Brunton served as Chief Executive of Thomson Newspapers & International Thomson Organisation Ltd (ITOL) Thomson Corporation from 1966-1984 during the Thomson period of global expansion. He retired from Thomson in 1985. Afterwards, he became chairman at Mercury Communications, Cable and Wireless Communications PLC, Racing Post, Bemrose PLC, NXT PLC, Galahad Gold and others.
Brunton died on 30 May 2017 in London at the age of 95.
Bern Nix
Bern Nix (September 21, 1947 – May 31, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist. He recorded and performed with Ornette Coleman from 1975-87, notably with guitarist Charlie Ellerbee in Coleman's Prime Time group on their key recordings, including "Dancing in Your Head" and "In All Languages" in 1987. Nix was voted among the top ten jazz guitarists poll by "Down Beat" magazine.
Nix died suddenly of a suspected heart attack at his New York City home on May 31, 2017, aged 69.
Chance the Rapper
Chancelor Jonathan Bennett (born April 16, 1993), known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and philanthropist from the West Chatham neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.
Chancelor Jonathan Bennett was born to a middle-class family in Chicago, Illinois. He studied at Jones College Prep High School.
Following a 10-day suspension in early 2011 during his senior year for possessing marijuana on campus, Bennett recorded his first full-length project, a mixtape titled "10 Day" (also known as "#10Day").
In 2013, Bennett began to gain recognition following the release of his second mixtape, "Acid Rap". Apart from his solo career, he is also a member of the Chicago collective SaveMoney (along with frequent collaborator Vic Mensa), and has worked as the lead vocalist for the band The Social Experiment. They released the widely lauded album "Surf" in May 2015.
In May 2016, Chance released his third mixtape "Coloring Book". It earned him three Grammy Awards, including for Best Rap Album. "Coloring Book" was the first streaming-only album to ever receive and win a Grammy nomination.
On March 6, 2017, after a bad meeting with Governor Bruce Rauner only days before, Bennett announced his plans to donate $1,000,000 to Chicago Public Schools in order to help offset the lack of government funding provided.
In July 2015, Bennett announced that he was expecting his first child with his girlfriend Kirsten Corley, whom he began to date in 2013. In September 2015, Corley gave birth to their daughter, Kensli. In May 2016, after they had stopped living together, Corley wanted the courts to declare Bennett as the father of their daughter, requiring him to pay child support.
In February 2017, Bennett's child support case reopened in an attempt to work out child support terms and a parenting schedule as Bennett and Corley moved to separate residences. On March 21, 2017, the dispute was settled out of court. Corley and Bennett reconciled, and on July 4, 2018, they became engaged after 5 years together. The two married on March 9, 2019. Bennett is a Christian.
Emeritus professor
Emeritus is the title given to a professor who is retired. The term is also used for other occupations, most notably clergy, and presidents. Professors who are emeriti no longer need to fulfill all of their functions (such as teaching at a university), but they may still do so. Pope Benedict XVI retired on 11 February 2013, and was the first pope to do this in recent history. Today, he is Pope Emeritus. Benedict XVI was a professor at the University of Regensburg.
Taliban insurgency
After the war in Afghanistan began in 2001, the Taliban started an insurgency, which is known as the Taliban insurgency. The Taliban started to attack the forces of ISAF and NATO, in Afghanistan, and committed many terrorist attacks. In the conflict, the Taliban fight against the Afghan government and its allies. Al-Qaeda is linked to the Taliban. With this, the conflict in the region spread to Pakistan. The related conflict in Pakistan is the insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Because Afghanistan has seen a number of conflicts and wars in recent decades, its economy has changed, and many people depend on growing cash crops, such as poppy seeds which are used to produce illegal drugs such as opium, or heroin. Many people in Afghanistan do not think the problems are caused by the Taliban. Resolving the problem will therefore probably involve more effort than winning against the Taliban. It will also mean that there need to be changes in the economy, and the way in which the country is run.
Currently, Afghanistan is one of the biggest producers of opium. While opium also has its uses as a regular drug, it is mainly used as an illegal drug. In 2001, Afghanistan produced only 11% of the world's opium, today it produces over ninety percent. In 2007, 93% of the "non-pharmaceutical-grade" opiates on the world market originated in Afghanistan. This amounts to an export value of about $4 billion; opium farmers earn about a quarter of this amount, the rest goes to district officials, insurgents, warlords, and drug traffickers. The drug trade accounts for half of Afghanistan's GDP.
Estimates made in 2006 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimate that 52% of the nation's GDP, or $2.7 billion annually, is generated by the drug trade.
Areas where the security situation is worse produce more Opium; areas that are more stable seem to produce less. Many farmers in rural areas depend on selling poppy seeds. Opium is more profitable than wheat and destroying opium fields could possibly lead to discontent or unrest among the affected population. Some 3.3 million Afghans are involved in producing opium. For this reason, some people say that eradicating poppy crops is not a viable option. Some poppy eradication programs have, however, proven effective, especially in the north of Afghanistan. The opium poppy eradication program of Balkh Governor Ustad Atta Mohammad Noor between 2005 and 2007 successfully reduced poppy cultivation in Balkh Province from 7,200 hectares in 2005 to zero by 2007.
The Afghanistan Opium Risk Assessment 2013, issued by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, suggests that the Taliban has since 2008 been supporting farmers growing poppy, as a source of income for the insurgency.
There have been wars and conflicts in Afghanistan for over thirty years. As a result, the country is among the poorest, and least developed countries in the world. It is also one of the most corrupt. Thirty-five percent of the poulation are unemployed, and more than half of the people live below the poverty line.
Western aid group Oxfam published an opinion poll they conducted in Afghanistan, in 2010. According to this poll, 83 percent of the Afghan population does not consider the Taliban to be militants. Poverty, unemployment and government corruption are seen as the main causes of war in their country. When the U.S.-backed Afghan forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001, the level of violence increased. Nearly half of those surveyed said corruption and bad government were the main reasons for the ongoing war. Twelve percent said the Taliban insurgency was to blame.After the Taliban, the reason most people gave for the continued fighting was foreign interference, with twenty-five percent of respondents saying other countries were to blame.
Since the start of 2006 Afghanistan has been facing a wave of attacks by improvised explosives and suicide bombers, particularly after NATO took command of the fight against insurgents in spring 2006.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai publicly condemned the methods used by the western powers. In June 2006 he said: