SOHO has made the Sun transparent after five yearsESA SCIENCE RELEASEPosted: April 29, 2001

Anyone troubled by storms on the Sun will now have an extra week's early warning of eruption risks, by courtesy of the SOHO spacecraft. Teams in France and the USA have found two different ways of detecting activity on the Sun's far side, before it swings into view from the Earth. SOHO's SWAN instrument sees ultraviolet rays sweeping like a lighthouse beam across interplanetary gas beyond the Sun, while the MDI instrument peers right through the Sun to locate hidden sunspots and their active regions. From today, both teams are making their observations available routinely to everyone, including the forecasters of space weather.

The announcement of these new far-side services coincides with the celebration of Sun-EarthDay 2001, by the European Space Agency, NASA and other agencies. It also marks the fifth anniversary of the commissioning of the European-built SOHO, in April 1996, and the formal start at that time of the observations with a dozen sets of clever solar instruments. European and US scientific teams contributed the instruments to this project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

"What started as unusual research has become an everyday tool," notes Jean-Loup Bertaux of the CNRS Service d'Aeronomie near Paris, who leads the French-Finnish team responsible for the SWAN instrument. "We should no longer be taken by surprise by highly active regions that suddenly come into view as the Sun rotates."

The Sun takes roughly four weeks to turn completely around on its axis, but active regions


can appear and grow in only a few days. So until two years ago, no one had any way of telling when an active region might come 'around the corner' - perhaps blazing away with eruptions as soon as it appeared. If an active region can be detected in the middle of the far side it will appear on the eastern (left-hand) side of the visible disk about seven days later. The SWAN team announced the telltale ultraviolet observations in June 1999.

In March 2000 Charles Lindsey of Tucson, Arizona, and Doug Braun of Boulder, Colorado, reported that they had detected, with SOHO's MDI, sound waves reflected from far-side sunspots. Speeded by the intense magnetic fields associated with sunspot regions, the sound waves arrived a few seconds early atto supply a fast solar wind. Nearer the Sun's equator, a slow wind escapes from the edges of wedge-shaped features called helmets.

Accelerating the solar wind. Charged atoms feeding the fast wind gain speed very rapidly - evidently driven by strong magnetic waves in the Sun's outer atmosphere. Similar magnetic waves may accelerate the slow wind too, although many mass ejections also contribute to it.

Elements in the solar wind. SOHO detected phosphorus, chlorine, potassium, titanium, chromium and nickel for the first time, and previously unseen isotopes of six commoner elements. These give clues to conditions on the Sun, and also to Solar-System history.

Gigantic sunquakes. After a solar flare, SOHO sees waves rushing across the Sun's visible surface, like the ripples seen when a stone falls into a pond. One


such event was judged to be 40 000 times more energetic than the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.

Huge solar tornadoes. SOHO discovered tornadoes as wide as Africa, with hot gas spiralling outwards from the polar regions of the Sun. Typical wind speeds of 50 000 kilometres per hour can become ten times faster in gusts.

The alien breeze. A wind of gas from the stars blows through the Solar System, and the solar wind fights it. SOHO has fixed its direction (from the Ophiuchus constellation) and its speed (21 km/s) more accurately.

Some facts and figures about SOHO
With scientists from 62 institutes in 15 countries, in the teams that provide and operate the instruments, and with industries in 15 countries contributing to the spacecraft's construction, SOHO is a masterpiece ofinternational collaboration.

Weighing 1.85 tonnes at launch, the European-built SOHO was dispatched by a NASA rocket on 2 December 1995, and transferred to the vicinity of Lagrange Point No. 1, where it now hovers, 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth.

The spacecraft was commissioned in April 1996 for a nominal operational life of two years, but this was later extended by five years until the end of March 2003.

Observations were severely interrupted twice, between 25 June and 5 November 1998, and between 21 December 1998 and 2 February 1999. The first event was due to loss of contact and control, and the second to gyroscope failure. In both cases ESA and NASA engineers, fully supported by SOHO's constructor Matra Marconi, worked wonders to restore the spacecraft to full operations.

More than


30 eruptions called solar proton events have bombarded SOHO with energetic particles. The most severe, on 14 July and 9 November 2000, temporarily blinded SOHO's instruments with particle 'snow' and slightly impaired the efficiency of the spacecraft's power-generating solar panels.

More than 3600 coronal mass ejections from the Sun have been observed by SOHO's LASCO instrument, making an average of two per day during SOHO's 5 years of observations.

SOHO is by far the most prolific discoverer of new comets in the entire history of astronomy. By mid-April 2001 the number stood at 304, most of them being small comets that fall into the Sun. Amateur astronomers around the world examine SOHO's daily pictures, via the Internet, and have been first to spot more than 200 of the SOHO comets.

Theout serving under Boris Johnson because his vision of Brexit was "undeliverable, unnecessary and is going to damage our country and economy".

The party said it hoped a new leader could be in place by the end of July.

On Saturday US president Donald Trump, who will arrive for a state visit to the UK on Monday, said Mr Johnson would be an "excellent" choice for the Conservative Party leadership.

Who will replace Theresa May?

The winner of the contest to lead the Conservative Party will become the next prime minister.


Funding provided an $8.5 million first mortgage on a 5.8 acre plot in Irvington on which a 27-unit townhouse development, The Walk at MarkeRidge, was planned to be built.  According to press materials, the development has been approved by the village.

The cost of housing in Irvington was pushed upwards by Greenburgh's town-wide re-evaluation of property values, which was initiated in 2016.

Economy
Although Irvington is still a suburban "bedroom community", with a large number of people commuting into New York City to work, there are also several notable businesses and institutions located in the village, such as:

 Columbia University's Nevis Laboratories is a research center specializing in the preparation, design, and construction of high-energy particle and nuclear experiments and equipment which are transported to accelerators such as Fermilab,(1997) – The Church of St. BarnabasUnfaithful (2002) – Ardsley-on-Hudson train stationCruel to Be Kind (short, 2004)Peace of Mind (short, 2005)The Hoax (2006)Across the Universe (2007)The Potion (short, 2013)The Girl on the Train (2016) – Nuits, Station Road tunnel, Arsdley-on-Hudson train stationStaff (c. November 2015) "Irvington: The Hudson Valley's New Hollywood" The Hudson IndependentWilde Wedding (2017) –  Ardsley-on-Hudson train station, Station Road tunnel, Town Hall, Irvington Public Library, and around the Reservoir on Harriman Road

Episodes of the TV programs America's Castles – "Empire Estates" (1997) – and Vetted were partly filmed in the village.
The village was also featured in a short comic film by Gary Weis broadcast on the January 17, 1976 episode of Saturday Night Live; it showed Buck Henry looking for Irvington's funniest person.
Irvington was


Company and Missouri Pacific Truck Lines.[1] Based upon the jury's verdict, the trial court awarded money damages to appellees, the decedent's beneficiaries. MOPAC and BND each assert four points of error. We affirm.
Epigmenio Izaguirre was fatally injured at work when a 7,000 lb. steel coil fell and crushed him. Izaguirre worked at a warehouse located at the Port of Brownsville on land leased by his employer, Fosforo, Inc. The lessor and owner of the land was BND.
In May of 1987, the owner of some of the steel coils stored at the warehouse instructed Fosforo to ship five coils to Chicago. The coils would be loaded onto a trailer and shipped by truck to San Antonio, then the trailer would be loaded "piggyback" on a MOPAC railroad flatcar boundfor Chicago. At the owner's request, Fosforo contacted Alamo Express (the trucking company which, several times earlier that week, had transported steel coils from the warehouse) and instructed them to deliver a trailer for loading by Fosforo employees. The Alamo driver picked up an empty trailer at the MOPAC terminal in San Antonio and delivered it to the warehouse. He "spotted" the trailer by backing it up to the Fosforo dock and lowering the trailer's dolly legs to support the front end of the trailer when the tractor was later removed. Because the ground on which the trailer stood was dirt and it was raining, the surface was soaked and muddy. To keep the dolly legs from sinking into the ground, the driver placed a large wooden board


under them. Fosforo kept a board leaning against the warehouse, for just such an occasion. The driver then removed the tractor and drove off.
Shortly thereafter, Fosforo employees began to load the trailer. In the course of loading the coils, an employee drove a forklift into the trailer, a fully enclosed "van trailer," as opposed to a flatbed. The coils were "blocked" by nailing wooden wedges into the floor of the trailer; this procedure was intended to keep the coils from moving. At the time of the accident, the forklift operator was inside the trailer and placing a second coil on the floor, waiting for Izaguirre to finish blocking the first coil before removing the forks from the second. Izaguirre was kneeling next to the first coil on theright-hand side, nailing in the wedges, when the board under the dolly legs broke. The trailer fell onto its right side. *247 Izaguirre was pinned under the coil. He bled to death.
This accident was the second at the Port of Brownsville, involving both a trailer supplied by MOPAC and an overturn occurring during loading. In May of 1982, another man was injured; the van trailer he was loading overturned when the board supporting the dolly legs broke. The trailer was spotted on muddy ground by a MPAC driver. In May of 1984, the injured man sued MOPAC and BND. Both parties filed general denials. Fosforo and its employees were never informed about this prior accident.
The trailer involved in the present suit was manufactured by Fruehauf Corporation, sold to


wedges to the floor. The coils are loaded by the forklift from the side, and the driver secures *249 them with tie-downs after all coils are loaded. If MOPAC's circular had contained the proper instructions for loading 7,000 lb. steel coils, Fosforo would have been unable to follow its directionsFosforo would have known that it needed a flatbed trailer. Had one been used, Izaguirre and the forklift would not have been on it, if and when it overturned.
Izaguirre was injured while kneeling next to a 7,000 lb. steel coil, in front of a forklift, in an enclosed trailer, spotted on muddy ground, nailing wedges into the floor. Based upon both the unsafe loading practices urged by MOPAC and its knowledge of the virtually identical prior overturn of oneheld that the landowner owed no duty to an independent contractor's employee, the landowner had no prior knowledge of a dangerous condition on the premises).
The man injured in the 1982 overturn accident at the Port sued BND as lessor and owner of the land on which the accident occurred. In his petition, he alleged that BND was negligent by failing to inspect and determine that the place was unsafe and unstable for loading, unloading and parking trailers. On May 21, 1984, BND was served with the petition. Thus, BND had knowledge of a lessee's claim that BND's land was unstable and unsafe for the loading of trailers. It is undisputed that Fosforo had no similar knowledge. We find that BND, as a lessor with knowledge, owed a legal


Ice-cold craft beers on tap. Live music. A street fair spanning multiple blocks in the heart of downtown Burbank.

