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Total 100 articles, created at 2016-06-09 00:22 1 Reuters: Top News - powered by FeedBurner

(1.04/2) LONDON (Reuters) - The career of Russian former world number one Maria Sharapova was in tatters on Wednesday after she was given... 2016-06-08 12:35 634Bytes feeds.reuters.com 2 Zuma crashes Gauteng party President Jacob Zuma will tomorrow make a somewhat unwelcome appearance at the Gauteng leg of the ANC's local government (1.03/2) election manifesto launch. 2016-06-09 00:21 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 3 'We need to wake up and pray as a nation' - celebs speak out on Jesus Dome burning

(1.00/2) In devastating scenes on Tuesday evening, fire engulfed the iconic Durban Christian Centre Jesus Dome in KwaZulu-Natal. 2016-06-09 00:21 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 4 Media covering Rody still left out in the cold DAVAO CITY—At least Digong proved to them he’s for real, even (1.00/2) for once. Journalists covering President-elect Rodrigo Duterte got a taste of what it felt like being snubbed by 2016-06-09 00:21 4KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 5 Duterte spent over P371M for successful campaign; Binay poured P463M (1.00/2) -- President-elect Rodrigo Duterte spent over P371 million in his campaign for Malacañang, bankrolled largely by big businessmen and patrons from Davao City, according to his statement of 2016-06-08 20:29 5KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 6 DA: Parliament must call SABC to account over ‘rampant censorship’ after SAfm show

(0.01/2) axed The Democratic Alliance (DA) has characterised the “canning” of SAfm’s “The Editors” show as the “the latest in a string of incidents of censorship of views critical of the African National Congress (ANC) government”. 2016-06-09 00:21 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 7 Jharkhand Board 12th Result 2016 Jharresults.nic.in: JAC Intermediate Arts

(0.01/2) Results to be announced Tomorrow, 9th June on jac.nic.in The Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) is expected to announce the Jharkhand Board 12th Intermediate Arts Results 2016 tomorrow, 9 th June 2016. After the formal declaration, students can check their JAC 12th Intermediate Arts Results 2016 online on the official websites jharresults.nic.in and jac.nic.in. 2016-06-08 20:42 4KB www.mid-day.com

8 Of the People Americans share their hopes, fears and frustrations in interviews from the campaign trail. 2016-06-09 00:21 1KB www.nytimes.com 9 Sanco: ‘Taking selfies while torching buildings doesn’t promote patriotism’ The South African Broadcast Corporation’s (SABC) ban on broadcasting footage of the destruction of property is a “right step towards addressing the culture of violence that is threatening to erode the moral fibre of our society”. 2016-06-09 00:21 1KB www.timeslive.co.za 10 Cope: The gun settles who wins and who loses in the ANC The Congress of the People (Cope) on Friday described the African National Congress (ANC) under President Jacob Zuma as “much like a South African taxi operation: In both‚ the gun settles who wins and who loses”. 2016-06-09 00:21 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 11 Zuma to discuss regional trade issues in Lesotho President Jacob Zuma will visit Lesotho this week for discussions relating to the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). 2016-06-09 00:21 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 12 Why is the EFF's Mbuyiseni Ndlozi the people's bae? Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi is fast earning a reputation as “the people’s bae”. 2016-06-09 00:21 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 13 Erdogan approves lifting of MPs' immunity Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signed into law a reform lifting immunity for lawmakers, his office said, in a move critics believe is aimed at evicting pro-Kurdish MPs from parliament. 2016-06-09 00:21 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 14 Tougher laws to deal with infrastructure vandals now in effect As from Wednesday‚ criminals who and vandalise essential infrastructure such as electric cables and water pipes will face harsher punishment if they are found guilty by a court of law. 2016-06-09 00:21 2KB www.timeslive.co.za

15 Role of euro declines in global monetary system - ECB The role of the euro in the global financial system declined last year, the European Central Bank said, with the fall particularly notable in foreign exchange reserves, foreign currency debt issuance and cross border loans. 2016-06-09 00:21 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 16 Danger awaits reigning champions Spain at Euro Spain are bidding to win a third consecutive European Championship but a difficult draw awaits a team whose coach Vicente del Bosque admits are in transition. 2016-06-09 00:21 4KB www.timeslive.co.za 17 Is Zuma's plane being downed by a lack of trained engineers and mechanics? President Jacob Zuma should not be worried about his current jet‚ Inkwaze - it’s the lack of maintenance capabilities within the South African Air Force (SAAF) that should be giving him and his Cabinet sleepless nights‚ according to an online African defence and security news publication. 2016-06-09 00:21 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 18 Woman gets R5000 bail on R5 million fraud charge A woman alleged to have diverted R5-million of “company funds into her private bank account” over seven years was granted R5000 bail‚ the Hawks announced on Wednesday. 2016-06-09 00:21 873Bytes www.timeslive.co.za 19 iFani tightens his grip on R100 million donation plans You might not have heard from him in a while but iFani is back and pushing full steam ahead with his ambitious plans to donate more than R100 million to charity. 2016-06-09 00:21 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 20 Fitch affirms South Africa's credit rating, keeps stable outlook Ratings agency Fitch affirmed South Africa's investment grade credit rating on Wednesday and maintained its stable outlook, but said the low GDP growth posed a risk. 2016-06-09 00:21 3KB www.timeslive.co.za

21 South Africa's economy shrinks by 1.2%, raising prospect of recession South Africa's economy contracted by 1.2 percent in the first quarter of 2016, raising the prospect of a recession if growth for the current quarter comes in negative. 2016-06-09 00:21 3KB www.timeslive.co.za 22 China wants PH to drop UN suit Faced with a setback in a United Nations arbitral court, China on Wednesday urged the to drop its legal tack and return to bilateral negotiation to settle their territorial dispute in the 2016-06-09 00:21 7KB globalnation.inquirer.net 23 ‘Most powerful PH leader since Marcos’ Rodrigo Duterte is on course to becoming the Philippines’ most powerful President since his idol, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Former Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said that with a 2016-06-09 00:21 6KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 24 Adding more shlock to the shock The year 2016 is turning out to be an annus horribilis for the heretofore high-flying star, Johnny Depp. The first big blow in his recent one-two knockout punch was his relatively new wife’s 2016-06-09 00:21 3KB entertainment.inquirer.net 25 Iya and Drew–preparing for baby Antonio One can never be fully ready for a baby, pointed out television host and actress Iya Villania. But at the very least, she is prepared to take on the responsibilities having one 2016-06-09 00:21 3KB entertainment.inquirer.net 26 Lassiter cut, Gilas’ 14-man lineup set Marcio Lassiter was cut from the national pool as the Philippine men's national team's 14-man lineup for the Fiba Olympic qualifying tournament is now set. Gilas 2016-06-09 00:21 3KB sports.inquirer.net 27 Clinton seizes historic primary win NEW YORK — Powered by a solid triumph in California, Hillary Clinton declared victory in her yearlong battle for the heart of the Democratic Party, seizing her place in history and setting 2016-06-09 00:21 6KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 28 Duterte-media ties likened to lovers’ spat It’s nothing more than a lovers’ spat and they’ll kiss and make up sooner or later. That’s how Senate President Franklin Drilon sees the strained relationship between President-elect 2016-06-09 00:21 2KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 29 ‘Taklub’ wins in France Brillante Ma. Mendoza’s “Taklub” won at the recent 8th International Film Festival of Fishermen of the World (or the International Film Festival Pêcheurs du Monde), held in Lorient, 2016-06-09 00:15 1KB entertainment.inquirer.net 30 Video: India Honors Americans Who Sacrificed Their Lives in the 'Service of Mankind' During a joint session of Congress, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed visiting Arlington National Cemetery on the 72nd anniversary of D-Day. 2016-06-08 22:14 2KB abcnews.go.com 31 Video: Judge Orders Release of Michigan Man Convicted in 4 Murders as a Teen Police say Davontae Sanford confessed to the murders, but two weeks later, another man admitted he was the killer. 2016-06-08 23:38 3KB abcnews.go.com 32 Euro 2016: Jerome Boateng will not take his family to France due to terror threat Germany defender Jerome Boateng has said that his family will not attend the matches during Euro football championship fearing that terrorist attacks might take place 2016-06-08 23:36 2KB www.mid- day.com 33 Financial aid for Rio-bound shooter Heena Sidhu hiked to Rs 1 crore In a huge boost for Heena Sidhu, the Sports Ministry today increased the financial aid for the Rio Olympics-bound ace pistol shooter from Rs 75 lakh to Rs one crore under the Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme for her training till the showpiece event 2016-06-08 23:34 1KB www.mid-day.com 34 Video: Intel Chief Defends Rights of Transgender Community "You can use whatever restroom you feel comfortable and safe in," Clapper said. 2016-06-08 23:30 1012Bytes abcnews.go.com 35 Video: Tourist Believed to Have Died in Hot Spring at Yellowstone Witnesses say the man strayed about 225 feet off a walkway at the national park. 2016-06-08 23:21 985Bytes abcnews.go.com 36 Video: Wandering Bear Cools Off in California Swimming Pool Fish and Wildlife officials are looking for the bear in the California neighborhood of La Canada Flintridge. 2016-06-08 23:17 1KB abcnews.go.com 37 Sourav Ganguly working overtime to make pink ball experiment a hit Former India captain and CAB president, Sourav Ganguly, is working overtime to get everything in order at Eden Gardens, which is set to host the country's first pink-ball multi-day cricket match under lights 2016-06-08 23:09 3KB www.mid-day.com 38 Australia, South Africa to clash under lights in Adelaide Test Australia will clash against South Africa in a day-night Test match, the third of the series, at Adelaide in November, Cricket South Africa said today 2016-06-08 23:06 2KB www.mid-day.com 39 Monsoon to arrive in Maharashtra in one week's time: IMD 'Monsoon 2016', the season Indians combating the oppressive heat are eagerly awaiting, finally arrived in Kerala and will be reaching Maharashtra in a week's time, Indian Meteorological Department has said 2016-06-08 22:53 2KB www.mid-day.com 40 Gray days behind, sunshine ahead Muggy, dreary weather no more, expect lasting sunshine and highs near 90 degrees ahead. 2016-06-08 22:43 867Bytes www.ajc.com 41 Manchester United sign Villarreal defender Eric Bailly Manchester United boosted their defence ahead of the next football season with the signing of Eric Bailly on Wednesday from Spanish club Villarreal in a four-year deal 2016-06-08 22:39 2KB www.mid-day.com 42 Devendra Fadnavis lays down code of conduct for Maharashtra ministers In the wake of resignation of Eknath Khadse from the post of Maharashtra Revenue Minister over allegations of misuse of power, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has warned his BJP colleagues against overruling the opinion of bureaucrats 2016-06-08 22:38 1KB www.mid-day.com 43 Prostitution ring busted in Mumbai, TV actress among three rescued Three women including a small-time actress were rescued and two persons arrested for human trafficking, with police suspecting involvement of more women from the television industry in the racket 2016-06-08 22:37 1KB www.mid-day.com

44 Don't malign India from abroad: Shiv Sena to Modi on graft remarks Key BJP ally Shiv Sena today chided Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his recent remarks on corruption in India and asked him to refrain from 2016-06-08 22:36 2KB www.mid-day.com 45 Video: ARCHIVAL VIDEO: Ex-CIA Officer Says 'We Broke the Law' NOV. 4, 2009: Sabrina de Sousa, along with more than 20 other Americans, is convicted in Italian kidnapping case in 2009. 2016-06-08 22:35 3KB abcnews.go.com 46 Video: Siri Called an Ambulance for Baby Girl Who Stopped Breathing When an Australian mother discovered that her 1-year-old daughter, Giana, had stopped breathing, she reportedly turned to her iPhone's Siri for help. 2016-06-08 22:35 1KB abcnews.go.com 47 Video: Fish Trapped in Jellyfish Struggles to Break Free in Amazing Photos Photos of a living fish trapped inside a jellyfish have gone viral after they were posted on Instagram by an Australian marine photographer. 2016-06-08 22:35 1KB abcnews.go.com 48 Video: On Board the USS Harry S. Truman The Truman, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, has played a crucial role in the campaign against ISIS in both Syria and Iraq. 2016-06-08 22:30 1KB abcnews.go.com 49 Two Chinese Tourists Dead, 20 Hurt In Thai Speedboat Accident A collision between two speedboats packed with 62 tourists Wednesday off the coast of southern Thailand left at least two people dead and more than 20 injured, police told The Associated Press. The crash, the third in two weeks involving boats shuttling vacationers to Thailand’s resort islands... 2016-06-08 22:26 2KB article.wn.com 50 Video: Stanford Sexual Assault Witness Recounts the Evening's Events Carl-Fredrik Arndt tells ABC News how he and Peter Jonsson stopped Brock Allen Turner. 2016-06-08 22:03 1KB abcnews.go.com

51 Developing: Several hurt in Tel Aviv shooting; one suspected terrorist shot At least 9 wounded at city's Sarona complex. 2016-06-08 21:45 1KB www.jpost.com 52 Fundamentally Freund: A Jewish bucket list But whatever you might choose to include, the important thing to remember when drawing up your own bucket list is that physical thrills can and should be augmented by spiritual ones, too. 2016-06-08 21:25 6KB www.jpost.com 53 Netanyahu: US not Moscow cornerstone of our foreign relations PM rejects Lavrov claim that he accepted 2002 Arab Peace Plan; says Turkey deal could happen soon. 2016-06-08 21:21 8KB www.jpost.com 54 Sushma Swaraj expresses gratitude for releasing 23 Indian prisoner from Qatar Minister of External affairs Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday expressed gratitude to qatar government for releasing 23 Indian prisoners 2016-06-08 21:19 1KB www.mid-day.com 55 Washington Watch: Will Netanyahu endorse Trump? It looks like a Donald Trump visit to Israel this summer is a definite maybe. He canceled a planned trip last December after Prime... 2016-06-08 21:13 6KB www.jpost.com 56 Media Comment: When the ‘fringe’ becomes mainstream Media Comment: When the ‘fringe’ becomes mainstream. 2016-06-08 21:09 5KB www.jpost.com 57 Condom store now advertising Hillary Clinton-branded items An online retailer of prophylactics has announced a new line of Hillary Clinton-branded condoms titled "Slick Willy Wants Back In. " 2016-06-08 19:24 1KB www.chron.com 58 London police blast open suspicious vehicle parked outside Israel embassy British authorities find no suspicious items inside car. 2016-06-08 21:08 1KB www.jpost.com

59 Federal jury rejects school's liability for vet's flashback at pep rally After deliberating just over an hour, a federal jury in Houston concluded Wednesday that a Montgomery County school district was not liable for damages to a teacher who fought in Iraq and experienced a flashback during a pep rally. The teacher, Stephen Seidel, claimed the school... 2016-06-08 19:25 3KB www.chron.com 60 Encountering Peace: De-risking peace – part 2 Implementable agreements on the core issues that will positively impact realities on the ground for both sides will serve as the best corridor to confronting the narrative issues. 2016-06-08 21:02 6KB www.jpost.com 61 CIA agent expects to be extradited to Italy A former CIA agent says she expects to be extradited from Portugal to Italy imminently for her alleged role in a 2003 terror suspect kidnapping. 2016-06-08 19:15 1KB www.bbc.co.uk 62 Police question Herzog for 2nd time to complete graft probe Herzog's office says questioning was conducted to complete a probe that was almost finished before and had been postponed. 2016-06-08 20:55 2KB www.jpost.com 63 Israeli movies at Jerusalem Film Festival announced The lineup of movies in the Israeli competition categories for the 33rd Jerusalem Film Festival was just announced, and it’s an especially strong group. 2016-06-08 20:52 3KB www.jpost.com 64 Maria Sharapova banned from tennis for two years for failed dope test Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova has been suspended for two years by the International Tennis Federation for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs in March during the Australian Open 2016-06-08 20:51 2KB www.mid-day.com 65 Israel Festival to close with ‘Mount Olympus’ On Thursday night, the festival will open its doors for the last time this year with legendary Belgian artist Jan Fabre’s Mount Olympus: To Glorify the Cult of Tragedy. 2016-06-08 20:47 1KB www.jpost.com 66 Tim Peake on the ISS: 'I miss the feeling of rain' British astronaut Tim Peake has been on the International Space Station for nearly six months, where the climate is unsurprisingly constant. 2016-06-08 20:44 653Bytes www.bbc.co.uk 67 Spreading the soothing word of poetry in Metulla The 19th annual Poetry Festival in Metulla will take place this year during Shavuot. 2016-06-08 20:40 1KB www.jpost.com 68 Texas congressman Filemon Vela tells Donald Trump to 'shove it up your...' A Hispanic congressman from Texas, angered by Donald Trump's attacks on an American-born judge of Mexican descent, penned an open letter to the presumptive GOP presidential nominee telling him to "take your border wall and shove it up your ass. " 2016-06-08 19:07 7KB www.chron.com 69 Results: Texans head to the polls for runoff elections Polls opened Tuesday for a small array of Harris County runoffs, including races to nominate a Democratic sheriff candidate and tap a Republican county party chairman. 2016-06-08 19:07 1KB www.chron.com 70 Saviour needs saving? Social media erupts over Lord Swaminarayan dressed in RSS khaki A Surat-based temple dressing up the idol of Lord Swaminarayan in the khaki outfit of a RSS pracharak has caused a major storm on social media platforms with people criticising the move 2016-06-08 20:34 3KB www.mid-day.com 71 Clinton, Trump draw lines for ill-tempered campaign battle By Steve Holland WASHINGTON, June 8 (Reuters) - U. S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump kicked off a fierce general election battle, wi... 2016-06-08 18:18 6KB www.dailymail.co.uk 72 India-South Korea jointly hold anti-piracy operations at Chennai coast A South Korean coast guard ship, on Wednesday arrived in Chennai coast, Tamil Nadu, to take part in a joint exercise 'Sshyog-Hyeoblyeog-2016' which basically aims at anti-piracy operations and boosting naval ties 2016-06-08 20:27 1KB www.mid- day.com

73 Yad Vashem, Gives the Victims an Everlasting Name Nurit Greenger 2016-06-08 20:27 4KB www.jpost.com 74 Venkatesh Prasad applies for India head coach's post Former seam bowler Venkatesh Prasad has also thrown his hat into the ring by applying for the high profile head coach's job with the Indian cricket team. 2016-06-08 20:21 2KB www.mid-day.com 75 U. S. Supreme Court decision on UT affirmative action case expected this month The case has drawn the eyes of higher education leaders across the nation, fearful that the court could strike a blow to affirmative action policies. But experts said this week that's unlikely. Only seven justices will weigh in on the case, and the court has... 2016-06-08 23:15 4KB www.chron.com 76 Fake Twitter account trolls Texas State Rep. Poncho Nevarez hard A Texas state representative on Wednesday got a lesson in not believing everything you read online. 2016-06-08 23:15 2KB www.chron.com 77 Mark Cuban really wants you to know Donald Trump isn't that rich Dallas Mavericks owner and Three Commas Club member Mark Cuban believes that Donald Trump is not a fellow billionaire. 2016-06-08 23:15 3KB www.chron.com 78 Here’s mud in your eye — for a good cause and workout KMorgan 1282 posts 2016-06-08 21:39 6KB www.thetribunepapers.com 79 Yahoo - Yahoo Announces Editorial Plans for 2016 Summer Games --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ( : YHOO) today announced its full global editorial lineup for the 2016 in... 2016-06-08 18:46 2KB investor.yahoo.net 80 Asia Times News & Features – Asia Times AKTOBE, Kazakhstan (Reuters) – One of the men blamed by authorities in Kazakhstan for an armed raid on a national guard base... 2016-06-08 12:44 4KB atimes.com 81 Local officials drop Southlawn gang injunction lawsuit A civil lawsuit that initially would have permanently banned 92 accused gang members from a court-ordered "safety zone" in southeast Houston was dismissed Monday by the Harris County Attorney and District Attorney's Office. "The lawsuit is being dismissed to allow time to develop and... 2016-06-08 23:06 2KB www.chron.com 82 Veteran-turned-teacher testifies pep rally triggered his PTSD Seidel took the witness stand on the first day of trial in his federal civil case against the New Caney Independent School District in Montgomery County, saying school officials failed to provide the accommodations he needed for post-traumatic stress disorder. A jury in U. S... 2016-06-08 23:06 5KB www.chron.com 83 The pettiness behind gun-related violence in Texas Violence is never the answer, and yet some Texans are finding strange reasons to commit acts of brutality on their fellow man. 2016-06-08 23:06 1KB www.chron.com 84 34% of WPP shareholders rebel over boss Sir Martin Sorrell's £70m pay deal More than a third of shareholders in advertising giant WPP refused to back boss Sir Martin Sorrell's mammoth £70 million pay deal as it was accused of a "his... 2016-06-08 18:46 4KB www.dailymail.co.uk 85 Pressure builds on Bernie Sanders to drop out of race Pressure is building on Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders to drop out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. 2016-06-08 21:28 4KB www.bbc.co.uk 86 French strikes spread to bin collections ahead of Euro 2016 With two days to go before the start of the Euro 2016 tournament, Paris and other French cities are hit by a bin strike. 2016-06-08 21:28 2KB www.bbc.co.uk 87 Europe floods: Storms and heavy rain batter continent Stormy weather continues to batter parts of Europe as floodwaters recede in France and Germany. 2016-06-08 21:28 2KB www.bbc.co.uk

88 Russia unveils new passenger plane it says will rival Boeing, Airbus MOSCOW, June 8 (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday presented a new medium-range passenger plane which state media said was superior to its Western-made counterpa... 2016-06-08 20:10 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 89 Irish story 'The Glorious Heresies' wins Bailey's prize LONDON (AP) — Lisa McInerney's debut novel "The Glorious Heresies" has won the Bailey's Women's Prize for fiction. McInerney beat five other finalists with t... 2016-06-08 20:04 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk 90 NDFP sees peace deal within 6-9 months of Duterte administration DAVAO CITY—The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) sees the signing of a peace deal, through an accelerated framework, within six to nine months of the incoming 2016-06-08 20:04 1KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 91 EU businesses anxious to end Russia sanctions MOSCOW (AP) — In a sign of the growing frustration amid companies across Europe to get back to business as usual, the French Senate overwhelmingly voted Wedn... 2016-06-08 16:36 6KB www.dailymail.co.uk 92 'IDF is not encouraging illegal infiltration' Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan says that such activities “are meant to strengthen the feeling of solidarity in Israeli communities. " 2016-06-08 19:59 4KB www.jpost.com 93 Woman killed while husband slashed by maid in Singapore SINGAPORE -- When his wife did not go into their room to watch television on Tuesday evening as usual, business owner Ong Thiam Soon, 57, went looking for her in their three-story house in Telok 2016-06-08 19:58 3KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 94 Are you Bear Aware? Tips on what to say & do if you see one Stephanie Jochum-Natt with Wild Aware Utah tells us what to do if we encounter a bear in the wild. Black bears are Utah’s largest predators. Thousands of them live in our forests and mountains— ofte… 2016-06-08 19:54 1KB fox13now.com

95 Maine Sunday Telegram News D’Kota Rowe, 21, of Wilton, and Einer Bonilla, 22, formerly of Nebraska, appeared before Judge William Stokes for their... 2016-06-08 12:31 7KB www.pressherald.com 96 Great horned owl gives heartwarming hug to man who saved her life VANCLEAVE, Mississippi — When she arrived at an animal rescue in Mississippi, a great horned owl named GiGi was one of the sickest and most hurt wild birds they’d ever seen. They never … 2016-06-08 19:51 1KB fox13now.com 97 How Leytonstone Tube attack unfolded As a man is found guilty of attacking Tube passengers with a knife at Leytonstone station, BBC News looks at how events unfolded. 2016-06-08 19:51 690Bytes www.bbc.co.uk 98 Donald Trump's Cinco de Mayo taco tweet has us asking a lot of questions Donald Trump spent his first full day as the presumptive Republican nominee for president promoting taco bowls. 2016-06-08 20:22 1KB www.chron.com 99 Donald Trump celebrates with McDonald's, as does a controversial supporter Donald Trump celebrated clinching the Republican nomination Thursday with a rare wine from France's Burgundy worth thousands of dollars. 2016-06-08 20:22 1KB www.chron.com 100 Bobby Brown claims he had sex with a ghost Contact WND (PEOPLE) — Bobby Brown’s 20/20 interview with Robin Roberts is already making waves for his candid revelations about the deaths of wife Whitney Houston and daughter Bobbi Kristina. But amid the emotional conversation was another, more otherworldly Brown bombshell: the former New Edition member... 2016-06-08 19:48 1KB www.wnd.com Articles

Total 100 articles, created at 2016-06-09 00:22

1 Reuters: Top News - powered by FeedBurner (1.04/2) LONDON (Reuters) - The career of Russian former world number one Maria Sharapova was in tatters on Wednesday after she was given a two-year ban by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) following her positive test for the banned drug meldonium.

FOXNews.com - powered by FeedBurner feeds.foxnews.com 2016-06-08 12:35 feeds.reuters.com

2 Zuma crashes Gauteng party (1.03/2) Zuma had not been scheduled to speak at the provincial rally at Soweto's FNB Stadium after fierce opposition to his presence by some sections of the Gauteng ANC leadership. But provincial ANC deputy chairman David Makhura announced yesterday that chairman Paul Mashatile and Zuma would give the main speeches at the rally. A provincial executive committee member, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Times that Mashatile and other leaders had at first insisted that the provincial leadership lead the rally. At a recent meeting of the party's provincial general council, Zuma said that he would attend the rally even if he were not invited. The provincial leadership excluded Zuma from the Gauteng event and he was scheduled to address a rally in Mpumalanga tomorrow. Zuma's picture and name were featured on all adverts for that rally. But late last week it was decided that the Mpumalanga conference would be postponed to Sunday and that Zuma would address the rally at FNB Stadium tomorrow and Mpumalanga's one the day after. It is believed that the ANC's head of campaigns, Nomvula Mokonyane, also took issue with the Gauteng ANC's reluctance or refusal to invite Zuma to the event. With Gauteng expected to be one of the most tightly contested provinces in the August 3 elections, Makhura yesterday insisted that the provincial leadership would put up only its most trusted people as mayoral candidates. Said Makhura: "We will not put up mayoral candidates that will struggle to hit the ground running. We are confident in the extent to which we have invested in capacity. "As far as the three metros that we are leading are concerned, we do not fear losing them because they have been able to drive really progressive socio-economic change. " Makhura believed the ANC would retain the Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipalities. Provincial executive committee member Jacob Khawe told The Times that regional structures could select their top three candidates "according to their own preference" but were encouraged to consider experience, gender and age.

ANC supporters start to fill up FNB stadium for manifesto launch timeslive.co.za Food vendors cashing in at ANC manifesto launch timeslive.co.za 2016-06-09 00:21 OLEBOGENG MOLATLHWA www.timeslive.co.za

3 'We need to wake up and pray as a nation' - celebs speak out on Jesus Dome burning (1.00/2) The fire, which destroyed much of the building, made headlines as people rushed to social media to share the news of the blaze and offer their prayers and support for its congregation. Among some of these messages, were those from local celebrities who used their platforms and influence to offer condolences to those affected. "Whatever this is, God will have the last say. Our prayers are with the leadership and congregants of Durban Christian Centre," wrote musician Kabelo Mabalane. He was joined in prayer by rapper Chad Da Don, who shared a picture of the blaze next to a caption reading: "Our prayers and support are with Durban Christian Centre and Dr Fred Roberts and pastor John Torrens after the devastating fire!! " As social media users shared bible scriptures to strengthen each other, popular gospel star Ntokozo Mbatha shared one of her favourite verses as a tribute to victims of the tragedy. "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” ​Ephesians ​6:13 ​ (NKJV​) Sending our prayers to Pastors John & Joy Torrens, the leadership & congregation at DCC Jesus Dome #JesusIsStillLord," she added. The blaze provided a moment of introspection for many, in a nation that has been plagued by fire and protest action in recent months. It's a situation that was not lost on rapper Aewon Wolf. The A Week Ago artist used the tragedy to call on South Africans to stay aware and to pray for our country.

