convention and the United Nations Charter. Zimbabwe is still a member of the United Nations, and has ratified Protocols I, II and III of the Geneva Convention that demand it follows International laws and principles in times of war and unrest. Unless Zimbabwe has abrogated its international treaties, criticism of its government is legal under the private rights of free speech, as long as that speech does not incite violence or overthrowing the government. Zimbabweans, who have legal standing, should present their case to the United Nations Security council, under clause 39. Ask the Security Counsel to address these violations of International law, i.e. arrests, torture, beatings, disappearances and assassinations; to quote Nelson Mandela describing the Apartheid system in 1961, " the savage attack on an unarmed and defenceless people. " The United Nations library is a hive of resolutions condemning Apartheid in South Africa; Ian Smith in Rhodesia, and yet there is not a single resolution that condemns Mugabe and Zanu PF's authoritarian and destructive rule. Has international law and the community of Nations failed Zimbabwe? I am now not convinced that the fight for Apartheid was a principled fight, but garnered international attention because of concern for the white minority who reside in South Africa. If the international community, and the United Nations as its torch bearer, condemned South Africa on principle, what has happened to those principles; why don't they apply to Zimbabwe under Mugabe? War crimes have occurred in Zimbabwe and I challenge anyone who disputes this to interview Zimbabweans in South Africa, the two million who have run away from Mugabe in fear of death. Interview them, and don't take my word for it. A British documentary by Panorama documenting massacres and torture in 80s Zimbabwe does exist. As well as a detailed report by the Catholic Commission in 1997. Mugabe's war crimes are not limited to Gukura- Hundi , Muramba-Tswina , Chiadza affair, the rape of Judith Garfield Todd , are just a few examples, but are an ongoing concern to all who believe in the equality of human rights and the application of international law regardless of the color of the victim's skin or tribe. When Robert Mugabe was imprisoned by the Rhodesian (white) government in then Rhodesia, it was known where he was being held. When Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in South Africa - it was in Robben Island. But the government of Zimbabwe does not see the need to tell the world where is Itai Dzamara being held. Mind you a black government! The assassination of General Rex Ndongo, and the disappearance of Itai Dzamara, are some of the more famous recent human rights cases, but many others are on record. As the say in the local Shona language arikupi vhanaDzamara sawira? Where is Itai Dzamara my friend? There should be no racism in Human rights and Laws of War situations : when the victims are black they should receive as much international attention as when they are white. Racism is a serious concern here, because when the land grabs occurred in Zimbabwe, because the victims were white, there was international attention and condemnation - now ordinary Zimbabweans are arrested and beaten; they disappear and no one raises a finger because they are black. The issue is simple, if Zimbabweans are asking for a change of government so strong that the government can no longer govern then that government cannot ignore the people! To address the wishes of its citizens (not subjects) the government would have to enter into a transitional arrangement or early election arrangement in the interests of peace and security. Zimbabwe, like Germany during world war II is now a security State: with a secret police, death squads, a presidential guard and an army that is getting ready to enforce "Cyber Laws. " Whatever this mean? Where in the world does an army enforce "Cyber laws" outside of judicial orders, where in the world is freedom of speech Cyber warfare? - In an authoritarian government, at war with its citizens. In the past, we have seen fascist States burn books, bomb newspaper offices, exile opposition; now we enter the age of laptop and iPhone confiscation by the army under the guise of Cyber Warfare. To those Zimbabweans in the security apparatus in Zimbabwe. My message is clear, that you cannot uphold a system this repressive to your own people and cry "superior orders," when the day of reconning comes - the day when an International court addresses the war crimes of Mugabe. You must stand with God, stand with the truth, stand with justice and stand with your own mothers and fathers. Who is more important your own mother or Mugabe? It is this, and the many disappearances, and arrest of ordinary Zimbabweans that point to a Nazi type of government. It is no longer a joke that Mugabe is another Hitler: he is Africa's Hitler, second only to the late Emperor Bokassa. Ken Tecumseh Sibanda is a South African (Transkei) born American Constitutional attorney, known affectionately as “Tecumseh,” for his writings and articles. He has written for numerous publications, in the US and South Africa, and including for “The Jerusalem Post,” in Israel. He is the author of the book: International Law: Peace Accords, Tovakare Press (2015). He has received numerous awards and citations including in 2000 at International House, for “extending International cooperation.” Think other should know about that? Please share | |

2016-08-09 04:46 KEN SIBANDA www.jpost.com

72 A flight for the ages SHELBY, MICH. - Age is inevitable, but aging is not. Statistics prove it. Over the past 100 years, human lifespan has nearly doubled, from 46 to 77 years. By the year 2030, one in five of the world population will be over 65 years old. The takeaway from all these facts and figures? If you’re in the so-called “golden years,” you may have more life left than you think. So don’t just sit there… go do something you love! Can't see the video? Click here. An elderly man from Shelby, Mich., recently did just that, and what he did, very few his age have ever done. It unfolded July 6, 2016 at Oceana County Airport, which is tucked in the middle of several corn fields near Shelby. This airport may be small, and certainly doesn’t command much air traffic, but, on this particular evening, it hosted something very big for somebody who was very old. Percy Skinner is a native of Shelby, and decided he wanted to celebrate a milestone birthday in a unique way. “I turned 100 years old on June 17,” said Skinner. “Now I’m looking forward to 200.” Percy arrived at the airport along with several family and friends. They all were eagerly anticipating watching the man celebrate his milestone birthday with a milestone moment. “When I was 8 or 9 years old, I remember when I was a kid, working out in the field, I would see an airplane go over, and I would say, ‘if I ever get the chance, I’m going to be up there,’” said Skinner. “It finally happened on August 19, 1943.” That was the first time he piloted an airplane. Since then, Skinner has flown all makes and models of aircraft, which led him to eventually acquiring his pilot’s license. But Skinner didn’t show up at the airport on this day to reminisce about the past. Instead, this day was entirely designed to focus on the present and his ability to recall and reconfirm that this centenarian has still got what it takes to pilot a plane. “I intend to fly that plane just like I used to,” said Skinner, referring to the one- engine Cessna sitting idly on the airport tarmac behind him. “I intend to do everything.” “Everything” means start the plane, taxi down the runway, take off and land. When asked if he could remember, in order, all the things one needs to do to get ready to pilot an airplane, Skinner’s 100-year old brain rattled off every detailed step in succession. “First, you fasten your seat belt, then turn the gas on,” he said with confidence. “Set the brakes, and then turn all the radio switches off so when you start the plane, it doesn’t put a load on them. “Put your carburetor heat on cold, and your mixture on rich. “Then, you prime it if it needs priming. “Turn the master switch on, and start it, and once it’s started, check the oil pressure.” While Skinner planned to fly the plane entirely by himself, he did have a co- pilot alongside him in the cockpit just in case he needed help. Frank Witt, whose side job is being a flight instructor, rode along during the flight. “Percy knows all the ins and outs of flying yet,” said Witt, just prior to hopping into the passenger side of the cockpit. “I will assist him whenever he needs it.” Around 6:15 p.m., Skinner got up off the picnic table he was sitting on, slowly grabbed ahold of his walker, and gingerly walked toward the airplane. His 100-year old frame, though hunched over and moving very, very slowly, eventually made it to the pilot seat and, with assistance, he climbed in. Skinner had a few questions for his co-pilot, but once he got the answers he needed, he started the propeller and began taxiing the plane down the runway. For just the second time in 26 years, Percy Skinner was ready to re- acquaint himself with the friendly skies. “This is 5795 George taking off on runway 8,” Skinner said in his headset. He was given clearance for takeoff. That’s when Percy punched it. With a gallery of close to 25 family and friends watching and cheering on the ground, Skinner got the plane up to the proper speed, pulled back on the controls, and lifted off the ground, and away he went. The flight plan initially took them due west toward Lake Michigan. Once they got to the shoreline, Skinner banked the plane right, and began traveling north. The plane would become just a black speck, then eventually disappear from view. Skinner climbed the plane to a cruising altitude of 2,500 feet. Once he got there, he leveled the plane out then began to just fly casually and take in the incredible view. Skinner flew all the way to Ludington. His control of the plane was so perfect, Frank Witt barely did anything. Witt spent more time taking pictures with his cell phone than helping Percy make piloting decisions. Forty-five minutes later, Skinner’s plane reappeared on the west end of the airport, and began banking east in order to position itself for landing. “In all the different planes I flew, in all my years of flying, I’ve never had a problem,” said Skinner. His track record would remain flawless because he didn’t have a problem on this day, either. With his fan base fixed, Skinner began to descend, and bookended his birthday bash with a perfect landing. “The air was nice and calm up there,” said Witt. “Everything went smoothly.” Percy taxied the plane back to its tie-down spot, turned the propeller off, and took a moment to reflect on what he had just done. “As long as I can do what I need to do to fly an airplane, I have no qualms,” said Skinner after his flight. As Percy was assisted out of his pilot’s seat, the gallery of on-lookers began to gather around the airplane to congratulate him on his accomplishment. “I wish I could fly once a month instead of once a year,” he said. “I’m very fortunate to still be able to do this.” Most don’t get to 100 years old, and the few who do likely don’t fly airplanes. Percy Skinner hopes this wasn’t his final flight, but if it was, he has 100 reasons to be thankful for it. “My life is in God’s hands, and whatever He wants me to do is fine with me,” Skinner said. “If He makes it possible, I’ll do it again; if He doesn’t, so what.” If you know of a story that would make for a good segment of “Our Michigan Life,” send an email to: [email protected] . Our Michigan Life airs weeknights at 6 on WZZM 13 News.