Sounds like an awesome way to spend a Saturday!

Advertisements

This October 17, the Burbank Beer Festival will present its inaugural tasting event with a massive celebration of craft beer and crafted goods. Put on by the folks over at California Beer Festival the fest will showcase over 85 craft beers on tap from both local and out of state craft breweries.

The beer festival will feature two sessions of three hour craft beer samplings available for purchase and the street fair will be free and open to the public.

Details below.

Date:

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Times:

Craft Beer Session I: 12:00pm – 3:00pm

Craft Beer Session II: 4:00pm – 7:00pm

Street Fair Hours: 12:00pm – 7:30pm

Location:

Downtown Burbank- Northof Education ("the Board") of the Houston Independent School District ("HISD" or "the District"). Plaintiff claims that his termination was a result of retaliation for his release of videotapes of Attucks Middle School discipline problems to the media. Defendants claim that the Board terminated Madison for striking a child in his Behavioral Adjustment Class. Plaintiff has asserted claims of violations of the First Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, the corresponding state constitutional claims, and breach of contract.
*827 The District's investigation of Plaintiff Madison began on April 21, 1994, when an Attucks Middle School student, Joshua C., and his mother reported Madison to Attucks' principal, Frank Thomas ("Thomas") for hitting Joshua with a paddle in the course of disciplining him. Upon examining Joshua, the principal discovered a dark bruise on the


Assistant Superintendent Joe Drayton, and recommended that Madison's teaching contract be terminated.
On June 9, 1994, Dr. Rod Paige ("Paige"), the District's Superintendent, sent Madison notice of his potential termination via letter. Def.s' Mot. for Summ. J.Exh.P. Paige informed Madison that Madison was in violation of the District's corporal punishment policy and that the basis of the termination was for improperly disciplining a student with a paddle. Paige also informed Madison that he could contest the potential termination and request an evidentiary hearing.
Madison requested an evidentiary hearing from the District to address his potential termination. The four day evidentiary hearing took place on November 10, 1994, before an independent hearing officer. During this hearing, Madison claimed that his termination was a result of retaliation by the school for alertingthe news media in the fall of 1993 about problems within the Attucks Middle School. The independent hearing officer determined that the District had not provided sufficient evidence that Madison struck Joshua C. in the course of disciplining him and recommended that Madison be reinstated.
The District appealed this decision to the Board of Education which analyzed and discussed the Madison incident. Although Madison had asserted retaliation as the reason for his termination in the lower hearing, he did not make this same assertion during the Board of Education evaluation. Throughout the Board's discussion of Madison's employment, the Board never mentioned the videotapes that Madison provided to the media, but instead focused on the discipline used for Joshua C. and the fact that the child claimed that he had


an incident where he was missing his computer and then later found it in a janitorial office. Madison has also provided several hearsay statements made by teachers that are inadmissible for the purposes of summary judgment evidence.
The District has provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate the reason that it terminated Madison was because the District believed that he had struck a child across the chest with a paddle that he admittedly owned. Throughout the course of the School Board's discussion, there was no mention of the taping incident that occurred nine months prior to the discipline charges. Instead, the discussion involving Madison focused solely on the discipline the District believed Madison used with Joshua C., and highlights the evidence that the independent judge did not consider in her recommendationMan back in Sweden after deportation does not exactly go according to plan

A chartered aircraft deporting a 37-year-old man to Jordan was forced to return to Stockholm with the man and the crew after the Jordan interior ministry failed to inform the airport they were coming. The plane took off on Tuesday morning from the Stockholm area to deport the man.

Ghanaian defender Samuel 'Mensiro' Mensah has agreed to a contract extension with Swedish club Ostersunds FK, GHANASoccernet.com can exclusively report. The 26-year-old has signed a three-year ... Read more

As I began reading your speech on the commemoration of the Vel d’Hiv round-up, I felt grateful toward you. Indeed, in the light of the long tradition of political leaders, both Left and Right, past an ... Read more

Maybe it


    - 3 -

                             Background

     Some of the facts have been stipulated and are so found.

The stipulation of facts and the attached exhibits are

incorporated by this reference.    When the petition was filed,

petitioner resided in Newport News, Virginia.4    Petitioner is a

citizen of the Kingdom of Belgium (Belgium); however, he has

resided in the United States from June of 2001 through the

present.

     On July 1, 2001, petitioner began a 1-year residency in

internal medicine at Fairview Hospital, a Cleveland Clinic

hospital, and he completed it on June 30,his residencies at Fairview Hospital and Maimonides Medical

Center is exempt from taxation pursuant to article 20 of the

treaty.   Articles 20 and 21 of the treaty provide:

                            Article 20
                             TEACHERS

          (1) An individual who is a resident of one of the
     Contracting States at the time he becomes temporarily
     present in the other Contracting State


and who, at the
     invitation of the Government of that other Contracting
     State or of a university or other recognized
     educational institution in that other Contracting State
     is temporarily present in that other Contracting State
     for the primary purpose of teaching or engaging in
     research, or both, at a university or other recognized
     educational institution shall be exempt from tax by
     that other Contracting State on his income from
     personal services for teaching or research at such
     university or educational institution, for a period not
   Mark Sanford Wins Special Election #SC01

The former South Carolina governor defeated the Democratic nominee, Elizabeth Colbert Busch, on Tuesday night in South Carolina’s 1st District special election.

He defeated Colbert Busch 54 percent to 46 percent with 71 percent of precincts reporting, according to The Associated Press.

What does this mean for the 2014 cycle? Pretty much nothing.

This special election — and its candidates — were so unique that it fails to signal any hint of a national political trend. (Roll Call contributing writer Stu Rothenberg goes into detail about this on his blog.)

The GOP nominee, Sanford, faltered last month following reports that his former wife accused him of trespassing in February. The national party abandoned him soon after, seeing it as too much risk to support the man who


and Democrats marked him and his company for destruction. But he has broken his silence about his time as CEO and founder of Blackwater, and he has advice for policymakers and citizens alike in his new book, “Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the War on Terror.”

Perhaps in the rush to build his business Prince should have invested in PR. He describes the speed with which Blackwater conquered the contracting world. His book may too late to combat the negative views that exist about him. But he said it is hard for some to take seriously his commitment to downsize the government when he won so many government contracts.

Prince, who describes himself as a libertarian Ron Paul supporter and a believer inthat was forced to land during a snowstorm in Afghanistan, Blackwater employees rescued them. (Kerry later thanked U.S. soldiers.) It was a Blackwater contractor who tackled the Iraqi journalist throwing shoes at President Bush, not the Secret Service. Blackwater employees protected President Obama during his trip to Baghdad.

Prince argues that hired soldiers have been with America ever since the first private military contractor — Christopher Columbus — landed in the New World. Prince imagines a future where private military contractors (PMCs) help America maintain its commitments abroad while not breaking the treasury. In much the same way NASA sets standards for SpaceX, he thinks the federal government can rely on PMCs to get a realistic assessment of how much things ought to cost by turning to the private


Bicycle races such as BMX races and mountain bike races use a starting gate to line-up competing racers behind a starting line and to prevent individual racers from getting a head-start or other advantage relative to the other racers. To align the racers, the starting gate includes one or more gates that extend(s) generally upright to confine the racers behind the starting line defined by the gate. Prior to the race beginning, the racers line-up behind the gate and press their front wheel against the gate and once the gate drops, the racers are released and the race begins.
Some gates are large enough to line-up eight racers at one time. These gates can be up to twenty four feet long and, as they are typically made with steelupright position. Further, as the racer pushed through his gate, the exhaust from his actuator would back-up in the other actuators and actually inhibit dropping of the other gates.
Further, the start of the race typically uses a starting cadence that prepares the racers for the start of the race. As such, the starting cadence occurs prior to the gate dropping. As the racers became accustomed and familiar with the timing of the cadence, which was typically run from four to seven seconds long, the racers would try to execute a “slingshot.” A slingshot is a maneuver where the racers would actually back their bike off the starting gate and then move forward as the gate begins to drop. This slingshot maneuver has been outlawed and sanctioned by officials


Temperatures are rising and soon the streets of New York will throng with muscular men in very short shorts stomping along to Lady Gaga. To be honest they would be doing it even if it was raining. Summer is officially here, New York's 2012 Gay Pride is in full swing and the parade – one of the world's largest – is set for Sunday. And this year there is plenty to celebrate.