Don’t discount terror threat in Durban fire probe‚ Sanco urges timeslive.co.za 2016-06-09 00:21 Kyle Zeeman www.timeslive.co.za

4 Media covering Rody still left out in the cold (1.00/2) DAVAO CITY—At least Digong proved to them he’s for real, even for once. Journalists covering President-elect Rodrigo Duterte got a taste of what it felt like being snubbed by arguably the most loquacious occupant of Malacañang. Members of the media, among them Rico Hizon, the Filipino anchor of the BBC World News, were barred from entering the presidential guesthouse compound in Barangay Panacan where Duterte met with outgoing Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and other members of the Liberal Party on Tuesday night. “He’s just being consistent,” Duterte’s spokesperson, Salvador Panelo, told the Inquirer on Wednesday. “He did not call a press conference (anyway). Why would you be allowed to go inside?” he said. “There will be no more press conferences. Go blame your flippant colleagues who were asking wrong questions and attributing wrong quotes.” Panelo, lawyer until December of the family blamed for the murder of 58 people, including 32 media workers, in Maguindanao province in 2009, said some journalists who were attending Duterte’s late-night news briefings “should study journalism again.” Security was tight outside Duterte’s temporary office, popularly known as Malacañang of the South, which is located inside the regional office of the Department of Public Works and Highways. Since his proclamation as winner of the May 9 presidential balloting, Duterte has been holding meetings and press briefings at the guesthouse. But the situation has changed drastically. On Tuesday, only the crew of the state-owned People’s Television Network 4 (PTV 4) were allowed entry by members of the Presidential Security Group and private security personnel manning the main gate. Reporters and crew of other news agencies spent more than six hours waiting for an official statement about what had transpired during Duterte’s meeting with Belmonte’s group. A Manila-based television reporter, who flew here to report on Duterte’s activities, said the outgoing Davao City mayor’s decision to ban journalists was tantamount to “restriction” on the freedom of the press. “Journalists and politicians are expected to be hostile to each other because they have different interests,” said the TV reporter, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal from his superiors. “He may not like our reports, but we have the duty to inform the public. President-elect Duterte should understand and recognize the important role of the media in a democracy,” he said. “Is this part of the change that he has promised us?” Panelo said the incoming President, who has been flip-flopping on his public statements since the campaign, was keen on keeping his word to boycott the media “for the rest of his term, unless he changes his mind.” “He said that he will do that for the rest of his term. There will be no more press conferences,” Panelo said. On Sunday, Duterte told a television network that he had decided to spurn media interviews in an apparent retaliation for the call of an international media watchdog to boycott his news briefings until he issues a public apology. “That’s it. I don’t want to be interviewed. If I commit a mistake, there will be more criticisms,” Duterte said. “So it’s better (if there’s) no interview, no criticisms, no wrong statements, no nothing. (I will just) shut up. I really don’t want it.” Panelo said Duterte’s order not to let reporters enter the guesthouse compound should not be taken as a restriction on the movement of the media. He said there were other ways to get information about the incoming Duterte administration. For one, he said PTV 4 would be releasing video footage of Duterte’s official functions. Panelo said reporters may also interview him and the heads of government agencies and departments. He said Duterte’s media team would likewise issue official press statements regularly. “How can that be a restriction? In fact, it would be better because we will now have official statements of (Duterte). You can no longer distort it, you cannot deviate from it. You can only quote it,” he said.

Davao rich bankrolled Rody newsinfo.inquirer.net 2016-06-09 00:21 Marlon Ramos newsinfo.inquirer.net

5 Duterte spent over P371M for successful campaign; Binay poured P463M (1.00/2) MANILA — President-elect Rodrigo Duterte spent over P371 million in his campaign for Malacañang, bankrolled largely by big businessmen and patrons from Davao City, according to his statement of contributions and expenditures (SOCE) submitted to the Commission on Elections (Comelec). June 8, Wednesday , was the deadline for the submission of campaign expenditure reports. Outgoing Vice President Jejomar Binay invested a bigger amount, P463.45 million, in his failed bid for the presidency, while Sen. Miriam Defensor- Santiago was the most frugal, spending only P74.6 million. Documents submitted to the Comelec also showed that former Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr., son of the late banana magnate Antonio Floirendo Sr., made the biggest contribution to Duterte’s campaign, P75 million, or 20 percent of the total contributions to the electoral war chest of the long-time mayor of Davao City. The campaign expense report submitted by Duterte’s representatives on Wednesday showed that Floirendo donated P25 million in cash in March and P50 million in April. In total, Duterte received P375,009,474.90 million, of which over P298 million was in cash and the rest in kind, such as tables and chairs, lights and sound systems, campaign posters and vehicles for motorcades. Duterte’s expense report also showed he had P3.5 million left. Duterte reported that he spent P200,000 of his own money for his campaign. Among his other top contributors were Dennis Uy of Davao-based Phoenix Petroleum (P30 million); Samuel Uy of Davao farms and Davao Import Distributors Inc. (P30 million); Lorenzo Te of Honda Cars Davao (P30 million); Tomas Alcantara, chair and president of the Alsons Group (P12 million); brother Nicasio Alcantara (P16 million) and Felix Ang, president of CATS Motors Inc. (P10 million). Binay’s expense report showed that there was over P77,000 left of the total P463,453,000 cash contributions to his presidential campaign. Santiago’s report stated that she had spent all of the P74,652,689.87, which was identified as “in-kind” contributions received from her political party, People’s Reform Party. Among the six vice presidential candidates, Vice President-elect Leni Robredo had the biggest expenditure, amounting to over P418 million. Robredo’s report showed that she received a total of P423,163,737.34, of which over P406 million was cash received from various sources; more than P192,000 in kind from various sources, and P16 million in kind from the Liberal Party. Her closest rival, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., reported that he spent only P140.54 million. Of this amount, P9.8 million was his own money. He received a total of P130.7 million in cash and in kind donations from various sources. Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero received over P322 million in contributions. Out of this amount, he spent P320.5 million. His report showed that he did not use personal funds for his vice presidential campaign. Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, Duterte’s running mate, reported receiving P188.9 million in donations. Of this amount, he spent P189.12 million, of which P199,872.48 was his own money. Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV received P61.16 million in donations. He shelled out P736,569 from his own pocket, spending a total of P61.89 million for his failed vice presidential bid. Sen. Gringo Honasan spent the least among the vice presidential candidates, paying only P26.25 million for his campaign. He received P25.9 million in cash and in kind donations from various sources and spent P296,449.20 of his own money. Among the senatorial candidates who submitted their SOCE before 5 p.m. yesterday, former Metro Manila Development Authority chair Francis Tolentino spent the biggest amount in his attempt to win a seat in the Senate at P199.15 million; followed by winning senatorial candidates Joel Villaneuva (P163.78 million), Sherwin Gatchalian (P157.07 million) and Ralph Recto (P131.87 million). Losing senatorial candidates Isko Moreno and outgoing Sen. Teofisto Guingona III spent over P120 million and P92.30 million, respectively. SFM Davao rich bankrolled Rody newsinfo.inquirer.net 2016-06-08 20:29 Jocelyn R newsinfo.inquirer.net

6 DA: Parliament must call SABC to account over ‘rampant censorship’ after SAfm show axed (0.01/2) The party’s Phumzile van Damme said on Tuesday that “censorship at the SABC ahead of the local government election has reached crisis proportions” after its spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago on Monday night confirmed the axing of the show. Kganyago said he didn’t understand the furore over the issue‚ and said it was part of a “revamping” and “The Editors” was an “old” show dating back to the 1980s. Van Damme countered that it “is a very popular programme on SAfm on Sunday mornings where the political events of the week are critically analysed‚ debated and discussed by newspaper journalists and editors”. “The programme has been a bone of contention for the ANC for many years as its poor record as a governing party is often discussed‚” she said. “Through the years the ANC has attempted to have the show canned‚ and failed.” Van Damme said the “DA will be calling on the Portfolio Committee on Communications to return to Parliament in order to be fully briefed by the SABC’s management on the rampant censorship”. She cited other examples of censorship under chief executive officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng as being the “attempted banning of call-ins‚ the canning of Vuyo Mvoko’s talk show‚ banning of footage of violent protests and the censorship of DA adverts”.

DA’s metro mayoral hopefuls to give joint briefing timeslive.co.za 2016-06-09 00:21 TMG Digital www.timeslive.co.za

7 Jharkhand Board 12th Result 2016 Jharresults.nic.in: JAC Intermediate Arts Results to be announced Tomorrow, 9th June on jac.nic.in (0.01/2) June 9 is the big day for all the students awaiting their Jharkhand 12 th Arts Result 2016! As per the latest report, the Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) is expected to announce the Jharkhand Board Intermediate Arts Result 2016 tomorrow, 9 th June 2016. After the formal declaration, students will be able to check their JAC Results 2016 online on the official website jac.nic.in and jharresults.nic.in. Alternatively, students from can also check their Jharkhand Board Intermediate Arts Results 2016 on http://www.jagranjosh.com/results/jac-12th-result-2016-12th-130414 . Check Jharkhand 12 th Intermediate Arts Result 2016 on jharkhand12.jagranjosh.com The JAC Intermediate Result 2016 for arts stream students is expected to be made public through a brief declaration ceremony at Ranchi office. Jharkhand education minister Neera Yadav and JAC Chariman Dr. Arbind Prasad Singh are likely to preside over the declaration function for JAC Inter Result 2016. This year, the road for Jharkhand Intermediate Board Exam Results was rigged with several bumps and potholes. Firstly, the Jharkhand Intermediate Examination was delayed by a day (from 16th February to 17th February) due to strike / bandh called in by CPI (Maoist). Similarly, the Jharkhand 12 th Arts Result 2016 was also delayed again due to the indefinite strike by JAC employees since 25 April demanding job regularisation. However, despite all the odds Jharkhand Academic Council has implemented some damage control measures and announced May 25 as the final day for JAC Intermediate Arts Result 2016. How to check JAC Intermediate Result 2016 online? Students, who are unaware of the checking procedure for Jharkhand 12 th Arts Result, can follow the simple steps given below to check their JAC Results 2016 online. * Visit jharkhand12.jagranjosh.com * Select relevant stream i.e. Jharkhand 12 th Arts Result 2016 * Enter your hall ticket / admit card number along with other important details * Click on the submit button * Check your Jharkhand 12 th Result 2016 online * Download softcopy PDF or take printout Students are advised to maintain a copy of JAC Result obtained online for reference purposes, until the official documents are issued by the JAC. Last Year’s Jharkhand 12 th Result 2016 Students, who are nervous about receiving the JAC Intermediate Result 2016, can have a look at statistics and records from last year in order to gain familiarity with the JAC Result pattern. This will also help candidates set realistic expectations with respect to JAC Intermediate Result 2016. In 2015, of the total student participation of 3,11,359 students, a respectable 88.93% candidates managed to pass the examination with flying colours. Girls managed to edge past boys in the JAC 12 th Result last year’s result. The overall pass percentage for girl students was 87.64% whereas boys recorded 86.54% success ratio. Looking at the increased participation of 3,89,592 in this year’s exam, the JAC is anticipating a rise in the overall pass percentage by a significant margin in the upcoming Jharkhand Intermediate Result 2016. Midday team wish the candidates good luck for their results!

Tripura Higher Secondary (+2 Stage) Result 2016 Tbse.in: TBSE 12th arts and commerce Results Tripuraresults.nic.in to be declared Tomorrow, 9th June at 9:15AM mid-day.com 2016-06-08 20:42 By A www.mid-day.com

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

2016-06-09 00:21 The New www.nytimes.com

9 Sanco: ‘Taking selfies while torching buildings doesn’t promote patriotism’ The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) has done an about turn and has “thrown its full weight behind the Springboks” just days after it threatened demonstrations at the first Test between the Springboks and Ireland at Newlands. 2016-06-09 00:21 TMG Digital www.timeslive.co.za

10 Cope: The gun settles who wins and who loses in the ANC “Leaders who get to the top of the ANC mountain‚ mafia- style‚ are as the mafia would say‚ “made men” and “made women”‚ or like Mr Zuma‚ the ultimate ‘wise guy’‚” the party’s Dennis Bloem said. This comes after concern was raised about an uptick in violence between parties‚ and especially within parties‚ ahead of the local government elections on August 3. Bloem listed a number of people who were “either ANC councillors or ANC leaders” who had lost their lives‚ and asked: “Why did they have to die so violently?” He answered his own question by quoting ANC deputy secretary- general Jessie Duarte‚ who said the violence is being prompted by “a fight about resources and power and leadership greed”. “She diagnosed it correctly. Unfortunately that is how it will continue and more young leaders will lose their lives. The fight is getting dirty and very dangerous‚” said Bloem. “It is not hard to explain why violence is becoming endemic. Mr Zuma graphically demonstrated that the pot of glittering gold lies at the top of the peak. If you get there then you have had it made. “The ANC of today wants no impediments in the exercise of power. ANC top dogs will brook no opposition and exercise no constraint because the rewards are so extensive. The motto ‘now is our time to eat’ governs how the ANC exists and how it rules.” ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe this week tackled the issue of the fight to make it on to its candidate list: “Development is so distorted in SA‚ when you are a councillor … it is one of the most decent jobs in town.” – TMG Digital

2016-06-09 00:21 TMG Digital www.timeslive.co.za

11 Zuma to discuss regional trade issues in Lesotho Zuma is the chair of the SACU Summit‚ which is an African regional economic organisation whose member states are Botswana‚ Lesotho‚ Namibia‚ South Africa and Swaziland. The Presidency on Tuesday said the consultations to be held in Lesotho were a follow-up to discussions held by SACU heads of state and government at the inauguration of the new headquarters building in Windhoek in November last year. “The discussions will also focus on progress in the implementation of the SACU work programme as adopted by the 2011 SACU Summit‚” spokesperson Bongani Ngqulunga said. “The deliberations will also consider regional‚ continental and global economic and trade developments and their impact on SACU.” SACU‚ at 105 years old‚ is one of the oldest customs unions in the world. On his visit to Lesotho‚ Zuma will be accompanied by International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane‚ Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. In April this year‚ Zuma travelled to Botswana‚ Namibia and Swaziland for similar consultations on SACU. According to SACU’s website‚ the economic structure linked member states by a single tariff and no customs duties between them. It has been a busy year for Zuma who has travelled to around 14 countries since January. Questions have been raised concerning the presidential jet‚ which has reportedly had some technical difficulties. While in Qatar last month‚ the presidential plane‚ Inkwazi‚ broke down which resulted in an alternative aircraft having to be sourced to enable Zuma to return home. Shortly after that there were reports that the president refused to fly because he allegedly feared he was being sabotaged. However‚ the Presidency denied this saying the reports were misleading. “The Presidency requested that a reliable aircraft be made available on 23 May 2016 in order to avoid another inconvenience too soon after Qatar‚” it said at the time. In March this year‚ Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula confirmed that her department would acquire a new presidential jet‚ but denied that there was a preferred option or that an amount of R4-billion. – TMG Digital/BDlive

2016-06-09 00:21 Genevieve Quintal www.timeslive.co.za

12 Why is the EFF's Mbuyiseni Ndlozi the people's bae? The feisty fighter seems to have won the hearts of women all over the country. But why is Ndlozi the people's bae? 1. When he’s is not wearing his red party regalia‚ Ndlozi has a taste for the finest suits and watches. 2. Ndlozi developed an interest in politics at a very young age‚ making him the youngest member of his political party in Parliament at the age of 31. 3. He is also a smarty pants as a PhD candidate in political sociology from the University of the Witwatersrand. 4. It seems there is nothing the people's bae can’t do‚ as he has also turned out to be a good singer. 5. Ndlozi is a master of spin and has a way with words‚ as is often heard with the snappy chirps during debates in parliaments. 6. He has a charming smile. 7. He hails from humble beginnings and was born in the Vaal and raised in Everton. He has adoring fans all over social media. This is what some of his fans had to say on Twitter: Trang Pek @SadieWiggles said‚ "Mbuyiseni Ndlozi has what it takes to make me vote the EFF. " Sibonhiseni @Sbongiseni¬_G added that: "Mbuyiseni Ndlozi has quite a nice singing voice. The people's bae is everything. " Said Senzwa M @SenzwaM: "@MbuyiseniNdlozi you seem to have a taste of finest things from Africa. i'm sure boys see a chaps chap in you while girls see a peoples bae.” "I think I am falling in love with @MbuyiseniNdlozi. The people's bae‚" said Lerato Molele.

2016-06-09 00:21 Julia Madibogo www.timeslive.co.za

13 Erdogan approves lifting of MPs' immunity Erdogan's approval came late Tuesday, less than a month after parliament adopted the highly controversial reform, which lifts the immunity of 138 deputies from all parties who face potential prosecution. The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) says the measure, drafted and backed by Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), is squarely aimed at expelling its members from parliament. Erdogan's government sees the HDP as a political front for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), considered a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies. The reform could see dozens of HDP deputies facing criminal prosecution and losing parliamentary seats on accusations of supporting the PKK, which has waged a three-decade insurgency in the southeast. Should a number of HDP deputies leave parliament, it would ease the way for Erdogan to realise his aim of changing the constitution to create a presidential system and further beef up his powers. The HDP, the third largest party group in parliament, has said the bill, passed by parliament on May 20, could lead to the prosecution of 50 of its deputies out of its total contingent of 59. Earlier this month, the HDP's charismatic co-leader Selahettin Demirtas said he was "not afraid of being put on trial". He said however that the accusations he and other party MPs faced stemmed from a search for "political revenge". German Chancellor Angela Merkel last month told Erdogan of her "deep concern" over the law. Following the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in mid-2015, Turkey has been waging an intense offensive against PKK militants and the renewed conflict has claimed hundreds of lives.

2016-06-09 00:21 AFP www.timeslive.co.za

14 Tougher laws to deal with infrastructure vandals now in effect The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development says the implementation of the Criminal Matters Amendment Act of 2015 will come into effect as from Wednesday. The act was signed into law by President Jacob Zuma in December last year. The law provides for stricter measures relating to bail and sentencing in respect of essential infrastructure-related offences. In terms of the new act‚ only the courts will deal with bail applications for essential infrastructure-related crimes. It removes the discretion of police officials and prosecutors to grant bail to suspects charged with essential infrastructure-related offences. The act further provides for the possibility of up to 30 years imprisonment or a fine not exceeding R100-million in the case of a corporate body. It is envisaged that the act will boost investor confidence in the country. “The public sector and the private business cannot operate fully without communication capabilities if Telkom cables are stolen. This situation necessitates drastic legislative intervention‚” Justice Minister Michael Masutha said on Wednesday. He said that‚ as of October 2015‚ the South African economy lost to a tune of about R5.7-billion per year as result of theft and vandalism of the essential infrastructure. The announcement comes a few days after Telkom announced it was ramping up efforts to migrate customers to wireless and fibre technologies to tackle copper cable theft syndicates. Telkom said cable theft cost the company over R200-million in the 2015 financial year - R100 million in direct cable theft repair cost and an additional R107-million which was spent on security services.

2016-06-09 00:21 Ernest Mabuza www.timeslive.co.za

15 Role of euro declines in global monetary system - ECB Battered by years of crisis and anaemic growth, the role of the euro has been in decline for years with rock- bottom interest rates and negative yields also weighing on demand. The share of the euro in foreign exchange reserves fell 0.6 percentage point last year to 19.9 percent, its sixth straight annual fall, hitting its lowest level since 2000, the ECB said. "Moreover, the share of the euro in foreign exchange reserves has fallen by almost three percentage points since its peak in 2009, i.e. before the onset of the euro area sovereign debt crisis," the ECB said in an annual report on the role of the euro. "The euro remained the second-most important currency in the international monetary system, but with a significant gap to the U. S. dollar," the ECB added. Although the U. S. dollar remains the most widely used currency, its role has also been in slow decline, providing further evidence of a move towards greater multipolarity in the international monetary system, the ECB said. The ECB added that part of the fall in euro-denominated currency reserves may be due to China starting to report some of its holdings to the IMF, a major impact on the composition of global reserves given the country's size. In foreign currency-denominated debt issuance, the share of the euro fell 10.5 percentage point to 21.9 percent while in cross border loans, it fell 6.7 percent to 21.3 percent. However, in outstanding international debt securities, outstanding international loans and outstanding international deposits, the share of the euro rose slightly last year. "The share of the euro in outstanding international debt securities rebounded slightly in 2015, but remains well below the levels seen before the onset of the financial crisis when measured at constant exchange rates," the ECB said.

2016-06-09 00:21 REUTERS www.timeslive.co.za

16 Danger awaits reigning champions Spain at Euro The 2008 and 2012 champions are looking to avoid a repeat of their disastrous showing at the World Cup in Brazil two years ago and they come up against Croatia, Turkey and the Czech Republic in Group D. "We go there with the maximum objective. And that is to defend the title we won four years ago," Del Bosque told sports daily Marca before La Roja departed for their base camp on the delightful Ile de Re off France's Atlantic coast. "It is the same situation as in 2012, but with a bit more responsibility because we are defending two consecutive titles. "But we must differentiate between what is an objective and what is an obligation. Winning the title cannot be an obligation. " Del Bosque, 65, says that because his squad has changed significantly since 2012. Perhaps six of those who played in the 4-0 final win against Italy in Kiev will start against the Czech Republic in Toulouse next Monday. But this could be the time for the likes of Koke, Alvaro Morata and Lucas Vazquez to shine. "We need to make the most of the players we have," Del Bosque said, signalling a possible move away from the 'tiki-taka' style of past tournaments. "Lucas Vazquez has pace and can trouble defences, while you can't argue with Aritz Aduriz's statistics. If in three touches we manage to get to the opposition goal then that is also great. " Finishing top of the group has to be the aim, with Belgium or Italy potential last-16 opponents for the Group D runners-up. If any team goes through in third France could lie in wait. Spain will hope to have their last-16 berth sewn up before they face a dangerous Croatia side in Bordeaux in their last group match. Ante Cacic's men represent a small nation but their strength in depth is impressive and Spain know all about Real Madrid's Luka Modric and his fellow midfielder Ivan Rakitic, of Barcelona. Mateo Kovacic of Real Madrid and Juventus centre-forward Mario Mandzukic are also involved for a side who arrive in France as dangerous dark horses, even if Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren will not feature. "Our group is challenging. But, nevertheless, I believe that we can pass the first round, and then in the knockout stage everything depends on the opponent in front of us," Cacic told World Soccer magazine. "You need to have the best morale and harmony. We have those ingredients. " The Czech Republic travel with an excellent past record in European Championships but a squad lacking the star quality of their rivals. Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech, the country's most-capped player, remains the biggest name at Pavel Vrba's disposal. Veteran midfielder Tomas Rosicky, now 35, is still around despite hardly playing at club level for Arsenal in recent times. The Euro 96 runners-up topped their qualifying group after beating the Netherlands home and away and defeating Turkey away. They will face the Turks again in their last Group D game in Lens, one that could prove decisive for both teams. Turkey, under 'Emperor' Fatih Terim in his third stint as coach, recovered from a dreadful start in qualifying to advance as the best third-placed team. Their squad contains plenty of young talent supplemented by Bayer Leverkusen's Hakan Calhanoglu, a brilliant free-kick taker, and skipper Arda Turan of Barcelona. "We have a young squad who wants to prove itself. And everybody knows hungry people are dangerous," Turan told World Soccer. "Our coach tells us that if we fight, we can make a big surprise. I tell you, we're going to fight! "

2016-06-09 00:21 AFP www.timeslive.co.za

17 Is Zuma's plane being downed by a lack of trained engineers and mechanics? The last of the AMG/Denel support personnel have been laid off‚ resulting in serious implications for aircraft serviceability and safety - including that of the presidential Boeing Business Jet‚ Defence Web reports. The Inkwaze was found to have leaking fuel pipes when it landed in Doha‚ Qatar‚ earlier this month. This followed another technical problem with the jet recently that left the president unable to leave Burundi. Defence Web says a long-standing contract between the SAAF and Aero Manpower Group (AMG)‚ a Denel business unit‚ had provided specialist technical and support personnel who were responsible for the maintenance and airworthiness of a variety of SAAF aircraft‚ including those in the VIP squadron‚ at bases across the country. However‚ the last group of support personnel were laid off at the end of April this year. Amongst those lost to the SAAF are all seven AMG technicians who were licenced to work on the president’s plane. Defence Web said the SAAF had decided in 2011 to terminate the AMG contract because it had been declared irregular by the Auditor General. Trade union Solidarity previously warned that at least 75% of the 523 Denel employees were in the scarce and critical skills band‚ “without which efficient functioning of the SAAF will not be possible”. However‚ the SA Air Force told Defence Web that the SAAF had in a timely fashion identified the associated risks pertaining to the loss of the AMG/Denel personnel and had embarked on a skills transfer process.

2016-06-09 00:21 TMG Digital www.timeslive.co.za

18 Woman gets R5000 bail on R5 million fraud charge The Springboks will go into their three-test series against Ireland with new faces who are expected to make an impact in their first outing in the green and gold of the national team.

2016-06-09 00:21 TMG Digital www.timeslive.co.za

19 iFani tightens his grip on R100 million donation plans Last week the star revealed that he has a plan to donate the money to education by the end of his fourth album. "I will donate at least a hundred million to education. I'm on my second quadrant. After my fourth I'm done. So by that time I will give that money to education," he told UJFM's AB Dacosta in an interview. But how will he ever reach the milestone if he seems to have fallen off of the face of the earth? Well, fear not! iFani announced this week that following a brief break he is again available for public shows. "My bookings are now officially opened. I'm back and ready to kill shows again. I'm ready to share this new light, this new me, this new sound," he wrote in a social media statement. He also revealed that he has been working with celebrated producer Heavy K on a collaboration that he promises will get the country dancing. "Heavy K and I have decided to make a song tonight. Just for fun. For the dance floors in PE. In Soweto. In KwaMashu. For Hamaanskraal. For Blawa," he added. iFani has spoken before of his new resolve and how his music has changed since the release of his last album. The artist has been on a journey of self- discovery since the release went gold in one day and has been giving motivational speeches to educational institutions as part of his new drive. He recently revealed that following the conclusion of his fourth album he will retire from the music industry.