2016-08-09 04:38 TEGNA rssfeeds.11alive.com

73 73 Togo’s president sees Syrian rebels battle Assad forces Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe watched Syrian rebels and forces of President Bashar Assad pound each other’s positions on Monday while at the Golan Heights on the first full day of an official five-day visit. “He went to the Golan Heights, where he had a presentation of the situation,” a member of Gnassingbe’s entourage said. “It was good because you had light bombing this morning between the rebels and the government forces, so it was live. He heard the boom, boom, boom.” Be the first to know - Join our Facebook page. An IDF official briefed the Togolese leader on the situation, and explained who – of al-Nusra, Hezbollah, ISIS among others – controls what. The official also stressed that UN forces no longer play a significant role in the area. Gnassingbe also toured Christian sites in the Galilee on Monday, and received briefings on Israeli advances in agriculture and renewable energy. He later went to Ziv Hospital in Safed, where he visited Syrians being treated by Israeli doctors. Gnassingbe became Togo’s president in 2005 after the death of his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who held the same office for 38 years. Israeli diplomatic officials said this week’s visit, Gnassingbe’s second, is one more example of rapidly growing ties between Israel and Africa. Gnassingbe is to meet with President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday morning and that evening with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In July Netanyahu was in Uganda to meet with leaders of seven east African states. He has since publicly said he wants a similar meeting with west African states by the end of this year. Two weeks ago the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) invited Netanyahu to a meeting to be held later this year in Nigeria. As a side note, Gnassingbe’s sister is married to the ECOWAS president, Marcel Alain de Souza, who was in Israel two weeks ago. Togo is one of the countries Jerusalem is relying on to help build stronger ties with western Africa, according to one Israeli diplomatic official. Along with other African nations, Togo is gravely concerned over extremist Islamic terror, particularly from al-Qaida affiliates in the Maghreb, who have staged attacks in nearby Mali, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire. The official said those concerns extend to maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea and its port in the capital of Lome. Togo also wants Israel security expertise for its new airport terminal in Lome, now a major transportation hub for western Africa. The Togolese president will visit Haifa Port as well as the Elbit plant on Tuesday. Togo is one of the West African states most friendly toward Israel and supported Israel on key issues in 2012-2013 while on the UN Security Council. Togo generally supports Israel, abstains or is absent for related UN votes. It abstained from the 2012 General Assembly debate over Palestinian non- member observer status, it was absent for the 2009 vote to endorse the Goldstone Commission report on Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, and absent in 2015 when a resolution passed to allow a Palestinian flag to be flown at the UN. For the last two years, Togo voted for Israel on International Atomic Energy Agency resolutions which would have forced Israel to allow inspection of nuclear facilities. While it abstained from the 2011 UNESCO vote to admit Palestine as a state, it voted against Israel on a UNESCO resolution that expunged any Jewish connection to Jerusalem. Israel established diplomatic ties with the nation of some 7.5 million people, after it declared independence in 1960. Togo cut relations in 1973 following the Yom Kippur War, as did most African states, but renewed them in 1987. Togo was one of four countries that then premier Yitzhak Shamir visited in 1987, the last visit to sub-Saharan Africa by an Israeli prime minister until Netanyahu’s visit there in July. Think other should know about that? Please share | | 2016-08-09 04:24 HERB KEINON www.jpost.com

74 Post-Brexit racism: ‘There are good Britons and bad Britons’ There's been a sharp rise in reported hate crimes since the EU referendum. But has something permanently changed in Britain? In the streets of Boston in Lincolnshire, Polish migrants told us their story. Video Journalists: Rob Brown and Richard Kenny

2016-08-09 02:41 www.bbc.co.uk

75 Police cook pasta for elderly couple heard crying inside their apartment in Rome ROME — The story of police in Rome cooking dinner for an elderly couple has gone viral on Facebook. One day last week, police responded to an apartment after neighbors reported hearing loud crying from inside the home. Police found Michele, 94, and Jole, 84, crying inside the apartment, according to the Facebook post. The couple has been together 70 years and don’t get many visitors, police said. They rely on their television for entertainment, according to the translation of the Facebook post. On this day, there was a lot of depressing news being reported which apparently upset the couple, causing them to “scream so loud in their despair that, in the end, somebody” called police. When police determined the couple was in good health and there was “no one to save,” police prepared a spaghetti dinner for the couple. “This time, for the boys, there is a more daunting task — two lonely souls who need reassuring. They understand that just a little human warmth will restore tranquility to Jole and Michele,” police wrote on Facebook.

2016-08-09 02:32 Tribune Media fox13now.com

76 Assad bombard rebels after Aleppo defeat The Syrian regime has sent thousands of reinforcements to join the battle for Aleppo after suffering one of its most significant setbacks in the five-year-long civil war. Rebel forces made a major breakthrough over the weekend in relieving the siege on the eastern side of the city, where as many as 300,000 residents were at risk of starvation. The 10,000-strong alliance of opposition fighters, led by the formerly al-Qa'ida-aligned Jabhat Fateh al- Sham, took the beleaguered Syrian army by surprise on Saturday. They managed to sever the primary government supply corridor running into the city from the south and capture a military academy in the strategic district of Ramuseh. Jabhat Fateh al-Sham posted pictures online of rows of armoured vehicles, munitions, howitzer tanks, rockets and trucks now in rebel hands. Since their defeat, Syrian and Russian warplanes have been pounding the area mercilessly. "We are in our trenches but there are insane air strikes of unprecedented ferociousness," a commander in the rebel coalition said. Some 2,000 pro-government fighters from Syria, Iraq, Iran and the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah arrived in the southern suburbs yesterday to try to retake Ramuseh. President Bashar al-Assad cannot risk a defeat in Aleppo. A loss would see him relinquish control of the entire north of the country, while a victory would strengthen his bargaining position at any future peace talks in Geneva. The rebels' hold of the area is tentative and the road out remains too dangerous for civilians to use. If consolidated, however, the rebel gains could change the conflict. Emboldened by the victory, the rebels have set their sights on recapturing all of Aleppo. Meanwhile, Iraqi forces are getting ready for a major showdown with Isil in Mosul. The Iraqi army and its elite units are gradually taking up positions around the city. The offensive is set for late September. Sources in Mosul said signs of dissent against Isil were increasing ahead of the expected assault. They all spoke on condition of not being identified for fear of retribution. Walls have been daubed with the Arabic letter M for 'muqawama', or resistance, or two parallel stripes, one red and one black, representing the Iraqi flag, said a resident, who explained: "These are acts of real bravery. If you are caught, you're dead. " The Iraqi national flag was raised twice in public squares, once in June and again in July, infuriating Isil, who tore them down the next morning, residents claimed. With a population at one time as large as two million, Mosul is the largest urban centre under Isil's control. Its fall would mark Isil's effective defeat in Iraq, according to Iraq's prime minister, Haider al-Abadi.

2016-08-09 02:30 Josie Ensor www.independent.ie

77 Trump promises 'biggest US tax revolution since Reagan' Donald Trump promised to jumpstart the US economy with the "biggest tax revolution since Ronald Reagan" in the 1980s, saying he would "make America grow again". Setting out an "America first" economic vision during a speech in Detroit last night, the billionaire promised a slew of tax cuts for companies and working families, a "massive" reduction in red tape, and a fundamental overhaul of international trade deals. In a direct appeal to female voters, and an attempt to outflank his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, Mr Trump also pledged to allow families to deduct the entire average cost of childcare from their taxes, saying it would not be an "economic disadvantage to have children". However, Mr Trump was interrupted by protesters, mostly women, around a dozen separate times during his speech. The Republican presidential nominee said that he would make the US a "magnet for investment" by cutting corporation tax from 35pc to 15pc - in a move that could have implications for US multinational investment in Ireland - and "remove bureaucrats who only know how to kill jobs". Under his plan, income taxes would be simplified. Mr Trump's previously stated highest rate had been 25pc, but he said "the rich will have to pay their fair share" and that many workers would have a zero rate. The Republican presidential nominee also said he would abolish death taxes and bolster domestic energy production, which could bring in an extra $6 trillion (€5.4 trillion) in revenue over four decades. US companies with operations abroad would be encouraged to bring back profits at a reduced tax rate, which would help "unleash the economy". Mr Trump would also revive the Keystone pipeline project from Canada to the US, which the Obama administration rejected last year. His speech was delivered at the Detroit Economic Club in a city that became the symbol for America's manufacturing decline. It came after latest figures showed that the US economy grew only 1.2pc in the second quarter of 2016, far less than had been anticipated. Mr Trump was seeking to reset his campaign after a disastrous week when he fell up to 15 points behind Mrs Clinton in polls. He accused Mrs Clinton of "stale, big-government policy prescriptions that have choked economic growth in America and led to over 40 years of wage stagnation". Mrs Clinton will speak about the economy, also in Detroit, on Thursday. Her campaign said 'Trumponomics' would result in nearly 3.5 million fewer jobs and push the economy into a "prolonged recession". Mr Trump's plan was an updated version of one he put forward late last year. At the time, independent experts claimed his proposed tax cuts would increase the national debt by as much as $10 trillion over the next decade.