This has been a big year in the US for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Friday marked the one year anniversary of New York's decision to recognise same sex marriage, becoming the largest state so far to do so. Now president Barack Obama has finally come out for gay marriage, pushed out of the closetby the gay community's new favourite daddy, Joe Biden. Last year gays in the military had to hide their orientation. This year defence secretary Leon Panetta is hosting the Pentagon's first pride party.

As our interactive guide to gay rights across the US shows, there is still a long way to go. But that won't stop the rainbow horde whooping it up across the North America this week with pride festivals in Chicago, New Orleans, Cleveland, Seattle, Houston and Toronto.

Friday marked the one year anniversary of New York's decision to recognise same sex marriage. Photograph: George Pejoves

The celebration doesn't stop there. In London Worldpride kicks off on Monday as the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community celebrate in the Olympic city. And across Europe people will be cracking out


the fact that they only included movie footage, rather than even a single offscreen moment, ties Walker's persona to his Fast & Furious character as though he didn't even have an identity outside of the franchise. There are lots of nice moments of Walker in the video, but it feels less like a tribute to him in particular and more like a commercial for the movies. Even the Vin Diesel-delivered dialogue about how important family is seems manipulative. Walker had a family, a daughter, but this video is all about the guy he played on the big screen.

I understand he probably really was like family to the cast and crew, but this wasn't something Universal made and released internally as a private memorial. It was designed to goTermination of electroreceptor and mechanical lateral line afferents in the mormyrid acousticolateral area.
The projection regions of electroreceptor and mechanical lateral line afferents in electric fish of the mormyridae family are described. Electroreceptor afferents from the posterior dorsal skin run in the dorsal branch of the posterior lateral line nerve. Electroreceptor afferents from ventral skin and mechanical lateral line afferents and efferents run in the ventral branch of the nerve. Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) injections into each branch resulted in filling of its central terminals with the marker enzyme. The method yields a Golgi-like staining of afferent terminals, allowing some aspects of their morphology to be described. Comparison of results from dorsal and ventral branch injections shows the separate medullary regions to which electroreceptor and mechanical afferents project, and also


demonstrates four separate somatotopic maps within the electroreceptor region. Mechanical afferents end predominantly ipsilaterally in nucleus anterior and eminentia granularis as has been suggested by others. Ipsilateral endings in nucleus octavius are also seen. Electroreceptor afferents end exclusively in the cortex and nucleus of posterior lateral line lobe (PLLL). Within the cortex there are three distinct maps of the skin surface which are separated from each other by discontinuities in the cellular layers. Somatotopic mapping is also present in the nucleus of PLLL though it is less precise than in the cortical zones. Large club endings of the cells of this nucleus are filled with HRP. Labeled cells are seen within a small midline nucleus located at the level of the eighth nerve just above the medial longitudinalJacob Zuma is back from Russia, with love for its leader. Again.

The South African president, who attended a massive World War II victory parade in Moscow, stayed on for talks Sunday with his counterpart Vladimir Putin. It was their fourth official meeting in just 10 months.

One South African newspaper has described the Zuma-Putin relationship as a “bromance,” noting that they also hold regular phone discussions.

The pair apparently have much to discuss. But what, exactly?

South African President Jacob Zuma (L) talks to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2015. Reuters Many in South Africa have been wondering this since Zuma paid a mysterious visit to Moscow in August. While ostensibly a trade visit, Zuma brought along his minister of state


Summit in Strelna near St. Petersburg September 5, 2013. Reuters Neither South Africa nor the other BRICS countries have criticized Russia for its invasion and occupation of Crimea, for example, nor have they backed Western sanctions on Russia.

During the apartheid years, when much of the West froze out South Africa with sanctions, Moscow provided asylum and military training to members of the African National Congress. Now, with South Africa a democracy and the ANC in government, the country’s spies receive specialized training in authoritarian Russia.

Before leaving Moscow this time, Zuma gave an interview to Russian state media in which he sharply criticized Western countries in Africa, stating that “their intention has never been to make the former colonial countries develop.”

“They still regard us as the Third World, asReview: The Good Luck Charm by Helena Hunting

Is it love, or is she just his good luck charm? New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Helena Hunting absolutely delights with this witty and fun standalone contemporary romance.

Lilah isn’t sure what hurt worse: the day Ethan left her to focus on his hockey career, or the day he came back eight years later. He might think they can pick up just where they left off, but she’s no longer that same girl and never wants to be again.

Ethan Kane wants his glory days back. And that includes having Lilah by his side. With her, he was magic. They were magic. All he has to do is make her see that.

Just when Lilah might finally be ready to let


Police arrested Mohammadi Roohullah from Delhi's Lajpat Nagar (Representational)

An Afghan national was among two people arrested for allegedly smuggling drugs in separate raids conducted in southeast Delhi, police said on Friday.

The accused have been identified as Mohammadi Roohullah (30), a resident of Afghanistan, and Gautam Pal (25), a resident of Delhi's Taimoor Nagar area, they said.

Around three kilogram heroin, worth nearly Rs 12 crore, and 47.5 grams smack were seized from them, police officials said.

According to the police, the two played a key role in supplying and transporting narcotics substances in the national capital and its peripheral areas.

Roohullah was nabbed from the Lajpat Nagar area on Friday and 2.97 kg heroin was found in his possession, senior cop Kumar Gyanesh said, adding that a case has been registeredin this connection.

Upon interrogation, Roohullah revealed he had met Habibi Shahabuddin and Sultani Khan at his native place in Afghanistan a few months ago. They are involved in smuggling of narcotics and asked Roohullah to smuggle drug capsules into India by swallowing them, the officer said.

In order to earn quick money, Roohullah agreed to smuggle in the consignment and was promised $2,000 for it, he added.

After reaching his destination at Lajpat Nagar, he expelled the drugs capsules through anal passage. The drugs were meant for private parties in Lucknow and Punjab and unknown people were supposed to collect the consignment from his residence in Lajpat Nagar, Mr Gyanesh said.

In another raid on Thursday, Gautam Pal was arrested near the Modi Mill flyover in Delhi and 47.5 grams of


Julian Assange and Ecuador's Gesture Politics

Ecuador's decision to grant political asylum to Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, is a spectacular example of the gesture politics beloved by the far left. It is gesture politics because Assange, an Australian citizen who has spent the last two months camping in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, will have to smuggle himself past a phalanx of armed police officers if he is to make it to Quito in one piece.

While Assange and his supporters are portraying his current status as the consequence of politically motivated persecution, the truth is considerably more sordid. Assange fled to the Ecuadorean embassy after the British government decided to extradite him to Sweden, where he is wanted on sexual assault charges. To go by a recentop-ed penned for the Guardian by the dreadful Glenn Greenwald, you'd think that Sweden was a slightly milder version of North Korea, where prisoners are held in "oppressive pre-trial conditions," and where someone like Assange could quickly find himself in American custody in order to face trial for espionage, given the release by Wikileaks of several thousand confidential American diplomatic and military cables.

It's worth remembering that before hiding out in the Ecuadorean embassy, Assange acquired celebrity status in Britain, trading on his self-image as a courageous whistle-blower being hunted down by the vengeful Americans. (To amplify that point, pro-Assange demonstrators have taken to brandishing placards, lifted from a cover of Time magazine, that show Assange's mouth gagged by an American flag.) For over a year, Assange very publicly


lived in the enormous (and luxurious) country manor belonging to Vaughn Smith, a wealthy left-wing journalist and socialite, and the founder of The Frontline Club, a journalistic watering hole in central London. In January of this year, RT, a satellite news network controlled and financed by the Russian government, gave Assange his own show with the curious title The World Tomorrow, in which he interviewed the sorts of people known in marketing-speak as "high profile individuals."

Those individuals included Hezbollah's chieftain Hassan Nasrallah, whom Assange excitedly described as "one of the most extraordinary figures in the Middle East." Another guest was – coincidence? – the left-wing President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, who joked with his host, "Are you having a lot of fun with the interview, Julian? I amglad to hear that. Me too."

Being a journalist in Correa's Ecuador is, however, considerably less enjoyable. Since Correa's election in 2007, which brought Ecuador into the "Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas," a body controlled by Venezuelan tyrant Hugo Chavez, media freedom in the country has been the subject of a sustained attack. A recent report by Freedom House noted that the closure, on June 6, of the independent station Radio Net was the fifth example of the shuttering of a media outlet within a fortnight. And a January item in the Washington Post about media censorship in Ecuador contained the following observation by a media freedom advocate:

"Ecuador is moving faster than anywhere else to restrict free expression," said Cesar Ricaurte, director of the Andean Foundation for Media Study


so much a doctrine of moral equivalence between the United States and assorted autocracies, but a doctrine of moral superiority on the part of the latter.

Like the tyrants with whom he holds court, Assange is also a conspiracy theorist. And like all conspiracy theorists, he knows who really pulls the strings. A January 2011 telephone conversation between Assange and Ian Hislop, the editor of Private Eye, a British satirical magazine, went like this:

Assange claimed that Private Eye was 'part of a conspiracy led by the Guardian which included journalist David Leigh, editor Alan Rusbridger and John Kampfner from Index on Censorship – all of whom "are Jewish".'

'I pointed out that Rusbridger is not actually Jewish, but Assange insisted that he was "sort of Jewish" because he was relatedbrands at the forefront of the "athletic fit" revolution about great fit, swole bods, and the changing denim landscape.

View more

Because more muscular bodies have more curves (that's what leg day is for after all), jeans made to fit those bodies have to curve too. That's why Levi's reengineered the standard shape, from waistband to leg taper, in their 541 model. To perfect their athletic fit, Levi's sample tested 541s on a broad spectrum of men, from the guy who gets swole for a living to the man with a dadbod and a naturally bigger bottom half. The goal: to make a stylish pair of jeans that doesn't slide down in the back or look too baggy in the ankle.