2016-06-09 00:21 Kyle Zeeman www.timeslive.co.za

20 Fitch affirms South Africa's credit rating, keeps stable outlook South Africa plunged into economic turmoil in December after President Jacob Zuma changed his finance minister twice in a week. It has since avoided downgrades from S&P Global Ratings and Moody's, giving policymakers more time to implement reforms to grow the economy, estimated to grow by less than 1 percent this year. In its statement, Fitch said the 'BBB-' rating reflects low trend GDP growth, significant fiscal and external deficits and high debt levels, which are balanced by strong policy institutions, deep local capital markets and a favourable government debt structure. “Strong policy institutions‚ deep local capital markets and a favourable government debt structure” were cited as balancing SA’s woes of “low trend gross domestic product growth‚ significant fiscal and external deficits‚ and high debt levels”‚ Fitch said in its report. GDP shrank 1.2% in the first quarter‚ Statistics SA said on Wednesday. To improve its BBB- rating‚ Fitch said‚ SA needed to build a track record of improved growth performance‚ for example bolstered by the successful implementation of growth-enhancing structural reforms. It also needed a marked narrowing in the budget deficit and a reduction in the ratio of government debt to gross domestic product‚ as well as a narrowing in the current account deficit and improvement in the country's net external debt to gross domestic product ratio. “Political risk has increased since the previous rating review in December‚ although it is not out of line with BBB peers‚” the report said. “The dismissal of two finance ministers in a week in December‚ and subsequent tensions between the new Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and other parts of the government have raised questions about the commitment of the government to sustained fiscal consolidation and prudent governance of state-owned enterprises. “President Jacob Zuma has become increasingly embattled following the Constitutional Court ruling that he should repay some public funds used to refurbish his Nkandla residence and the Gauteng High Court’s ruling that the previous suspension of a 2009 corruption case against Zuma was irrational. “Nevertheless‚ institutions have proved robust. “However‚ Fitch expects the governing African National Congress (ANC) may lose some support in local elections on August 3. “Tensions within the ANC are also increasing ahead of the conference in December 2017 to elect Zuma's successor as ANC president.” The rand‚ which had weakened by 8c to R14.98 after the news that the economy shrank 1.2% in the first quarter‚ recovered 10c from that level to R14.88 after the reprieve from Fitch. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan had said earlier on Wednesday that he was "keeping his fingers crossed" in the countdown to a rating review by Fitch and called for more concrete action to revive the economy – TMG Digital/BDlive

2016-06-09 00:21 Staff Reporter www.timeslive.co.za

21 South Africa's economy shrinks by 1.2%, raising prospect of recession Gross domestic product (GDP) data from Statistics SA showed on Wednesday that the economy shrank 1.2% in the first quarter of 2016 compared with growth of 0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2015. The Reserve Bank had expected the year-on-year figure to be "barely positive"‚ following year-on-year growth of just 0.5% in the final quarter of last year. Several economists‚ meanwhile‚ had feared a negative number‚ given that the agriculture and mining sectors are already in recession. Agriculture and mining production data for April are due for release on Thursday. Mining output has contracted for seven months in a row‚ and was the main factor in the contraction. The consensus‚ though‚ is that the first quarter is likely to mark the trough in 2016 GDP and that the economy will lift slightly in the second half to grow about 0.6% over the year as a whole. While international credit rating agencies have recently increased their focus on political factors in their assessments of SA‚ slow economic growth remains one of the main factors they cite as being a risk for a downgrade. SA recently received rating reprieves from Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s‚ and awaits Fitch’s decision‚ expected later on Wednesday. Tension between President Jacob Zuma and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is one of the political factors causing concern. The government has been at pains to refute talk that there is a war between them‚ and on Wednesday released photos from a meeting both attended to discuss how to boost economic growth and strengthen state-owned enterprises. Wednesday marks the first integrated release of GDP data by Statistics SA. In a move designed to produce more accurate national accounts‚ Stats SA has brought the entire measurement of GDP under its own roof. Since the 1940s‚ the Reserve Bank and Stats SA have split the measurement of GDP between them‚ with the Bank measuring GDP from the expenditure side of the economy and Stats SA responsible for using the production approach. Stats SA will now calculate GDP using both approaches. The number obtained using the production approach will still serve as SA’s official GDP figure. In the revisions to GDP under the new methodology‚ fourth-quarter growth came in slower than previously thought‚ at a seasonally adjusted and annualised 0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2015‚ revised from 0.6%. The GDP decline in the second quarter of 2015 was also deeper than initially thought. GDP contracted by 2% in the second quarter of 2015‚ revised from a 1.3% decline. Economic growth in the first quarter of 2015 was revised higher to 1.9% from 1.4% while that for the third quarter was lowered to 0.3% from 0.7% The economic growth rate for the year remained unchanged at 1.3%. – TMG Digital/BDlive

2016-06-09 00:21 Staff Writer www.timeslive.co.za

22 China wants PH to drop UN suit Faced with a setback in a United Nations arbitral court, China on Wednesday urged the Philippines to drop its legal tack and return to bilateral negotiation to settle their territorial dispute in the South China Sea. China did not say, however, whether it would stop building artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago or whether it would withdraw from Panatag Shoal, which it seized from the Philippines in 2012 after a two-month standoff with the Philippine Navy, to encourage negotiations. It was China’s seizure of Panatag Shoal, internationally known as Scarborough Shoal, that forced the Philippines to challenge China’s claim to almost all of the 3.5-million-square-kilometer South China Sea in the UN arbitration court in 2013. The Philippines asked the court to invalidate China’s sweeping claims and declare its right to exploit resources in waters within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) be honored. Ruling coming soon China has refused to take part in the proceedings, but the court has heard the case and is expected to hand down a ruling in the coming weeks. Expecting the ruling to go against it, China on Wednesday accused the Philippines of ignoring requests for dialogue about their dispute. “China urges the Philippines to immediately cease its wrongful conduct of pushing forward the arbitral proceedings, and return to the right path of settling the relevant disputes in the South China Sea through bilateral negotiation with China,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a statement posted on his ministry’s website. The statement, released in both Chinese and English, said the two countries agreed in 1995 to settle disputes in the South China Sea “in a peaceful and friendly manner through consultations on the basis of equity and mutual respect.” China and the Philippines have held many rounds of talks on the proper management of maritime disputes, though they have had no negotiations designed to settle the actual disputes in the South China Sea, the Chinese foreign ministry said. “China has on a number of occasions proposed with the Philippines the establishment of a China-Philippines regular consultation mechanism on maritime issues; however, to date, there has never been any response from the Philippine side,” it said. The ministry did not specify how such consultations would be different from the numerous exchanges the countries have had on the dispute. Reef grabbing It blamed the Philippines for the dramatic worsening in the two countries’ relations and in peace and stability in the South China Sea, but did not mention its actions that forced Manila to go to the United Nations for a peaceful settlement of the dispute. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) declined to comment. A department official familiar with the arbitration case said Manila was expecting the tribunal to hand down a ruling this month and it would rather remain quiet until then. In 1995, despite its proposal for talks, China seized Panganiban Reef (Mischief Reef), a reef 250 km west of Palawan province, and developed it into a shelter purportedly for fishermen. The Philippines protested China’s actions and when Beijing went on developing Mischief Reef, Manila grounded a rusting hospital ship on Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal) to mark Philippine territory in the Spratly archipelago. A small Marine garrison is stationed on the vessel, the BRP Sierra Madre, which is restocked regularly using private supply ships protected by US warplanes. Competing claims Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan have competing claims in the South China Sea, and they could benefit from the ruling of the UN arbitral court. China, however, has been building artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago to bolster its claim to the strategic waterway, which is crisscrossed by vital sea-lanes through which about $5 trillion in global shipborne trade passes every year and where islets, reefs and atolls are believed to be sitting atop vast energy reserves. Although saying it is not taking sides in the disputes, the United States has challenged China’s claims, sending warships and spy planes near the artificial islands in so-called freedom of navigation operations. At the end of security talks in Beijing on Tuesday, China told the United States it should play a constructive role in safeguarding peace in the South China Sea, as US Secretary of State John Kerry called for talks and a peaceful resolution. Comments both by Kerry and his Chinese counterpart, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, suggested that their governments remained far apart on the South China Sea disputes. “I reiterated America’s fundamental support for negotiations, and a peaceful resolution based on the rule of law, as well as, obviously, our concern about any unilateral steps by anyone, whichever country, to alter the status quo,” Kerry said during a joint appearance with Chinese officials in the Great Hall of the People. Yang, who steers Chinese foreign policy and is senior to the foreign minister, said China remained adamantly opposed to an arbitration case brought by the Philippines to assert its claims in the South China Sea. “This has not changed and will not change,” Yang said, repeating China’s position that it is willing to negotiate over the disputes, but only with each individual country holding a rival claim, rather than collectively. No enforcement powers Also on Tuesday, Australian security policy expert Christopher Roberts said the UN court’s ruling was expected to be in favor of the Philippines, but Manila needed its allies and friends to help enforce the ruling. The UN arbitral court has no powers to enforce its rulings, which have been ignored not a few times. Roberts, speaking at the South China Sea forum at the DFA, said a bilateral approach might not work to temper the “very disconcerting and assertive behavior of China” in the settlement of disputes. President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has said he is open to bilateral negotiations with China to solve the dispute, but is waiting for the UN tribunal’s ruling. “China is the elephant in the room. Taking a multilayered approach at diplomatic level could bring a collection of willing states to signal to China that there are the options available and it should decide on both economic and political gains and losses,” Roberts said in an interview after the forum. Wang, in the foreign ministry statement, said China “never accepts any recourse to third-party settlement, or any means of dispute settlement that is imposed on it.” He insisted that territorial sovereignty issues were not subject to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. “It is not only the Chinese government’s consistent policy, but also a clear agreement reached between China and the Philippines, to settle their relevant disputes in the South China Sea through negotiation,” Wang said. With reports from the wires

2016-06-09 00:21 Estrella Torres globalnation.inquirer.net

23 ‘Most powerful PH leader since Marcos’ Rodrigo Duterte is on course to becoming the Philippines’ most powerful President since his idol, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Former Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said that with a supermajority in the House of Representatives and the Senate in his first year and the upcoming vacancies on the Supreme Court that have to be filled, Duterte would have control of all three branches of government. The 71-year-old Duterte doesn’t even have to declare martial law, or form a revolutionary government, as he had threatened to do during the campaign period, Bello told the Inquirer. Bello said he was appalled by the emerging supermajority coalition in the next Congress even though Duterte’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) had only three members in the 290-strong House—Pantaleon Alvarez of Davao del Norte, Erik Martinez of Valenzuela, and Jun Papandayan of Lanao del Sur—and only Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III in the 24-member Senate. “Due to the shameless turncoatism of Liberal Party members desperate to preserve chairmanships of committees, we are left with no viable opposition or minority in Congress. At the beginning of Aquino’s term in 2010, there were at least around 30 members of the minority. Now you’re down to probably less than five,” said Bello. Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., LP vice chair, met with Duterte on Tuesday to signify the “daang matuwid” decision to join PDP-Laban’s Coalition for Change. Virtual dictatorship “I don’t blame people for regarding congressmen as rascals who are only out for themselves. And I won’t be surprised if Duterte treats these turncoats with the contempt they deserve,” said Bello. A few hours after Alvarez declared that the PDP-Laban had clinched a supermajority in the next Congress, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said a supermajority was being formed in the Senate with Pimentel as Senate President, the LP’s Frank Drilon as president pro tempore and the Nationalist People’s Coalition’s Vicente Sotto III as majority leader. “With Duterte appointing nine of retiring Supreme Court members by 2019, we are left with a very powerful President, the most powerful since Marcos,” said Bello. He said that with check and balance among government institutions “on the verge of extinction,” he was counting on civil society to serve as opposition to Duterte. But Bello said he did not expect too much resistance from civil society, which had been hit by divisions in its ranks. Challenge “I think even Duterte is probably surprised at how easy has been his walk to a virtual dictatorship,” he said. Duterte’s allies were quick to dismiss Bello’s fears of a virtual dictatorship as baseless because lawmakers would not agree to be a mere rubber stamp of the Chief Executive. Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, who declined Duterte’s offer to be his environment secretary, said the drive toward getting a supermajority in Congress, which would ensure passage of administration bills and thwart any attempt at impeachment, has become sort of a tradition in the post- Edsa Congress. “It’s not actually new that an incoming administration will attempt to marshal as many allies or form coalitions in both houses of Congress to push its priority legislative measures. Blame it on the current multiparty system where one can just easily jump from one party to another without any sanction at all,” Zarate said in an interview with the Inquirer. “As it was before, it is a continuing challenge for both houses of Congress to keep their independence, not being docile or a rubber stamp of the administration, or being an obstructionist,” he said. Zarate is a member of the Makabayan bloc, which could leave its traditional role as House fiscalizers in the 17th Congress as it pondered on the offer of Alvarez to join the majority coalition. “The Makabayan bloc, while maintaining its organizational independence, has already expressed its support to the propeople and propoor programs and agenda of the Duterte administration, as we continue to constructively engage it in other issues,” he said. State of flux The majority coalition in the House may include the Makabayan bloc, but no definite terms have been agreed on yet, as the “situation remains in flux,” Zarate said. Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe, interim head of the party-list bloc, said that while his group might be part of the majority, it did not mean members would follow Duterte all the time. “I don’t think it will happen since there will be issues that may require a conscience vote rather than toeing party lines. In the past, there were legislators who crossed party lines and supported or opposed measures based on their conscience or sentiments and needs of their constituents,” Batocabe told the Inquirer. Batocabe said strengthening the lobby system of interest groups and constituencies would enable them to be a major factor in the legislative process. “With more aggressive lobby groups, our legislators will be compelled to vote based on the needs of their interest groups and their constituents rather than the dictates of their parties,” said Batocabe. No rubber stamp Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, who is expected to be elected majority leader, disputed Bello’s view that Congress would be a rubber stamp. “It is a deliberative body where all its acts are open to public scrutiny. If Congress agrees with the legislative plan of the President, it will pass the necessary legislation, and when it does, it should not be considered a rubber stamp. Neither should it be considered a stumbling if it chooses to disagree by not legislating,” he said.

2016-06-09 00:21 Gil C newsinfo.inquirer.net

24 Adding more shlock to the shock The year 2016 is turning out to be an annus horribilis for the heretofore high-flying star, Johnny Depp. The first big blow in his recent one- two knockout punch was his relatively new wife’s sudden decision to divorce him! His aggrieved spouse, Amber Heard, who’s many years younger, used to rave about him as a lover and husband, so her newly negative tone has shocked their mutual friends. The Depp couple’s problems began months ago, when their pet dogs ran afoul of Australia’s quarantine laws, and their owners were penalized for their blithe ignorance or refusal to take Australia’s quarantine regulations seriously. The whole deal ended up very badly for the Depps, when they were forced by the threat of more stringent penalties to issue a public apology and admit their cavalier disdain for following rules. That abject apology ended up making it even worse for them, because they looked so vague and insincere when they taped it. They were thus roundly spoofed by many comedians and talk-show hosts, and their fans cringed in empathetic embarrassment. After that debacle, Johnny and Amber tried to pick up the pieces (and their controversial pups) and move on, but the bloom was clearly off the rose in their marriage. Cold feet It didn’t help that some insiders began to retroactively whisper that, even before they got married, Amber had gotten “cold feet” about the huge decision she was making to marry a much older man. On hindsight, she should have listened to her “inner voice”—but she didn’t, so she’s getting retroactively rapped for her mistake. Well, that’s all-knowing Monday-morning quarterbacking because, at the time, it looked like she had everything to gain from opting to become Mrs. Amber Depp. After all, the actor was universally famous and acclaimed, and was worth a very cool and hot $400 million—so it was easy to blame her premarital doubts on “wedding day jitters.” But she did finally decide to call the whole thing off and file for divorce last week—and the details of the case she filed against Johnny have added more shlock to the shock, because they’re really disturbing: Abuse Amber wailed that Johnny had been psychologically, verbally and physically abusive and—contrary to their lovey-dovey poses just weeks ago—made her life absolutely miserable. Cynical observers opine that much of the rancor on Amber’s part is par for the divorce course, and is intended to make the public sympathetic to her side in the split-up. Even more “profitably,” it could make her end up with a much bigger slice of their multimillion dollar financial pie—hence the hyped-up histrionics? As if these low blows weren’t enough, Johnny’s new cinematic starrer, “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” has turned out to be a disappointingly weak nonperformer at the box office. When it rains, it pours—and floods! 2016-06-09 00:21 Nestor U entertainment.inquirer.net

25 Iya and Drew–preparing for baby Antonio One can never be fully ready for a baby, pointed out television host and actress Iya Villania. But at the very least, she is prepared to take on the responsibilities having one entails. “I have gone to a breastfeeding seminar, and I plan to attend another one, this time on birthing. We will go over the different options I could take,” Iya, who is expected to give birth to a boy anytime between mid-August and early September, told the Inquirer at a recent press conference for the second season of GMA 7’s lifestyle show, “San Miguel Purefoods: Home Foodie.” “We have enjoyed ourselves and spent enough quality time the past two years,” she added. Iya and her husband, Drew Arellano, have likewise been seeking the advice of friends who already have their own families. “We read a lot of books and mobile applications for different tips,” related Iya, who tied the knot with Drew in January 2014. “They’re all very helpful.” Both Iya and Drew adore children, and they have never been more thrilled to have one of their own. In fact, the two often fantasize that the baby—whom they will name Antonio —is already with them. Looking forward “I am looking forward to breastfeeding; to hearing his first words; to seeing him sleep with us on our bed,” she said. “I’m also excited to see what kind of father Drew would be.” Drew, also a television host, and quite the adventure junkie, imagines bringing his kid to his travels. “Baby biyahero!” he said. “I see him just running around and me calling him over to snuggle him.” In “Home Foodie” (weekdays at 7:30 a.m., starting June 13), hosts Iya and Drew aim to inspire home cooks to reinvent or recreate traditional favorites, with the help of chefs Llena Tan-Arceñas, Rene Ruz and RJ Garcia, who will be giving tips and teaching food preparation techniques. But curiously, Iya said, she does not have strong craving for anything special or gourmet creations. But she does have random hankerings for fast food. “Sometimes, I will be in the mood for some french fries … Aside from that, nothing much really,” she said. “I was expecting her to have morning sickness, serious cravings and mood swings, but there’s none. It is like she isn’t even pregnant,” Drew said. “Like she just happened to have a bump!” “Sometimes, my mother would tease me … tell me to pretend that I want some peculiar, tough-to-find food,” Iya added, laughing. “Just to make things a teeny bit harder for Drew!” After Iya gives birth, the couple will take a break from work for a couple of months. “We want to settle, adjust … and just focus on the baby,” Drew said. E-mail [email protected]

2016-06-09 00:21 Allan Policarpio entertainment.inquirer.net

26 Lassiter cut, Gilas’ 14-man lineup set Marcio Lassiter was cut from the national pool as the Philippine men’s national basketball team’s 14-man lineup for the Fiba Olympic qualifying tournament is now set. Gilas Pilipinas team manager Butch Antonio revealed the final roster on his Twitter account early Thursday morning. “The 14 joining the Gilas camp: Jayson RDO Troy Ryan Gabe Jeff Junemar Ping Calvin Japeth LA RayRay Andray Terrence #LabanPilipinas #PUSO,” Antonio wrote. As per Antonio, the 14 players who will be with the team for its three-week training camp in Europe are , Ranidel de Ocampo, Troy Rosario and of TNT, and of Rain or Shine, of San Miguel Beer, Marc Pingris of Star, of Alaska, Japeth Aguilar and LA Tenorio or Barangay Ginebra, two-time UAAP MVP Ray Parks, naturalized center and Terrence Romeo of GlobalPort. The announcement was supposed to be made after Gilas’ 81-70 win over Iran in a tuneup game Wednesday night, but the decision was held out with national team head coach citing the match made the coaching staff and team officials to “rethink things” and that Lassiter’s status was also one of the reasons for the postponement. Lassiter hasn’t been able to show up regularly in practice due to health issues. He missed recent training sessions due to bronchitis. “The latest on his condition was that we sent him (Lassiter) home two days ago when he showed up at the practice with instructions to rest and start eating in such a way that he’s been told of what diet that we want in such a way to build his energy and strength as soon as possible. That’s the last instructions that were given. He’s doing what he’s told,” Baldwin said on Wednesday night. “Now we just have to make a decision with him that does he believe that he’s gonna get his strength back and its a big guessing game for all of us. “For the coaches, we have to say, ‘Do we need him?’ And for Marcio, he has to say, ‘Am I gonna be able to get back?’ I don’t know if we’ll gonna have discussion for tonight(Wednesday), tomorrow (Thursday) morning. That’s part of why were waffling on this decision a little bit.” The Philippine team leaves for Greece on Friday before heading to Turkey and takes part in a pocket tournament in Italy. Of the 14 players, two will be placed on the reserved list.

2016-06-09 00:21 Mark Giongco sports.inquirer.net

27 Clinton seizes historic primary win NEW YORK — Powered by a solid triumph in California, Hillary Clinton declared victory in her yearlong battle for the heart of the Democratic Party, seizing her place in history and setting out on the difficult task of fusing a fractured party to confront Donald Trump. Clinton cruised to easy victories in four of the six state contests Tuesday. With each win she further solidified Sen. Bernie Sanders’ defeat and dashed his already slim chances of using the last night of state contests to refuel his flagging bid. The victories allowed Clinton to celebrate her long-sought “milestone” — the first woman poised to lead a major political party’s presidential ticket. Standing before a flag-waving crowd in Brooklyn, the former secretary of state soaked up the cheers and beamed. “Barriers can come down. Justice and equality can win,” she said. “This campaign is about making sure there are no ceilings, no limits on any of us. This is our moment to come together.” Clinton had already secured the delegates needed for the nomination before Tuesday’s contests, according to an Associated Press tally. Still, Sanders had hoped to use a victory in California to persuade party insiders to switch their allegiances. Sanders picked up wins in Montana and North Dakota, but Clinton won substantially in California. Sanders nonetheless vowed to continue to his campaign to the last contest in the District of Columbia next Tuesday. “The struggle continues,” he said. Clinton’s victory in California assured her a majority of pledged delegates — those chosen in primaries and caucuses. That’s notable because Sanders has argued that his White House bid remained viable as long as he stood a chance of winning a majority of those delegates. He would have needed a landslide Tuesday to reach that goal. Sanders is under intense pressure from top Democrats hoping to coax him gently out of the race, win over his voters and turn to the task of challenging Trump. Despite the pledge to solider on, there were signs Sanders was listening. In his typically passionate remarks, the socialist firebrand repeatedly noted “we are in this together” and argued that a tenet of his campaign was that “we will not allow right-wing Republicans to control our government.” Sanders said he called Clinton to congratulate her on the victories. The senator planned to return home to Vermont on Wednesday, before coming to Washington Thursday for meetings and a campaign rally. President Barack Obama called both Sanders and Clinton late Tuesday, congratulating both on their campaigns. The White House said Sanders and Obama would meet Thursday, at Sanders’ request, to discuss “how to build on the extraordinary work he has done to engage millions of Democratic voters, and to build on that enthusiasm.” Clinton and Sanders are also expected to connect in the coming days, Clinton’s spokesman said late Tuesday. Their campaign managers spoke earlier in the day, signaling that conversations were underway about the road ahead. As the Democratic race was wrapping up, Republicans were unraveling anew. Despite handily winning GOP contests in California, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota and Montana, presumptive nominee Trump was in damage control mode over his race-based attacks on a Hispanic judge that had party leaders in fits. After one senator rescinded his endorsement and House Speaker Paul Ryan called the comments “racist,” Trump sought to calm worries with a rare, scripted victory speech. “I understand the responsibility of carrying the mantle and I will never, ever let you down – too much work, too many people, blood, sweat and tears,” Trump said, reading from a teleprompter at a rally at one of his golf courses in suburban New York City. “I will make you proud of your party and our movement, and that’s what it is, is a movement.” Trump went on to preview what Clinton has ahead of her: He blasted her as the defender of a “rigged” political system. He promised to deliver a longer speech on the Clintons “probably Monday.” “The Clintons have turned the politics of personal enrichment into an art form for themselves. They’ve made hundreds of millions of dollars selling access, selling favors, selling government contracts, and I mean hundreds of millions of dollars,” he said. In her remarks, Clinton was similarly hard-edged, saying Trump was “temperamentally unfit to be commander in chief.” “When he says let’s make America great again, that’s code for let’s take America backward,” she said. Clinton now has 2,184 pledged delegates — or more than half of the 4,051 total. Sanders has 1,804. When including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate, Clinton’s lead is much bigger — 2,755 to Sanders’ 1,852. It takes 2,383 to win. Clinton crossed that threshold Monday, according to the AP tally Sanders and some in his army of die-hard supporters expressed frustration about the survey. As he addressed supporters in Los Angeles, the crowd chanted “Media is corrupt.” Both Clinton and Trump made overtures toward an energized and passionate pool of voters. Trump noted he and Sanders both oppose the president’s Pacific Rim trade deal, and he sympathized with frustration for having “been left out in the cold by a rigged system of super delegates.” Clinton thanked the senator for driving the debate over economic mobility and income inequality and tried to show she absorbed some of his message. Mostly, she expressed empathy of a candidate who knows the bitter taste of defeat. “It never feels good to put our heart into a cause or a candidate you believe in and come up short,” she said. “I know that feeling well. But as we look ahead to the battle that awaits, let’s remember all that unites us.” But for Clinton, the night was largely about marking the moment. Her campaign produced a video to introduce her speech, chronicling women’s rise in politics from the suffragettes through Clinton’s concession to speech to then-Sen. Barack Obama, eight years ago Tuesday when she thanked supporters for helping her put “18 million cracks” in the “highest, hardest glass ceiling.”

2016-06-09 00:21 Associated Press newsinfo.inquirer.net

28 Duterte-media ties likened to lovers’ spat It’s nothing more than a lovers’ spat and they’ll kiss and make up sooner or later. That’s how Senate President Franklin Drilon sees the strained relationship between President-elect Rodrigo Duterte and the media. Duterte has warned reporters, “Don’t f—k with me” and announced he would not give any more press conferences during his entire six-year term after he wolf-whistled a TV reporter and subsequently got slammed for sexual harassment. Drilon is optimistic the tiff will be resolved. “This is one thing I can say: both the Office of the President and the media need each other,” Drilon said at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum. “I am certain that this will come to pass and we will all realize that both the Office of the President and the media will have to work with each other for the sake of our democracy,” he added. He himself used to work in the Office of the President, as the executive secretary of former President Corazon Aquino, and had dealt with the press back then. Grizzled journalists say that democracy is served best when the so-called Fourth Estate maintains its adversarial affair with people in power so that, unfettered, it can shine a light in the dark and expose wrongdoing. Drilon is one of the senators who would join the Senate majority in the 17th Congress. Majority of the senators are generally supportive of the Duterte administration’s legislative agenda, he said.