2016-08-09 02:30 Nick Allen www.independent.ie

78 Emperor of Japan hints at his wish to abdicate The Japanese Emperor Akihito (82), in a rare video address, has admitted to worries that age may make it difficult for him to fully carry out his duties. The remarks are regarded as the clearest indication yet that he intends to abdicate. It was reported last month that Akihito, who has had heart surgery and been treated for prostate cancer, wanted to step down in a few years. An abdication would be unprecedented in modern Japan. The Japanese used to consider their emperors to be divine. Now, the emperor is defined in the constitution as a symbol of the state and the unity of the people but has no political power. Akihito stopped short of saying outright that he wanted to abdicate, which could be interpreted as interfering in politics. Regent Nevertheless, he did say: "When I consider that my fitness level is gradually declining, I am worried that it may become difficult for me to carry out my duties as the symbol of the state with my whole being, as I have done until now. " Akihito took the throne after the death in 1989 of his father, Hirohito, in whose name Japan fought World War II. He has sought to soothe the wounds of the war in Asia during trips overseas and tried to bring the monarchy closer to the people. Opinion polls show that the vast majority of ordinary Japanese sympathise with the emperor's desire to retire, but this would need changes to the law. Akihito has been cutting back on official duties, with his heir, 56-year-old Crown Prince Naruhito, taking his place. However, there are limits to how far that could go, he said yesterday. The emperor also seemed to cast doubt on whether it was appropriate to use an existing system that would allow Naruhito to take over as regent if his father was to be incapacitated. "Even in such cases (of a regency), it does not change the fact that the emperor continues to be emperor until the end of his life, even though he is unable to fully carry out his duties as the emperor," Akihito said. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters that in view of the emperor's age and the burden of his official duties, it was necessary to consider what steps could be taken. The idea of abdication has sparked opposition from Abe's conservative base, which worries that debate of the imperial family's future could widen to the topic of letting women inherit and pass on the throne, which is anathema to traditionalists. Naruhito's only child is a daughter. Only males can inherit the Chrysanthemum Throne, which after Naruhito would pass to his brother, Prince Akishino and then to nine-year-old nephew Hisahito.

2016-08-09 02:30 Karla DeWintours www.independent.ie

79 Suicide bomber kills 70 in attack on Pakistan hospital A suicide bomber killed at least 70 people and wounded dozens in an attack that struck a gathering of Pakistani lawyers on the grounds of a government-run hospital in the south-western city of Quetta yesterday, police and doctors said. Witnesses described horrifying scenes of bodies being scattered about and the wounded screaming out and crying for help. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast. Nearly 100 lawyers had come to the hospital in the heart of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, after the body of their colleague, prominent attorney Bilal Kasi, was brought there. Mr Kasi, the chief of the province's bar association, was shot and killed by gunmen earlier yesterday as he was on his way to his office. The lawyers gathered at the Quetta Civil Hospital to express their grief as is common with public figures. Mr Kasi was among the most outspoken lawyers in the province and was popular for campaigning for improvements in the lawyers' community. "It was a suicide attack," said Zahoor Ahmed Afridi, a senior police officer. Mr Afridi said the attacker hit shortly after Mr Kasi's body was brought in and that it seemed the two events were connected. Abdul Rehman, the director at the Civil Hospital, said the bombing killed 70 people, mostly lawyers. He said they were also treating 92 wounded in the explosion. One of the survivors described a horrifying scene, saying there were "bodies everywhere. " Waliur Rehman said he was taking his ailing father to the emergency ward when the explosion shook the building. The blast was so powerful that they both fell down, he said. When he looked up, Mr Rehman said he saw bodies of the dead and the wounding crying out for help. He was about 200 metres away from where the bomber struck, he added. Grief Another witness, lawyer Abdul Latif, said he arrived at the hospital to express his grief over Mr Kasi's killing. But he said he didn't know he would "see the bodies of dozens of other lawyers" killed and wounded shortly after arriving. Sanaullah Zehri, chief minister in Baluchistan province, said both the bombing and Mr Kasi's slaying seemed to be part of a plot to disrupt peace in the provincial capital. Sarfraz Bugti, the provincial interior minister, denounced the attack as an "act of terrorism". A Pakistani news channel reported that one of its cameramen was also killed in the blast. Local TV stations broadcast footage showing people running in panic around the hospital grounds. Pakistan's Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, strongly condemned the blast and expressed his "deep grief and anguish over the loss of precious human lives" in the attack, in which several senior lawyers were killed. "No one will be allowed to disturb the peace in the province that has been restored thanks to the countless sacrifices by the security forces, police and the people of Baluchistan," he said in a statement. Mr Sharif asked the local authorities to maintain utmost vigilance and beef up security in Quetta. He also instructed health officials to provide the best treatment possible to those wounded in the attack. General Raheel Sharif, the powerful army chief of Pakistan, visited the Quetta Civil Hospital, and met with the wounded. Ali Zafar, the head of the country's main lawyers' association, condemned the blast as "an attack on justice". He said lawyers will observe three days of mourning and will not appear in court in solidarity with their colleagues and others killed in the attack. Quetta and the rest of Baluchistan province have long been hit by insurgency. There are several ethnic Baluch separatist groups operating in the resource-rich province, but al-Qai'da and other militant groups also have a presence here.

2016-08-09 02:30 Abdul Sattar www.independent.ie

80 Huge boost for Corbyn as 130,000 win right to vote in leadership ballot Embattled British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has received a huge boost after up to 130,000 Labour party members won the right to vote in the upcoming leadership election. However, the judge has approved the Labour Party's decision to appeal the court's decision, after five new members of the party won a High Court battle over their legal right to vote yesterday morning. The ruling means the Labour leader could win with a larger mandate than previously expected. The five accused the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) of unlawfully "freezing" them and many others out of the high-profile contest between Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith even though they had "paid their dues". The news will come as a blow to the Labour leadership contender Owen Smith MP. A Labour Party sportsperson said: "It is right that the Labour Party seeks to defend vigorously decisions of the National Executive Committee in this matter, and we will now study this judgement carefully. " Peter Oldham QC, appearing for the party, argued that the NEC had "specific power" to impose a freeze as part of its role in issuing an election timetable. The NEC decided that full members would not be able to vote if they had not had at least six months' continuous membership up to July 12 - the "freeze date". Stephen Cragg QC, appearing for the five, asked Mr Justice Hickinbottom, sitting in London, to declare that party rules had been misapplied and the five are entitled to vote in the September 24 poll. In court, Mr Cragg told the judge that anyone looking on the party website, or reading its rule book, would have concluded that, having joined the party, there was nothing to stop the five from voting. The judge, Mr Justice Hickinbottom, ruled that refusing the five the vote "would be unlawful as in breach of contract". He said: "This case was always based primarily on the Labour party's constitution as set out in the rule book. " Edward Leir, one of the five members, said the court's ruling was a "victory for equality and inclusion". It is understood that the appeal could be heard later this week.

2016-08-09 02:30 Laura Hughes www.independent.ie

81 Weight is over: Jamie welcomes his new son A beaming Jamie Oliver could not wait to take his newborn baby home as he posed for the first family photographs with the new arrival. The celebrity chef (41) and his wife Jools welcomed their baby son, who the TV chef earlier told fans weighs the same as "16 packs of butter". They already have three girls - Poppy Honey Rosie, Daisy Boo Pamela and Petal Blossom Rainbow - and a boy, Buddy Bear Maurice. Jools Oliver (41) posted a picture of herself breastfeeding the baby on her Instagram page. The Naked Chef has hinted that, just like his siblings, the new baby will have an unusual name, with the couple likely to go for seasons or "something floral or from the natural world".