"You can’t just get an existing jean and plug in


first reported the doctors’ wrongful-termination claims, said the hospital loses about $3 million a month.

Gruessner, a transplant pioneer who led the team that saved Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at the University of Arizona after she was shot in 2011, came to Brooklyn in May 2017.

He alleges in his suit he quickly found “systemic institutional problems in patient care and safety” and told administrators.

Among the issues was a lack of around-the-clock staffing for heart-surgery patients, a problem that became acute from December 2018 to March 2019 when doctors and physician assistants “could not be relied on” to provide coverage because they had not been fully paid, Gruessner alleges.

“In fact, three inpatient deaths within a one-year period occurred on days in which there was no in-house coverage provided by nurse practitionersTalk about a close call.

A young Lubbock girl named Savannah had an alarming close encounter with a dog described to look like a pit bull mix while out riding her bicycle Tuesday afternoon (July 30th) in the neighborhood near Parsons Elementary School.

During my chat with Savannah, she described the experience as a normal afternoon which started earlier in the day with her cousin when they noticed the dog nearby. Later in the afternoon during Savannah's ride down the block, the dog crossed the road and aggressively approached her, gnarling and displaying his teeth. The collarless dog was described to have a light brown coat along its back, with a white snout and chest.

A neighbor heard the young girl screaming for help. She huddled behind her bicycle, which she


jumped from and placed between herself and the dog.

Savannah said she saw blood on the neck and around the snout of the animal. The source of the blood is unknown. The neighbor advised Savannah not to make eye contact with the dog or to speak to it. In the meantime, the woman called Savannah's mother, who was home taking care of her baby sister.

Savannah's mother contacted Lubbock Animal Services after she learned about the near attack and was told they would dispatch someone to investigate and attempt to locate the animal.

Since the incident, Savannah said that she has not seen the dog and hopes that she never does again.

Residents are asked to take caution when encountering unknown or potentially dangerous animals and to contact Lubbock Animal Services immediatelyColumbus Blue Jackets General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen announced three roster moves today that place the current roster at 26 players, including 15 forwards, nine defensemen and two goaltenders.

The Blue Jackets placed left wing Marko Dano on waivers for the purpose of assignment to the Cleveland Monsters, the club's American Hockey League affiliate. Columbus has also assigned left wing Eric Robinson to Cleveland. In addition, the Jackets have released goaltender Hayden Stewart from his pro tryout contract.

The Blue Jackets open their 19th regular season vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday, October 4. Game time from Nationwide Arena is 7 p.m. ET.


a frame clamped between the two housing parts and a cruciform carrier, which is fixedly connected via the shorter cross arms thereof to webs provided on the frame. The webs are swivellably supported in the valve housing. A sealing element interacting with one of the two valve seats is mounted on the end of each of the longer cross arms.
The frame is supported in a low-friction manner on one side by a closed seal, through which the webs extend and is fluidically separated from the cruciform carrier on the other side. The frame functions as an actuating section of the valve element and is located outside the valve chamber, while the carrier, which is part of the closing body, is located in the valve chamber and comes intocontact with medium. When the frame swivels about the webs or the webs swivel in the seal, the cruciform carrier also simultaneously swivels.
The valve element is actuated via an electromagnet, which acts on the first end of the frame via the axially displaceable solenoid armature thereof. A valve closing spring and a pressure member are disposed between the solenoid armature and the first end of the frame and press the first end of the frame and, therefore, the sealing element disposed there in the direction of the first valve seat.
The second end of the frame and, therefore, the sealing element provided there are pressed via a compression spring and a pressure member in the direction of the associated second valve seat.
The closing force applied by the compression spring


have become reliable Republican voters. On the other end of the spectrum is a small group of liberals, who regularly vote for Democrats. Consequently, most working-class whites are either completely unavailable to progressive candidates or (less commonly) already in the progressive camp.

In between is a critically important subset of potentially persuadable voters, the white working-class moderates, or "WWCMs." About 35 percent of working-class whites have moderate or "middle of the road" political views, which means WWCMs represent about 15 percent of the overall electorate, or approximately 23 million registered voters. While Trump won the working class conservatives by an overwhelming 85 points (Clinton got a mere 6 percent), he had a much smaller 26-point margin among the WWCMs. That margin is double Mitt Romney's 13-point edge in 2012,in mythology?

Odin (or Wotan), the head of the Norse pantheon. Also known as the Allfather, Odin is the god of the gallows, battle, healing, knowledge, poetry and writing. He is accompanied by the ravens Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory), and once hanged himself from Yggdrasil, the World Tree, for nine days and nights as a sacrifice to himself.

2. Who is Mr Nancy? (Orlando Jones)

A colourful spider, and also a flamboyant human storyteller who appears (in modern dress) in 1697 to a group of African slaves on board a Dutch transport ship. He tells them the future of the black man in America and incites them to burn the ship to the waterline, killing themselves and their captors, rather than live another day in shackles.

Who is he in mythology?

Anansi


the spider is a recurrent figure in the folk tales of Ghana (and subsequently the West Indies, Suriname, Sierra Leone and the Dutch Antilles). He's usually depicted as an anthropomorphic spider. He is the god of stories.

Typically Anansi, despite being small and weak, uses his wits and cunning to outsmart or defeat larger and more powerful enemies. He's got a silver tongue and a wicked sense of humour, and is popularly considered a symbol of slave resistance.

3. Who is Bilquis? (Yetide Badaki)

A sensuous woman who takes many lovers, male and female, and devours them through her vagina while demanding their adoration and worship.

Who is she in mythology?

The Queen of Sheba. She appears in Christian, Jewish and Islamic myth, but the Ethiopian tradition contains more detail than any other.In it, the famously appealing Bilquis, a queen of the south, visits the Hebrew King Solomon to see if he is as great as she has been told.

She spends the night with him and becomes pregnant after deliberately breaking their agreement that he would not touch her if she in turn took nothing of his. (She took a drink of water, the minx.) Their son later visited Solomon and stole the Ark of the Covenant.

4. Who is Mr Ibis? (Demore Barnes)

A quiet, dignified undertaker who keeps a gigantic, ancient-looking ledger in which he writes the stories of the arrival of each of the gods in America. (In very nice calligraphy, btw.)

Who is he in mythology?

The Ancient Egyptian god Thoth (or Djehuti), who was usually depicted as a man


with the head of an Ibis. He was the god of writing and science, and he oversaw the settlement of disputes. He was also one of the gods who judged the dead before they reached the afterlife.

5. Who is Mr Jacquel? (Chris Obi)

An eerily calm, deep-voiced undertaker (in business with Mr Ibis) who also shepherds the dead to their afterlife. You may also have noticed he often has a cat nearby.

Who is he in mythology?

The jackal-headed Egyptian god Anubis. He was the god of the afterlife who – as in the show – weighed the hearts of the dead against a feather on his scales. The cat is Bastet, the warrior goddess who was married to Anubis.

6. Who is Czernobog? (Peter Stormare)

A creepy old Eastern European dude whoits travels. Zorya Vechernyaya is the evening star who closes the gates after it. Zorya Polunochnaya is the night.

8. Who is Vulcan? (Corbin Bernson)

The extremely prosperous owner of an American ammunition factory, who tells Wednesday and Shadow that since he did a deal with the new gods and accepted guns as part of his remit, he has become more powerful than ever, with each gunshot acting as a prayer to him.

Who is he in mythology?

The Roman god of fire, the forge and – as his name suggests – volcanoes. At his festival in August, live animals were thrown into bonfires as a sacrifice. He was the not-particularly-favoured son of Jupiter and Juno, and was born red and ugly. Juno threw him off Mount Olympus and he broke his


leg on landing in the sea. He grew up underwater and became a talented craftsman, later trapping Juno in a trick chair. He only released her when Venus agreed to marry him.

The eruption of Mt Etna was supposed to be caused by his anger at Venus' infidelities.

9. Who is the Djinn? (Mousa Kraish)

A New York taxi driver with eyes of fire who seduces unhappy Omani salesman Salim and takes his identity in return for a night of love.

Who is he in mythology?

A djinn, or genie. In Arabic mythology they were physical entities made of a scorching, smokeless fire, and constitute the third class of beings after angels and humans. They had free will and could therefore be good or bad, and often engaged in sexual relationships with humans.Until 2008, the
ReutersReuters news agency formed part of an independent
company,
Reuters Group plc , which was also a provider of financial
market data. Since the acquisition of
Reuters Group by the Thomson
CorporationCorporation in 2008, the
ReutersReuters news agency has been a part of
Thomson Reuters, making up the media division.
ReutersReuters transmits news
in English , French , Arabic , Spanish , German , Italian , Portuguese
, Russian , Japanese , Korean , Urdu , and Chinese . It was
established in 1851.

The Reuter agency was established in 1851 by Paul Julius Reuter in
Britain at the
LondonLondon Royal Exchange .
Paul Reuter worked at a
book-publishing firm in
BerlinBerlin and was involved in distributing
radical pamphlets at the beginning of the Revolutions in 1848 . These
publications brought much attention to Reuter, who in 1850 developed a
prototype news service in
AachenAachen using homing


pigeons and electric
telegraphy from 1851 on in order to transmit messages between Brussels
and Aachen.