2016-06-09 00:21 Leila B newsinfo.inquirer.net

29 ‘Taklub’ wins in France Brillante Ma. Mendoza’s “Taklub” won at the recent 8th International Film Festival of Fishermen of the World (or the International Film Festival Pêcheurs du Monde), held in Lorient, France. The film, which tells the intersecting stories of survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) was awarded the Le Prix Chandrika Charma by two juries, according to the fest’s website. Topbilled by Nora Aunor, the indie drama was screened in Lorient on March 19. The fest’s website described “Taklub” as “beautiful” and Mendoza as “the leader of Philippine cinema.” Along with the other winners, “Taklub” was reshown in Lanester, France, yesterday, to coincide with the World Oceans Day. “Taklub” was an entry in the Un Certain Regard section of last year’s Cannes, where it won the Ecumenical Jury Prize-Special Mention. Bayani San Diego Jr. 2016-06-09 00:15 Philippine Daily entertainment.inquirer.net

30 Video: India Honors Americans Who Sacrificed Their Lives in the 'Service of Mankind' Transcript for India Honors Americans Who Sacrificed Their Lives in the 'Service of Mankind' Mr. speak. Mr. bites but then. This angriest man let us not BS on the dais. Lady and gentlemen. I'm deeply on earth. By invitation. We'll actors these. Joint meeting. Of the US congress. Thank you mr. speak. But all pointing. They're Dole's. Up this many views them separate. This temple. Alabama because he. Hide and at age. And M follow. Other democracies. The violent pull up. It might address. Those goodies. Opted there may jump. This case. In Obama leading done words. What concealed. In humility. And dedicate care. Who the rock would be shown. That all men are created equal. In later on being made this opportunity. You how on our. The blows largest democracy. I needs. One plane who. Why brilliant people. I that he predicted do you dump once logged this democracy. It'd Indian. Operative religious the most bait. But the vetoes. All aids or days. Mr. speak out. Order is apple. I begin my B deet. Mike waiting. Guba idling. Miss that senate committee. That flyover listing praise. Of Mandy. But it was solid knows. Up this could a man. I owners. That got a bush. And separate race. Carla idealists. Upbeat tone. And democracy. It went on so. The assailant d.s sake and US city. Of the on bad days. College zones. Ron visit great country. Port the port days. That dogs. All leave but. This second afraid that allowed us. So that. The boy Rudy use. In period. I have Florida. India apple artists. The grenades so a group prizes. Of the man and woman. Rom. They landed out puppy. And a home. Up Abreu. In Saturday's. Our man eight. This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

2016-06-08 22:14 ABC News abcnews.go.com

31 Video: Judge Orders Release of Michigan Man Convicted in 4 Murders as a Teen Transcript for Judge Orders Release of Michigan Man Convicted in 4 Murders as a Teen Sources are telling me Dovonte Sanford is already being transported back to this area and then finally set to be released as early as tomorrow that point three year old has been in prison since he was fourteen years old after police that get confessed to the murders of four people. The incredible part of this story is that two weeks after the four homicides on Runyon street in Detroit. Another man known as Vincent smothers a self confessed hit man admitted to numerous killings including those for that sent Sanford to prison. Still remarkably it's taken this long for state police to examine what Detroit police did with the case all that time and for the legal system to breathe and out 23 year old. An emotional press conference with them on to its attorney giving us more insight into what's just happened and the significance. And this case displays. Let's on display by hot things can happen about how a fourteen year on trial. Can be coerced into giving up Boston fashion and how the courts. Are gonna rely on that compassion and what what's to say that the court shouldn't rely on what to say that judge Salomon generalize and the compassion. Well it was his defense attorney's job to channel expected. Right now I'm here we'll go proctor former action news reporter bill you worked very hard on this case. To bring this to light in to see this young man three. Many years ago we were the first to reveal the misconduct on the part of Detroit police department. Essentially orchestrating the confession that says this young man of diminished mental capacity by the way to prison. But then after all these years of the big question for Kym Worthy. Why did it take personal loan knowing that only weeks after the bond is incarceration. That it very credible and fasteners that hold me to say he's response. What does it mean for Dovonte and the others who could still be locked up innocent. Men wrongfully imprisoned. Finally after all these many years the monthly Sanford in this apparently concede justice what it is extremely difficult because of the prosecutor's decision. To simply let what has been done stay in place that never should be that way there should always be your review and claims of actual news. Thank you bill for talking with us and for all your hard work bringing this. Important story to light. Meantime a want to tell you Kym Worthy the prosecutor having a press conference Thursday morning to talk about this we will be there to bring you the latest sign it's a cat seven action news reporting from downtown. This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate. 2016-06-08 23:38 ABC News abcnews.go.com

32 Euro 2016: Jerome Boateng will not take his family to France due to terror threat Berlin: Germany defender Jerome Boateng has said that his family will not attend the matches during Euro football championship fearing that terrorist attacks might take place. Jerome Boateng In remarks published on Wednesday by Sport Bild, he said his family will not go to the stadium as he thinks the risk is too great. The Bayern Munich defender said the decision was sad for him, but added that many things have happened in recent times that have made him take it. "Each person must decide for himself how to deal with it. I have already done so," he said. "My family and children will not be coming to the stadium. The risk is simply too big. It's obviously sad to have to deal with such a question. But too many things have happened in the last few days that makes one reflect. " The 27-year-old said the decision will also allow him to worry only about what happens on the pitch. "I would like to concentrate fully on football during the Euros, and I would feel much better if my family is not sitting in the stadium," he said. Boateng was part of the Germany team playing at the Stade de France in Paris on November 13 when a series of attacks across the French capital city left 130 dead. Three people died following explosions at the stadium during the friendly match against the French national side. A few days later, a friendly between Germany and the Netherlands was scrapped at the last minute over a terror threat. And on Tuesday, fans travelling to Euro 2016 in France were warned by the Foreign Office to be on their guard against terrorists. 2016-06-08 23:36 By IANS www.mid-day.com

33 Financial aid for Rio-bound shooter Heena Sidhu hiked to Rs 1 crore New Delhi: In a huge boost for Heena Sidhu, the Sports Ministry today increased the financial aid for the Rio Olympics-bound ace pistol shooter from Rs 75 lakh to Rs one crore under the Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme for her training till the showpiece event. Heena Sidhu Heena secured an Olympic quota for the country in January when she led from start to finish and claimed the gold medal in women's 10-m air pistol at the Asia Olympic Qualifiers for Shooting. Besides raising the amount of her financial assistance, the ministry has also approved the release of 90 per cent of total estimated cost for the former world number one's training, which is scheduled from June to August. "Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has approved the enhancement of budget for Heena Sidhu from Rs 75 lakh to Rs one crore under TOP Scheme for training and other support till Olympics 2016," the sports ministry said in a statement. "It has also approved release of advance for her training during June- August, 2016. "

2016-06-08 23:34 By PTI www.mid-day.com

34 Video: Intel Chief Defends Rights of Transgender Community New at noon national intelligence director James clapper is weighing in on the transgender bathroom debate. In a press release for the fifth annual intelligence community pride summit. Clapper said transgender people can use what ever restroom they feel comfortable and safe fan at all times. He said this is a time for the intelligence community at least two lead by example. This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

2016-06-08 23:30 ABC News abcnews.go.com

35 Video: Tourist Believed to Have Died in Hot Spring at Yellowstone Transcript for Tourist Believed to Have Died in Hot Spring at Yellowstone Well another incident involving a tourist at Yellowstone National Park this time a man is presumed dead after falling into a hot spring. At the Norris geyser basin witnesses say the man strayed about 225. Feet off the walkway where park officials say the water temperature can reach. More than 200. Degrees. This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

2016-06-08 23:21 ABC News abcnews.go.com

36 Video: Wandering Bear Cools Off in California Swimming Pool Now Playing: Kansas Woman Gives Birth to 'Mini Sumo Wrestler' Now Playing: Tourist Believed to Have Died in Hot Spring at Yellowstone Now Playing: Judge Orders Release of Michigan Man Convicted in 4 Murders as a Teen Now Playing: Wandering Bear Cools Off in California Swimming Pool Now Playing: Flight Attendant Tells Passenger to 'Shut Up' Mid-flight Now Playing: Last Known Living 9/11 Search Dog Dies in Texas at Age 16 Now Playing: Into the 'Danger Zone' With Breitling's Jet Team Now Playing: Video Shows Dramatic Rescue After Maui Woman Drove Car Off a Cliff Now Playing: Black Students More Likely to Face School Suspension, New Report Shows Now Playing: 'Fawn-Napping' Becoming Huge Problem in Virginia Now Playing: Leopard Briefly Gets Loose at Zoo in Utah Now Playing: Video Shows Baby Being Kidnapped From Pennsylvania Mall

2016-06-08 23:17 ABC News abcnews.go.com

37 Sourav Ganguly working overtime to make pink ball experiment a hit Kolkata : Former India captain and CAB president, Sourav Ganguly, is working overtime to get everything in order at Eden Gardens, which is set to host the country's first pink-ball multi- day cricket match under lights. With drone flying over him under the dazzling Eden floodlights, the iconic lefthander was seen shooting promotional with the pink Kookaburra for the June 18-21 CAB Super League final which will be shown live on Star Sports. "Eden Gardens will hold the first day-night (four-day) match in India. It has given us many moments to celebrate, now it's getting ready to host yet another moment to remember," Ganguly said in the promotional. Later talking to media, Ganguly, who is also the BCCI technical committee chairman, said, "Pink ball is the future... This will be the ultimate form of Test cricket. What will be the use of doing something which will have little interest left. " Eyeing to host the country's first day-night Test, the CAB is leaving no stone unturned to make the local league final a success. "The tickets for the match will be free and the official broadcaster is distributing free tickets to schools," Ganguly said. With the match coinciding with the onset of monsoon, rain is a concern. "We will try to do it in the winter from next time," he said about the match which will be a 2.30pm start. A full fledged commentary team of Harsha Bhogle, Akash Chopra and VVS Laxman will be there for the match as there will be a talk show on June 15 ahead of the historic match, Ganguly informed the media. Bhowanipore have already qualified and their final opponents will be among Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Kalighat. Ganguly however was tight-lipped on their bid to get the first day-night Test in India proposed against New Zealand. "It depends on the BCCI schedule. I have not thought about it. " The CAB is doing the necessary groundwork to ensure a successful hosting of the match. "Certain conditions are required for the pink ball to hold up for a substantial period. We have spoken to Kookaburra's subcontinent head and will follow the advice," secretary Avishek Dalmiya said. There is a possibility that the Eden would host Duleep Trophy under lights. The BCCI technical committee, headed by Ganguly, had already recommended the inter-zonal first-class tournament, be played with pink balls.

2016-06-08 23:09 By PTI www.mid-day.com

38 Australia, South Africa to clash under lights in Adelaide Test Australia will clash against South Africa in a day-night Test match, the third of the series, at Adelaide in November, Cricket South Africa said today. "Cricket South Africa (CSA) is pleased to announce that the third Test against Australia in Adelaide, starting on 24 November 2016, will be a day- night fixture," said a CSA media release. Adelaide Oval "Following careful consideration and engagement with all our Test players, and acknowledging the need to exploit the potential of playing day-night Test match cricket, I am pleased to announce that we have agreed with Cricket Australia to proceed with this fixture," CSA's Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said. James Sutherland, the Chief Executive for Cricket Australia, welcomed the development. "Cricket fans will be delighted to hear the news that the third match of the Test series against South Africa will be played as a day-night match, particularly those planning to attend Adelaide Oval," the CSA release quoted Sutherland. "Nearly 124,000 people attended the inaugural day-night Test match in Adelaide last year (Australia v New Zealand) and there has been great anticipation about future day-night Tests since. It's wonderful that the next one in Australia will be against South Africa," he added. "As players, we are really happy to have grown our confidence to play a day-night Test match in a positive way," commented Proteas' captain, AB de Villiers. De Villiers said the match would be a landmark event for his team. "We were never against this exciting concept, but only wanted to give ourselves the best opportunity of competing in conditions that will be new and foreign to us. Two warm-up matches will hopefully give us an idea of what to expect and hopefully our preparations will help us to adapt accordingly," he said. "This will be the first time that our players in the Test squad will play pink ball Test match cricket in front of such a large crowd and to be part of this novel concept will no doubt be a landmark moment in all of our careers," he added.

2016-06-08 23:06 By PTI www.mid-day.com

39 39 Monsoon to arrive in Maharashtra in one week's time: IMD It is more eagerly awaited than any film release. 'Monsoon 2016', the season that Indians combating the oppressive heat are most looking forward to right now, finally arrived in Kerala on Wednesday and will be reaching Maharashtra in a week's time, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has said. This year, the monsoon reached Kerala eight days later than usual. The rain usually reached the state by June 1. This is based on observation of the pattern in the past couple of years. ALSO READ: Mon-soon: Rains are around the corner in Mumbai Monsoon clouds hover over the Arabian Sea in Kochi. Pic/PTI As per the IMD reports, the downpour will continue for 48 hours in Kerala and 14 different areas. More than 2.5 mm rainfall has been registered in the region till now. Westernly winds of the order of 30-40 km per hours have been observed. At present, the downpour experienced in some parts of Maharashtra is pre- monsoon rainfall. Sunita Devi, director IMD Pune, said, "It was observed that there were clouds from Wednesday morning in Kerala and excess rains was expected. Accordingly the rain is excess in Kerala. It is predicted that monsoon will become active in the next 24 hours. If the west-south westerly winds maintains its direction and speed then monsoon is expected to reach Maharashtra in six day. As per the observation, from Kerala the rains will travel towards Konkan area, south Maharashtra and then to Marathwada. Later, from there the rains will move to Pune and then Mumbai. " At present the monsoon has covered south Arabian sea and Maldives and most part of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and some parts of south Karanataka. In two days, the monsoon will strike Karanataka's coastal area, southern part of Andhra Pradesh and some areas of Arabian sea. These are the dates monsoon has arrived in Kerala in the last few years 2011 May 29 2012 June 5 2013 June 1 2014 June 6 2015 June 5 2016 June 8 2011 May 29 2012 June 5 2013 June 1 2014 June 6 2015 June 5 2016 June 8

2016-06-08 22:53 By Chaitraly www.mid-day.com

40 Gray days behind, sunshine ahead Just One More Thing... We have sent you a verification email. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your profile. If you do not receive the verification message within a few minutes of signing up, please check your Spam or Junk folder.

2016-06-08 22:43 Lauren Foreman www.ajc.com

41 Manchester United sign Villarreal defender Eric Bailly Manchester : Manchester United boosted their defence ahead of the next football season with the signing of Eric Bailly on Wednesday from Spanish club Villarreal in a four-year deal. "Manchester United is delighted to announce that Eric Bertrand Bailly has completed his transfer from Villarreal CF, subject to successfully obtaining a work permit," United said in a statement. "Eric joins on a four-year contract with the option to extend for a further two years. " The 22-year-old becomes the first signing under newly- appointed chief coach Jose Mourinho, who is bidding to overhaul the United squad. Mourinho said: "Eric is a young central defender with great natural talent. He has progressed well to date and has the potential to become one of the best around. "We look forward to working with him to help nurture that raw talent and fulfil his potential. Eric is at the right club to continue his development. " Bailly made 47 appearances for Villarreal since joining on January 29, 2015. The Ivory Coast central defender has made 15 appearances for his country and was part of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team, having appeared in all six matches during the continental competition. Bailly said: "It is a dream come true to be joining Manchester United. To play football at the highest level is all I have ever wanted to do. "I want to progress to be the best that I can be and I believe working with Jose Mourinho will help me develop in the right way and at the right club. I am looking forward to meeting my new team-mates and to starting this new chapter of my life. " The British media have reported the transfer fee in the region of 30 million pounds ($43.7 million).

2016-06-08 22:39 By IANS www.mid-day.com

42 Devendra Fadnavis lays down code of conduct for Maharashtra ministers Mumbai: In the wake of resignation of Eknath Khadse from the post of Maharashtra Revenue Minister over allegations of misuse of power, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has warned his BJP colleagues against overruling the opinion of bureaucrats. CM Devendra Fadnavis Fadnavis held a marathon four-hour meeting with the BJP ministers last evening. "Virtually laying down a kind of model code of conduct for the BJP ministers, the CM asked us not to take decisions on files ignoring the opinions of desk officers and secretaries," a minister who attended the meeting said today. Fadnavis asked his colleagues to learn lessons from Khadse's resignation in wake of a series of allegations including irregularities in a land deal in Pune. The meeting was also attended by the state BJP president Raosaheb Danve and senior state BJP leaders.

2016-06-08 22:38 By PTI www.mid-day.com

43 Prostitution ring busted in Mumbai, TV actress among three rescued Three women including a small-time actress were rescued and two persons arrested for human trafficking, with police suspecting involvement of more women from the television industry in the racket. While Ashraf Khan (22) and Saira Shafi (21) were arrested yesterday from the suburban Goregaon, police are looking for the suspected kingpin, identified as Kabir, an official said today. Acting on a tip-off, the sleuths of Social Service Branch (SSB) of the crime branch sent one of their personnel as a decoy customer to the duo. Khan and Shafi were arrested after they accepted money from the decoy customer, police said. A small-time actress, working as an 'extra', was among those who were rescued, the police official said, adding it is suspected that more women associated with the TV industry are involved in the racket. The accused were booked under sections 370 (buying or disposing of any person as a slave) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC and various provisions of Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA). Their custody has been handed over to Dindoshi police, the official said.

2016-06-08 22:37 By PTI www.mid-day.com

44 Don't malign India from abroad: Shiv Sena to Modi on graft remarks Key BJP ally Shiv Sena today chided Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his recent remarks on corruption in India and asked him to refrain from "maligning" the country from foreign soil. Taunting Modi in yet another attack on the prime minister, the Sena also questioned if scams in BJP-ruled states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat can be attributed to the Gandhi family. Vowing to root out corruption in India, the prime minister had on Sunday said in Doha on the second leg of his five-nation visit that he "faced problems" by depriving many people of their "sweets" and saved over Rs 36,000 crore annually by stopping leakage and theft in government schemes. "The Prime Minister garnered applause for speaking on how corrupt India is. This is like maligning the reputation of the country on foreign soil," the editorial said. The Sena also took another swipe at Modi wondering who could be blamed if people are talking about corruption two years after the new government came to power. "Whom do we blame for it? Can we attribute what is happening in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat to the Gandhi family? " the editorial asked. "Since Modi is the face of the nation, other countries might believe what he speaks and take decisions based on that which might affect the financial condition of India. Jibes at opposition should be taken within the country itself. One does not need to go to America or Europe to take potshots at Modi or the Gandhi family," it added. The Sena said levelling corruption charges against Robert Vadra and Gandhi family was enough and it is now time to take action against them if they have indulged in wrongdoings. "(Former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister) Ajit Pawar had recently said he lost power because he lost control of his tongue. This should become a political mantra," the Sena said.

2016-06-08 22:36 By PTI www.mid-day.com

45 Video: ARCHIVAL VIDEO: Ex-CIA Officer Says 'We Broke the Law' Transcript for ARCHIVAL VIDEO: Ex-CIA Officer Says 'We Broke the Law' News from overseas in a landmark case a judge in Italy today convicted 23 Americans. For their roles in the kidnapping of a suspected terrorist and Muslim cleric from the streets of Milan in 2003. Although one of the Americans was a CIA operative they were tried. In absentia. And now are considered fugitives from Italian justice. Here's our chief investigative correspondent. Brian Ross. Former CIA officer Sabrina the Sosa was in New York today with her lawyer. She got the news on her Blackberry that she had been convicted in Italy and sentenced to five years in prison. He now admits the kidnapping was wrong. Didn't he broke the law. And Teepen is paying for the mistakes Wright's mouth who have authorized and approved this. There's somebody the verdict announced in the land today was the culmination. Of five year investigation by the Italian judiciary. Aimed squarely at US policy we don't need tour true we don't need Venetian. We don't need seeks the reason the case began after a CIA team kidnapped a Muslim cleric off this straight in the law and broad daylight. US officials suspected Abu Omar had ties to known terrorist. He was taken secretly to Egypt. Where he says he was tortured before being set free but it's clear that the kidnapping the little mop of Hubble Mott. Losing her at least a and the CIA team working out of the Milan consulate. Made huge operational mistakes they were using email they were calling home the Italians were able to connect their credit cards. But true names in true addresses three of the Americans on trial including the CIA's Rome station chief Jeffrey Castelli were acquitted today by the court which cited their diplomatic status. But the others including Sabrina the SuSE say they were left unprotected by the US which never asserted diplomatic community for that. I was assigned as about the seventh about this government and I should have been protected that you know stand convicted facing five years in prison. They must sting when he's absolutely destroyed he has a sense of betrayal of him we've set a precedent for. Allies and foes fans and we want to convict officers overseas or indict them. For whatever they feel like indicted him on. There's no chance the US would send this is so are the others conducted today to Italy to be put behind bars. But they are all now considered fugitives and have been advised they should never again leave the US. The fear that some other country might turn them into the entire mr. Brian Ross reporting tonight thing. This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

2016-06-08 22:35 ABC News abcnews.go.com

46 Video: Siri Called an Ambulance for Baby Girl Who Stopped Breathing Transcript for Siri Called an Ambulance for Baby Girl Who Stopped Breathing And that one year old girl in Australia. Has Syria and her mom to thank for saving her life. Mom used a voice activated assistant to call 911 while she performed CPR on her little girl who. At stop breathing their story has gone viral since a woman reached out to apple to thank them. This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

2016-06-08 22:35 ABC News abcnews.go.com

47 Video: Fish Trapped in Jellyfish Struggles to Break Free in Amazing Photos Transcript for Fish Trapped in Jellyfish Struggles to Break Free in Amazing Photos The first one it is time for the met dash the fish fascinating night. I'm finished it's like fish section. Check this out. Who what is that this it was taken by an Australian marine photographer. And Byron bay Australia he says he was filled of the nation and is meant what's happening is. That they're somehow ended up inside the jelly vision Tucker the jelly fish was trying to eat the fish and but. It's actually the fish it inside that's propelling them both forward. Interesting kind of fight for survival of the fitness thorn but he had stuffed octopus it's really good. It's good that since I apparently there deli there's things about it Katie thinks it's really really good as well. This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

2016-06-08 22:35 ABC News abcnews.go.com

48 Video: On Board the USS Harry S. Truman Now Playing: On Board the USS Harry S. Truman Now Playing: India Honors Americans Who Sacrificed Their Lives in the 'Service of Mankind' Now Playing: Siri Called an Ambulance for Baby Girl Who Stopped Breathing Now Playing: US Sailors in Japan Banned From Drinking, Navy Says Now Playing: NPR Photojournalist and Translator Killed in Attack in Afghanistan Now Playing: Louvre Closes as Floodwaters Flow in France Now Playing: Hungarian Gravediggers Try to Bury the Competition at Contest Now Playing: Japanese Boy Found After Being Abandoned in Forest 2016-06-08 22:30 ABC News abcnews.go.com

49 Two Chinese Tourists Dead, 20 Hurt In Thai Speedboat Accident Two speedboats packed with 62 tourists crashed have off the coast of southern Thailand, leaving at least two dead and more than 20 injured. Wednesday's crash is the third... BANGKOK -- Two speedboats packed with 62 tourists crashed Wednesday off the coast of southern Thailand, leaving at least two dead and more than 20 injured. The fatalities... Two speedboats packed with 62 tourists have collided off the coast of southern Thailand, leaving at least two dead and more than 20 injured, police said. The crash is the... Tue, June 7, 2016 10:18pm IST by Soumyata Chauhan comments Amitabh Bachchan’s grand daughter Navya Naveli Nanda is a teen diva in all respects. We last saw her holidaying... The first phase operation of boat service in the Chemballikkundu- Vayalapra- Parappa tourism park under the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) was flagged off on ... The sails are hoisted, salty air whips across the bow and it's smooth sailing ahead. That's typically the scene aboard the three tall ships operated by Star Clippers, which... The airport transfer website Hoppa recently released a ranking of the world's most affordable -- and most expensive -- destinations for a holiday. To find the cheapest... A Maldives court has convicted the country's former vice president on a terrorism charge for possession of firearms and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. The decision by... Amitabh Bachchan's grand daughter Navya Naveli Nanda is very popular on social media. The lovely teenage daughter of Shweta Bachchan recently shared some pictures of a... Male, Maldives: A Maldives court has convicted the country’s former vice president on a terrorism charge for possession of firearms and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. ...

2016-06-08 22:26 jack article.wn.com

50 Video: Stanford Sexual Assault Witness Recounts the Evening's Events What we doing that. Shirt mean offend was biking whether. Then when we get closer to eight for a healthier fare so couple lying incidents. Start talking but it was my friend uses the second time something's wrong. Then stop talked about it. Americans Petersburg. And approach it CS are riding your bikes. And you see these two people on the ground for. What makes you suspicious of whatever is going on this date dividends you. As socialism. And the man on top of her once. We talked and and since it is the notices have to do something. So we'll. Towards the couple. And the Easter. Only at the embassy AH UK my friends. Hurried exit when you saw him he shouted at him. He began he got up and started running away quickly went yeah. He seemed really drawn to him it was just as he sobered up to be coherent from he wraps up. That's over now to Iran and taught them. And in your friend Peter did what ran after and cutting them how far was it forty. Okay. And you were with the victim crick first that. Helped him to street east and what did you see it. Some. Did you at any point think it's what's. I'm sick it's. Check your vitals and we saw her lying there on the ground was it pretty obvious what happened. Is going to assassinate. Is that heart disease. How did you react. Pretty hard to see you first. This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

2016-06-08 22:03 ABC News abcnews.go.com

51 Developing: Several hurt in Tel Aviv shooting; one suspected terrorist shot Several people were wounded in a suspect terrorist shooting Wednesday night in central Tel Aviv's Sarona complex, according to initial reports. According to Israeli media, one suspected terrorist was shot near the scene and another other was apprehended alive. Footage from the scene showed an armed civilian firing shots at one of the suspected perpetrators. According to unconfirmed reports by police sources, two assailants had dressed up as ultra-Orthodox Jews. Magen David Adom paramedics were treating nine wounded people, of them one was in life-threatening condition, two were in serious condition and six were being treated in various conditions. At least seven wounded people were evacuated to the nearby Ichilov Medical Center. An eyewitness named Ofer told Army Radio that a flock of people fled the area during the incident and chaos ensued. A large contingency of police officers in the area distancing bystanders from the scene. Police forces were searching for another potential suspect.

2016-06-08 21:45 Jpost Com www.jpost.com

52 Fundamentally Freund: A Jewish bucket list Nearly a decade ago, two of Hollywood’s top A-listers joined forces to make an uninspired and excruciatingly predictable film that has nonetheless left a lasting impact on society. In The Bucket List, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman portrayed two terminally ill men who embark on an adventurous road trip to fulfill a list of things they always dreamed of doing before they “kick the bucket” and move on to the next world. Though roundly panned by numerous critics, the movie popularized the idea of drawing up a catalog of experiences, ambitions and dreams for people to pursue while they still walk this earth, and the term “bucket list” quickly entered the popular lexicon. Indeed, a simple Google search reveals a seemingly endless range of suggestions for those looking to compile their own personal inventory of must-do matters, ranging from the beneficent to the bizarre. They include everything from volunteering in a soup kitchen to climbing an active volcano to getting your hair groomed by a monkey in the Philippines. Others suggest even more offbeat activities, such as swimming with sharks, chasing a tornado or getting your photograph taken with a tiger (believe it or not, I actually have done the latter). While it may seem somewhat silly, the idea of creating a bucket list is in fact an implicit acknowledgment of man’s mortality and life’s ephemerality. It can serve as a valuable way for each person to look at himself in the mirror, acknowledge that his time on this planet is limited, and figure out what he wants to accomplish while there is still breath in his nostrils. Unfortunately, though, most bucket lists appear to focus more on the outlandish and less on the meaningful, highlighting eccentricity and excitement rather than things of lasting value or depth. There is of course nothing wrong with wanting to have some fun and getting the adrenaline going, whether that involves visiting emperor penguins at the South Pole, running the New York marathon or sleeping in a tree house beside the Amazon. But there is no reason why a person can’t have two bucket lists either, one for the body and one for the soul. After all, there is no shortage of cultural, religious or spiritual experiences that too many Jews go through life without ever feeling or knowing firsthand, and that is something that needs to change. Every rabbi and Jewish educator throughout the Diaspora should challenge their congregants, students and colleagues to come up with a Jewish bucket list, one that includes authentically Jewish experiences that go beyond the universal or simply humanitarian. This can serve not only as a means of combating increasing assimilation but also as a way of inspiring people to think differently about their spiritual lives, setting goals and objectives just as they do in other areas. So, in a modest attempt to prompt some debate on this subject, here is a partial sampling of things that I believe should be on every Jewish bucket list: • Learn to read some basic Hebrew, the language of the Jewish people and its greatest texts. As a phonetic tongue that is largely root-based, even the most linguistically challenged person can pick up the skills needed to read in a relatively short amount of time. Doing so connects one with Jewish history and destiny, and can make attending synagogue or a Passover Seder far more consequential. • Study a page of Talmud, one of the core sources of Jewish law and lore. Sure, it looks intimidating. But thanks to innovations such as the Steinsaltz edition, or Artscroll’s Schottenstein set, which provide extensive English translations, notes and explications, it is now possible for every Jew to dip his toe into the sea of the Talmud and work his way through a topic. The pleasure that comes from grappling intellectually with the legal, moral, philosophical and practical issues that arise on any given page of the Talmud is something that no Jew should go through life without experiencing at least once. • Seek out a Holocaust survivor and hear his or her story. Each year, with the passage of time, the number of those who managed to emerge alive from the Nazi German death machine continues to dwindle. Reading about the Holocaust or seeing a documentary can be educational, but it pales in comparison to spending an hour or two with a person who witnessed it firsthand. Take your family with you, and keep the memory of what happened alive. • Visit Israel and, when you do, make sure your itinerary includes a site such as the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, the resting place of the biblical figures Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah. How many nations on earth have the privilege of knowing where their founding fathers were buried millennia ago? This holy place has a spiritual and historical power that profoundly impacts all who set foot within. • Observe at least one traditional Shabbat. Regardless of your level of Jewish affiliation, you will find celebrating an authentic Sabbath as Jews have done for thousands of years to be an emotive experience. Call a rabbi or Sabbath-observant family, and ask them to host you for what will prove to be 25 hours of physical rest and spiritual uplift. Obviously, there are many more items that a Jewish bucket list can and should contain, and each person or community should tailor its contents accordingly, taking into account their own individual or collective needs. But whatever you might choose to include, the important thing to remember when drawing up your own bucket list is that physical thrills can and should be augmented by spiritual ones, too. Simply put, life can be fun, but it should also be no less fulfilling.