2016-08-09 02:30 Sherna Noah www.independent.ie

82 Led Zeppelin loses fight for legal fees in Stairway case Led Zeppelin may have won the copyright war over their creation of Stairway To Heaven, but they lost its battle to recoup nearly 800,000 dollars (£615,000) in defence fees. Judge Gary Klausner ruled that the band's songwriters, record label and associated companies were not entitled to legal fees and other costs because the copyright lawsuit against them was not frivolous. A Los Angeles federal jury found in June that guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant did not lift the introduction of Stairway from an obscure instrumental written by the late Randy Wolfe, founder of the band Spirit. The trust for Wolfe, better known as Randy California, claimed Page and Plant were familiar with his work and stole a riff from the short tune Taurus that repeats throughout the first two minutes of their 1971 classic rock anthem. Wolfe's trust had been seeking credit for the song and millions of dollars in damages. But jurors found the tunes were not similar enough for Led Zeppelin to have violated the 1968 copyright protection of Taurus. Lawyers for Led Zeppelin sought legal and other fees totaling 793,000 dollars after insurance companies rejected covering such an old claim. They argued the lawsuit was frivolous, it was intended to shake down the rock stars for money, and that awarding defence costs would deter future meritless copyright claims. But Judge Klausner rejected those arguments, saying he had found the lawsuit had enough merit to go to trial and there was no evidence the plaintiff "harboured nefarious motives". While Led Zeppelin demonstrated a need for compensation after winning and showed that the plaintiff's lawyer behaved badly, Judge Klausner said it was at his discretion whether to award fees. He said the scales tilted more in favour of Wolfe's trustee. The judge, however, had strong words for plaintiff's lawyer Francis Malofiy, who is currently serving a three-month suspension for serious misconduct in a copyright case over Usher's Bad Girl. A Philadelphia appeals court recently upheld the sanction for ethics violations in that case. In the Led Zeppelin case, Judge Klausner reprimanded Malofiy for some of his antics and frequently blocked his questions because of objections by Led Zeppelin lawyers. "Throughout the course of litigation, plaintiff's counsel demonstrated a tenuous grasp of legal ethics and a rudimentary understanding of courtroom decorum," he wrote. Malofiy has appealed against the jury's verdict. AP

2016-08-09 02:11 www.independent.ie

83 Trump suggests Clinton email link to Iranian scientist's execution Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has suggested that Hillary Clinton's emails may be responsible for the death of an Iranian nuclear scientist executed for spying for the United States. Mr Trump, using the "people are saying" sentence structure he often favours to make accusations, tweeted: "Many people are saying that the Iranians killed the scientist who helped the US because of Hillary Clinton's hacked emails. " The billionaire property tycoon did not say which people he meant. The FBI has said there is no evidence that Democrat White house hopeful Mrs Clinton's emails were hacked due to her use of a private account and server during her tenure as US secretary of state. Mr Trump was referring to Shahram Amiri, who defected to the US at the height of western efforts to thwart Iran's nuclear programme. Arkansas senator Tom Cotton, a Trump supporter, suggested in an interview on Sunday that there could be a link between the emails and the execution of Shahram Amiri. He told CBS's Face The Nation that on Mrs Clinton's private server "there were conversations among her senior advisers about this gentleman". "That goes to show just how reckless and careless her decision was to put that kind of highly classified information on a private server," he said. Mr Amiri defected to the US at the height of efforts by the West to thwart Iran's nuclear programme. When he returned in 2010 he was given a hero's welcome and greeted with flowers by government leaders. Then he mysteriously disappeared. Mr Amiri's case indirectly found its way into the spotlight last year with the release of US State Department emails sent and received by Mrs Clinton. One email forwarded to her by senior adviser Jake Sullivan on July 5, 2010 - just 10 days before Mr Amiri returned to Tehran - appears to reference the scientist. "We have a diplomatic, 'psychological' issue, not a legal one. Our friend has to be given a way out", the email by Richard Morningstar, a former State Department special envoy for Eurasian energy, read. "Our person won't be able to do anything anyway. If he has to leave, so be it. " Another email, sent by Mr Sullivan on July 12, 2010, appears to obliquely refer to the scientist just hours before his appearance at the Iranian- interests section at the Pakistani embassy in Washington became widely known. "The gentleman ... has apparently gone to his country's interests section because he is unhappy with how much time it has taken to facilitate his departure," Mr Sullivan wrote. Mrs Clinton's decision to store her emails on a private server in her New York home sparked an FBI investigation and has become a dominant issue in the presidential campaign. Earlier Mr Trump hit out at a group of Republican former national security officials who are openly opposing him, saying they are the reason the world is "a mess". Fifty Republicans signed an open letter calling Mr Trump the most reckless candidate in history. Many are long-standing Trump critics, but the letter has some new names. Mr Trump said their signatures made clear they were to blame for making the world so dangerous, calling them "failed Washington elite" who must be held accountable. He is tying the signatories to Mrs Clinton and says together they are responsible for the rise of the Islamic State group. Meanwhile Mrs Clinton mocked Mr Trump's team of economic advisers, telling a rally in Kissimmee, Florida, that his team was made up of Wall Street bankers, an oil baron and multiple "men named Steve". She said they all cared about the same things as Mr Trump and were seeking ways for the wealthy to avoid "paying their fair share". In contrast, Mrs Clinton said she intended "to make the wealthy pay their fair share". She continued her criticism of Mr Trump's economic proposals, unveiled in Detroit on Monday, saying "there wasn't a lot in it for most Americans". AP Hillary Clinton's spokesman said Mr Trump was making up reports of "many people". Nick Merrill tweeted back: "'Many people are saying' = 'I made this up'. " Mr Trump's provocation came a few hours after the unusually disciplined speech in Detroit on his economic plans for the country, intended in part to reassure Republicans unnerved by his multiple stumbles over the previous week. "After a morning on the teleprompter, the muzzle was bound to come off," Mr Merrill added. AP

2016-08-09 02:11 www.independent.ie

84 Another Fox News female: I was sexually harassed Contact WND (NYMAG) — Fox News’ senior executives have said they were unaware of sexual- harassment allegations against Roger Ailes before former anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a lawsuit against him in July. But those claims are now being challenged by Fox host Andrea Tantaros, who says that she complained multiple times to senior Fox executives in 2015 about Ailes’s inappropriate sexual behavior toward her. Tantaros says that, after she came forward, she was first demoted and eventually taken off the air in April 2016. Fox continues to pay her. Through her lawyer, Judd Burstein, Tantaros says that both she and her agent told Fox executive vice-president Bill Shine, senior vice-president Suzanne Scott, and general counsel Dianne Brandi about episodes of Ailes’s alleged harassment. “She made multiple harassment and hostile- workplace complaints,” Burstein says. As far as Tantaros knows, Fox executives never investigated her complaints, Burstein says; instead, they claim, Fox sidelined her. “I believe it’s retaliatory,” says Burstein.

2016-08-09 01:45 www.wnd.com

85 The left stigmatizes our 1st gold medal winner Contact WND You don’t get much more left than NBC/Comcast. This is virtually the only cable company in America that has refused to add The Blaze TV to its cable lineup. Sure, it was one of the first to add al-Jazeera America, or some might know it as Jihadi-TV. They’ll jump at that chance – but Glenn Beck? Never. So it’s no surprise that the media conglomerate continually bids to air the Olympics. The coverage of the Olympics used to be about the competition – highly trained athletes at the top of their respective sports going at it until only one (or one team) comes away with gold. Now its all about the liberal kumbaya moments – where the world supposedly puts their differences aside and comes together as one in peace and harmony. The world can tune in to watch the spectacle and pageantry that is the Olympics. Just for a little while we can think of something other than racial strife, whose life matters most, suicide bombs and guns. Instead, we Americans can come together and celebrate our athletes as they “Go for the gold.” And lo and behold, right out of the gate, an American won the very first gold medal of the games. And we would be celebrating, except for the fact that the first gold won by an American was for shooting a gun. Oh, the horror! Yes, Ginny Thrasher, the teenager from Springfield, Virginia, bested two Chinese competitors to take home the gold in the women’s 10-meter air rifle event. Oh – so it was just an air rifle. I’d have thought Ginny would have been sporting an AR-15. As news spread, Sooper Mexican wrote : “Liberals are running in a panic to their safe spaces all over left-wing enclaves in America after the problematic news that America had won their first gold medal in the most dastardly of events – women’s shooting. With guns.” And the looney left took to Twitter to voice their collective disappointment, with tweets expressing how stereotypical it is for Americans to win for “shooting a rifle” and that at the next games, the Olympics should “make de- escalation techniques a sport.” But the best and indicative of the weeny left was: “Of course the first gold medal USA is for shooting. It’s practically their culture. Shooting schools. Shooting churches.” Genius! And it gets worse. Thrasher fired her first gun during a hunting trip with her dad at the age of 5. I wonder what the statute of limitations is on child endangerment, because this father should be locked up! Am I right? This stigma is unfortunately nothing new for American Olympic shooters. Many don’t even know the name Kim Rhode, but she is on the cusp of making American Olympic history, going for her sixth consecutive Olympic gold medal – winning her first at the Atlanta games in 1996. Thrasher wasn’t even born yet. Because of her sport, Rhode remains virtually anonymous. Even worse than Thrasher – who merely sports a relatively harmless air rifle – Rhode shoots skeet, which requires a big, loud and scary shotgun. Oh sure, it’s not an assault rifle – but it’s still scary. “After winning the gold in skeet shooting in London four years ago, her fifth Olympic medal, Kim Rhode expected to be asked about representing her country or her impressive Olympic record. Instead, she was asked about the movie-theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado, which had happened 10 days earlier.” The News & Observer points out that “Olympic swimmers aren’t asked about pool safety. Cyclists aren’t asked about helmet laws.” Speaking to competitive shooters, especially at this level, one quickly discovers that they are highly trained, extremely intelligent athletes who must train as hard as in other sports. They are not “gun nuts” or mentally unstable, but because of the sport they chose, they will be forever stigmatized by the real loons – those on the left.