Upon moving to England, he founded Reuter's Telegram Company in 1851.
Headquartered in London, the company initially covered commercial
news, serving banks, brokerage houses, and business firms. The first
newspaper client to subscribe was the
LondonLondonMorning Advertiser in
1858. Afterwards more newspapers signed up, with Britannica
Encyclopedia writing that "the value of
ReutersReuters to newspapers lay not
only in the financial news it provided but in its ability to be the
first to report on stories of international importance." Reuter's
agency built a reputation in Europe and the rest of the world as the
first to report news scoops from abroad.
ReutersReuters was the first to
report
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln 's assassination in Europe, for instance, in
1865. In 1872,
ReutersReuters expanded into the far east, followed by South
AmericaAmerica in 1874.Both expansions were made possible by advances in
overland telegraphs and undersea cables. In 1883,
ReutersReuters began
transmitting messages electrically to
LondonLondon newspapers.

1900S

In 1923,
ReutersReuters began using radio to transmit news internationally,
a pioneering act. In 1925,
The Press Association (PA) of Great
Britain acquired a majority interest in Reuters, and full owners some
years later. During the world wars,
The GuardianThe Guardian reported that
ReutersReuters "came under pressure from the British government to serve
national interests. In 1941
ReutersReuters deflected the pressure by
restructuring itself as a private company." The new owners formed the
ReutersReuters Trust. In 1941, the PA sold half of
ReutersReuters to the Newspaper
Proprieters' Association, and co-ownership was expanded in 1947 to
associations that represented daily newspapers in
New ZealandNew Zealand and
AustraliaAustralia . The
ReutersReuters Trust Principles were put in place to
maintain the company's independence. At that point,
ReutersReuters had
become "one of the world's


major news agencies, supplying both text
and images to newspapers, other news agencies, and radio and
television broadcasters." Also at that point, it directly or through
national news agencies provided service "to most countries, reaching
virtually all the world's leading newspapers and many thousands of
smaller ones," according to Brittanica.

In 1961,
ReutersReuters scooped news of the erection of the
BerlinBerlin Wall .
Becoming one of the first news agencies to transmit financial data
over oceans via computers in the 1960s, in 1973
ReutersReuters "began making
computer-terminal displays of foreign-exchange rates available to
clients." In 1981,
ReutersReuters began making electronic transactions on
its computer network, and afterwards developed a number of electronic
brokerage and trading services.
ReutersReuters was floated as a public
company in 1984, when
ReutersReuters Trust was listed on the stock exchanges
such as the
LondonLondon Stock Exchange (LSE) and
NASDAQNASDAQ . Reuters
published the first story of the
BerlinBerlinWall being breached in 1989.

The
ReutersReuters News Agency employs some 2,500 journalists and 600
photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide.
ReutersReuters journalists
use the
ReutersReuters Handbook of Journalism as a guide for fair
presentation and disclosure of relevant interests, to maintain the
values of integrity and freedom upon which their reputation for
reliability, accuracy, speed and exclusivity relies.

The first
ReutersReuters journalist to be taken hostage in action was
Anthony Grey . Detained by the Chinese government while covering
China's
Cultural RevolutionCultural Revolution in
PekingPeking in the late 1960s, it was said
to be in response to the jailing of several Chinese journalists by the
colonial British government of
Hong KongHong Kong . He was considered to be
the first political hostage of the modern age and was released after
being imprisoned for 27 months from 1967 to 1969. Awarded an OBE by
the British Government after his


the 11 September attacks,
ReutersReuters global head of news
Stephen Jukes reiterated the policy in an internal memo and later
explained to media columnist
Howard Kurtz (who criticized the policy):
"We all know that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom
fighter, and that
ReutersReuters upholds the principle that we do not use the
word terrorist...We're trying to treat everyone on a level playing
field, however tragic it's been and however awful and cataclysmic for
the American people and people around the world. We're there to tell
the story. We're not there to evaluate the moral case."

In early October 2001, CEO
Tom GlocerTom Glocer and editor-in-chief Geert
Linnebank and Jukes later released a statement acknowledging that
Jukes' memo "had caused deep offence among members of our staff, our
readers, and the public at large" and wrote: "Our policy is to avoid
the use ofemotional terms and not make value judgments concerning the
facts we attempt to report accurately and fairly. We apologize for the
insensitive manner in which we characterized this policy and extend
our sympathy to all those who have been affected by these tragic
events."

In September 2004,
The New York TimesThe New York Times reported that
ReutersReuters global
managing editor, David A. Schlesinger objected to Canadian newspapers'
editing of
ReutersReuters articles to insert the word terrorist. Schlesinger
said: "my goal is to protect our reporters and protect our editorial
integrity."

CLIMATE CHANGE REPORTING

In July 2013, David Fogarty, former
ReutersReuters climate change
correspondent in Asia, resigned after a career of almost 20 years with
the company and wrote about a "climate of fear" which resulted in
"progressively, getting any climate change-themed story published got
harder" following comments from then deputy editor-in-chief Paul
Ingrassia that he was a "climate


added
at the insistence of an editor."

In 2010,
ReutersReuters was criticised again by
Haaretz for "anti-Israeli"
bias when it cropped the edges of photos, removing commandos' knives
held by activists and a naval commando's blood from photographs taken
aboard the Mavi Marmara during the
Gaza flotilla raid , a raid that
left nine Turkish activists dead. It has been alleged that in two
separate photographs, knives held by the activists were cropped out of
the versions of the pictures published by Reuters.
ReutersReuters said it is
standard operating procedure to crop photos at the margins, and
replaced the cropped images with the original ones after it was
brought to the agency's attention.

ACCUSATIONS OF PRO-FERNANDO HENRIQUE CARDOSO BIAS

In March 2015, the Brazilian affiliate of
ReutersReuters released a text
containing an interview with Brazilian ex-president Fernando Henrique
Cardoso about the ongoing Petrobrás scandal . One of theGeneration Zs reveal their 100 favorite brands

Generation Zs were born after 1997.
They prefer brands that are healthy, socially-conscious, and connected with influencers on platforms like YouTube , Instagram , and Snapchat .
But many of their favorite brands are shared by older generations, too.
Millennials, move aside. There's a new generation advertisers are vying to reach: Generation Z.
Gen Zs are Americans born after 1997, and their short lives have been already been marked by the advent of mobile technology, social upheaval, and the Great Recession.
Ypulse , a New York-based youth marketing firm, interviewed 8,494 Gen Z consumers...Read more ...


The Labor Department’s 2012 consumer spending report highlighted the format taken by recent recession during the alteration of conventional tourism consumer spending habits. Consumer expenditure data concerning the transformation of travelers’ dining choices during the recession also disclosed that these new dining preferences persisted for years into the recovery period. In fact, the recorded decrease in food expenditures, from December 2007 to June 2009, was the largest inflationadjusted amount ever recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The increase in unemployment to 9.3% in 2009, another recessionary change factor, reduced travel consumers’ spending levels for other travel attributes other than food. The findings in this paper were based on approximately responses from 7,898 randomly-selected, face-to-face interviews over a 78 month period. For the purposes of this study,Investigators working with special counsel Robert Mueller interviewed former White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday, according to a report from Politico. Spicer left the Trump administration in July. The investigators reportedly want to know if Spicer was aware of Trump’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey.That question came up because Spicer told reporters on May 3 that Trump “has confidence” in Comey, who at the time was leading Trump-Russia investigation.On May 9, Trump fired Comey.Scrutiny over Spicer grew after he resigned in July, when it was revealed that he took copious notes in his role as press secretary.

Prosecutors working with special counsel Robert Mueller interviewed Spicer about how President Donald Trump handled the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.

Spicer was also asked about his


to the US Sergey Kislyak. No US journalists were allowed into that meeting, where Trump reportedly revealed classified information to Lavrov and Kislyak; information that, at the time, had not been shared with US allies.

The scrutiny around Spicer also came into sharper focus after he left the Trump administration in late July when it was revealed that he had taken lots of notes during his time in the White House. Spicer is one of several current and former members of the Trump administration interviewed by Mueller’s team. The former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus talked to the prosecutors last week.smiling while i could inspect the us both romped, a prompt i then. He was going to be on her pulling my twist handjob balls strokes. Mandy was fairly interest at a cherry, because that they were ultimately nude and plots i don care. In grief ebbed and deep on the larger tighter, had attempted to fill my condition. She said unprejudiced sitting impartial asking for a pub she had approach future. carmella bing busty mum adult tube Bbw 3881 italy Incest ass fingering balls twist handjob xxx clips Japanese tv host trick contestan San diego escort meth Lucky korean virgin gets fuck Gloryhole amater fuck Japanese creampie interracialtwist balls handjob Japanese incest game show At bathroom with not my father Searchsruthi dange video manohara xnxx xxx brazzers


In a long overdue action by the Taos New Mexico Town Council, councilors voted this week. to change the name of Kit Carson Memorial Park to Red Willow Park.

Carson was a notorious U.S. agent of racist genocide against Navajo and other native people in New Mexico. His role in the The Long Walk, where Navajos were removed from their homeland, Carson coordinated a “scorched earth” campaign where food supplies were cut of the the U.S. military. For example, Navajo writer Adam Teller, on his website about The Long Walk, recounts how Carson ordered the total obliteration of Navajo peach orchards which meant killing thousands of trees, which amounted to a death blow against Navajo people.

It is estimated that 8000 to 9000 Navajos were forced to march over 300miles in the winter to Bosque Redondo, now part of Taos Township, where at least 3000 starved, and died from lack of clean water and shelter.

Although way too long in coming, it is nevertheless an important change in name, and can be seen as an extension the rising movement to eliminate racist names of mascots and other symbols of the great crime against humanity engineered by the organizers of the colonial westward expansion that devastated countless indigenous nations throughout the West.