2016-06-08 21:25 MICHAEL FREUND www.jpost.com

53 Netanyahu: US not Moscow cornerstone of our foreign relations The United States remains Israel’s chief ally and cannot be replaced by Russia, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said before flying home after a two-day visit in Moscow. “It is not desirable or practice to replace the United States [with Russia]. The US is the cornerstone of our foreign relations,” Netanyahu told reporters. He had visited Moscow for the third time this year, and had held his fourth face-to-face visit with Putin in the Kremlin. Although the trip was a celebration of 25 years of diplomatic ties, it fueled speculation that Israel was seeking to grow closer to Moscow and to distance itself from the United States, particularly in light of Netanyahu contentious relationship with US President Barack Obama. The two men have met only once in the last year. But Netanyahu said that the idea that his frequent trips to Russia were part of a plan to replace Washington with Moscow, was “nonsense.” “I'm not looking for an alternative. We have a firm relationship with the US,” Netanyahu said adding that it was “steadfast and unwavering.” Israel wants strong ties with as many countries as possible, Netanyahu said. Regional issues have demanded coordination with Russia and this particular was to celebrate the historic movement in which the two countries celebrated 25-years of diplomatic ties. On separate note he added that he expected a deal to be reached soon with Turkey for the full restoration of diplomatic ties after almost six years. As he readied to leave, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov issued a statement which appeared to imply that Netanyahu had accepted the he 2002 Arab Peace Plan, an idea which Netanyahu’s office immediately rejected. Netanyahu had discussed ways to jump-start the Israeli-Palestinian peace process with Russian President Vladimir Putin when the two men met in the Kremlin on Tuesday. “During Mr Putin’s talks with Mr Netanyahu yesterday, Israel made no demands to make amendments to the Arab Peace Initiative,” Lavrov said in a statement his office sent out on Tweeter. It was based on statements Lavrov made during a joint press conference with Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki. The Arab Peace Plan, also known as the Saudi Initiative offers Israel normalized relations in exchange for a withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines and a resolution to the Palestinian refugee issue. The Prime MInister’s Office said that the issue of the Arab Peace Initiative was not raised during his talks with Putin and that the prime minister has been clear in the past about the fact that the 2002 plan needed to be revised to account for regional changes. In the last month, to counter French moves to impose a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Israel, Netanyahu has spoken publicly of the need for a regional peace process based on a revised version of the Arab Peace Plan. It is presumed that among the items he would want revised is the issue of a two-state solution on the pre-1967 lines, something he has persistently opposed. Israel considers a withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines to be suicidal from a security perspective. The Arab League, which has endorsed the 2002 plan, has already rejected Netanyahu’s call for revising the plan, as have the Palestinians. Both have insisted that the offer of normalized ties rests on Israel’s acceptance of the original Arab Peace Plan. On Wednesday Russia also rejected Netanyahu’s drive to revise the plan. Russia plays a critical role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process because it is a member of the Quartet and hold one of five permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council. Lavrov told reporters that the Arab Peace Plan “is integral and embraces the entire set of relations between Israel and the Arab countries, including Palestine of course. There is no need to amend it.” According to a translation of his words by the TASS News Agency Lavrov said that the initial plan was already universally accepted. “Saudi Arabia was the first to forward the initiative, which was later joined by the League of Arab States (LAS) and the entire Organization of Islamic Cooperation,” Lavrov said according to TASS. He explained that the next step necessary to break to move the process forward was a much touted report analyzing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in an attempt to help renew negotiations that have been frozen for the last two years. "Together with partners in the ‘Quartet’ we are preparing now a report with the respective recommendations. We expect that this report will become an important contribution towards efforts on reviving the peace process,” Lavrov said according to TASS. But the report which was supposed to be released last month has been delayed due to disagreements about Quartet members, primarily the United States, about the language in the report. The report “is designed to confirm and update the international legal framework for the Palestinian-Israeli settlement. We hope that our partners in the ‘quartet’ will try to finish the work on this report, especially the recommendations contained in it, as soon as possible," Lavrov said according to TASS. He added that he hoped that moving forward the Quartet would have a larger role in any future peace process. Maliki visited Moscow just as Netanyahu was wrapping up his two-day visit to the Russian capital, his third this year. He was last in Moscow in April. PA President Mahmoud Abbas also visited that month, during which time he met with Putin as well. On Thursday, Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh will be in Moscow to meet with Lavrov. Earlier in the day when meeting with Moscow’s Jewish community Netanyahu also spoke about Syria and said he was doubtful that Syrian President Bashar Assad will continue to rule Syria in the future. He clarified that Israel is not involved in any attempts to unseat Assad and that it is involved in the Syrian conflict only to the extant that is necessary to protect Israeli interests. This is particularly true with regard to Iran which already operates in Syria. “We want to ensure that Syria does not become a launching ground for attacks against Israel, not by Syrian forces, not by Iranian forces, not by Hezbollah and not by Islamic forces. “My policy is to take all steps necessary to prevent this,” he said. “We are standing by our red lines with respect to Israel’s security,” he said. Once the Syrian conflict has ended it is unlikely that the country will look the same as it did before the outbreak of its civil war, he said. “I do not know if we can put the Syrian omelet back in the egg,” Netanyahu said. Syria is not the only country in this situation, he said. Iraq, Libya and Yemen no longer exist the way they use to, so a new order will be needed. Netanyahu told the Jewish community he has discussed at length this new order with President Vladimir Putin when the two met on Tuesday in the Kremlin. “Its import that they are replaced in a way that does not generate future tragedies or endanger our state,” he said. Israel has launched dozens of strikes in Syria in April against suspected arms transfers to Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas. Israeli leaders have sought assurances from Russia, which sent forces to Syria last year to help Assad, that it would not allow Iran and Hezbollah to be bolstered by the partial military withdrawal that Moscow announced last month. Israel and Russia have maintained a hotline to prevent any accidental clash between their aircraft over Syrian territory. Reuters contributed to this report.

2016-06-08 21:21 TOVAH LAZAROFF www.jpost.com

54 Sushma Swaraj expresses gratitude for releasing 23 Indian prisoner from Qatar Minister of External affairs Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday expressed gratitude to qatar government for releasing 23 Indian prisoners. Qatar on Tuesday released 23 Indian prisoners, in a special gesture just after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi, who had taken up the issue of welfare of Indians with the leadership of Qatar, expressed gratitude to Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani for this gesture that coincided with the start of holy month of Ramadan. The release comes close on the heels of Modi's two-day visit. According to officials, the Prime Minister had been assured by the Emir that Qatar will take care of Indian diaspora whose population is about 6.3 lakh.

2016-06-08 21:19 By mid www.mid-day.com

55 Washington Watch: Will Netanyahu endorse Trump? It looks like a Donald Trump visit to Israel this summer is a definite maybe. He canceled a planned trip last December after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bruised the thin- skinned billionaire’s feelings by criticizing his proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States. At the time Trump said he wouldn’t go until after he was elected president, but that was before getting a $100 million pledge of support from Netanyahu benefactor Sheldon Adelson. Adelson is reportedly helping Trump’s Jewish son in- law, Jared Kushner, tack an Israel stop on a planned Trump golf event in Scotland later this month. Trump endorsed Netanyahu in the Israeli 2013 election and can be expected to look for some reciprocity. That may be a bit tougher now than four years ago when Adelson brought Mitt Romney to Jerusalem for a fundraiser organized by a top Netanyahu sycophant and a virtual endorsement from the prime minister. Netanyahu may try to be more subtle this time to avoid risking damaging relations with Hillary Clinton in case she’s the next president. But he will be under great pressure from his and Trump’s mutual investor, Adelson. Netanyahu makes no secret of his longstanding preference for Republicans, but the erratic and volatile Trump is no Romney, who virtually promised to contract out US Middle East policy to the Israeli leader. Trump has said all the usual things about Israel – closest ally, shared values, security commitment, undying devotion – but has demonstrated a woeful lack of understanding of the issues. Trump also has a serious Jewish problem that has nothing to do with Israel. There’s been an alarming level of anti-Semitism among his followers and an equally disturbing failure of the campaign to deal with it. Trump, at a minimum, tolerates it, at worst encourages it outright, reports the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He was slow to disavow endorsements from former KKK leader David Duke, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and others of that ilk. His lawyer, an Orthodox Jew, explained, “I do not think Mr. Trump can be responsible for people who are anti-Semitic who support him.” He boasts of his skills as a deal maker and says he will use them to make peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, although he has “real doubts” they’re interested. On that count, he’s probably right. Trump has wavered on whether he’ll be neutral, but all of his mentions – discussion is too complex a thought for Trump – seem to suggest he sees this issue as essentially another real estate deal. He’s called Netanyahu a friend, but for Trump loyalty is a one-way street, especially in politics. It’s the same for Netanyahu, who is a much more experienced and sophisticated political player. Neither is a man of any compelling vision for the future of his country beyond what can be expressed in slogans and dire warnings. Netanyahu’s greatest desire is that a president Trump will continue sending billions in military aid, drop any talk of peacemaking and veto anything at the UN that the prime minister tells him to. As for the billions in annual US aid, that may be a bigger problem. Trump has been talking about allies reimbursing the US for past assistance and picking up more of the costs of American protection (he’s been back and forth on whether that includes Israel). Trump has a volatile temper he either can’t or won’t control. As president he’ll need to do more that tweet insults and bestow nasty nicknames. “This is not someone who should ever have the nuclear codes,” Hillary Clinton said in her major foreign policy address last week, “because it’s not hard to imagine Donald Trump leading us into a war just because somebody got under his very thin skin.” And if anyone is an expert at getting under people’s skin, it’s Netanyahu. Just ask US President Barack Obama and European leaders. What should worry Netanyahu most about Trump is his volatility. If Netanyahu pulls some of the same stunts on a president Trump that he did on President Obama – most notably secretly colluding with the opposition to lobby against the White House’s top foreign policy priority – the Donald could lash out in unforeseen ways. He could take out his anger on American Jewish groups, like AIPA C, and order them investigated as foreign agents or for violating campaign finance laws. What nickname would he come up with for the Israeli prime minister? What snide remarks would he have about the prime minister’s wife and her financial problems? Trump is notoriously thin-skinned; he doesn’t respond to criticism, he retaliates. Israeli columnist Chemi Shalev said Trump and Netanyahu are “purveyors of hate” who “stoke fear of external threats and nurture resentment of internal others to gain power and deflect criticism.” They share a hatred of the media, intolerance for criticism, a penchant for adultery, exaggerated self- importance and a tendency to incite against racial or ethnic groups that don’t back them. Trump boasts about being smart, but Netanyahu really is, although he is seriously deficient in vision. Netanyahu is well versed in the substance of the broad issues of the day; Trump could care less, shooting from the lip, firing off tweets and changing positions faster than the weather. Netanyahu tries to be subtle and statesmanlike while Trump is the proverbial rampaging bull. One thing you can count on in a Trump administration: Netanyahu will look back on the Obama years as the golden age in US-Israel relations.

2016-06-08 21:13 DOUGLAS BLOOMFIELD www.jpost.com

56 Media Comment: When the ‘fringe’ becomes mainstream Paul Farhi, The Washington Post’s media reporter, wrote two months back about “a kind of self-reinforcing information loop” that affects the media. He sees this as a problem found in the “fringe,” which is “the murky swamp of rightwing, libertarian and flat-out paranoid sources” of the social media’s “alternative information ecosystem.” In Israel, the problem is not in the “fringe” but the mainstream. Here is a recent example of how those who possess a radio microphone or who stare at you from the television screen control and slant the news we receive. On the morning of May 26, Kol Yisrael’s veteran news anchor Aryeh Golan referred almost a half-dozen times in three different items and interviews to what he claimed was the US State Department’s opinion on the result of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s negotiations to form a new government, which was that it was “the most right-wing coalition in Israel’s history.” Golan is surely aware of the makeup of Yitzhak Shamir’s government, Israel’s 24th, from June 1990 to July 1992. It included the Likud, the National Religious Party, Shas and Techiya. And when Techiya bolted, Tzomet and Moledet filled in. But more importantly, he misquoted the State Department spokesman. What Mark Toner actually said was, “We’ve also seen reports from Israel describing it as the most right-wing coalition in Israel’s history.” Golan first misquoted his source, then, based on that, asked the politicians he was interviewing for their opinion. Their statements then provided further headlines. Golan seems to be a good student of strategic communication adviser Ben Rhodes, who did the same for the White House, pushing the Iran Nuclear deal. Golan impugned Israel’s government without any factual base. This is a corollary of what we termed the “media boomerang effect” in our December 21, 2011 column, where we related to local media figures who exploit their connections with the foreign press to impact Israeli society. Golan, we presume, was convinced no one had actually read or listened to Toner’s statement and felt free to “interpret” it to suit his own personal world view. This was a prime example of a media “misquotation maneuver.” The main difference between this and the phenomenon Farhi spoke of is that Golan is not a “fringe” character but firmly in the mainstream of Israel’s media. As is Roni Daniel. Daniel, Channel 2’s veteran military correspondent, whom many of his colleagues consider part and parcel of the IDF’s spokesperson’s unit rather than an external observer, was distraught on the Friday weekly wrapup show on May 20. He was so upset about the resignation of defense minister Moshe Ya’alon and the expected appointment of MK Avigdor Liberman that he found it necessary to share his personal feelings on the matter with his viewers. In a live broadcast, Daniel stated, “After this week, I’m not sure I want my children to remain here... [Israel] is not a pleasant place to be.” He was uncomfortable with the existing “culture of government,” he said. He named four politicians that particularly galled him: Ze’ev Elkin, Yariv Levin, Miri Regev and Bezalel Smotrich. Daniel’s colleague leftist Amnon Abramowitz attempted to cool things down with some humor, but Daniel slammed his fist on the table. Abramowitz then informed him that Netanyahu’s rule “will eventually end,” urging Daniel to “look at this as an intermediary period.” Daniel remained unmoved, declaring that if his children do emigrate, it wouldn’t be such a disaster for him. When Barbara Plett, who was reporting on the funeral of Yasser Arafat back in 2004, started to cry, an outcry went up. Eventually, the BBC’s Programme Complaints Committee upheld part of a complaint against her. Their decision was that her comments “breached the requirements of due impartiality.” In view of his outburst, can Daniel’s future reporting or his commentary ever be considered impartial and objective? Is it ethical to continue to employ such a person? In Plett’s case, the BBC’s director of news, Helen Boaden, apologized for the “editorial misjudgment” as it “unintentionally gave the impression of over-identifying with Yasser Arafat and his cause.” Daniel’s statement, however, was by no means “unintentional.” Twice he was given the opportunity to recant, yet repeated himself, even when Likud Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz was later present. Last week, Channel 2 news broadcast a “scoop”: a poll commissioned by Israel’s ambassador to the UN , Danny Danon, in the lead-up to the anti- boycott conference he convened with American Jewish organizations, and conducted by the IPSOS agency, found that one-third of Americans believe boycotts against Israel are justified and a legitimate means of applying political pressure against Israel. The implications of that figure are devastating. However, within a few hours, it became apparent that Channel 2 had left one key word out of the report: the one-third figure referred to American students, not the general public. This may not be much of a consolation but at least it is the truth; Channel 2’s broadcast was not. These examples highlight how badly our media lacks self-regulation and cannot be trusted. In Israel, it is the mainstream which remains at the fringe. The authors are vice chairman and chairman respectively of Israel’s Media Watch (www.imediaw.org.il).

2016-06-08 21:09 YISRAEL MEDAD www.jpost.com

57 Condom store now advertising Hillary Clinton- branded items An online retailer of prophylactics has announced a new line of Hillary Clinton-branded condoms titled "Slick Willy Wants Back In. " Priced at around $10 for a five-pack, RipnRoll.com is really just selling regular condoms with gawdy packaging. They did the same with Donald Trump not too long ago as well. Some of the slogans include, "Because Willy wants back in" and "You've got Mail. " RELATED: The 22 strangest Ted Cruz products you can buy online The online condom store says it's satirical, but I don't think they know what that means. Satire certainly does involve using humor and exaggeration to ridicule its subject, but it does so to bring attention to a problem and generate discussion. What are we bringing to light or what social critique are we making by plastering Trump and Clinton caricatures on a condom wrapper? In any case, you don't have to pay $10 for condoms. There are locations in the Houston area that give them away.

2016-06-08 19:24 By John www.chron.com

58 58 London police blast open suspicious vehicle parked outside Israel embassy British police detonated a suspicious vehicle parked outside the entrance to the Israeli Embassy in London on Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry said. According to initial investigations, police decided to blast open the car's windows after the unidentified vehicle was found parked outside the mission without an identifiable driver. The blast was conducted in order to allow authorities access to search the insides of the vehicle. The British authorities did not find any suspicious items inside the car.

2016-06-08 21:08 Jpost Com www.jpost.com

59 Federal jury rejects school's liability for vet's flashback at pep rally After deliberating just over an hour, a federal jury in Houston concluded Wednesday that a Montgomery County school district was not liable for damages to a teacher who fought in Iraq and experienced a flashback during a pep rally. The teacher, Stephen Seidel, claimed the school had not provided reasonable accommodation for his post-traumatic stress disorder. Attorney Erik Nichols, who represented the New Caney Independent School District, said he felt the jury reached the appropriate decision. "It's very unfortunate for Mr. Seidel," he said. "We definitely feel a great deal of sympathy for Mr. Seidel and his condition. " Seidel's attorney declined to comment after the jury's decision. Seidel was not present in the courtroom. New Caney ISD acknowledged that Seidel had been diagnosed with PTSD after discharge from the military. His mental disability stemmed, in part, from having been propelled by a mortar blast into the side of a building, according to his testimony in U. S. District Judge Keith Ellison's court. And there was no dispute that David Loyacano, New Caney High School principal, agreed when Seidel was hired in 2011 that the science teacher would not be required to attend pep rallies because of his PTSD. Instead, he would patrol the halls. The case boiled down to whether Seidel's department chair had the authority to tell Seidel he must accompany his students to a particularly high-voltage pep rally, called a "Lip Dub" rally, on the last day before winter break in 2012. Two emails, including one in all caps, had instructed all teachers to attend. Seidel knew he was exempt, but when his department head insisted he be there despite his protest that he was a combat vet, he assumed she was speaking with authority. And he followed instructions. The packed rally, featuring T-shirt and confetti cannons, loud screaming and popping balloons, triggered a series of flashbacks. Seidel has not returned to work since that day and has qualified as 100 percent disabled under Social Security. He testified that he feared going to sleep because of the nightmares and feared returning to work because he might endanger students. The school district argued that the principal, the ultimate authority, never rescinded the pep rally accommodation. Seidel should have conferred with the principal before attending, the district contended. Between 11 and 20 percent of American veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD, according to the Veteran's Administration. Many studies indicate this mental health condition is underreported. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers must provide reasonable accommodation for employees who have a disability.

2016-06-08 19:25 By Gabrielle www.chron.com

60 Encountering Peace: De-risking peace – part 2 When Israelis and Palestinians eventually get back to the table to negotiate a permanent-status agreement, ending the conflict and implementing the “two states for two peoples” agreement, it is essential that the quality of the agreement be much better than all of the previous, interim agreements. It is essential that we learn from the errors of the past and even other conflict areas that have gone through peace processes. In Part 1 of this series I related to the fundamental elements of personal and national security and the need to develop joint security mechanisms with the Palestinians rather than depending on third-party peacekeeping forces, as is the present thinking among many who are pushing for the renewal of the peace process. One of the most difficult aspects for Israelis and Palestinians to agree on are what are called the “narrative issues.” These are those set of issues which relate to identity, history and national essence. The lack of agreement on these issues thus far has been the flashing red light held onto by those who claim that “they will never make peace with us.” When Palestinians say, “We will never recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people” or “we will never give up the right of return” it signals to most Israelis that there is no Palestinian partner for peace. When Israelis say, “All of the Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel” or “all of Jerusalem is the united, undivided, eternal capital of the State of Israel and the Jewish people,” this signals to Palestinians that there is no Israeli partner for peace. My experience in dealing with all of these issues with Israelis and Palestinians, at the highest levels as well as at grassroots level, has taught me that there are solutions to every single concrete issue in conflict between Israelis and Palestinians which could be acceptable and workable for both sides. There are technical, political and structural solutions for every single issue in conflict, including borders, security, Jerusalem and refugees. Dealing with narratives and genuine reconciliation takes a lot longer and requires putting to bed those issues in conflict which are much more pressing and concrete. Both sides will probably have to postpone full satisfaction of all of their narrative-related demands for later stages. For Palestinians to accept the moral right of the Jewish people to a nation- state in the Land of Israel, or for Israelis to accept their part of responsibility for the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem and the Nakba will take a lot more time than it will take to conclude an agreement. The process of dealing with the above central issues to the roots of the conflict can only begin after an agreement is reached on all of the core issues at their base, concrete level. For example, the Palestinians have agreed to recognize Israel and to make peace with Israel and will be prepared to declare the end of conflict without having to recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. It would help a lot if they would do that prior to signing an agreement, but they will probably refuse. They may be forced to do that, but if it is not sincere it will be a cause of resentment and not a means of building reconciliation. I have discussed this issue with Palestinian leaders, including President Mahmoud Abbas, and I know that there are ways that this core issue of recognition can be dealt with – but after agreement on borders, Jerusalem and refugees. I know that there are solutions to the refugee issue without the Palestinians having to declare that they have given up the right of return. That will never happen because this issue more than any other is the core of Palestinian identity. It is wiser for us to accept that than to fight it. The right of return is seen as an individual right of each refugee and not a collective right that can be given away by any Palestinian leader. The Palestinians need to know that each refugee will be given a choice. Most Palestinians know that there is no real option or possibility to return to their original homes. But there will be some symbolic number of Palestinians that will be given the possibility to come to Israel, along with other countries that will offer places for Palestinian refugees, and other options as well, including financial compensation for people who lost real property. Palestinians need to know that Israeli acknowledgment of its part of the responsibility for the tragedy that happened to Palestinians who became refugees will come with time, and not at the moment of signing an agreement. Implementable agreements on the core issues that will positively impact realities on the ground for both sides will serve as the best corridor to confronting the narrative issues. Pushing them to the front will only postpone any agreement. Actions are more important than declarations. The declarations must be made with true intent. I do not suggest removing them from the agenda, but I do suggest that we begin to relate to them as part of the post-peace agreement process. The author is co-chairman of IPCRI, the Israel Palestine Creative Regional Initiatives, a columnist for The Jerusalem Post and the initiator and negotiator of the secret back channel for the release of Gilad Schalit. His book Freeing Gilad: the Secret Back Channel has been published by Kinneret Zmora Bitan in Hebrew and as The Negotiator: Freeing Gilad Schalit from Hamas by The Toby Press.

2016-06-08 21:02 GERSHON BASKIN www.jpost.com

61 CIA agent expects to be extradited to Italy A former CIA agent has said that she expects to be extradited imminently from Portugal to jail in Italy for her alleged role in the 2003 abduction of a terror suspect in Milan. Sabrina de Sousa says she lost an appeal against extradition last week. She is one of 26 Americans convicted in their absence for the abduction of Egyptian cleric Abu Omar. He was allegedly flown to Egypt from Italy and tortured as part of the US extraordinary renditions programme. Ms de Sousa said she was waiting to be informed when she will be transferred to Italy, where she has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail. Ms de Sousa was arrested in October on a European arrest warrant in Lisbon. She had appealed against extradition at the Supreme Court. Many of the US citizens convicted with her in Italy have since been pardoned, and she would be the first CIA officer to be handed over to Italy. Correspondents say it is not clear whether she will immediately be jailed or whether she might be granted a new trial. Support for her cause is reported to come from an unusual source. In a recent interview with The Guardian, Abu Omar said that he believed that Ms de Souza and the other 25 Americans convicted in Italy have been made scapegoats and should be pardoned. The cleric was taken to a US military base in Germany after his abduction and was later flown to Egypt where he says he was tortured. He was eventually released in his home country, although an Italian court in 2013 is reported to have convicted him in absentia of terrorist activities.

2016-06-08 19:15 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

62 62 Police question Herzog for 2nd time to complete graft probe Zionist Union party head MK Isaac Herzog was questioned under caution for a second time by police in connection to a graft probe launched earlier this year, Channel 2 reported on Wednesday. Following the report, an official from the police investigations branch confirmed that Herzog was questioned a second time recently, but not in the past few days. Police did not make a statement when Herzog was called in for questioning the second time, contrary to their custom of doing so when the person being questioned is a public official. Herzog's office responded that the questioning was conducted to complete a probe that was almost finished before and had been postponed. "According to our understanding from Mr. Herzog, no new suspicions were raised," his office said. "Herzog trusts law enforcement authorities and is sure they will soon prove that he did nothing wrong. " Herzog was first questioned under caution about alleged campaign fund- raising violations on April 17. About a week later, Channel 2 reported that police had recommended closing the case against Herzog, saying they hadn’t found enough evidence to recommend an indictment. At the time of the report, police said the case was still ongoing. The questioning in April followed a decision by Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit in March to launch an initial probe into allegations of fund-raising violations carried out by Herzog during his 2013 campaign against incumbent Shelly Yacimovich for the Labor Party leadership.

2016-06-08 20:55 BEN HARTMAN www.jpost.com

63 Israeli movies at Jerusalem Film Festival announced The lineup of movies in the Israeli competition categories for the 33rd Jerusalem Film Festival was just announced, and it’s an especially strong group, as some of Israel’s best-known directors will present their new films. The Jerusalem Film Festival will run from July 7-17 at the Jerusalem Cinematheque. In the Haggiag Competition for Full-Length Israeli Feature, two films that won awards and acclaim at the recent Cannes Film Festival will be shown. Asaph Polonsky’s One Week and a Day won the Gan Foundation Prize at Cannes, and it tells the story of a bereaved father who decides to smoke the rest of his deceased son’s medical marijuana after the week of mourning ends. Eran Kolirin’s latest film, Beyond the Mountains and Hills, is about a career army officer who finds it hard to return to civilian life after nearly three decades in the military. The movie was acquired by a US distributor at Cannes last month. Kolirin’s best-known movie, The Band’s Visit, won the top prize at the Jerusalem Film Festival in 2007. Meny Yaesh’s The Bouncer is about a man who starts working for a loan shark in order to pay for fertility treatments for his wife. His previous film, God’s Neighbors, won prizes at Cannes and the Jerusalem Film Festival. Nir Bergman’s latest film, Saving Neta, tells the story of four women whose lives change after they meet a man named Neta. Bergman’s first feature, Broken Wings, won the prize for the best feature at the Jerusalem Film Festival in 2002, and his second film, Intimate Grammar, won the Haggiag Prize in 2010. Ori Sivan’s Harmonia is a transposition of the biblical story of Abraham and Sarah to the classical-music world of modern Israel. Sivan co-directed Saint Clara with Ari Folman (Waltz with Bashir) in 1996. Guy Raz’s The Forest That Was tells the story of a man who makes a terrible mistake on his way to work. Dorit Hakim’s The Moon at House 12 is about two estranged sisters and how they find their way back to each other. A number of films will compete in the Van Leer Competition for Best Israeli Documentary, among them documentaries about young people with Down’s syndrome going backpacking in India; David Ben-Gurion’s time on Kibbutz Sde Boker; the struggle of Muslim players for Beitar Jerusalem to win acceptance from the team’s fans; a teacher accused of child abuse; the memories of North African women who settled in Dimona; a candidate for mayor of Jerusalem; and an Iraqi immigrant who became a photography pioneer. There will also be special screenings and competitions for short films and student films.