2016-08-09 01:43 Brent Smith www.wnd.com

86 11-year-old Tennessee girl gets off school bus, tells parent she has been shot, dies from injuries HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. — An 11-year-old Tennessee girl was shot and killed on Monday, and police are investigating it as a homicide. Authorities told WKRN the girl got off her school bus at her Hendersonville home. When she went inside, she told her father she had been shot. The girl’s father took her to TriStar Hendersonville Medical Center. She was then flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville where she died less than two hours later, WKRN reports. Det. Jim Vaughn with Hendersonville police told WSMV the shooting did not happen on the bus, based on an interview with the bus driver. Vaughn said police believe the shooting happened between the girl getting off the bus and going into the home. The investigation is ongoing. 2016-08-09 01:39 Tribune Media fox13now.com

87 Briton Jamie Andrew says he is first quadruple amputee to climb Matterhorn A British mountaineer who climbed Switzerland’s Matterhorn says he is the first quadruple amputee to reach the iconic peak. The claim couldn’t be verified but was backed by the warden of the Hoernli Hut base camp, who said he knew of nobody else who had achieved the feat. Jamie Andrew lost his hands and feet to frostbite after becoming trapped in a snowstorm while mountaineering in France 17 years ago. He spent five years training before attempting to reach the 4,478-metre alpine summit last Thursday with two seasoned guides from the International School of Mountaineering . “In the end, climbing the mountain was the easy bit. It was all the graft and preparation, and trial and error [that was hardest],” Andrew said by phone from Switzerland. After losing his limbs, Andrew had to learn to walk again and eventually took up skiing and long-distance running before returning to his first passion — mountaineering. With the help of robust prostheses and specially adapted poles, he was able to ascend much of the way toward the peak. When he needed to climb, Andrew said he used what remains of his arms to hold onto the rope. The 47-year-old took almost 13 hours to reach the summit and return to the base camp — about five hours longer than most climbers. Kurt Lauber, a Swiss mountain guide and warden of the Hoernli Hut, confirmed the ascent. “I don’t know of any other such case,” he said. Lauber applauded the achievement, but cautioned against underestimating the Matterhorn, noting that Andrew’s team only reached the camp at 7pm, narrowly missing a bout of bad weather in which two other Britons climbing on the Italian side of the mountain were killed . “It would be wrong for people who aren’t disabled to now get the impression it’s easy,” he said.

2016-08-09 01:38 Associated Press www.theguardian.com

88 Catching Fire: Cities building more wooden skyscrapers The newest addition to the timber trend is a proposed 19-storey structure that will be built in the Swedish city of Skelleftea. Designed by architecture firm White Arkitekter , it was the winning submission in a competition to design a cultural center and hotel in the Swedish city. The "Sida vid Sida" -- its name translated to side by side" -- submission was praised for paying tribute to the city's rich local timber industry, and the multiple design benefits attributed to wood as a building material. Once complete, the 19-storey structure is expected to become the tallest wooden building in the Nordic countries. Spreading like wildfire An explosion of timber towers, either built or proposed, has gripped the architecture world over the past five years, every one seemingly a recorder holder in some respect. In 2012, the 10-story, 104-feet-high Forte residential block was erected overlooking Melbourne's Victoria Harbour. It was the world's tallest timber building until The Treet in Central Bergen, Norway, stole that title in 2014, with an extra four stories. Last year, the Cube, a 109-feet-high apartment block in London's Shoreditch, became "the tallest cross-laminated timber structure in Europe," according to its developers. In Canada, work has begun on the descriptively named Tall Wood Building, which will provide student digs at the University of British Columbia. At 174 feet and 18 stories tall, it was set to be the world's tallest building, until the Oakwood Tower came along. The Oakwood Tower is a proposed joint project by PLP Architecture and Cambridge University's Department of Architecture. It's an experiment in pushing the frontiers of building with wood, and is part of a growing movement to build in timber. The 80-story tower, if given the green light for construction, will be made of timber -- making it London's first wooden skyscraper and the tallest wooden structure in the world. At 1,000 feet tall, it will only be overshadowed in London by The Shard. Branching out New types of ultra-strong timber are partly driving the trend. "There's a whole bunch of new materials made out of wood that are structurally able to build big buildings," says Dr. Michael Ramage, of the Center for Natural Material Innovation at Cambridge University. Cross-laminated timber, for example, sees thin layers of wood placed across one another at right angles, and laminated with fire-resistant glue to create a stronger weave. But it's bamboo -- a material that has been used in Asian construction for centuries -- that most interests Ramage. With a five-times higher growth rate than wood, but similar mechanical properties, there are 31.4 million hectares of bamboo worldwide, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization. "We're working on engineered bamboo," says Ramage. "We can take the walls of bamboo tubes, cut them up into rectangles and glue them into big slabs. "You get large pieces of what looks like lumber. But it's stronger than timber. " Kevin Flanagan, a partner at PLP architects, adds that in the future he can imagine the industry genetically modifying wood to make it even more conducive to high-rise construction. London's burning? Obviously, when it comes to wooden buildings, there's one burning question. Are timber skyscrapers a fire hazard? Ramage says Oakwood Tower -- which will be an extension of the Barbican Center in Central London -- will exceed the fire standards of regular steel and concrete buildings. His center has been awarded £250,000 ($353,785) from the Engineering Physical Sciences Research Council in the UK to research timber construction techniques, such as fire proofing. "There is a huge perception problem," says Ramage. "Timber doesn't burn in the way the public imagines. "The great fires of London and Chicago were both sparked by very small pieces of wood. Very big pieces of wood are quite hard to set on fire -- they aren't kindling material. " Wood, he says, burns predictably. Therefore, fire engineers can calculate how large a block of wood is needed to provide a protective layer to sustain a building for a certain period of time. "All buildings over a certain size need to have sprinklers and active fire suppression systems -- irrelevant of whether it's wood, concrete or steel," he adds. A series of blazes at Dubai skyscrapers in recent years have highlighted that it isn't just timber buildings at risk of catching fire. Does wood make us happier? According to Flanagan, wooden buildings have a positive psychological effect on people. "People tend to feel relaxed around wooden buildings," says Flanagan. "People associate wood with green spaces, they have an affinity to it. There would be a real benefit to introducing wooden structures to the cities where people live. " In 2009, the Austrian Joanneum Research Institute compared four classrooms: two with timber flooring, ceilings and cupboards, and two fitted with linoleum floors, plasterboard walls and chipboard cupboards. Children working in the timber classrooms, researchers found, were more relaxed, displaying lower heart rates. Aren't we meant to be saving the rainforest? Yes. According to the World Wildlife Organization, up to 58,000 square miles of forest are lost each year -- that's equivalent to 48 football fields every minute. But Ramage explains that Oakwood Towers, if approved, would be built from "white wood" -- that is, crops grown over a 40-year-period specifically for construction purposes. "Russia has huge timber reserves, largely because we're finally using less paper," he explains. In fact, using wood could be more sustainable. Ramage says wood is, on average, four times lighter than concrete, so transporting it uses less energy. Furthermore, timber buildings are increasingly being assembled in a factory, and then craned into position and fixed together on site -- like an Ikea-style skyscraper that can "self-assemble". "This has huge time and financial savings implications," says Flanagan. Won't wood rot? From the magnificent Tudor timber arches of Westminster Hall in London to the wooden rooftops of the Forbidden City in Beijing, wood has been used to construct some of the world's most beautiful, iconic buildings. And they haven't fallen victim to rot. "We know from a very long history of building in wood it can last -- we have 600, 700-year-old buildings in the UK which are fine," says Ramage. "The one constant they have is that they have all been well looked after. "

2016-08-09 01:38 Jenni Marsh rss.cnn.com

89 For his birthday, boy gives shoes to kids in need For the past three years, Gunner has requested shoes for his birthday. They actually are for children who might not be able to afford new ones. "I've always got shoes, like new shoes for school and I want other kids to get them, too," he told CNN affiliate WWAY . So he started " Gunners Runner's " -- an organization that collects shoes for children in his Wilmington, North Carolina community. Just this past Saturday the boy purchased 30 new pairs at a shoe store with donation money from a local high school's reunion. His "small idea" turned into something big. Gunner has already given nearly 600 sets of shoes. "Words can't even describe how proud we are of him because it was his idea," his mother, Kristi Robinson, told CNN affiliate WWAY. "It just makes me feel better for other kids because they're getting new shoes for the new school year," Gunner said. Donation boxes are at local businesses and the shoes collected will be given to a social worker to distribute to kids before the school year starts. Happy birthday, Gunner.