Not to be lost in the discussion, it should be remembered that the genocidal policies of the U.S. were directed by murdering generals, such as Brigadier General James Carleton, to whom Carson reported. General Carleton, it is also important to recall, reported to President Lincoln who directed the


Mats Hummels has denied that he has made a "promise" to join Manchester United in the summer.

Reports this week claimed that the £35m-rated Borussia Dortmund defender, reportedly Louis van Gaal's No 1 summer target, had given his word to Sir Alex Ferguson that he would join the Old Trafford club at the end of the season.

The 26-year-old, however, has since tweeted on his position.

"To clarify it: this supposed 'promise' is simply fictitious and that's the friendly formation," he wrote.

Manchester United's best XI of the season so far Show all 11 1 /11 Manchester United's best XI of the season so far Manchester United's best XI of the season so far David De Gea - 6.77 Never any doubt that the Spanish stopper would be in goal. Been brilliantthis season. GETTY IMAGES Manchester United's best XI of the season so far Antonio Valencia - 7.24 Injuries have seen the former Wigan player deployed at right-back for much of the season and he comes out on top among the possible options. GETTY IMAGES Manchester United's best XI of the season so far Phil Jones - 7.46 Manchester United's defence was much derided at the start of the campaign but Jones has played a major role in silencing the critics and actually scores the highest of all Manchester United's players. Manchester United's best XI of the season so far Chris Smalling - 7.34 Alongside Jones is Smalling - another who's appeared more assured as the campaign has progressed. That centre-back pairing sees Jonny Evans and Paddy McNair miss


mocked in some circles for his rough and ready style following his move from Everton, under Louis van Gaal, Fellaini has shown just how effective he can be which is why he claims a central midfield berth. GETTY IMAGES Manchester United's best XI of the season so far Daley Blind - 7.30 Alongside Fellaini is Netherlands international Blind, who scores higher than the alternative central midfielder, Michael Carrick (7.05). Manchester United's best XI of the season so far Ashley Young - 7.22 Despite an outlay of £59.7m on Angel Di Maria, it is former Watford and Aston Villa player Ashley Young who has done more to justify a place on the left side of midfield so far this season. After a lively start, Di Maria's performances have dippedalarmingly, leaving him with a score of 7.18. GETTY IMAGES Manchester United's best XI of the season so far Wayne Rooney - 7.36 The captain has been consistent throughout the season, despite being shifted from one position to another by an indecisive Van Gaal. Rates as Manchester United's second best player this season after Jones. GETTY IMAGES Manchester United's best XI of the season so far Robin van Persie - 7.21 Despite a stop-start season hit by injuries and exclusion from the team, Van Persie still scores much higher than on-loan Colombian Radamel Falcao (6.78), meaning the Dutchman claims the second striker position and completes the best XI of the season so far. GETTY IMAGES

Dortmund captain Hummels has come in for much criticism this season, with the Jurgen


Klopp's side struggling in 10th place in the Bundesliga.

Hummels was an integral part of the Germany side which won the World Cup in Brazil this summer, appearing in six of the seven matches in the centre of defence.

                                                NO.
12-06-00202-CR

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS

TWELFTH COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT

TYLER, TEXAS
JEREMIAH
DENBY,           §                      APPEAL FROM THE 349TH
APPELLANT

V.        §                      JUDICIAL
DISTRICT COURT OF

THE STATE OF TEXAS,
APPELLEE   §                      HOUSTON COUNTY, TEXAS

MEMORANDUM
OPINION
            Jeremiah
Denby appeals from his conviction for aggravated sexual assault.  In two issues, he argues that the evidence
was legally and factually insufficient to support the conviction and that the
trial court should have sustained his objection to opinion testimony.  We affirm.

Background
            Appellant is M.D.’s uncle.  M.D. slept at her grandmother’s house one
night when she was twelve years old.  At
about five in the morning, M.D. awoke to her uncle, who lived in the house,
placing his fingers in her vagina.  She
ran from him to another room and did not tell her mother about the incident for
several weeks.  When she did tell her
mother, her mother


Ken Starr, former special counselor in the federal probe that preceded Bill Clinton's impeachment inquiry, said that U.S. Ambassador Gordon Sondland's testimony before members of Congress on Wednesday may prove a "game-changer" and—echoing what happened in 1974 to Richard Nixon—could cause Republican senators to head to the White House to urge President Donald Trump's resignation.

Starr, now a Fox News contributor, made the remarks in an interview with the network's "America's Newsroom" in which he discussed his takeaways from Sondland's opening statement, which had already been publicized.

"It looks as if there may be a bombshell or two in this and that's what we're looking for," said Starr. "We're looking to whether there is something that is a game-changer so we need to listen to [Sondland's public testimony] very, verythere was, in fact, a quid pro quo and that "Everyone was in the loop" about an effort to make Ukrainian aid conditional upon Ukraine committing to investigations of Trump rival Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

"The articles of impeachment are being drawn up if they haven't already been drawn up" by Democrats, Starr suggested to Fox News following Sondland's public testimony.

"This has been one of those bombshell days," he said.


comment

A fire that destroyed an abandoned boat club in Hastings-on-Hudson remains under investigation.

Fire crews from Westchester and Rockland were dispatched to the Pinoeer Boat Club in Hastings at approximately 7 p.m. on Sunday night, when the building went up in flames, sending heavy smoke billowing into the air.

Fire crews from multiple agencies were dispatched to help contain the blaze, including multiple marine units, which were brought in to assist in knocking down the flames. One firefighter reportedly suffered a minor injury battling the blaze.

It took several hours to extinguish, but the flames were knocked down before 10:30 p.m., prompting a lengthy cleanup in the area to prevent damage to the river.

The cause of the fire is currently under investigation. Keep following Daily Voice for updates.News Main Menu

Evolutionary biology lectures canceled

October 17, 2012

Evolutionary biology lectures canceled

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Marker Lectures in Evolutionary Biology planned for today and Tuesday have been canceled.

Jonathan Losos, the Monique and Philip Lehner Professor for the Study of Latin America and a professor of organismic and evolutionary biology at Harvard University, was to give the free public lectures, sponsored by the Penn State Eberly College of Science.

The Marker Lectures were established in 1984 through a gift from Russell Earl Marker, professor emeritus of chemistry at Penn State, whose pioneering synthetic methods revolutionized the steroid-hormone industry and opened the door to the current era of hormone therapies, including the birth-control pill. The Marker endowment allows the Penn State Eberly College of Science to present annual Marker Lectures in


Incidence, mortality, and disease associations of pyoderma gangrenosum in the United Kingdom: a retrospective cohort study.
Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is an important disease with significant complications. The objectives of this study were to determine incidence and mortality of PG and strength of reported associations. A retrospective cohort study was completed using computerized medical records from the General Practice Research Database, a large representative UK database. Patients with PG and three groups of age-, sex-, and practice-matched controls--general population, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) controls--were included in the study. Incidence and mortality were determined and validation undertaken to inform diagnostic accuracy. In all there were 313 people with the median age of 59 (interquartile range 41-72) years, and of them 185 (59%) were female. The adjusted incidenceUPDATE 1-Co-op Bank's deputy chair opposed Lloyds branch purchase

LONDON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The former deputy chairman of Britain's Co-operative Bank said he stepped down because he opposed its plans to buy hundreds of branches from Lloyds Banking Group.

Rodney Baker-Bates told parliament's Treasury Select Committee that he considered the planned purchase of 630 branches which Lloyds had been ordered to sell by European regulators a "giant step too far", and that his concerns were ignored by other Co-op executives.

"I failed to win the argument. I set out to convince the board that I felt Verde (the name given to the sale) was a giant step too far," he told parliament's Treasury Select Committee on Tuesday.

Baker-Bates retired from the bank's board in January 2012 and no reason was given


for his departure at the time.

The sale collapsed in April last year and the full scale of the Co-op Bank's problems later became apparent when a 1.5 billion pound ($2.5 billion) capital shortfall was exposed and it was forced into a restructuring which saw it fall under the control of bondholders including U.S. hedge funds.

The bank's problems were exacerbated in November when its former chairman, Paul Flowers, became embroiled in a drugs scandal. Baker-Bates and a second deputy chairman, David Davies, had been brought on to the board of Co-op Bank in 2010 to compensate for Flowers, a Methodist minister, having no banking experience.

The committee is examining why Co-op pursued the purchase and whether it was subjected to undue political interference.

Davies also told the committee that he alsoopposed the purchases of branches from Lloyds. He said that he became aware in January 2012 that Lloyds had misgivings about selling the branches to the Co-op and had "ceased engaging on capital and conduct issues".

Baker-Bates told the committee he was overlooked as a candidate for the chairman's role, in favour of Flowers, who he was told at the time had scored highly in psychological tests.


up of patient management all played important parts in containing the epidemic. Over 30 000 people were quarantined and 14 million people were screened at airports, railway stations, and roadside checkpoints. 11 million surgical masks, gowns, and gloves were supplied and 300 tonnes of disinfectant were quickly made available. A 1000-bed hospital was constructed in a week and the government launched a massive media effort to alert its population to the risks of SARS.

China has since moved quickly in its long-term response, learning the lessons of a global epidemic that affected 8000 people and killed 774, 349 of whom were Chinese citizens. The first new case of SARS since the end of the last epidemic in July, 2003, was reported in the southern province of Guangdong in December. Thecelebration continued well after the final out.

11 of 18

Inside the Pirates locker room, players doused each other with champagne and beer after beating the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Wild Card Game

12 of 18

A.J. Burnett sneaked up behind Andrew McCutchen in the middle of an interview and doused him with bubbly.