2016-06-08 20:52 HANNAH BROWN www.jpost.com

64 Maria Sharapova banned from tennis for two years for failed dope test Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova, who had been admitted to failing a drug test at the Australian Open in January, has now been suspended for two years by the International Tennis Federation. The Russian, who had been provisionally banned in March after testing positive for meldonium at January's Australian Open, will appeal against Wednesday's ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. She is arguing that she did not purposely seek a performance-enhancing substance from her doctor. Maria Sharapova The five-time Grand Slam champion had announced in March in a press conference in Los Angeles that she had been taking the drug ever since 2006 and didn't realise that it became a banned substance by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) at the start of 2016. The International Tennis Federation, about an hour after her admission, said on its website that the 29-year-old would be provisionally banned from March 12. The usual ban for first-time offenders is two years. The failed drug test came on January 26 -- after Sharapova lost to Serena Williams in the quarterfinals -- and she was charged with an anti-doping violation on March 2, the governing body had said. Sharapova said she began taking the medication, which can be used to treat heart issues, after irregular EKGs and being deficient in magnesium. Her family also has a history of diabetes, she added. WADA stated in September that the anti-ischemic drug, also known as mildronate, would be added to the prohibited list and Sharapova blamed herself for not taking note of the new list. Her lawyer, John Haggerty, claimed Sharapova took the substance after that date. Sharapova said she first was prescribed the Latvian-made drug, typically used for heart conditions, for medical reasons in 2006. Three of Sharapova's top sponsors -- global sports apparel giants Nike, Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer and German car manufacturer Porsche -- had suspended their ties with her after the Russian tennis star announced that she had failed the drug test.

2016-06-08 20:51 By mid www.mid-day.com

65 Israel Festival to close with ‘Mount Olympus’ They say that the worst possible reaction to a performance is indifference. Love, hatred, passion and repulsion are all preferable outcomes to an unmoved audience. And, if this is true, the Israel Festival has succeeded in its task. Over the past two weeks, since the iconic cultural event kicked off, the festival has garnered a tsunami of responses, from joyous applause to staunch opposition. Everyone had something to say, including Egypt’s grand mufti and the Jerusalem Municipality, not to mention the press. And it’s not over yet! Itzik Giuli, artistic director of the Israel Festival since 2015, has saved the best and most controversial for last. On Thursday night, the festival will open its doors for the last time this year with legendary Belgian artist Jan Fabre’s Mount Olympus: To Glorify the Cult of Tragedy. The performance, which is executed by a cast of 27, spans 24 hours. Harking back to performances of old, in which a play could swallow days whole, Fabre invites audiences to spend some real time with his grandiose creation. Incorporating dance, text, props, music and pyrotechnics, Mount Olympus is sure to be an unforgettable theatrical experience for all. Mount Olympus will begin at 5 p.m. on Thursday in the many spaces of Sherover Theater Hall. For more information, visit www.israel-festival.org

2016-06-08 20:47 Ori J www.jpost.com

66 Tim Peake on the ISS: 'I miss the feeling of rain' British astronaut Tim Peake has been on the International Space Station for nearly six months, where the climate is unsurprisingly constant. But what does he miss most about the weather on Earth?

2016-06-08 20:44 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

67 Spreading the soothing word of poetry in Metulla The 19th annual Poetry Festival in Metulla will take place this year during Shavuot, bringing to the quiet northern pastoral town dozens of poetry readings, concerts, screenings and other family events. The theme of this year’s festival, which runs today through June 12 under the auspices of Confederation House in Jerusalem and its director, Effie Benaya, is “The Right to Shout.” Festival highlights include “The Golden Age of Mizrahi Poetry: Fathers, Mothers, Sons and Daughters,” featuring Erez Bitton (the first Mizrahi poet to receive the Israel Prize); musicians Shai Tsabari, Eran Weitz and Carmi Zisapel will perform new compositions and arrangements to the poetry of Avot Yeshurun; veteran ethnic music artist Piris Eliyahu will host an evening of his compositions to poems from the Song of Songs. He will be joined by his kamancheh-playing son Mark. There will also be a tribute to Jerusalemite poet Yisrael Eliraz, who died earlier this year a day before his 83rd birthday. For more info visit www.confederationhouse..org

2016-06-08 20:40 Jerusalem Post www.jpost.com

68 Texas congressman Filemon Vela tells Donald Trump to 'shove it up your...' WASHINGTON – A Hispanic congressman from Texas, angered by Donald Trump's attacks on an American-born judge of Mexican descent, penned an open letter to the presumptive GOP presidential nominee telling him to "take your border wall and shove it up your ass. " The three-page letter, sent by U. S. Rep. Filemon Vela, a Democrat from the border city of Brownsville, follows days of controversy over Trump's assertion that U. S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, a California judge presiding over fraud lawsuits against Trump University, should recuse himself because of his "Mexican heritage. " READ MORE: Trump claims Trump University judge has 'absolute conflict' Vela, the son of one of the first federal judges of Mexican descent, wrote that while he might agree with Trump on some points about the border and U. S. relations with Mexico, "your ignorant anti-immigration opinions, your border wall rhetoric, and your recent bigoted attack on an American jurist are just plain despicable. " The letter, written in both English and Spanish, ended on an undiplomatic note that Vela suggested could not be helped. Though saying he does not speak for all Americans of Mexican descent, Vela concluded: "I am sure that many of these individuals would agree with me when I say: 'Mr. Trump, you're a racist and you can take your border wall and shove it up your ass.'" READ MORE: Internet fondly looks back at failed white vs. black 'The Apprentice' pitch A spokeswoman for Trump did not immediately respond to a request or comment. Read the full letter below. Dear Mr. Trump, As the United States Representative for the 34th Congressional District of Texas, I do not disagree with everything you say. I agree that the United States Government has largely failed our veterans, and those of us who represent the people in Congress have the obligation to rectify the Veterans Administration's deficiencies. I also believe that the Mexican government and our own State Department must be much more aggressive in addressing cartel violence and corruption in Mexico, especially in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas. And clearly, criminal felons who are here illegally should be immediately deported. There might even be a few other things on which we can agree. However, your ignorant anti-immigrant opinions, your border wall rhetoric, and your recent bigoted attack on an American jurist are just plain despicable. Your position with respect to the millions of undocumented Mexican workers who now live in this country is hateful, dehumanizing, and frankly shameful. The vast number of these individuals work in hotels, restaurants, construction sites, and agricultural fields across the United States. If I had to guess, your own business enterprises either directly or indirectly employ more of these workers than most other businesses in our country. Thousands of our businesses would come to a grinding halt if we invoked a policy that would require "mass deportation" as you and many of your supporters would suggest. That is precisely why the Republican-leaning U. S. Chamber of Commerce agrees that these workers deserve a national immigration policy that would give them a pathway to citizenship. While you would build more and bigger walls on the U. S.-Mexico border, I would tear the existing wall to pieces. No doubt Mexico has its problems, but it is also our third-largest trading partner. U. S. Chamber of Commerce has documented that this trade relationship is responsible for six million jobs in the United States. In 2015, the U. S. imported $296 billion in goods from Mexico while exporting $235 billion in products manufactured in this country to Mexico. The Great Wall of China is historically obsolete, and President Ronald Reagan famously declared, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall... " while urging the Soviet Union to destroy the barrier that divided West and East Berlin. Why any modern-thinking person would ever believe that building a wall along the border of a neighboring country, which is both our ally and one of our largest trading partners, is frankly astounding and asinine. I should also point out that thousands of Americans of Mexican descent that you mistakenly refer to as "Mexicans" have valiantly served the United States in every conflict since the Civil War. While too numerous to list, let me educate you about a few of these brave Medal of Honor recipients: Master Sergeant Jose Lopez, from my own hometown of Brownsville, Texas, fought in World War II. Lopez was awarded the United States' highest military decoration for valor in combat - the Medal of Honor - for his heroic actions during the Battle of the Bulge, in which he single handedly repulsed a German infantry attack, killing at least 100 enemy troops. If you ever run into Kris Kristofferson, ask him about Jose Lopez because as a young man Mr. Kristofferson recalls the 1945 parade honoring Sergeant Lopez as an event he will never forget. In 1981, President Reagan presented Master Sergeant Roy Benavides with the Medal of Honor for fighting in what has been described as "6 hours in hell. " In Vietnam, Sergeant Benavides suffered 37 separate bullet, bayonet and shrapnel wounds to his face, leg, head and stomach while saving the lives of eight men. In fact, when awarding the honor to Benavides, President Reagan, turned to the media and said, "if the story of his heroism were a movie script, you would not believe it. " You have now descended to a new low in your racist attack of an American jurist, U. S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, by calling him a "Mexican" simply because he ruled against you in a case in which you are being accused of fraud, among other accusations. Judge Curiel is one of 124 Americans of Hispanic descent who have served this country with honor and distinction as federal district judges. In fact, the first Hispanic American ever named to the federal bench in the United States, Judge Reynaldo G. Garza, was also from Brownsville, Texas, and was appointed by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. Before you dismiss me as just another "Mexican," let me point out that my great-great grandfather came to this country in 1857, well before your own grandfather. His grandchildren (my grandfather and his brothers) all served our country in World War I and World War II. His great-grandson, my father, served in the U. S. Army and, coincidentally, was one of the first "Mexican" federal judges ever appointed to the federal bench. I would like to end this letter in a more diplomatic fashion, but I think that you, of all people, understand why I cannot. I will not presume to speak on behalf of every American of Mexican descent, for every undocumented worker born in Mexico who is contributing to our country every day or, for that matter, every decent citizen in Mexico. But, I am sure that many of these individuals would agree with me when I say: 'Mr. Trump, you're a racist and you can take your border wall and shove it up your ass.' Sincerely, Filemon Vela Member of Congress

2016-06-08 19:07 By Kevin www.chron.com

69 Results: Texans head to the polls for runoff elections While much of the country's focus has shifted to the expected November contest between Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton, for many Texas offices the parties still need to select a nominee. Polls opened Tuesday morning for a small array of Harris County runoffs, including races to nominate a Democratic sheriff candidate and tap a Republican county party chairman. Aside from judicial contests, the ballot also features two races for state representative, two for constable and one for U. S. representative. Beyond Harris County, candidates for state Railroad Commissioner are slated for a runoff on both sides of the aisle, as are the Democrats competing for State Board of Education, District 6. Take a look at the Houston-are results in the database below. The projected low-turnout affair drew just 49,300 early and mail voters in Harris County - 21,300 Democrats and 28,000 Republicans - down from 217,000 ahead of Super Tuesday.

2016-06-08 19:07 Houston Chronicle www.chron.com

70 70 Saviour needs saving? Social media erupts over Lord Swaminarayan dressed in RSS khaki Controversies seem to be around every corner in India nowadays. There is a new one every day. With social media trends suggesting the current favourite that have caught the attention of the nation. From 'Udta Punjab' to Sadhvi Prachi to Lawyers Collective, people protesting against 'injustices' and 'perceived wrongs' is at its height on social media. The latest one to have caught the attention of people on social media was the authorities of a Surat-based temple dressing up the idol of Lord Swaminarayan in the khaki uniform of a RSS pracharak. The issue came to light after a picture, in which Lord Swaminarayan can be seen donning the Sangh outfit -- white shirt tucked into a baggy khaki shorts with black cap and black shoes on, holding the national flag in one hand -- went viral on social media platforms. The idol dressed up in RSS outfit kicked up a storm on social media and politicians jumping into the fray to have their say. THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE WERE SAYING ON FACEBOOK: HERE'S WHAT PEOPLE HAD TO SAY ON TWITTER: As usual there were some who supported the move: Seeking to play down the controversy, Swami Vishwaprakashji of the temple, which is situated in Laskana area of Surat, said the dress was gifted by a local devotee a couple of days back and it was the normal practice of showing the idol in different dresses. "We have a common practice of presenting the idol in various dresses. This RSS uniform was given to us by a devotee. We do not have any other agenda. We did not know that it will create a controversy," Vishwaprakashji said. Notwithstanding denials by the temple authorities of having any intention of endorsing the views of the right-wing organisation, Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela said they must refrain from such activities. "What do you want to prove by dressing up the God in khaki shorts? I pity those who have done that. Today, you have dressed the Lord in RSS uniform, tomorrow you will dress the idol in BJP's uniform. This is very unfortunate," Vaghela said. Gujarat BJP chief Vijay Rupani also said that it should not have been done. "I am really surprised. I don't approve such action," he said.

2016-06-08 20:34 By mid www.mid-day.com

71 Clinton, Trump draw lines for ill-tempered campaign battle By Steve Holland WASHINGTON, June 8 (Reuters) - U. S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump kicked off a fierce general election battle, with Democrats accusing Trump of erratic behavior and the Republican threatening to bring up old Clinton scandals. Clinton, the former secretary of state, made history when she became the first woman to lead a major political party in its quest to capture the U. S. presidency. Big primary election wins on Tuesday in California and elsewhere catapulted her to victory over Democratic opponent Bernie Sanders. If elected on Nov. 8, the 68-year-old would return the Clinton family to the White House 16 years after her husband, Bill Clinton, completed two terms as president. All signs point toward a negative campaign for five months as Clinton accuses Trump of being temperamentally unfit to serve and the New York billionaire charges Clinton has a dark past with shades of corruption and a weak record as President Barack Obama's first-term secretary of state. The Clinton campaign drew on critical comments from Republicans themselves to portray the 69-year-old Trump as not fit for the Oval Office after the real estate developer repeatedly accused a Mexican-American judge of showing bias against him because of his ethnic heritage. "The most effective thing to do with Donald Trump is just to get his words out there and let him speak for himself," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told CNN on Wednesday. Mook charged Trump with a history of "erratic behavior," the same language leveled by the Obama campaign in its defeat of Republican nominee John McCain in 2008. Trump gave a carefully crafted primary race victory speech on Tuesday laying out his own plan of attack. To keep from straying off message, he used a Teleprompter and avoided his typical stream-of-consciousness delivery. Trump said money given to the Clinton Foundation charity from foreign donors has earned the Clintons millions of dollars and had a corrupting influence when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state and used a private email server to conduct official business. "Hillary Clinton turned the State Department into her private hedge fund - the Russians, the Saudis, the Chinese - all gave money to Bill and Hillary and got favorable treatment in return. It's a sad day in America when foreign governments with deep pockets have more influence in our own country than our great citizens," Trump said. He said he would give a speech next week "discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons. " CLINTON LEADS A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday showed Clinton leading Trump by 10 percentage points nationally, little changed from a week earlier. Both Clinton and Trump must unite their parties behind them but the Democrat appeared to face the easier path with Sanders, a leftist U. S. senator from Vermont, nearly out of options to challenge her. Trump has an uphill battle, with many party leaders still opposed to him. U. S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan described Trump's remarks about the judge as a "textbook definition of a racist comment" but said he would still support him. Trump said on Wednesday he was "disappointed and surprised" by the charges of racism from Republicans. "I had just won more votes than anyone in the history of the party," he told Time. "But you know, they have to say what they have to say. I'm a big boy. They have to say what they have to say. " Ryan met behind closed-doors on Wednesday with House Republicans. An aide said Ryan "discussed with his members the thinking behind his endorsement (of Trump) and how to move forward" and reiterated he had confidence Trump would support the House Republican agenda. Republicans complain that Trump still engages in petty battles with former rivals and is way behind in building a fund-raising organization. Trump will meet on Thursday in New York with top fund-raisers of the Republican National Committee, a party official said. Hopes flickered among some anti-Trump Republicans that there will be a revolt against him when delegates convene to nominate him formally in Cleveland between July 18-21. "It is in best short-term and long- term interests of the party to have the ability to cast off Trump, and for delegates to employ that authority," Republican strategist Rory Cooper wrote in a blog post. Clinton edged Sanders out in a rough-and-tumble battle that stretched over four months and 50 states. She won support, especially among older voters, with a more pragmatic campaign focused on building on the policies of fellow Democrat Obama. Democratic Party elites are lined up squarely behind Clinton, including most likely Obama, who may endorse her as early as this week. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Obama would not endorse until after he meets with Sanders on Thursday. Obama and Sanders have spoken three times in the last month, Earnest said. The president's eventual endorsement would put pressure on Sanders to exit graciously and throw his support to Clinton. Sanders is also due to meet with Senate minority leader Harry Reid. Obama also has congratulated Clinton on her nomination win. The Associated Press called the race in California for Clinton early on Wednesday. Clinton won 56 percent to Sanders' 43 percent, avoiding what would have been an embarrassing loss for her in America's most populous state. (Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Doina Chiacu, Emily Stephenson, Roberta Rampton and Richard Cowan in Washington; Editing by Alistair Bell)

2016-06-08 18:18 Reuters www.dailymail.co.uk

72 India-South Korea jointly hold anti-piracy operations at Chennai coast A South Korean coast guard ship, on Wednesday arrived in Chennai coast, Tamil Nadu, to take part in a joint exercise 'Sshyog- Hyeoblyeog-2016' which basically aims at anti-piracy operations and boosting naval ties. School students at the welcoming ceremony. Pic/PTI School students and officials were at the welcoming ceremony of 'Korea Coast Guard Ship 3009' at Chennai Port Trust ahead of the joint exercise 'Sahyog-Hyeoblyeog-2016' (cooperation). South Korea Consul General, Chennai Kyungsoo Kim is also seen. South Korea Consul General, Chennai Kyungsoo Kim is also seen. Pic/PTI The exercise is likely to last till June 11. This is the fifth edition of the Indo-Korean 'Sshyog-Hyeoblyeog' when coast guards of the two countries were involved in joint exercise in the Bay of Bengal off Chennai. 2016-06-08 20:27 By mid www.mid-day.com

73 Yad Vashem, Gives the Victims an Everlasting Name In Judaism “yad” is a hand- held pointer used for reading the sefer torah-the bible. It is a tapered, usually ornamented rod, usually of silver, with the tip of the tapered part forming a fist with the index finger extended, used by the reader of a scroll of the Torah as a place marker. The name "Yad Vashem" is taken from a verse in the Book of Isaiah (56:5): "Even unto them will I give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. ". Naming the Holocaust memorial "Yad Vashem" conveys the premise of establishing a national depository for the names of Jewish victims who have no one to carry their name after their death. Yad Vashem is the memorial shrine administered by this authority. Yad Vashem , established in 1953, eight years after WWII ended, is located on the western slope of Mount Herzl, 804 meters (2,638 ft) above sea level. The complex containing the Holocaust History Museum, memorial sites, such as the Children's Memorial and the Hall of Remembrance, The Museum of Holocaust Art, sculptures, outdoor commemorative sites such as the Valley of the Communities, a synagogue, a research institute with archives, a library, a publishing house, and an educational center named The International School/Institute for Holocaust Studies. Not even a century passed since WWII ended and so many have put so much doubt in the Holocaust subject. Did it really happen? Is the entire subject exaggerated? Is the number of Jews murdered inflated? One must admit that there is so much to tell about the Holocaust and though the events are distancing as times goes by, there are so many people who do so much to preserve the horror stories of those years. Soon all Holocaust survivors will leave our world, leaving behind the duty to tell their story, now rests on the shoulders of future generations. Films help to safeguard the memory of the Holocaust. Hollywood has contributed much to preserving the memory of the Holocaust through the many films it produced over the years that spread the truth, the Holocaust story to new audience. To know this one needs to attend a Yad Vashem gala where you learn how the “Never Again” works. Early June 2016, at the Beverly Wilshire hotel, in Beverly Hills California, inspired by Hollywood Reporter’s ‘The Last Survivors’ issue, with an opening introduction by Leonard Wilf, Chairman for the American Society for Yad Vashem, co-chaired by Elissa and Edward Czuker and actor Tony Goldwyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg presenters, the American Society for Yad Vashem, the organization dedicated to advancing the Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority and the Jewish Life Foundation that funds the creation of Jewish-themed culture and educational programs of Jewish Life Television (JLTV) hosted their 3 rd annual benefit ‘Salute to Hollywood’ gala. Salute To Hollywood-photo N Greenger L-American Society for Yad Vashem Exect. Dirct. Ron Meier, Lynne Segall, David Wiener, Meyer Gottlieb, Janice Min, Elissa & Edward Czuker, JLTV Phil Blazer-photo Kyle Espeleta The evening honored the Holocaust survivors, Hollywood producers Meyer Gottlieb, former president and COO of Samuel Goldwyn Films, and Branko Lustig with the Legacy Award. Both appeared in the Hollywood Reporter ‘The Last Survivors’ issue; Entertainment Group president/COO Janice Min and EVP/Group Publisher Lynn Segall, on behalf of the Hollywood Reporter, with the Vanguard Award for their January 1 st , 2016, “ The Last Survivors ” publication; David Wiener, a Holocaust survivor, a real estate developer and philanthropist, with the Lifetime Achievement Award. The Last Survivors Cover-Photo N Greenger Meyer Gottlieb-photo N Greenger Branko Lustig-photo N Greenger David Wiener-photo N Greenger To date, so far, over 4.2 million names of men, women and children Holocaust victims have been registered and memorialized. Today we can say that motions pictures lead the way to change the image of Israel and Jews. So many who survived the Holocaust have gone to triumph, among them are some who attended this gala. Remember, we are not measured by what we achieved rather by what impact we made on others. To many survivors, justifying their survival means to give something in return, to make our world better. Do not stand idly by is an empty shell slogan. While we should not just think about it, too many do stand idly by! “Never Again” can only happen if we do not forget!

2016-06-08 20:27 NURIT GREENGER www.jpost.com

74 Venkatesh Prasad applies for India head coach's post New Delhi : Former seam bowler Venkatesh Prasad has also thrown his hat into the ring by applying for the high profile head coach's job with the Indian cricket team. "I have applied this morning," Prasad confirmed to PTI on Wednesday. Venkatesh Prasad Prasad, who is currently the chairman of the BCCI junior selecting committee, is keen to get back to a coaching role. He has also been India's bowling coach in the past. In fact, Prasad was in charge of the bowling department when India won the inaugural 2007 ICC World T20 under Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy. Prasad faces stiff competition from Indian cricket heavyweights like former Team Director Ravi Shastri and current chairman of senior selection committee Sandeep Patil, who have also applied for the top job. It has been learnt that Prasad is also open to becoming a a bowling coach of the national team if he is not made the chief coach. He was bowling coach of the Indian between 2007 and 2009, and also worked with the now suspended IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Once Gary Kirsten took charge in 2008, Prasad fell out of favour with Eric Simons replacing him as the bowling coach. The 46-year-old was the head coach of Uttar Pradesh before taking over as the chairman of the junior selection committee. Recently, Prasad was linked to replace Heath Streak as Bangladesh bowling coach but he expressed his desire to serve the Indian team. In his playing career, Prasad represented India in 33 Tests and 161 ODIs taking 96 and 196 wickets respectively. Once a new ball partner of India's then fastest bowler Javagal Srinath, Prasad was known for his slower deliveries and effective leg-cutters. His finest moment was guiding India to victory against Pakistan with a five- wicket haul (5/27) in a 1999 World Cup encounter in Manchester. During his first coaching stint, one thing that his detractors used to say that fast bowlers concentrated more on line and length rather than focussing on pace.

2016-06-08 20:21 By PTI www.mid-day.com

75 U. S. Supreme Court decision on UT affirmative action case expected this month The U. S. Supreme Court may rule as soon as Thursday on a years-long legal fight over the University of Texas at Austin's use of race in admissions. It's a case that could have broad implications for affirmative action nationwide, but many experts say that's unlikely. UT considers race as a factor for roughly 25 percent of student applicants who are not admitted under a state law that grants automatic admission up to the top 10 percent of students of a high school's graduating class. Abigail Fisher, a white applicant from Sugar Land whose grades did not put her at the very top of her class, sued UT after she was denied admission in 2008. Fisher claims UT admitted minority students with lower grades than hers, violating the 14th Amendment in denying her admission. The case has drawn the eyes of higher education leaders across the nation, fearful that the high court could strike a blow to affirmative action policies. The court's ruling is expected this month before its current session ends. But experts said this week a more narrow ruling from the high court is likely. Only seven justices will weigh in on the case, and the court has been reluctant to issue broad rulings after Justice Antonin Scalia died in February. "I wouldn't expect it to make a bold ideological ruling," said Paul Brace, a political scientist at Rice University. The smaller makeup of the court is unique to the case and will be key to any outcome. Justice Elena Kagan, an expected would-be vote for UT, recused herself because she worked on the case as solicitor general. Because of that, when the case was argued before the high court late last year, many thought a 4-4 split is the best UT could hope for. Without Kagan, UT could likely count on just three justices -- Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen G. Breyer. Four justices -- Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Samuel A. Alito Jr. -- have been critics of affirmative action. With a tie vote, the UT policy could continue. Without Scalia and Kagan, a tie is impossible. With a smaller group making the decision, a "blockbuster" ruling is unlikely, said Herman Schwartz, a professor in the Washington College of Law at American University in Washington, D. C. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy will be the swing vote. Kennedy wrote the opinion in 2013 that sent the case back to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, asking that the panel provide a stricter test to UT's policies, which the university had to prove were necessary because race-neutral admissions policies were not working. Though he tends to be more conservative, Kennedy has been "reluctant" to broadly condemn affirmative action in the way that the other conservatives on the court have, said Louis Michael Seidman, a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown University Law Center. There's a good chance the court, then, will issue a ruling narrowly tailored to UT's policies -- which are quite different than most admissions policies across the nation, because of the state's top 10 percent automatic acceptance law. "The bottom line is, I think, they're not going to want to go all the way to knock it out and I think they'll try to find some middle ground, at least for this case," Schwartz said. Still, UT's supporters have said that even a ruling focused solely on the state flagship's policies -- which are unique, because state law requires UT to automatically admit the best high school students -- could have widespread influence nationally on other universities' consideration of race in admissions. "There is a lot at stake here," Rachel Kleinman, an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said last year before the court heard oral arguments in the case. "I think any ruling on affirmative action stands to change things nationally, even if it's just a chilling effect... Any ruling that technically applies to UT will certainly have other colleges and universities scrambling to make sure they're in compliance. "

2016-06-08 23:15 By Benjamin www.chron.com

76 Fake Twitter account trolls Texas State Rep. Poncho Nevarez hard Donald Trump’s supporters have been accused of using social media to troll his critics, but one Texas state representative on Wednesday got a lesson in not believing everything you read online. Rep. Poncho Nevarez, a border Democrat who supports Hillary Clinton, tweeted his daughter’s response to Clinton’s historic rise as the first woman slated to be the presidential nominee of a major American party: “It won’t be the last time.” What followed was a tweet, at 3 a.m. Wednesday, from @RepStevenSmith, whose Twitter bio says he’s a Republican U. S. representative from Georgia’s 15 th district. “Tea Party Patriot: Constitutionalist : Partisan,” it reads. The online exchange went on for about 3 hours with Nevarez apparently not noticing the account was not real. “Did you tell your daughter that Hillary is the first felon nominated for president?” Smith responded. Or, at least, that’s what the Twitter troll behind the account wrote. Last year, PolitiFact Georgia exposed the account as fake. There are, in fact, only 14 congressional districts in the Peach State, which a simple Google search confirms. Nobody told Nevarez that, though. He responded to the troll account’s attacks on Clinton, who has not be indicted. “That would be untrue. I assume a guy like you probably ate his kids so I won’t you what you ask them.” Another Twitter user later alerted the Maverick County lawmaker to the hoax, to which Nevarez replied , "Those folks whoever they are just feed off this. Hopefully this fills them up for awhile so they leave folks alone. " He shouldn’t feel that bad. The fake account has fooled several national journalists over the years, including CNN’s Christiane Amanpour and Vox.com’s Ezra Klein.