2016-08-09 01:37 Jamie K rss.cnn.com

90 Marijuana candy sickens 19 at quinceañera Preliminary lab tests showed that gummy ring candy from the party contained THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. "Anyone who attended the quinceañera and may have taken home some of the gummy rings is urged to discard them immediately," said Dr. Tomas Aragon, health officer for the city and county of San Francisco. The 19 people were taken to the hospital Saturday with symptoms ranging from a rapid heart rate and dilated pupils to nausea, lethargy and confusion. All were released by Monday morning. Health officials are investigating the origin of the candy, including the catering company, which is from Oakland, officials said. "The question remains, where did the candies come from? " said Aragon. He warned of the dangers of edible marijuana at parties where it can be hard to control the dosage. "A situation like this, where they were consumed by unsuspecting people, and many children, is greatly concerning," Aragon said. A quinceañera is a celebration of a girl's 15th birthday in some Latin American cultures. Talking to kids about legal marijuana 24 sent to hospital in Ohio THC in candies also sent 24 music festival attendees to the hospital in Richland County, Ohio, on Saturday, according to the county sheriff's office. No one lost consciousness and everyone seems to be OK, Sheriff's Capt. Donald Zehner said. A 28-years-old man from Michigan was arrested in connection with the overdoses, the sheriff's office said Monday. Paramedics initially believed the overdoses were caused by opiates, but when victims did not respond to the antidote Narcan, the candies were tested and came back positive for a high dosage of THC, CNN affiliate WEWS reported. The overdose victims Saturday were attending the EST FEST music festival in Butler, Zehner said. More Colorado kids in hospital for marijuana Synthetic cannabinoids can be anywhere from two to 100 times more potent than natural THC, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They are generally unpredictable because of the unknown chemical composition of the drugs, which, the National Institute on Drug Abuse noted, may change from batch to batch.

2016-08-09 01:35 Susanna Capelouto rss.cnn.com

91 Olympics-Gymnastics-Japan end China's reign as team champions By Pritha Sarkar RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Not even the curse of the pommel horse could halt Japan's march to the men's team gymnastics title at the Rio Olympics on Monday as China's eight-year reign as champions came to an end after a day of slips, trips and stumbled landings. Four years after Uchimura's botched dismount from the pommel horse almost denied Japan a team medal in London, it looked as if the same apparatus would be their undoing again when Koji Yamamuro lost his grip and rolled off. But unlike in 2012, when they ended up with silver behind China, Yamamuro's score of 13.900 was their only blip in Rio as they put in a command performance on the remaining five apparatus to capture gold with a total of 274.094. In a sport where tenths of a point can mean the difference between a gold medal and no medal at all, their total was 2.641 points more than surprise silver medallists Russia. The Chinese team of Lin Chaopan, Deng Shudi, Zhang Chenglong, Liu Yang and You Hao sat back dejectedly in their chairs after Russia pipped them by 0.331 points to silver, with Zhang breaking down in tears afterwards backstage. For all Uchimura's past success, the men's Olympic team gold was the one major medal missing from his vast collection, which includes the 2012 all around title, a record six successive world all around golds and the 2015 world team crown. On Monday, he stood side-by-side with teary-eyed 2012 London Games survivors Yamamuro, Ryohei Kato and Yusuke Tanaka and new kid on the block Kenzo Shirai in triumph, their index fingers raised to confirm their standing in men's gymnastics. "This was the event I really wanted to win gold in," Uchimura said after Japan returned to the top of the Olympic podium for the first time since 2004. "You really have to work on yourself to become number one. "We came to Brazil to do what we are meant to do. Because we were able to do so, we won the gold. The next Olympics will be in Tokyo and I believe we can win again. " BAD DAY FOR CHINA Japan's gold medal winning performance came just two days after an error-filled display in qualifying, which included Uchimura falling off the horizontal bar. China, who topped qualifying, had obviously saved their mistakes for the final. Their failure to stick landings meant their hopes of completing a hat-trick of Olympic titles was over long before their final three competitors had mounted the horizontal bar. In fact they looked in danger of missing out on the medals completely after stumbles and falls on the vault, rings and floor exercise left them trailing in fifth place with two rotations to go. However, they surged back with a strong showing in the parallel bars that lifted them into third with one rotation to go. When Japan's Kato, Shirai and Uchimura scored a combined 47.199 on their final apparatus -- the floor exercise -- China's Deng, Lin and Zhang knew they would have to score more than 47.94 points on the horizontal bar to overhaul them. Once Deng (14.400) and Lin (15.000) had completed their dismount, China knew it was game over as Zhang was left needing to do something that has never been done in gymnastics -- score more than 18 points on an apparatus. It was a day when not much went right for China, with the announcer at the Rio Olympic Arena hailing Liu Yang's strong showing on the rings by saying "Deng Shudi looks delighted with his performance" and then having to watch their incorrectly-designed flag raised on the lowest pole after claiming bronze. China, who also saw their 12-year reign as world champions ended by Japan last October, finished with a total of 271.122, behind Russia in second with 271.453. (Editing by Peter Rutherford)

2016-08-09 01:33 Reuters www.dailymail.co.uk

92 FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs still rules his flock Jeffs, who is serving a life prison sentence for sexually assaulting his underage brides at an FLDS compound in Texas, has gone so far as to order a complete reorganization of the FLDS leadership, prosecutors allege. The disclosures came in a court filing seeking to keep other sect leaders behind bars as they await trial in a welfare fraud case. A hearing on the matter is set Tuesday in federal court in Salt Lake City. The court documents reveal the inner turmoil of a sect under pressure from federal authorities as well as "apostates," former members who remain in the vicinity of the FLDS home base of Short Creek, the abutting communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona. They also show that the FBI is closely watching the FLDS. Some of the reports attached to the government's motion were compiled as recently as Friday. Earlier this year, a federal jury in Phoenix found the FLDS discriminated against non-members in Short Creek. Four days have been set aside in October for testimony concerning what should be done with the governments of the two cities and their shared police department. As testimony in the Phoenix case wound down, federal prosecutors in Salt Lake City announced the indictment of 11 FLDS members, including Lyle Jeffs. They are accused of comingling food stamp benefits and distributing purchased items in accordance with a member's rank in the sect. Church leaders and United Order members received the best of everything, while less favored members barely scraped by, federal authorities allege. Lyle Jeffs is a federal fugitive from those charges, having fled home detention in Salt Lake City. FBI officials suggested he used olive oil to slip out of his ankle monitor. Included among the documents are FBI reports, letters from Jeffs, news and weather clippings concerning natural disasters, wars and other mass tragedies, what appears to be a list of every FLDS follower living in Short Creek. The documents indicate that Warren Jeffs has named a new bishop of Short Creek, replacing one brother, Lyle, with another, Nephi. The prophet also has abolished his sect's elite United Order, which was established under Lyle. The prophet has placed his followers on "restoral status," meaning they must renew their commitment to the FLDS. "My church order are out of order," Jeffs wrote in his distinctive block printing in a June 3 letter to his flock. He added that the "bishop's assistant," Ben Johnson , "is of no priesthood and needs go far away on repenting labor" and is barred from communicating with other members. One FBI report documenting a prison visit by two Jeffs wives, suggests that even the newly installed bishop faces stern words and detailed instructions from the prophet. Warren Jeffs noted in his lengthy instructions to Nephi that each of Short Creek's recent bishops had failed: "Each one has had the great sin of finding comfort in women's attention," Warren Jeffs said, warning: "Do not gossip with the family of Warren Jeffs. " He explained that he had removed Lyle Jeffs as bishop after "a short revelation" and that all members would be re-interviewed, re-baptized and re-confirmed into the United Order. He asked for and received the names of every United Order member who was in good standing during Lyle Jeffs' tenure as bishop. And, Warren Jeffs wrote in a lengthy letter dated June 3, anyone who doesn't pass muster will be banished and sent "far away. " The documents also reveal how another Jeffs brother, Seth, and another leader, John Wayman, allegedly violated terms of their release on bond: They were supposed to avoid contact but met secretly after midnight on several evenings at the FLDS meeting house in Short Creek to discuss how to carry out the prophet's orders.

2016-08-09 01:32 Ann O rss.cnn.com

93 Australian women's rowing team at Rio Olympics come dead last in their opening heat The crew finished last in their heat, 16 seconds behind heavyweights USA, but were happy with their performance with only two weeks' preparation under their belts. Stephan was set to be pounding the pavement in the Brisbane marathon over the weekend rather than rowing at the Olympics and was still pinching herself that she was in Rio. 'I took the first three strokes and I was like, `Wow, this is pretty cool' and I had a big smile on my face and I had to get my mind back in the boat,' Stephan said. 'It's just an amazing experience and for our first two-kilometre race since qualification (in May) it was good to go out there and give it a red-hot crack. 'It wasn't the best preparation but we're taking the opportunity and going with it.' The Australians spent a fortnight training in Melbourne after receiving the news that as the fastest losers at the final Olympic qualification regatta in Switzerland in late May, they would take the disqualified Russians' place. The crew will race the repechage round on Wednesday with only first-placed USA going directly from the heat to Saturday's medal decider. The USA haven't lost an Olympic race or world championship since 2005, when they were beaten by Australia. The Australians said it was actually a positive to have another race, in which they need to finish top four to advance. In the heat they were three seconds slower than their last race in Lucerne. 'That's really not much at all and in the repechage we're going to improve again,' Stephan said.

2016-08-09 01:31 Daniel Peters www.dailymail.co.uk

94 Olympics-Swimming-Sun takes men's 200m freestyle gold RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Sun Yang became the first Chinese swimmer to win the Olympic men's 200 metres freestyle gold medal on Monday. Sun, silver medallist in the event in London four years ago, touched the wall in one minute, 44.65 seconds to beat South Africa's Chad Le Clos by 0.55 seconds. It was Sun's second medal of the Games after silver in the 400 free on Saturday. Conor Dwyer of the United States won bronze. France's Yannick Agnel, who won gold in London four years ago, was absent after being eliminated in the heats. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Greg Stutchbury) 2016-08-09 01:30 Reuters www.dailymail.co.uk

95 Man-up situations critical in Olympic water polo RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Matteo Aicardi is tough to guard in normal situations in water polo. When Italy plays with the man advantage, he becomes even more dangerous. Same for Filip Filipovic and Serbia, Ioannis Fountoulis and Greece, and the list goes on and on. The importance of man-up situations, long one of the most critical areas in the Olympics' first team sport, is on full display right now in Rio de Janeiro. Through two days of the men's tournament, there have been three ties and five one-goal games — making every chance to attack with an extra player a very precious commodity. "Extra man, in this kind of sport, the last few years, this is the most important moment in the match," Aicardi said after he scored four times in Italy's 11-8 victory over France on Monday. Water polo has three types of fouls: ordinary, exclusion and penalty. The majority of whistles during a typical match are for ordinary infractions, which result in a simple free throw. But intentionally kicking or striking an opponent, disrespecting a referee or using foul language are among a group of actions that can prompt an exclusion, a player being sent off for a maximum of 20 seconds. The player also can return after a goal or change of possession. "It's important, the 6-on-5, but it's important for defense, because when you lose control on defense it leads to easy goals and easy goals in these close games, you pay at the end," Italy coach Alessandro Campagna said. Exclusions often lead to momentum swings, either through scoring on offense or coming up with a big stop on the defensive side. Exclusions also can help wear down opponents, since it requires field players and goaltenders to work extra hard to protect the cage while their teammate waits anxiously in the re-entry area in the corner near his country's bench. "I think extra-man attack and defense makes or breaks games," Australia driver Richie Campbell said. "If you got solid defense in extra man and you're shutting them out, then it puts a lot of mental pressure on them as well as the physical pressure. " Italy and France were tied at 1 before Christian Presciutti and Alessandro Velotto scored consecutive extra-man goals, making it 3-1 with 2:20 left in the first. After Thibaut Simon's penalty shot trimmed Italy's lead to 8-6 in the third, Aicardi helped the silver medalists from London regain control with a goal from in close right after Igor Kovacevic's exclusion had ended. Aicardi played with a white mask after he suffered a broken nose during Saturday's 9-8 win over Spain. "It worked," he said. "I faced one punch maybe and one shot in my face, but everything is OK. " Greece and Serbia combined for nine extra-man goals in a 9-9 tie in the first match of the second day. Australia came up empty on a couple of extra-man trips in the fourth period of its 9-9 tie against Hungary. Blai Guell Mallarach's man-up goal with 4:11 left proved to be the difference in Spain's 10-9 victory over the winless United States. "We've got to start making stops," said Bret Bonanni, who had four goals for the U. S. "We can't let the other team score 10 goals. " Playing in front of an adoring crowd, surprising Brazil got five goals from Josip Vrlic and moved to 2-0 with a runaway 16-8 victory over Japan. It leads Group B with four points, followed by Greece with three. Next up for the host country is Serbia on Wednesday night. Croatia, which won gold in London and edged Montenegro 8-7 on Monday night, is tied with Italy for the top spot in Group B. Spain and Montenegro are tied for third with two points apiece. After five games in the preliminary round, the top four teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals. ___ Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap

2016-08-09 01:30 Associated Press www.dailymail.co.uk

96 Hip-hop artist Bow Wow to retire as he can't see himself rapping aged 30 US rapper Bow Wow has announced he is retiring from music, saying he just doesn’t see himself rapping as a 30- year-old. Bow Wow, 29, found fame at the age of 13 as Lil’ Bow Wow but has lately been going by his real name, Shad Moss. He said in a series of posts to Twitter on Sunday and Monday that his final album will be the upcoming “NYLTH”. He did not give a date for the release. “I always said I’d retire from music before 30,” the musician tweeted. “I just can’t see myself at 30 years old rapping.” “Made over 20 million off rap. Why be greedy? Im good with everything I accomplished. I made it to the white house,” added the Ohio-born rapper. As Lil’ Bow Wow, the musician released his first album Beware of the Dog in 2000. He has also launched a career as an actor, appearing in movies such as Madea’s Big Happy Family and the TV crime series CSI:Cyber. He said on Twitter he planned to focus on acting in the future and is also producing two TV shows. More than a decade on from his biggest hit (Like You with Ciara in October 2005), news of Moss’ retirement was met with indifference, amusement, and in some cases cruelty on social media. Moss did not respond to the Guardian’s question, posed over Twitter: why can’t you be a successful rapper at 30? But he did appear to have embraced family life. “Nothing like landing 12 hours later on your way to surprise your daughter at camp and she has no clue,” he tweeted on Monday evening. At 46, Jay-Z is likely the oldest most successful rapper, though he does seem to be putting more of his energy into business pursuits such as his streaming service, Tidal, than music. Kanye West turns 40 next year. It’s possible the seed for Moss’ retirement could have been planted by Drake, the hugely popular Canadian rapper, who at 29 is the same age. Drake rapped in a recent song that he intended to retire before 35. “The most successful rapper 35 and under/I’m assumin’ everybody’s 35 and under/That’s when I plan to retire, man it’s already funded,” goes the lyric, in Weston Road Flows.

2016-08-09 01:29 Elle Hunt www.theguardian.com

97 Serena struggles through at Rio Defending champion Serena Williams ended a three- match losing streak against France's Alize Cornet to keep her hopes of a fifth Olympic gold medal alive Monday. But it was a rollercoaster 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 victory for the 34-year-old world number one who 24 hours earlier had suffered her first ever Olympic Games women's doubles loss with sister Venus. Cornet defeated the American star three times in 2014, including at Wimbledon, and proved to be a thorn in her opponent's side again in Rio. Williams led 3-0 and had two points for a 4-0 advantage in the first set. But Cornet stormed back, forcing the American to save two set points in the 10th game before the top seed sealed the tiebreak after 77 minutes on a chilly centre court. The 22-time major winner cut a frustrated figure, smashing her racquet into the ground at one stage. Williams stepped on the gas in the second set to secure a third round clash with Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, securing victory on a third match point. "It was a big motivation to win because I haven't done very well against her in the past," said Williams. "She says she knows how to play me. Every time I have played her, I have never been in the best shape which is ironic, so I really wanted to do well. " Juan Martin del Potro followed up his shock defeat of Novak Djokovic by downing Portugal's Joao Sousa in front of a legion of passionate, vocal Argentine fans. The giant 27-year-old, ranked 141 in the world after years of wrist injury misery pushed him to the brink of quitting, swept to a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win. Dressed in sky blue football shirts, the Argentine's followers draped national flags and banners over the centre court barriers and responded defiantly when locals booed the mention of del Potro's name. - Punch-up - However, traditional bitterness between Brazil and Argentina boiled over when a group of fans engaged in a punch- up. "I hope that will not happen again because people need to enjoy the matches and we need to have peace between Argentina and Brazil. This is not football," said del Potro. The 2009 US Open champion said he was running on empty by the end after only getting to bed at 4:30 in the morning. "I only had five hours' sleep but I'm very glad with my success," he said. Things got even better for Del Potro when French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a potential quarter-final opponent, lost 6-4, 6-3 to Gilles Muller of Luxemburg. Del Potro eventually ran out of steam on Monday evening when he and Maximo Gonzalez lost their men's doubles second round tie to Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez. The 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 scoreline gave the Spanish pair a quarter-final spot, adding to the workload for Nadal who is still in singles and intends to play mixed doubles. Nadal, in his first tournament since a wrist injury forced him out the French Open two months ago, said he still intends to enter the mixed with Garbine Muguruza despite having now played three matches in two days in Rio. "I feel good, there was a lot of tension and emotion as I haven't played in a competition for so long," said Nadal. German second seed and Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber recovered from a 4-1 first set deficit to defeat Canada's Eugenie Bouchard, 6-4, 6-2. It was Kerber's first win over the 2014 Wimbledon runner-up in three years. Kerber next faces Australia's Samantha Stosur who was too strong for Misaki Doi of Japan, winning 6-3, 6-4. Muguruza, the French Open champion, routed Japan's Nao Hibino 6-1, 6-1 in just 55 minutes. Up next for the third seed is Monica Puig of Puerto Rico. 2016-08-09 01:29 Afp www.dailymail.co.uk