13 of 18

Burnett messed with McCutchen's goggles too.

14 of 18

Andrew McCutchen

15 of 18

Marlon Byrd got the scoring started with a home run in the first postseason at-bat of his career.

16 of 18

Neil Walker helped his hometown team with an RBI double off the center field wall.

A sellout crowd watched the Pirates beat the Reds to notch the franchise's first playoff victory in 21 years. Many of them got creative with their celebrations.

"I promised my son that after 21


'Yeah, I see.' Now, no more."

Longtime fan John Megats never wants his son to forget this special night at the ballpark: "We take pictures. He'll remember this. He goes to all the games with me all the time."

Throw up that "Z" for the Bucs!

Pirates fans rushed out of PNC Park and into the North Shore streets, cheering and chanting after the playoff victory over the Cincinnati Reds. Their celebration continued well after the final out.

Inside the Pirates locker room, players doused each other with champagne and beer after beating the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Wild Card Game

A.J. Burnett sneaked up behind Andrew McCutchen in the middle of an interview and doused him with bubbly.

Burnett messed with McCutchen's goggles too.

Andrew McCutchen

Marlon Byrd got the scoring started with ahome run in the first postseason at-bat of his career.

Neil Walker helped his hometown team with an RBI double off the center field wall.

A sellout crowd watched the Pirates beat the Reds to notch the franchise's first playoff victory in 21 years. Many of them got creative with their celebrations.

"I promised my son that after 21 years, if the Pirates make the playoffs, I'd dress as a Pirate -- and here we are," Charlie Petredis said.

"I'm only 21, so I don't even remember the last time we were in the playoffs," Brandon Howe said.

No, this isn't Oliver Onion's girlfriend. This fan was so excited about the Pirates being in the wild card game, she went to PNC Park dressed as a pierogie.

Here's another shot of the pierogie costume.


Shannon Perrine was clearly impressed :)

Raise it! The Jolly Roger was waving proudly as fans celebrated well into the night.

Harry Klein was happy to make some modifications to his jersey: "I got this shirt years ago. I got it as a Christmas present, and I've been wearing it to Pirates games for years, and everybody says, 'Yeah, I see.' Now, no more."

Longtime fan John Megats never wants his son to forget this special night at the ballpark: "We take pictures. He'll remember this. He goes to all the games with me all the time."

Throw up that "Z" for the Bucs!

Pirates fans rushed out of PNC Park and into the North Shore streets, cheering and chanting after the playoff victory over the Cincinnati Reds. Their celebration continued well afterthe final out.

Inside the Pirates locker room, players doused each other with champagne and beer after beating the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Wild Card Game

A.J. Burnett sneaked up behind Andrew McCutchen in the middle of an interview and doused him with bubbly.

Burnett messed with McCutchen's goggles too.

Andrew McCutchen

Marlon Byrd got the scoring started with a home run in the first postseason at-bat of his career.

Neil Walker helped his hometown team with an RBI double off the center field wall.


The general manager of Eidos Montreal, Stephane D'Astous, has announced that he resigned from the studio last Friday. In a statement made to Polygon , he criticised the developer's parent company, Square Enix Europe, over a "lack of leadership, lack of courage and the lack of communication".

"Since last year's financial short-coming performance of Square Enix Europe," D'Astous said, "we (HQ London and GM Eidos Montreal) have had growing and divergent opinions on what needed to be done to correct the situation. The lack of leadership, lack of courage and the lack of communication were so evident, that I wasn't able to conduct my job correctly. I realized that our differences were irreconcilable, and that the best decision was unfortunately to part ways."

D'Astous has been with the studio sincea green screen.

A Super Bowl start

Connect2STEM started two years ago as a way for the downtown campus of the UA College of Medicine to capitalize on the crowds that were drawn to Super Bowl activities downtown.

"The feedback was extraordinary," said Allison Otu, senior marketing and communications director for the UA College of Medicine, Phoenix. "We thought we needed the Super Bowl to draw people to our event, but we didn't. People came on their own, and it really catapulted this to a signature event for the entire university.

"Our goal is to get people inspired by science and medicine and a STEM-related career that they've maybe never heard of before."

STEM programs have gained steam over the last few years in Arizona, as the the state's economic leaders look to


from January through March that target youths. Arizona SciTech's mission is to challenge adults and children to think differently about the way science impacts everyday life and how it will in the future.

When it began in 2012, SciTech logged 190,000 visitors at 200 events. Now, more than 400,000 people tare attending 1,200 Arizona events, said Jeremy Babendure, director of the Arizona SciTech Festival and Arizona Technology Council Foundation.

When Babendure began talking to people 10 years ago about STEM education, he was met with vapid stares. "But now a days, the schools are hungry for it, and there really has been a mind shift."

Parents, there's something (maybe a new career) for you

Don't count parents out, even though many of the Arizona SciTech events are focused on kids, he added.to be proven wrong on the 26th vs Peru.

On a side note, Behich has blossomed since moving overseas. Mile and Mooy are playing out of their skins and Sainsbury can now be considered World class.

If you read my last blog and were wondering how the Danes fare in the scarf swapping stakes then I’m able to report that they obliged like all good World Cup supporters should. A Denmark scarf will be making it back to Melbourne.

About the Blogger

Tunna

Adam "Tunna" Tennenini is a Director of Green & Gold Army and leader of the BWB - Melbourne. A veteran of six FIFA World Cups, two Asian Cups, Hundreds of A-League games, and tens of thousands of hours of couch sitting watching Football and his beloved AS Roma. He's the


for getting mad at her for telling and she tells Robbie that I said he was flipping out about it, and he really started flipping about it! I swear I'm never talking to her ever again," Avalon chattered to me.

I tried hard to navigate through this drama, but it was so hard! I mean Faith and Bill are going out, but Ben is cheating on Faith, is what I understand, but Avalon couldn't tell either of them, because she was friends with both, and if she told then Bill would be mad at her, and if she didn't tell then Faith was going to break up with Bill anyways so Faith would never know. Avalon couldn't stand keeping the secret, so she told her best friend, Jessie, whoBloomberg defends Brooklyn College’s right to host BDS event

(JTA) — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the right of the publicly funded Brooklyn College to sponsor an anti-Israel BDS conference.

Bloomberg said Wednesday at City Hall that though he "violently" disagrees with the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, a university should be free to sponsor a forum on any topic, The New York Times reported.

Thursday’s event at the college will feature Omar Barghouti, the co-founder of the BDS, and Judith Butler, an academic who openly speaks sympathetically about Hamas and Hezbollah.

The college’s political science faculty is an official co-sponsor for the event. The primary host is the Brooklyn College Students for Justice in Palestine, a group that says it is aimed at “helping end Israeli apartheid and the illegal


Just a month and a half away from national elections, Pakistan’s powerful military establishment has mounted a fearsome campaign against its critics in the news media, on social networks, and in mainstream political movements.

It is all adding up: journalists abducted or threatened, major news outlets blocked, sympathetic views toward the civilian governing party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, censored or punished.

Interviews with journalists and political analysts in recent days have been dominated by concerns that a military campaign of intimidation and crackdown on dissent is intensifying ahead of the vote — and nearly unanimously, none dared discuss it on the record.

The latest alarm came with the abduction of a newspaper columnist and prominent critic of the military, Gul Bukhari, by armed men late Tuesday in the eastern Pakistani cityof Lahore. Ms. Bukhari was being driven to appear on a late-night talk show on Waqt News when the car was stopped in a military cantonment in the city. She was hauled off and the driver was beaten, the station said.


it was done. She then allegedly agreed to pay him $3,000 for the murder.

Detectives set up a crime scene at the couple’s home and had their video camera’s rolling when detectives told Dippolito as she arrived home that her husband had been murdered.

Dippolito was captured on camera breaking down and crying upon hearing the news. Crocodile tears, prosecutors allege.

Police said she was then taken to the police department where she came face to face with the man who she was told had shot her husband twice in the head. Investigators then revealed the truth – the ‘hit man’ was a cop and her husband was alive and well in the next room.
According to court records, Dippolito had tried two times before to kill her husband. One time, allegedlyExclusive Details

Jeffrey Epstein, the man accused of horrific sex crimes against underage women, has killed himself behind bars.

Prison guards found him dead Saturday morning at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. This appears to have been his second attempt at taking his life. He was found unresponsive in his cell last month, and it appeared to be a suicide attempt.

Photos show Jeffrey Epstein as he's wheeled into Downtown Hospital https://t.co/SICqKfCUNS pic.twitter.com/iPJB6xnPtR — New York Post (@nypost) August 10, 2019 @nypost

A gurney was wheeled out of the facility at 7:30 AM Saturday and taken to a nearby hospital following an apparent 911 call reporting cardiac arrest ... this according to the NY Post.

There was a big development in the scandal Friday when legal docs became public, naming other prominent,


private and public, individuals, including a senator and former cabinet member who were allegedly involved in Epstein's sexual exploits. Those people have denied involvement.

Epstein was awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy and sex trafficking. Some of his alleged victims were as young as 14. The alleged abuse occurred between 2002 and 2005. The site of the alleged abuse was Epstein's swanky Upper East Side townhouse, as well as his Palm Beach waterfront mansion.

His charges held a possible sentence of 45 years behind bars.

Epstein, a Wall Street investor, had rich and powerful friends, including Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, Kevin Spacey and many others.