2016-06-08 23:15 By Bobby www.chron.com

77 Mark Cuban really wants you to know Donald Trump isn't that rich Dallas Mavericks owner and Three Commas Club member Mark Cuban believes that Donald Trump is not a fellow billionaire. He elaborated on this line of thought on a New York radio program last week. And in several Twitter posts Wednesday morning, Cuban explained why Trump will be more beholden to the donor class than Hillary Clinton after calling him a "puppet president. " RELATED: GOP united in denouncing Trump comments on judge The outspoken NBA owner went on New York radio program “Bernie and Sid” on July 1 and revealed his alleged inside knowledge. Cuban said he’s seen Trump’s FEC filings and that Trump is “horrible” at handling his business. From the radio interview ( via Buzzfeed ): “He’s good at [branding]. Whether or not that’s made him a billionaire, I don’t know,” Cuban said. “He’s not transparent enough for us to actually know.” He believes the reason that Trump is constantly endorsing products from steaks to wine to playing cards is because he’s desperate for money. On Forbes' billionaire list , Trump (Net worth: $4.5 billion) remains several dozen spots higher than Cuban (Net worth: $3.2 billion). But Cuban insisted on the radio show that there’s no way Trump has more money than him. The “Bernie and Sid Show” via Buzzfeed’s transcription again: “It’s not even close, I [have more money],” Cuban said. “Before all the Trumpians jump on me on who has more money, the reason I know is when you file your federal election campaign reports, you have to list all your cash and liquid securities and bonds. You have to list them one by one. So we know without any question that as of May 27, Donald doesn’t have more than $165 million in cash and securities and bonds. “And trust me, I’ve got a lot of more than that in cash, securities, and bonds,” he continued. “And so you know, I’m willing to bet dimes against dollars that that’s pretty much what he’s got.” READ THIS: Texas congressman tells Donald Trump to 'shove it up your a-- ' A week later Cuban took to Twitter to continue his Trump-is-not-a-billionaire campaign. He said Trump needs to calm down because “he doesn’t have the cash to fund his campaign, he needs to appease donors quickly.” Cuban said Trump will need to grovel to donors and “hidden” video eventually will reveal he’s telling private fundraisers what they want to hear. He finished his Twitter expose with this coup de grâce. Cuban seemed to entertain the idea of a Trump presidency last year. He’s no longer on board , though he did say h e could be Trump’s (or Clinton’s) vice president. See who Donald Trump's actual vice presidential candidates can be in the gallery above.

2016-06-08 23:15 Matt Levin www.chron.com

78 Here’s mud in your eye — for a good cause and workout Slogging through the Trench Trap are Dirt Digger and the Mud Honeys in yellow, captained by Shawn Beane, and TricerCops in blue led by Shannon Yeatman. Photo by Pete Zamplas. By Pete Zamplas- About 1,000 people braved slick mud, icy water and drenching puddles galore on a fun yet challenging obstacle course Saturday, in the three-mile Mad Mountain Mud Run. The fifth annual race benefits Hands On! A Child’s Gallery, the interactive educational non-profit museum at 318 N. Main St. in Hendersonville. Its founder and executive director, Heather Boeke started the obstacle race as an innovative fundraiser. Competitors agree with her intent of drawing a broader range of runners by not being as continually-grueling as “spartan” obstacle courses, yet providing a handful of solid tests for more elite racers and plenty of hazards for others. It is distinct as among few muddy obstacle races. The swiftest took just over a half-hour, others twice as long or more. The course covers about 40,000 square feet, through the park and old quarry and by the historic, industrial league ballfield. The Mud Run finale, Last Muddy Chance, is quite a splash for Team Redeemed captained by Christopher Worsham. Photo by Pete Zamplas. The crowded contest and its festival has helped popularize the site, the City of Hendersonville’s renovated Berkeley Park by the Kimberly-Clark plant. Hazards include water pits and muddy paths, with hidden rocks and stumps. Messiest include from ducking below low logs in Trench Trap dug by Pace Construction. Swamp Slush required crawling beneath ribbons. The grand finale was sliding through one of four tubes to splash into a giant puddle, in Last Muddy Chance. Other obstacle names include Super Stomach Slide, Muddobbers Crawl, Hard Rock Climb, Mad Mountain, Wall of Mudders, Tire Flippin’, Teeter or Totter, Over/Under Logs, and Spools of Fun. There were 31 points, including jogs through woods and briars. “It was fun getting dirty” for a good cause, mud-drenched Morgen Yeakley of Marshall said. She raced as among 4 Bad Mudders, captained by Heather Webb. Like many in the race, Yeakley is more used to foot races than “crawling and slopping through the mud” and confronting obstacles. But she likes how “it breaks up the running.” The Rope Climb was racers’ consensus choice, as most thwarting. Many said its ropes were too slick and thick to firmly grasp. A team member had to climb, then hit and ring a bell 18 feet high. Six ropes were held up by a Jim’s Crane Service’s crane. Adam McCraw’s Our Name is Mud squad, 10th among males, planned for McCraw to ascend the rope. But he soon yielded, calling for teammate Ryan Snowden to try. Snowden instinctively figured how to grasp the rope with ankle, to shimmy up it. McCraw said running backwards up a hill was also awkward. Mulch Mound, which preceded ropes, was 20 feet high and very wide. Runners climbed it. Some were doused by water-squirting youths. Soon after came Dumpster Diving, into a vault of oft-replenished ice water at least four feet deep. “Oh, it’s cold! But it feels great!,” Katie Combs of Dirty 30 proclaimed. Weather felt a bit humid, but rather mild — below 80 degrees, with some breeze and no rain. Rain delayed the family fun mud mile the night before. Water bottles were given to racers Saturday, after each mile. Qualified teams have at least four runners, and must finish while holding hands. Races churned through the muddy, messy Trench Trap and ducked under its logs. Photo by Pete Zamplas. Top five team finishers in the fastest of three levels, Masters of Mud, among all-male squads were: captain Jarod Connell’s squad (32:08), Drew Schweikert’s Team Triple B (35:46), Samuel Sinyard’s Hold My Beer… (36:04), Luke Hollingsworth’s Hendo Warriors (36:23), Auden Brennan’s The Dolphin Rockets (36:37), and McGuire Hunter’s “Armudillos” (36:43). They were also the top six fastest overall. Murky Mud Mates is the medium level. Max Burgin’s Chafing the Dream (45:46) did best, among male-based teams. Next were Carrie Maines’ Trails Turbo Turtles (49:25), Carson Robertson’s Super Swampers (50:57), Harvey Grant’s Sod Busters (51:55), Tamara Bernazky-Alm’s Mudder Truckers (53:51), and City Mgr. John Connet’s city team at 53:57. Nitty Gritty Mud Lovers, for ages 12 and elder, is least competitive. Three of its male-based teams finished in less than an hour: Blake Kinsey’s The Hippie Liberal Method (54:23), Seth Grant’s Flavor 1st Corp. (55:19), and Angie Austin’s Mud Flaps Corp. (57:42). Top five all-female Masters of Mud were Jared Mobley’s Pretty Little Mudders (37:45; seventh overall), Alisa Salvaggio’s Muddy Buddies (39:42; 10th overall), Kathy Michelson’s Sup Broads! (39:58) which also broke the 40-minute mark, Elizabeth Swanger’s Heroes of the Mud (45:17), and Katie Cox’s Breakout Badasses (48:44). Nikki Shevidy’s Holy Grit (42:36) easily won among Murky females — by six and a half minutes. The Grit also outdid all murky male squads, and was 15th overall. Amelia Shore’s Mystery Gang (55:50) was the sole Nitty female squad faster than an hour. Co-ed, master-level was led by Roberson High’s recent state butterfly swim champ Mary-O Soule’s Soul(e) Train (38:01; eighth overall). The next four are Reed Handlery’s C. O. R. E. (41:50), Dan Ruiz’s The Muditopians (44:02), Paul Bakke’s Whole Body Fitness (46:00), and Amanda Armstrong’s Madison Mudcats (47:52). A dozen mid-level co-ed squads beat the hour mark, led by: Damian Tody’s Blaisdell (45:47), Tyler Kilpatrick’s The Mudfits (47:29), Dustin Smith’s Breakout Mud Stompers (47:30), Tige Hopper’s Synergizers (48:16), and Ella Boeke’s Harlem Mud Kitties (48:50). Chris Helton’s Gibson Pest Control, Inc. (58:19) was the sole Co-ed Nitty squad faster than an hour. Team names included Scrambled Legs and Achin, Mudder Truckers, Mudder Fockers; and Mud, Sweat and Beers. Three Shrinks and a Lady (Katie Allen) take an icy plunge. Photo by Pete Zamplas. There was a costume contest, and two “brain challenges” along the course. One was on math, the other spotting colorful objects. Mud racers enjoyed a BBQ post-race meal with beer at the festival, as the Stipe Bros. played rock blends. Check full race results at http://rightontimeproductions.blogspot.com. For more on Hands On!, call 697-8333 or check http://handsonwnc.org

2016-06-08 21:39 www.thetribunepapers.com

79 Yahoo - Yahoo Announces Editorial Plans for 2016 Summer Games --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ( : YHOO) today announced its full global editorial lineup for the 2016 in , including Olympic gold medalists and. Yahoo will send more than 15 experts and writers to Rio, plus another 15 video producers and crew to cover the Games from every angle. Yahoo's focus for the 2016 will be to tell compelling stories and produce instant reactions across all content platforms. "We will use our world-class reporting to seek out the unscripted moments that make the so riveting," said , Vice President,. "We're poised to offer our most comprehensive coverage ever with a relentless emphasis on mobile- first content. We look forward to Shawn (gymnastics) and Summer (swimming, host) along with Canadian Olympian ( ) providing insider commentary on Yahoo's global stage. " Yahoo's experts will create unique content for Yahoo's global audience leading into the and throughout the. Content from Yahoo's talent will include video originals such as Instant Reactions, Power Rankings, Yahoo Sports Rio 101 and the Yahoo Sports , while Yahoo's award-winning writers like , , and will create in-depth features to tell the untold stories of Olympians and how medals were won or lost. Former Canadian national team and pro soccer goalkeeper will bring expert analysis to Yahoo Canada and host "Bring Your Eh Game" podcasts throughout the games. Finally, Yahoo's and based production teams will create three daily shows in Spanish and English, as well as documentary-style video content capturing the lively and colorful environment on the ground at the Games. Yahoo Summer Games coverage can be found across platforms from its custom destination page featuring medal counts and on the app. will also translate its coverage into a variety of languages to reach its over one billion unique users worldwide. Yahoo's editorial staff will work around the clock to make sure fans across the globe won't miss any piece of the action or unique story whether they're cheering for the , , , , , etc. is a guide focused on informing, connecting, and entertaining our users. By creating highly personalized experiences for our users, we keep people connected to what matters most to them, across devices and around the world. In turn, we create value for advertisers by connecting them with the audiences that build their businesses. is headquartered in , and has offices located throughout the , (APAC) and the , and (EMEA) regions. For more information, visit the pressroom (pressroom.yahoo.net) or the Company's blog (yahoo.tumblr.com).

2016-06-08 18:46 investor.yahoo.net

80 Asia Times News & Features – Asia Times AKTOBE, Kazakhstan (Reuters) – One of the men blamed by authorities in Kazakhstan for an armed raid on a national guard base, the deadliest attack in the country’s history, had posted a video online that was sympathetic to Islamic State. The video, posted on the social media page of Rustem Omarov, represents the first time Islamic State ideology has been linked to an act of militant violence in Kazakhstan, central Asia’s wealthiest country and a major oil producer. People from Kazakhstan and other central Asian states are fighting for Islamic State in Syria. There was no evidence the attack was ordered by the group, but its methods and ideology could threaten the already volatile region, which is mainly Muslim, has repressive governments and millions of people living in poverty. Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, said on Wednesday the attackers had received instructions from abroad and were adherents of a pseudo-religious movement, though he did not identify it. Omarov was one of more than 20 men who, according to the Kazakh authorities, were behind a “terrorist attack” in the north-western city of Aktobe. Nineteen people were killed in the attack on two gun shops and a national guard base on Sunday and its aftermath on Monday, including many of the attackers. A person with the same name has an account on VKontakte, a social media network similar to Facebook that is popular in Russian-speaking countries. That account posted a video which featured the Islamic State flag, an Arabic inscription on a black background. In the video, a Russian-speaking narrator described how sometimes true believers in Islam have to follow their faith even if it means being cast out by their family as extremists. The video, posted some time between April 8 and June 5, when Omarov last logged on, was uploaded from the account of a group called Paradise under the Shade of Sabres, which routinely promotes Islamic State online. POLICE LIST Kazakhstan is the biggest ex-Soviet oil producer after Russia. Foreign energy majors including ENI, Chevron and BG Group have production- sharing deals for Kazakh oil and gas fields. There are oil fields in Aktobe region, some of which are being developed by Chinese and Korean oil firms, but none were affected by the attacks. The Kazakh authorities have not officially named Omarov as one of the attackers in Aktobe. But his was one of the names on a list of suspects drawn up by the police and leaked to Kazakh media. Reuters confirmed the authenticity of the list by visiting the addresses given for several other people on the list and talking to relatives or neighbours. It was not possible to visit the address given for Omarov, because it was in a remote village, called Terensay. A local official in the village, contacted by phone, confirmed Omarov was registered there and had been sought by police over the attack. It was not clear if Kazakh police had captured or killed Omarov. He was not among the suspected attackers who the police said were still at large. The account on VKontakte for Rustem Omarov listed his location as Aktobe, and another person on the leaked police list of suspected attackers, Arsen Tanatarov, was a subscriber to Omarov’s page. The date of birth given for Omarov on the leaked police list was Dec. 1, 1990, while the date of birth on Omarov’s VKontakte account was Dec. 5, 1990. It was not clear why there was a discrepancy. Nazarbayev, the Kazakh president, designated Thursday as a day of mourning for the victims of the Aktobe attacks. He ordered security forces to detain those attackers still on the run, and to “destroy” them if they put up any resistance, according to the presidential web site. In the aftermath of the shooting in Aktobe, which is about 100 km (60 miles) from the Russian border, Kazakh officials described a coordinated series of attacks on the two commercial gun shops and then on the national guard base. Andrei Grozin, a senior research fellow at Moscow’s Institute of Oriental Studies, said it was possible the Aktobe attackers were an Islamic State sleeper cell, or simply people who associated themselves with the group. “These are people who may not be connected in a ‘superior-subordinate’ relationship with the so-called Caliphate, but people who are mentally linked, who share their point of view and take up arms,” said Grozin. (Additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova in MOSCOW and Raushan Nurshayaeva in ASTANA; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)

2016-06-08 12:44 atimes.com

81 Local officials drop Southlawn gang injunction lawsuit A civil lawsuit that initially would have permanently banned 92 accused gang members from a court- ordered "safety zone" in southeast Houston was dropped by the Harris County Attorney and District Attorney's Office. The decision came after settlement negotiations that resulted in proposals for programs to help gang members who wanted to "become law abiding citizens. " "The lawsuit is being dismissed to allow time to develop and implement programs that create job-training and educational opportunities," Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan and District Attorney Devon Anderson said in a joint statement. RELATED: Half of defendants removed from gang injunction suit In September 2015, officials began a legal process in civil court to bar 92 people accused of being associated with the Bloods, Crips and other street gangs from a 2-square-mile section of the Southlawn neighborhood near the University of Houston and Texas Southern University. The number of named individuals was later dropped to 46. Lawyers for some of the people on the list complained that the effort was discriminatory and was done without the knowledge and input from the community itself. Critics also complained the action unfairly targeted black men. Houston attorneys Gemayel Haynes and Monique Sparks represented several of those on the banned list. ALLEGATIONS: Suspected gang members unfairly targeted in Southlawn lawsuit, lawyers say "I'm glad they decided to take a different approach to solving some of the issues in the community instead of going forward with the gang injunction," Haynes said after learning of the dismissal. Sparks said lawyers and community leaders met with city and county officials on a regular basis in the weeks leading up to Monday's dismissal. "It shows what can happen when we work together. They realized there's so much more that we can do outside this gang injunction," Sparks said. The problem, Sparks said, was that the officials immediately opted for the civil lawsuit rather than searching for a measure to address the underlying symptoms that can result in problems such as criminal activity in a neighborhood.

2016-06-08 23:06 By Mike www.chron.com

82 Veteran-turned-teacher testifies pep rally triggered his PTSD Kids screamed. Balloons popped. A confetti cannon detonated. And combat-veteran-turned- science-teacher Stephen Seidel blacked out in the bleachers at the high school pep rally. "I can't be around explosions," the former infantryman testified Monday in a faltering voice. "I don't know how many flashbacks I had. " Seidel took the witness stand on the first day of trial in his federal civil case against the New Caney Independent School District in Montgomery County, saying school officials failed to provide the accommodations he needed for post-traumatic stress disorder. A jury in U. S. District Judge Keith Ellison 's court must determine if the district violated Seidel's rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act when a supervisor ordered him to attend a "Lip Dub" rally, which Seidel told jurors was a "pep rally on steroids. " He had a running agreement with the school principal that he never had to attend such events, but his department chair insisted that he did. Since the December 2012 pep rally, he hasn't returned to work. He needs help when he leaves the house. And doctors provide him a solo waiting room for visits, he told the jury. With the judge's approval, he testified Monday with his wife sitting just inches away and angled toward him, observing his whole body to ensure he was all right. "I was a damn good soldier and I was a damn good teacher," he testified. "And now I can't do anything, it feels like. " Seidel's attorney, Harry Laxton Jr. told jurors in an opening statement that Seidel felt he had no choice but to attend the pep rally. School officials contend Seidel could have ignored conflicting instructions from the department chair. "The accommodation that Mr. Seidel was granted (by the principal) was never taken away," said Erik Nichols , the attorney representing the district, in opening remarks. War flashback Seidel enlisted in the Army in 2002 and deployed to South Baghdad in the early days of the Iraq War, serving as a junior enlisted specialist in a field artillery unit in the first Cavalry Division. He was with his unit in an urban setting when a mortar blast landed behind him, throwing him into a building, according to testimony. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, and injured his back and knees. He was honorably discharged in 2005. Not long after, a Fourth of July fireworks display triggered a flashback. "I woke up underneath the table with my weapon out," he told the jury. "That's when I knew I needed treatment. " Seidel enrolled in college and got a degree in biology. He had his first teaching job in Cleveland, but his entry-level position was eliminated in a layoff. So he joined the science department at New Caney High School in 2011-2012. He told Principal David Loyacano privately that loud, echoing sounds at school pep rallies might trigger his PTSD. Loyacano said that was fine and assigned Seidel to patrol the halls for stragglers whenever there was an event in the gym. The following school year on the last day of school before winter break, the school held the "lip dub" rally for all clubs, teams and departments to celebrate school pride. Emails went out telling all teachers to report for duty. Seidel ignored them. But his department head told him he didn't have a choice. He explained he was an exception. She insisted. This was the person, he testified, who evaluated him, gave him mandatory prep work, whom he called when he was going to be absent. He took it as an implied order. "I went into soldier mode, I guess. My duty was to protect them at all costs," he testified. 'It's a mental condition' The question for jurors is whether the district rescinded its obligation to an employee. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, mental disabilities are classified the same way as physical disabilities, said Steve Roppolo , an employment lawyer with Fisher & Phillips in Houston. The federal law covers employees with mental impairments the same as if employees were blind or had prosthetic limbs. As more employees return from active combat duty, companies are receiving more accommodation requests to handle post-traumatic stress, such as comfort animals in the workplace or coming up with ways to avoid loud noises, Roppolo said. One of the most common accommodations veterans ask for is help in handling loud surprising noises, said Joe Bontke , acting deputy director of the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Houston. Some use guide dogs, while others take steps to avoid putting themselves into situations like pep rallies, said Bontke, who is not familiar with Seidel's case. But accommodations are confidential and co-workers may have no idea what was worked out between a manager and a disabled employee, he said. That, in turn, can lead to a conflict if co-workers urge their colleagues to participate in situations that they specifically sought to avoid. "It's a mental condition," Seidel's lawyer, Blaxton, explained to jurors. "It's not like a limp. It's not a missing limb. " Seidel now qualifies with the Social Security Administration as 100 percent disabled. His wife is expected to take the stand Tuesday. L. M. Sixel contributed to this report.

2016-06-08 23:06 By Gabrielle www.chron.com

83 The pettiness behind gun-related violence in Texas Violence is never the answer, and yet some Texans are finding strange reasons to commit acts of brutality on their fellow man. Combing through the Gun Violence Archive , we found more than several incidents where the offending party's reasoning for shooting at other persons was largely "petty. " RELATED: When are crimes reported in Houston? In once case, a young girl was shot and injured while she was sleeping inside her home. Outside, investigators said the offending party had backed into a vehicle on the driveway and entered into an argument with the homeowner. The situation escalated and shots were fired that struck the house. You can see for yourself how ridiculously tragic these shootings are in the gallery above. (h/t Washington Post)

2016-06-08 23:06 By John www.chron.com

84 34% of WPP shareholders rebel over boss Sir Martin Sorrell's £70m pay deal More than a third of shareholders in advertising giant WPP refused to back boss Sir Martin Sorrell's mammoth £70 million pay deal as it was accused of a "history of excessive pay". WPP saw 34.2% of investor votes made against its remuneration report or withheld at the firm's annual general meeting (AGM) in London amid concerns over Sir Martin's controversial pay package. The group survived the vote at its AGM, with two thirds of investors backing the remuneration report, although the final vote count is due later. But a raft of investors and shareholders voiced their anger at the AGM over Sir Martin's pay package. This includes a £1.15 million base salary and £62.8 million in shares from a long-term incentive plan - making him the best paid chief executive in the FTSE 100. The 71-year-old's award for 2015 had been branded "excessive" and "unacceptable" ahead of the meeting. The UK Shareholders' Association, which represents small retail investors, hit out at the board at the AGM, saying it was "extremely uneasy" about Sir Martin's pay and said the remuneration committee that sets pay at the group has been "weak". "There's been a history of excessive pay here at WPP," it added. The vote marks its second major revolt over Sir Martin's pay in four years after nearly 60% of WPP investors rejected Sir Martin's £6.8 million pay packet amid the so-called shareholder spring of 2012. WPP's vote had been highly anticipated, coming amid increasing tension once more between investors and boards over pay. BP faced a humiliating shareholder rebellion over executive pay in April, when almost 60% of BP shareholders rejected the oil giant's remuneration report, which awarded boss Bob Dudley £13.8 million. Roger Jeary at ShareAction claimed at the AGM that Sir Martin's pay deal was nearly 200 times the average WPP employee's earnings. Deborah Gilshan, corporate governance counsel at the Railways Pension Scheme, said at the annual meeting in London that pay at WPP was out of line with the interests of shareholders and other stakeholders in the company. Standard Life Investments, which owns nearly 17 million shares in WPP, said it voted against the remuneration report and called for more work to be done on succession planning for Sir Martin. But Sir Martin insisted he reinvests his pay into shares in the company. He told investors: "All the amount after tax is remained in the company and the only asset I have is in WPP shares. I think that is something that is forgotten often. " WPP chairman Roberto Quarta said the group was listening to shareholder concerns over pay and pledged to consult once more over remuneration when it meets with key shareholders in the autumn. "Rest assured we hear your comments and your voice today and certainly we will take them into account," he said. The group has previously defended Sir Martin's pay as the result of "outstanding" returns to shareholders. In a trading update released separately, WPP said recent UK trading had slowed, possibly as a result of Brexit fears, and reiterated warnings over the impact of a vote to quit the EU. Sir Martin told shareholders a Brexit vote would have a "serious impact" on the prospects of the company in Europe. In the final result on remuneration, shareholders voted 66.55% in favour and 33.45% against approving the implementation report of the compensation committee.

2016-06-08 18:46 Press Association www.dailymail.co.uk

85 Pressure builds on Bernie Sanders to drop out of race Pressure is building on Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders to give up his fight for the Democratic presidential nomination. Hillary Clinton has been declared the presumptive Democratic nominee after winning four out of six primaries on Tuesday. Mr Sanders has virtually no path to the nomination but has vowed to fight on. He meets President Obama on Thursday. Democrats have urged Mr Sanders to join Mrs Clinton as she tries to defeat Donald Trump. The billionaire businessman, seen as an outsider early in the campaign, is the Republican's presumptive nominee. The White House meeting on Thursday came at Mr Sander's request. He will hold a rally in Washington the same day ahead of the District of Columbia's primary on 14 June. He has won 22 state primaries and caucuses but failed to make a significant dent in Mrs Clinton's delegate lead, despite mounting what has been seen as an impressive campaign, influencing the Democratic debate and engaging with thousands of young voters. How last major primary night unfolded Live results from all six states Great leap for womankind? Why this election will make history What an Obama endorsement will mean for Hillary "The struggle continues. We are going to fight for every vote in Tuesday's primary in Washington DC, and then we will bring our political revolution to the Democratic convention in Philadelphia," his campaign said in a statement on Wednesday. As the votes were being counted in California, Mr Sanders said: "I am pretty good at arithmetic, and I know that the fight in front of us is a very, very steep fight, but we will continue to fight for every vote and every delegate we can get. " Bernie Sanders isn't giving up the fight for the nomination just yet - despite the near overwhelming odds stacked against him. But now, it seems, some of his most prominent supporters are edging away. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Arizona Representative Raul Grijalva, who was a fixture alongside Mr Sanders in California, have essentially told the Vermont senator that it's time to rally behind Hillary Clinton. But will he listen? In his late-night non-concession speech in Santa Monica, Mr Sanders said that he would continue to contest the nomination, despite it being "very, very steep fight". While the thousands in attendance went wild at the announcement, Mr Sanders may find his struggle an increasingly lonely one. Vice-President Joe Biden, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and, most importantly, President Barack Obama have all begun quietly, respectfully making motions to usher Mr Sanders from the stage. After Mr Obama meets with Mr Sanders on Thursday, the next step is likely a presidential endorsement of Mrs Clinton. Trailing in the popular vote and delegates, both the pledged and super variety, Mr Sanders may then have no choice but to acknowledge political reality. Going into the California primary, Mr Sanders said he hoped to flip superdelegates, who do not have to say who they are supporting until the party convention in July, to come to his side. But many political commentators have cast doubt on that aspiration. Vice President Joe Biden has said it is up to Mr Sanders to decide when to drop out. "Oh, let him make that decision," he said. "Give him time". Senator Bill Nelson from Florida said Mr Sanders should "stand down" and Senator Bob Casey said Democrats must come together and unify. Senator Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire said Mr Sanders should end his campaign soon. The Sanders campaign is downsizing its staff by about half ahead of next week's DC primary.