98 Census 2016: Labor urges all Australians to include their names Labor has called on Australians not to spoil the census, slapping down a growing revolt led by minor parties to withhold names when filling it out. But the shadow assistant treasurer, Andrew Leigh, criticised the federal government for failing to explain changes to hold name and address information for four years, up from 18 months, after two Greens senators joined the push to withhold their names. On Monday Nick Xenophon announced he would not include his name on his census form , risking prosecution and a fine, over privacy concerns. He said he would contest any notice or fine, and would bring an amendment so people who withhold their names cannot be prosecuted. On Monday Greens senators Scott Ludlam and Sarah Hanson-Young announced they too would withhold their names when completing the census, to be conducted on Tuesday night Senators Janet Rice and Lee Rhiannon said they would withhold their names ahead of Tuesday’s party room meeting in which the Greens will discuss their stance on the census, in addition to other business including reshuffling portfolios. Leigh told ABC’s AM: “Labor’s view is everybody should fill in the census.” He said the minor party push and the government’s failure to sell its changes “imperils the quality of census data”. Asked about the minor party push to withhold names, Leigh said: “I won’t be following that mode. I would encourage Australians not to spoil the census because when you do so you deny your community and neighbours the resources they’re entitled.” Leigh said the census was critical for allocating funding to schools, homelessness and employment programs. Business and the not-for-profit sector also relied on the information. Asked about the specific uses of collecting names, Leigh said this information could be matched to the death registry to calculate the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Duncan Young, the Australian Bureau of Statistics census project head, tried to reassure Australians on Tuesday that their data would remain private. “You’ve been separated from the internet and the risks of the net and ... the information is isolated so people who can access names can’t access the rest,” he told the Nine Network’s Today Show. But Anna Johnston, a former deputy privacy commissioner of NSW, told Radio National on Tuesday there was a “delicate balance” between collecting valuable information and respecting privacy. She said the “quite dramatic” change of linking name and address data to other information such as education and mental health data and holding it for longer had upset that fine balance. Johnston said the ABS and federal government might have benign uses of data but “we can’t protect against future governments [and instances] where people might want to misuse the data”. Citing Japanese internment in the second world war, Johnston said: “We’re only one Trump-esque leader away from the person who says ‘let’s find out where all the Muslims live’, from the census data. “The only way to protect against that happening is to ensure that data remains as a national anonymous snapshot, as the census has always been, rather than an individual record for linking purposes.” Speaking with ABC News Breakfast, the small business minister, Michael McCormack, said the census had bipartisan support and urged “ all parliamentarians to talk it up [and] promote it”. “There are legitimate penalties in place for those who wilfully obstruct the process of the census,” he said. Failure to comply with a notice to fill in the census can result in a $180 a day fine . McCormack sad it was up to the ABS to decide if Xenophon and the two Greens were wilfully obstructing the census, but he hoped they could get on board. He said it enabled governments “to resource and fund communities right across the nation – remote, regional, capital city, and it is an important, absolutely critical part of absolutely being able to set those agendas and that funding process”. Holding information for four years allowed the ABS to track population flows and life expectancy trends for longer. “The ABS has an impeccable record when it comes to privacy and security,” he said. “Courts can’t access the information, ministers can’t and indeed the [prime minister] can’t.” The defence industries minister, Christopher Pyne, accused Xenophon of engaging in a “tin-foil hat kind of politics” – a reference to conspiracy theorists – and damaging South Australia for leading the push to withhold names from the census. Pyne told ABC Radio: “If people follow his lead in South Australia and they are not counted, our population in South Australia will be underrepresented and we could well lose a seat in the house of representatives in the next redistribution. “So in fact, Senator Xenophon, in gaining a political point and creating an issue which isn’t there, is actually damaging the very state that he represents.” Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm said he was “broadly sympathetic” to the idea of withholding names but would provide his because “it is the law to provide your name and I wouldn’t endorse breaking the law”.

2016-08-09 01:28 Paul Karp www.theguardian.com

99 Big 12 urged by LGBT advocacy groups not to admit BYU as expansion school Several LGBT advocacy groups are urging the Big 12 not to admit BYU as an expansion school, according to a letter obtained by ESPN.com. The news was first reported by FOX Sports. In the letter, dated Aug. 8, Athlete Ally, a non-profit organization that raises LGBT awareness in sports, sent a letter to Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby to express its concerns about the Big 12 candidacy of BYU, which is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "As organizations committed to ending homophobia, biphobia and transphobia both on and off the field of play, we are deeply troubled by this possibility," the letter reads. "We feel it would be extremely problematic to include BYU in your conference expansion. " Athlete Ally suggests adding BYU "would be inconsistent with Big 12 membership values. " Ashland Johnson, a spokesperson for Athlete Ally, told ESPN that the letter was also sent to 10 Big 12 university presidents, faculty reps and senior women's advisors. Johnson said the letter was prompted by the language in BYU's honor code and not a specific incident of discrimination. "Currently, the Big 12 as a conference is overwhelmingly LGBT-inclusive," the letter reads. "BYU, conversely, actively and openly discriminates against its LGBT students and staff. It provides no protections for LGBT students. In fact, through its policies, BYU is very clear about its intent to discriminate against openly LGBT students, with sanctions that can include suspension or dismissal for being openly LGBT or in a same-sex relationship. " The Athlete Ally letter also states that "LGBT coaches, players and fans who attend and/or compete at any Big 12 events hosted at BYU would be subject to discrimination since BYU remains exempt from Utah's LGBT nondiscrimination law. Moreover, any student-athlete who identifies as LGBT, and subsequently selects BYU due to its Big 12 membership, would be subjected to BYU's unabashed discrimination. " Athlete Ally also accused BYU of not being compliant with Title IX, as "an institution that openly discriminates against transgender students. " The letter is co-signed by two dozen other like advocacy groups. Johnson said Athlete Ally had not heard back from Bowlsby as of Monday evening. In a statement to FOX Sports, BYU spokesperson Carri Jenkins said, "BYU welcomes as full members of the university community all whose conduct meets university standards. We are very clear and open about our honor code, which all students understand and commit to when they apply for admission. One's stated sexual orientation is not an issue. "

2016-08-09 01:27 Jake Trotter www.espn.com

100 Jetstar Boeing 787 Dreamliner forced to land in Guam has had two new engines in less than a year Flight JQ12 was heading from Narita, Japan, to the Gold Coast when it was diverted to the Pacific island after the pilot was alerted to possible oil pressure issues in one of the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner's General Electric GEnx engines. The one-year-old plane had its original engine replaced three months ago, meaning it has gone through two engines within 12 months, according to The Australian. 'This is a relatively new engine so it's unusual to have an issue like this so soon,' a Jetstar spokesman said. 'We have asked engine manufacturer GE for an explanation. GE has a team which is working with our engineers to understand what occurred.' There have been nine separate in-flight issues with the GEnx engine on the Boeing 787 during the past year, including a Qatar Airways 787 flight travelling from Norway to Qatar that was forced to shut off its engine and divert the plane. A General Electric spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia that the GEnx-1B engine has 'more than three million hours of operation on more than 250 air planes.' 'GE is actively supporting Jetstar to ensure that the Boeing 787 returns to airline service as soon as possible. The engine event is under investigation,' she said. 'GE continually monitors and analyzes the performance of the GEnx fleet in service. Based on the engine fleet’s service history, we are not aware of operational issues that would hazard the continued safe flight of aircraft powered by these engines.' Qantas will receive eight Boeing 787s with GEnx engines in October this year and integrate them into their international fleet, replacing five older Boering 747s. Flight JQ12's more than 300 passengers spent 24 hours in Guam before continuing to the Gold Coast on Monday morning on another Jetstar 787 Dreamliner. Some frustrated passengers took to social media to slam the airline for the lack of communication around what alternative travel arrangements were being made. 'Beyond ridiculous, understand safety comes first, but no one is communicating! Never experienced such poor customer service,' one woman wrote on Twitter.

2016-08-09 01:27 Brianne Tolj www.dailymail.co.uk

Total 100 articles. Created at 2016-08-09 06:01