2016-06-08 21:28 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

86 French strikes spread to bin collections ahead of Euro 2016 First came the petrol shortages, then the rail strikes and the devastating floods. Now, with Euro 2016 starting on Friday, Paris and other French cities have been hit by a bin strike. The capital's three main waste treatment facilities were picketed on Wednesday in a continuing dispute over labour reforms. Bin collections have stopped in several areas and rubbish has begun piling up. The first Euro 2016 tie will be held in Paris at the Stade de France. Most of the Paris bin lorry depots have not been active for more than a week and the main waste treatment and incineration site for the capital has been blockaded for 10 days. The bin strike also affects Marseille in the south and the central city of Saint- Etienne, both key venues in the football tournament. Euro 2016 - BBC Sport Euro 2016 - Uefa Mobile app launched 'in case of suspected attack' Can the beautiful game reunite France? The government has struggled to bring an end to industrial action over its decision to force through watered down reforms to France's labour laws without a vote in parliament. Several sectors of the French economy are still affected by industrial action: Some 200 protesters disrupted the arrival of the Euro 2016 trophy at Paris Gare du Nord on Wednesday, hours after a smaller demonstration outside the home of Myriam El Khomri, the architect of the controversial labour law. Beyond the anger over the labour reforms, the government of Prime Minister Manuel Valls faces two other major challenges: the security threat months after jihadist attacks in Paris left 130 people dead; and flooding that affected several areas of France. A mobile phone app was launched on Wednesday to alert the public "in case of a suspected attack". Meanwhile, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said that a "natural disaster" had been formally declared in 782 towns and villages in 17 separate departments of France after flooding at the weekend. Those areas worst hit were along the Loire and Seine rivers as well as in the north-east of the country. Meteo France said areas of the east and north-east were still at risk of storms on Wednesday evening. There was some good news, however, when visitors were allowed to return to the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay, days after they were shut because of the floods.

2016-06-08 21:28 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

87 Europe floods: Storms and heavy rain batter continent Heavy weather is continuing to batter parts of Europe as floodwaters recede in France and Germany. In Belgium, a torrent of muddy water washed through streets and damaged cars in the town of Genappe, south of Brussels. Lightning strikes caused damage in several countries and a tornado was seen over the German city of Hamburg. At least 18 people died in Europe last week as heavy rain caused flooding across the continent. In France, there were 70,000 reports of thunder, including 20,000 over the Pas-de-Calais region in the north of the country, France 3 reported (in French). Lightning struck homes and trees, causing electricity blackouts and damaging vehicles. More than 11,000 French homes were still without electricity, reports said. In Paris, floodwaters caused by the Seine breaking its banks began to recede. However, the Louvre museum as well as several Paris train stations and roads remained closed, riverside restaurants remained underwater and boats were still unable to pass under bridges. In Germany, severe storms over Hamburg ripped off roofs, left cellars flooded and uprooted at least 50 big trees. More than 1,000 emergency personnel responded to more than 250 incidents, local media reported (in German). Heavy storms were also reported in western and south-western Germany. While the position of the jet stream has provided a blocked weather pattern for the UK, it has meant that an area of low pressure has been held to the north-west of Portugal. This has helped feed a supply of warm, humid, moisture laden air across continental Europe. During the last week or so daytime temperatures have risen high enough to release all this energy in the form of thunderstorms, some of them prolonged, intense with hail and lightning. There are no real signs for a change and it is likely that we will continue to see further thunderstorms and flooding over the next week. In the UK, the weather authorities warned of localised flooding and lightning strikes. Torrential rainfall in the Birmingham region left people trapped in their cars and local authorities told people not to travel. On Tuesday, some vehicles were trapped in flooding in a London suburb.

2016-06-08 21:28 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

88 Russia unveils new passenger plane it says will rival Boeing, Airbus MOSCOW, June 8 (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday presented a new medium-range passenger plane which state media said was superior to its Western-made counterparts in many respects and would be snapped up by both Russian and foreign carriers. In a glitzy ceremony at a factory in Siberia attended by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Irkut Corporation rolled out its new MC-21 passenger plane which is still undergoing testing but is due to enter serial production next year. The plane is sometimes also known as MS-21. Medvedev hailed the new twin-engine short and medium-range aircraft as "cool," saying it was important that Russia remained in what he called the top league of aircraft makers despite the high costs involved. Squeezed by Western sanctions over its role in the Ukraine crisis, the Russian government is trying to rejuvenate domestic industrial production to make the country less dependant on foreign firms. "I only want to say that I am absolutely certain that the airliner will be the pride of Russian civil aviation, and that our citizens and foreign people will take pleasure in flights on MC-21," said Medvedev. The plane will be built in two variants, the MC-21-300 which will have 160-211 seats, and the MC-21-200 which will have 130-165 seats. Deliveries are expected to start in 2018 and state media said numerous contracts with domestic and foreign carriers had already been agreed. State-controlled United Aircraft Corporation, of which Irkut is a subsidiary, said the new plane would be able to service routes of up to 6,400 kilometres (3976.78 miles) and that its operational costs would be up to 15 percent cheaper than current generation aircraft. Vladimir Volkov, vice president of Irkut Corporation, said: "It is not made of metal, it is made of composite materials. That allows us to give it a special shape. It is much lighter and stronger so it is a great step in the development of our aviation industry. " (Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Alexander Winning)

2016-06-08 20:10 Reuters www.dailymail.co.uk

89 Irish story 'The Glorious Heresies' wins Bailey's prize LONDON (AP) — Lisa McInerney's debut novel "The Glorious Heresies" has won the Bailey's Women's Prize for fiction. McInerney beat five other finalists with the funny, ferocious story of financial-crisis Ireland to take the 30,000 pound ($43,000) prize Wednesday. McInerney first gained attention with a blog about working-class Irish life, written under the pen-name Sweary Lady, and the novel takes a similarly unflinching approach. Set amid the Cork underworld, its characters include a gangster, a sex worker feigning religious conversion, an accidental murderer and a 15-year-old drug dealer. Lawyer Margaret Mountford, who chaired the judging panel, called McInerney "a fresh new voice. " Frances Gertler of the Foyles bookshop chain said the result was "a brave choice of winner by the least conventional and edgiest writer on the list. " The annual award is open to female English-language writers from around the world. The other shortlisted books, from Britain, Ireland and the United States, were Cynthia Bond's "Ruby," Hannah Rothschild's "The Improbability of Love," Elizabeth McKenzie's "The Portable Veblen," Anne Enright's "The Green Road" and Hanya Yanagihara's "A Little Life. "

2016-06-08 20:04 Associated Press www.dailymail.co.uk

90 NDFP sees peace deal within 6-9 months of Duterte administration DAVAO CITY—The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) sees the signing of a peace deal, through an accelerated framework, within six to nine months of the incoming administration. NDFP peace panel spokesperson Fidel Agcaoili said details of the acceleration of the peace process would be discussed in the meeting between them and the appointed peace negotiators of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte. The preliminary talks in Oslo next week will be attended by top NDF leaders and a government delegation led by incoming presidential adviser on the peace process Jesus Dureza and incoming government chief peace negotiator Silvestre Bello. The framework is expected to pursue and ink a deal in six to nine months, according to Agcaoili. The draft proposes a special track in the negotiations that will hasten the drafting and signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms or Caser.

2016-06-08 20:04 Karlos Manlupig newsinfo.inquirer.net

91 EU businesses anxious to end Russia sanctions MOSCOW (AP) — In a sign of the growing frustration amid companies across Europe to get back to business as usual, the French Senate overwhelmingly voted Wednesday to urge the government to lift economic sanctions on Russia. The resolution to "gradually and partially" lift sanctions was approved by 302 votes for and 16 against after hours of debate — and despite the opposition of France's Socialist government. France's junior minister for European affairs, Harlem Desir, told senators restrictions could only be relaxed following the "full implementation" of the Minsk peace deal for Ukraine. "When the Minsk agreements are implemented, sanctions will be lifted," he said. Wednesday's vote is nonbinding, but it's a barometer of European frustration with the sanctions. For years, the European Union was Russia's biggest trading partner, but two years ago the EU imposed sanctions in response to its actions in Ukraine. They range from banning the export of oil equipment to barring Russian banks from accessing long-term lending. In retaliation, Russia moved to ban all vegetable, dairy and meat exports from the EU. EU imports from Russia dropped by a third last year compared with 2013, the year before the sanctions, while agricultural exports to Russia halved. French oil, auto and food companies have suffered from the sanctions and Russian embargo and have long quietly lobbied French politicians to lift them. Several pro-Russia lawmakers in the French parliament, mainly in the conservative Republican party, have complained that the sanctions are hurting the French economy and argue that France and Europe should not follow U. S. policy on Russia. One of the countries where businesses are most worried about the impact of the trade war is Germany, Russia's biggest trading partner before the sanctions. German businessmen are anxious for sanctions to be lifted and the longer they are in place, the more difficult it will be for the German companies to reclaim their market share, said Matthias Platzeck, chief executive of the German-Russian Forum, a powerful lobby group that works to advance the interests of Germany in Russia and Russia in Germany. Platzeck, a former Brandenburg governor and longtime critic of the sanctions who was visiting Russia earlier this week meeting with Russian and foreign businesses, says he feels that German politicians seem more inclined to lift the sanctions than a year ago. "I have a feeling that many people in Europe have now realized that the policy of sanctions, it brings nothing," he said speaking of European politicians. The sanctions initially didn't meet any major resistance from business in Germany, but dairy producers have been grumbling recently that they have been left with a glut of milk that they've been unable to export to Russia, among multiple other problems, causing prices to fall below costs. The government has pledged at least 100 million euros to help, and is in talks with authorities in Brussels for further solutions. In recent weeks, both Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier have talked up the possibility of rolling back sanctions against Russia, but making clear that this would only be possible with the implementation of the Minsk peace agreement for eastern Ukraine. The sanctions against Russia were initially imposed over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea and were extended after Russia threw its weight behind separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. Russia's mediation in the Minsk talks was seen as a sign that Moscow was willing to stop its interference and use its influence on the rebels to stop the ongoing war. Privately some German diplomats acknowledge that the sanctions have not had the desired effect yet and that the EU could not drop them without a major loss of face even if it wanted to. Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, says the sanctions have certainly hurt Russia but they aren't fatal. The Russian economy contracted by nearly 4 percent last year and unemployment is on the rise, but prudent fiscal policies and a sizeable rainy-day fund have saved Russia from disaster. "Russia cannot step back because if it does — can you imagine Putin giving up Crimea and surviving? I can't," he said. In order for the EU to renew its sanctions against Russia at the end of July, each member state has to support them, or the vote will not get through. German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer acknowledged there were some countries whose interest in continuing the sanctions was wavering, and said that Germany would work to try to make sure there was unified support when it came to a vote. Despite the flagging economy and the lack of investment, agriculture in Russia is one of the sectors showing growth, which was in part boosted by the EU import ban. Cheese production last year increased by 18 percent and production of vegetables by 13 percent. Responding to calls from farmers anxious that they will have a tough time once European produce is back on the market, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev last month asked the government to extend the ban until the end of 2017. Western businesses are worried that the longer the sanctions stay, the more difficult it will be for Western companies to reclaim their market share. "Returning (to the market) is getting more difficult by the year," Platzeck of the German-Russian Forum says. "I wouldn't be surprised if we were to find other players in those market niches three or four years from now. " __ David Rising and Frank in Berlin, Niko Price in Moscow, Angela Charlton and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

2016-06-08 16:36 Associated Press www.dailymail.co.uk

92 'IDF is not encouraging illegal infiltration' The IDF is not encouraging “illegal infiltration” to Israel by carrying out recent volunteer efforts involving African migrants in south Tel Aviv, deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan (Bayit Yehudi) said Wednesday. Ben-Dahan was responding to a parliamentary inquiry submitted by Likud MK Amir Ohana regarding a number of occasions in which IDF soldiers in uniform took part in community service efforts in south Tel Aviv that involved the local African migrant community. “It is disturbing that someone in the IDF is forcing soldiers to take part in activities that encourage illegal infiltration,” Ohana said in his inquiry. He also cited a report by an anti-migrants NGO which he said showed that the groups arranging the meetings between soldiers and African migrants – including children – “were left-wing NGOs”. Speaking on the floor of the Knesset on Wednesday, Ben-Dahan said in response that “the claim that the IDF is encouraging illegal infiltration to Israel by way of volunteer efforts in the community is wrong and baseless”, and that the volunteer work is carried out through legal, apolitical NGOs and thus not contrary to the policies of the government. He said that such activities “are meant to strengthen the feeling of solidarity in Israeli communities” but that regardless he had ordered an examination of the matter. The IDF Spokesperson’s Department said Wednesday that “all volunteer efforts are done in keeping with the value of the IDF and focus on social and community issues.” Also on Wednesday, the Knesset Interior and Environment Committee held a meeting to discuss the problems facing south Tel Aviv residents due to the large population of African asylum seekers in the neighborhood during the past decade. A version of the “anti-infiltration bill” passed in 2014 stipulated that – among other measures – migrants must pay a monthly deposit of 20% their income that they can only receive after they leave the country. During the meeting, Israeli Immigration Policy Center spokesman Yonatan Yakobovich criticized the government for failing to implement the stipulation, saying it could serve as a significant incentive for migrants to leave Israel. The Population, Immigration, and Borders Authority said Wednesday that in order for the law to be implemented, the Finance Ministry first had to award a tender for a bank to run the fund. Their statement said that implementing the system would take at least six months, and since the tender was only awarded in May 2016, it still hasn’t been implemented. According to figures from PIBA, as of March there were some 43,000 African migrants in Israel, most of them from Eritrea and Sudan. During Wednesday’s committee hearing, PIBA head Amnon Ben-Ami said that around 15,000 have agreed to leave Israel in the past few years. This is believed to be largely due to negative incentives including the threat of imprisonment in the “Holot” detention facility in the south, as well as restrictions on their ability to work in Israel. The influx of African migrants over the past 10 years has caused tension with their Israeli neighbors in areas like south Tel Aviv, which has taken in the majority of migrants. MK Yael Cohen Paran (Zionist Union) said during the meeting Wednesday that “we must find an answer for both sides. The government has encouraged everyone who arrives here to go to south Tel Aviv. It’s impossible to send them back but we must take responsibility. This will only be solved when we deal with the depth of the issue.”

2016-06-08 19:59 BEN HARTMAN www.jpost.com

93 Woman killed while husband slashed by maid in Singapore SINGAPORE — When his wife did not go into their room to watch television on Tuesday evening as usual, business owner Ong Thiam Soon, 57, went looking for her in their three-story house in Telok Kurau. “I kept shouting her name but there was no response,” said Ong. From the first level, he continued his search for Seow Kim Choo, 59, on the second floor where he found a locked bathroom. He said in Mandarin, “I was curious. There was no sound from inside so I went to find a torchlight and the keys.” He saw a trail of blood when he opened the door and, before he knew it, his maid of five months (since February this year) allegedly attacked him with a fruit knife in each hand. He said, “She slashed my neck. I was in shock.” It was then that he noticed his wife’s motionless body on the bathroom floor. He tried to restrain the 23-year-old maid, whom he called Wariwati, but she struggled hard. He said, “When she finally calmed down, I went to my wife but she was no longer breathing. There was a lot of blood.” Wariwati allegedly lunged at him again, and the two continued their tussle. He shouted for his daughter-in-law, who was taking care of his two grandchildren on the third floor. Hearing the commotion, his other maid also rushed to the bathroom but ran away screaming. His daughter-in-law called the police before going to Ong’s aid. They managed to subdue the maid and tied her hands. Ong, with Wariwati in tow, ran out of the house, shouting for help. Three Malaysians, who were passing by, came to his aid. Police said that they discovered a motionless 59-year-old woman on the second floor upon their arrival last night. At 9:03 p.m., paramedics pronounced her dead. Ong was sent to Changi General Hospital where he underwent surgery for multiple injuries on his neck, forehead and leg. The Straits Times understands that Wariwati was injured and had been hospitalized too. Speaking to reporters from his hospital bed, Ong said that Wariwati, who is allowed one phone call home every month, has been “agitated” for the past few days because she could not reach her family in Indonesia. “We treat her very well and give her a lot of freedom,” he said, adding that he does not know what sparked her sudden violent behavior. Asked about Seow, he teared up and said she was a good wife who helped him a lot with his business and took care of the family. Ong is due to be discharged on Wednesday.

2016-06-08 19:58 The Straits newsinfo.inquirer.net

94 94 Are you Bear Aware? Tips on what to say & do if you see one Stephanie Jochum-Natt with Wild Aware Utah tells us what to do if we encounter a bear in the wild. Black bears are Utah’s largest predators. Thousands of them live in our forests and mountains— often in the same places we like to camp, hike and build our houses. This poses a safety concern for both humans and bears. If a bear obtains food from a home or campsite—even once—it may become aggressive in future attempts. This almost guarantees the bear will have to be destroyed. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to protect both you and the bear. CAMP AND HIKE RESPONSIBLY When in bear country, you should: For more great tips on protecting Utah's wildlife and staying safe, go here.

2016-06-08 19:54 Brittany Graham fox13now.com

95 Maine Sunday Telegram News D’Kota Rowe, 21, of Wilton, and Einer Bonilla, 22, formerly of Nebraska, appeared before Judge William Stokes for their final court appearance in a nearly yearlong saga of indictments and court appearances in connection with the three convenience store burglaries and the Wilton and Carthage arsons. The other two men involved in the arsons and burglaries, Devon Pease, 23, of Jay, and Duane Bailey, 26, of Carver, Massachusetts, were sentenced last month. Rowe, who was found guilty last month as an accomplice for his role in the arsons following a three-day trial in April, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with all but three years suspended on four felony counts of arson that were consolidated into two counts for the purpose of sentencing. He also was sentenced to four years of probation following his release. Rowe also pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of burglary and two counts of theft for his role in the convenience store break-ins on June 30 and July 1 in New Vineyard, Weld and Jay. Stokes sentenced Rowe to serve 27 months for the burglary charges and six months for the theft charges, all to run concurrently with the arson sentence. In court Tuesday, Bonilla pleaded guilty to two felony counts of arson, for which he was sentenced to serve a 12-year sentence with all but 27 months suspended and four years of probation. Bonilla had pleaded guilty to three felony counts of burglary and two felony counts of theft in April, though he was not sentenced for the charges until Tuesday. Stokes sentenced Bailey to serve a three-year sentence on these charges to run concurrently with the arson sentence. The differences in the sentences of the four men have to do with the amount of time they had been held on the charges prior to sentencing, but also for the differing roles they each played in the arsons, Stokes said Tuesday. On the night of June 27, under the influence of an amount of drugs and alcohol that Stokes called “extraordinary and frightening,” the four men planned to set fire to a home on Main Street in Wilton, but a barking dog at that home scared them away. They then set fire to a neighboring mobile home on Sewall Street. After this arson, Pease was dropped off, and the three remaining men, with Rowe as the driver, traveled along the back roads of Franklin County, ending up in Carthage, where they randomly set fire to a log cabin-style camp on Winter Hill Road. Both homes were vacant at the times of the fires. In the days following these arsons, the four men broke into Our Village Market in New Vineyard, Schoolhouse Variety in Weld and My Dad’s Place in Jay, stealing alcohol and tobacco products that were later found by police behind Rowe’s home in Wilton. Present at the sentencing hearing were the families who owned the homes that were destroyed in the fires. Andrea and Gene Casey, of Mexico, owned the Winter Hill Carthage camp for 15 years; and Kandi Ward, of Roxbury, owned the Sewall Street mobile home. Andrea Casey, with her husband standing next to her, addressed the court before sentencing, describing the struggles her family has faced in the wake of losing the 15 years’ worth of family memories and artifacts that were destroyed in the fire. “I hold the biggest grudge on you guys right now,” Andrea Casey said. “You go prove to me that you’ve changed yourselves and I might be able to forgive you.” Through tears, she looked at the men who had a hand in burning down her family camp and its memories, and told them that she hopes they are able to call her one day after their release when they have turned their lives around and have a family to tell her they have changed. “This is your second chance. Make the best of it, and I’ll be proud of you. I will,” she said. Both Rowe and Bonilla apologized to the families when they had their chance to speak. Bonilla, who had gotten off parole for a robbery charge in Nebraska just weeks before coming to Maine in June, crumpled a piece of paper that had a statement he wanted to say to the families written on it and instead said he was going to speak from the heart. “I’ve never had to apologize for anything I have done before,” Bonilla said. “What I did to this family was wrong. Even though I did not put down the gasoline or light the match, I feel as thought I did. … I am sorry.” Andrea Casey’s statements of hope for the redemption of the young defendants lingered over the court proceedings as the attorneys made their cases for the sentencing of their clients and Stokes gave the sentences. “That was probably one of the most eloquent victim statements I have ever heard, Mrs. Casey. For you to say that … you hope that they will make something of their lives so you can be proud of them. I don’t know if I can find a better definition of forgiveness,” Stokes said. Stokes’ sentences were almost a meeting point between what Assistant District Attorney Joshua Robbins had recommended and what the defendants’ attorneys had sought. For Bonilla, Robbins recommended a 12-year sentence with all but four years suspended. Bonilla’s attorney, Thomas Carey, asked for a 12-year sentence with all but two years suspended. For Rowe, Robbins recommended the same sentence and his attorney, Christopher Berryment, asked for an eight-year sentence with all but 18 months suspended. As a mitigating factor in his sentencing of Bonilla and Rowe, Stokes took into consideration the testimony given by Bailey during Rowe’s trial, in which Bailey took responsibility for setting the fire at the Wilton home and at least pouring the gasoline at the Carthage camp. Given his level of intoxication on the night of the arsons, he could not recall who lit the Carthage fire. Stokes also had established through Rowe’s trial that Rowe’s primary involvement was that of an accomplice acting as the driver that evening. It is unclear what Bonilla’s role in setting the fires actually was, though he was outside the vehicle when Bailey set the fires. “We will never know what happened that night,” Stokes said. However, as an aggravating factor in the sentencing of both Rowe and Bonilla, Stokes took into consideration the seriousness of the fact that neither of them did anything to stop the spree of criminal activity. Stokes also took into consideration the age of Rowe and Bonilla as mitigating factors. He told Bonilla that he hopes he seeks treatment for the drug problem that he has had since he was 12, as was disclosed by Carey on Tuesday in court. Given Bonilla’s criminal record, Stokes warned him about the importance of turning his life around. “You don’t want to spend your life in a prison cell,” Stokes said. “You are well spoken. … I believe you have the capacity to further your education … and become a better person.” In sentencing Rowe, Stokes also took into consideration his lack of a criminal record. Rowe is afraid of going to prison, his attorney said, fearing that Bonilla and Bailey will “have it out for him.” Rowe’s mother, Theresa Rowe, and wife Hannah Rowe were present Tuesday and told the court that the behavior Rowe was being sentenced for was out of character with his “teddy bear” personality. Stokes told Rowe to appreciate his family and that they will be the key to making it through his time in prison. “Mr. Rowe, I understand you are afraid,” Stokes said. “You have a supportive family. … Lean on them and rely on them when the going gets tough.”

2016-06-08 12:31 www.pressherald.com

96 Great horned owl gives heartwarming hug to man who saved her life VANCLEAVE, Mississippi -- When she arrived at an animal rescue in Mississippi, a great horned owl named GiGi was one of the sickest and most hurt wild birds they'd ever seen. They never thought they'd see her recover -- let alone demonstrate such a touching show of appreciation toward her caregiver in photos that are now capturing hearts all over social media. The Dodo reports that Douglas Pojeky, president of Wild at Heart Rescue , quickly stepped in to take care of the sick bird when she arrived. She had a massive concussion, parasites and aspergillosis, which is similar to pneumonia. Missy Dubuisson, founder of the rescue, said GiGi went from being at "death's door" to feeding on her own as she amazingly recovered with Pojeky's help. During the course of her treatment, Pojeky went out of town for some time to visit family. When he returned, he was examining her when GiGi began to get excited. She then walked up to his chest, put her wings around him and appeared to hug him. Photos of the touching moments are posted on the Wild at Heart Rescue's Facebook page. "In all my years of working with birds of prey, I have never seen someone with such a bond with these magnificent birds," Dubuisson told the Dodo. The photos of GiGi and Pojeky have gone viral, and their story has been picked up by numerous media outlets. Once GiGi is fully recovered, she will be released back into the wild.

2016-06-08 19:51 Ashton Edwards fox13now.com

97 How Leytonstone Tube attack unfolded A man who attacked Tube passengers with a knife at Leytonstone station in east London has been found guilty of attempted murder. Muhiddin Mire, 30, injured musician Lyle Zimmerman, 56, in the station's ticket hall last December. BBC News looks at how events unfolded.

2016-06-08 19:51 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

98 Donald Trump's Cinco de Mayo taco tweet has us asking a lot of questions Donald Trump spent his first full day as the presumptive Republican nominee for president promoting taco bowls. The business mogul recognized Cinco de Mayo – a holiday already profoundly misunderstood by Americans (it's not Mexican Independence Day! That's September 16.) – with a tweet that sums up everything uncomfortable about his campaign. He addresses the photo of him and a Trump Tower Grill taco bowl with an ungainly message to Hispanic voters ("I love Hispanics"). But that’s just the beginning of the awkwardness. Here are some questions we have about Trump’s latest tweet : Haven't we seen enough bad holiday tweets from #brands? This we assume is just the beginning from Trump. Lest we forget, one of his campaign promises is to end the War on Christmas.

2016-06-08 20:22 Matt Levin www.chron.com

99 99 Donald Trump celebrates with McDonald's, as does a controversial supporter Donald Trump celebrated clinching the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday with a rare wine from France’s Burgundy worth thousands of dollars. Just kidding. The populist rejoiced with McDonald’s fries, a burger and a Diet Coke on his private jet. Who said the right-wing rabble- rouser isn’t relatable? READ THIS: Donald Trump’s taco bowl tweet has us asking a lot of questions Trump attained the 1,237 delegate threshold on Thursday to clinch his party’s nomination in one of the most improbable White House runs ever. In honor of the occasion, the real estate mogul chowed down on some McDonald’s in a photo that he doesn’t appear to realize is being taking. Someone posted the festive image on his Instagram page. What kind of person – a billionaire, no less – commemorates a historic occasion with fast food? Trump seems to have a thing for the Golden Arches during big moments. Journalist Ben Dreyfuss, the son of actor Richard Dreyfuss, said Trump took Dreyfuss' family out for McDonald’s after the journalist's father lost the Oscar for Best Actor to Nicolas Cage in 1996. Maybe the McDonald's move will further endear Trump to certain individuals, like the bearded fellow this week who threw trash at a McDonald's worker and told him he’s “going back to Mexico.” The man in the video wore a Trump shirt. See the gallery above for Donald Trump's most controversial campaign moments.

2016-06-08 20:22 Matt Levin www.chron.com

100 Bobby Brown claims he had sex with a ghost Contact WND (PEOPLE) — Bobby Brown’s 20/20 interview with Robin Roberts is already making waves for his candid revelations about the deaths of wife Whitney Houston and daughter Bobbi Kristina. But amid the emotional conversation was another, more otherworldly Brown bombshell: the former New Edition member claims he had sex with a ghost. The 47-year-old singer recounted the story from his upcoming memoir, Every Little Step, out June 13. “I bought this mansion in Georgia … this was a really, really spooky place,” Brown says. “But yes, one time, I woke up, and yeah, a ghost. I was being mounted by a ghost.”

2016-06-08 19:48 www.wnd.com

Total 100 articles. Created at 2016-06-09 00:22