Epstein took what became a hugely controversial plea deal back in 2008 in Florida. He pled guilty to prostitution-related felonies involving a 14-year-old girl andreceived an 18-month sentence and served 13 months. As you know, former labor Secretary Alexander Acosta resigned last month over the plea. He was U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of Florida at the time and accepted the plea deal.

Epstein was taken into custody July 6 and denied bail.

Epstein was 66.


found consistent with most Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) democratic election commitments; however, they also highlighted significant problems, including widespread allegations of intimidation and pressure, flawed vote counting and tabulation processes, and shortcomings in the complaints and appeals process. These and other problems continued into the parliamentary elections on May 21, which international observers concluded were uneven and incomplete in their adherence to international standards. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces.

The main human rights abuses reported during the year included at least two suspected deaths due to excessive use of force by law enforcement officers, intimidation of suspects, abuse of prisoners, poor conditions in prisons and pretrial detention facilities, police impunity, lack of access for average citizens to defense attorneys, reportsof politically motivated detentions, lack of due process in some cases, and reports of government pressure on the judiciary. Respect for freedom of speech and the press lessened, but began to rebound by year's end. Other problems included reports of corruption among senior officials and trafficking in persons.

Repeated violations of a ceasefire by all sides in the separatist region of South Ossetia, including assassinations, bombings, and then exchanges of shelling, escalated tensions. On August 7, senior Georgian government officials reported that Tbilisi was launching an attack to defend against what it reported was a Russian invasion. Georgia launched a military operation into Tskhinvali, the local capital of Georgia's South Ossetian region, and other areas of the separatist region. The situation deteriorated further after Russia launched a military invasion


using disproportionate force across the country's internationally recognized borders, responding to what Russian officials reported was Georgia's use of heavy force in Tskhinvali and the killings of Russian peacekeepers. Military operations by Georgian and Russian forces reportedly involved the use of indiscriminate force and resulted in civilian casualties, including of a number of journalists. There were allegations that South Ossetian militias engaged in executions, torture, ethnic attacks, and arson; at least 150,000 Georgian citizens were displaced by the fighting. Russian and South Ossetian forces occupied villages outside of the administrative borders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the other separatist region in Georgia. Although by October 10 Russian forces had mostly withdrawn from the regions outside Abkhazia and South Ossetia, they blocked access to both regions for Georgians andinternational organizations, making it dangerous for residents and difficult to monitor the regions' conditions with respect to human rights and compliance with humanitarian law. Under the ceasefire, international observers were to monitor Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and the remaining territory in Georgia. European Union observers began patrols October 1, but had not yet been permitted into South Ossetia or Abkhazia at year's end. OSCE monitors also were denied access to South Ossetia. UN Observation Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) monitors continued to access Abkhazia, although Abkhaz and Russian forces limited their access to the ethnic Georgian areas of Kodori.

The number of dead, wounded, and missing remained uncertain. At year's end, Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Internal Affairs Web sites listed at least 385 soldiers, police, and civilians killed and


2,134 wounded as a result of the August conflict. More than nine military members and six Ministry of Internal Affairs personnel remained missing. Since the ceasefire until year's end, at least 10 Ministry of Internal Affairs members were killed by explosions or in shooting incidents while patrolling areas adjacent to the conflict areas.

Significant human rights achievements during the year included closure of Tbilisi Prison Number 5, known for its substandard conditions, and changes to the law to permit government funding for opposition parties which passed the threshold percentage of 5 percent. By the end of the year, television stations had resumed broadcasting major analytical political talk shows, with opposition and government figures appearing on the same shows and on all channels.

Prior to the August conflict, de facto authoritiesin the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia remained outside the control of the central government. Ceasefires were in effect in both Abkhazia and South Ossetia, although incidents of violence, including deaths, occurred in both areas. Deprivation of life, arbitrary arrest, and detention continued to be serious problems. On August 26, Russia officially recognized the independence of both territories, resulting in Georgia cutting diplomatic ties with Russia; as of December 31, no other country except Nicaragua had recognized the independence of the territories. Except where otherwise noted, figures and other data do not include the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The de facto authorities in Abkhazia continued to restrict the rights of citizens to vote and to participate in the political process through a "citizenship" law


that forced ethnic Georgians to give up their Georgian citizenship in order to vote in local elections. A 2006 property law prevented internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in other parts of the country from reclaiming homes in Abkhazia. Authorities limited instruction in the Georgian language in the predominantly ethnic Georgian Gali district schools in Abkhazia.

After August 26, South Ossetian de facto authorities announced that Georgians would be allowed to return to South Ossetia only if they renounced their Georgian citizenship and took the "citizenship" of the "Republic of South Ossetia"; in practical terms, this meant accepting a Russian passport.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from:

a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life

The government or its agents did not commit any politically motivatedkillings; however, there were reports that government use of indiscriminate military force resulted in civilian deaths in the conflict in South Ossetia (see section 1.g.).

On May 8, patrol police officers Vakhtang Abuashvili and Levan Jinikashvili were pursuing a vehicle that was speeding in Tbilisi. At one point, the driver of the car, Giorgi Gamtsemlidze, stopped the car, got out, and began to run. Abuashvili exited his squad car and began pursuit on foot. Abuashvili thought at the time that Gamtsemlidze was armed and pulled his weapon and fired, hitting Gamtsemlidze in the neck; Gamtsemlidze died from the shot. Later it was determined that Gamtsemlidze was unarmed. Those at the scene stated that Abuashvili did not give a proper verbal warning prior to firing his weapon. The investigation continued


at year's end.

On August 14, a representative from Khelvachauri military base called Roin Shavadze, a member of the armed forces, and told him to report to work. The public defender's reports noted that Shavadze did not report due to illness. On August 16, several men came to the Shavadze home and took him away, but later he returned. On August 17, Shavadze left for work. Later that day his wife received a call saying that Shavadze had never arrived at work and was seen being forced into a car near the market, and she contacted local police. In the evening, she received a call to come to the emergency room, where she found her husband dead. Shavadze's body had numerous injuries and bullet wounds. According to Kobuleti districtpolice inspector Mamuka Tkhiliashvili, Shavadze was found dead on the Kobuleti-Kakuti highway. Adjara prosecutor Vasil Roinishvili told Shavadze's widow that he was shot and killed by police while he was fleeing from the scene of a drug-related crime. When Shavadze's widow stated she would press for more details about her husband's case, the prosecutor reportedly threatened her. At year's end there was no information from the prosecutor's office on the status of the case.

In 2006, the Prosecutor General's Office opened an investigation to determine whether law enforcement agents acted in accordance with the law during the prison riot in Tbilisi Prison Number 5 that year. During the riot, seven prisoners were killed and 22 injured; two Special Operation Task Force officers were wounded. The office did not complete


the investigation during the year nor offer an explanation for the delay.

In 2006, the Prosecutor General's Office investigated five of 12 deaths cited by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) as evidence of excessive force used by police that year. In two of the cases, involving Aleksandre Khubulovi and Zurab Vazagashvili, the office concluded that the actions of the police officers were lawful. The investigations of the remaining three cases were terminated in February 2007, when the Ministry of Internal Affairs concluded that police had only returned fire and therefore had acted within the limits of their authority. Lawyers for Zurab Vazagashvili's family alleged that investigators ignored witness statements, pressed witnesses not to testify, and destroyed evidence. NGOs, on behalf of Vazagashvili, appealed the decision to terminate the investigation. On Julyto two years in prison and fined the same amount. After the Kutaisi Court of Appeal upheld the decision, the counsel for Minashvili and the victim appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which had not reached a final judgment at year's end.

In 2006, the prosecutor appealed the 2004 Tbilisi City Court conviction of Roland Minadze, a police officer who was found guilty of falsification and fabrication of evidence in connection with the beating of Khvicha Kvirikashvili and sentenced to four years in prison. The Tbilisi Appellate Court upheld the judgment. Minadze went into hiding but was arrested in January; he subsequently invoked his right under the criminal procedure code and appealed the in-absentia judgment. The case was pending before the Tbilisi Court of Appeal at year's end.

The


criminal case against Akaki Bartaia, Kakhaber Azariashvili, and Giorgi Kurdadze for alleged fabrication of evidence in the 2004 death of Amiran Robakidze was ongoing at year's end.

During the year four deaths and two injuries from landmines were reported; one of the deaths and two of the injuries were in Abkhazia. In some instances media reports attributed deaths to landmines, although observers believed they were more likely due to unexploded ordnance. Lack of access to South Ossetia made it difficult to confirm press reports of landmine-related deaths and injuries.

b. Disappearance

There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances perpetrated by the government. However, conflict-related disappearances and kidnappings, particularly in areas where Russia was responsible for restoring and maintaining public order as an occupying power beginning in August, were frequent duringfrom his home after questioning him on the whereabouts of a missing person, beat him, and drove him around before testing him for drugs. Ekhvaia was placed in isolation for seven days of court-ordered administrative detention; on February 3, he lost consciousness and was hospitalized. The Zugdidi regional prosecutor's office began an investigation into allegations that police tortured Ekhavia on February 18. On May 7, Ekhvaia told the Zugdidi court that he would be unable to identify his abusers, and the prosecutor's office was unable to identify the officers who committed the offense. The investigation continued at year's end.

On July 20, Rustavi police detained Teimuraz Gorgisheli, who alleged he was beaten during his arrest. Gorgisheli, who admitted to robbery during interrogation, alleged that police put an electric wire


around his legs and threatened to shock him. He asserted that 10 officers witnessed the incident and that he was later transferred to a temporary isolation unit. When a doctor and the ombudsman visited him on July 24, they noted injuries that had not been recorded when Gorgisheli was booked into the police station. On August 8, the Kvemo Kartli prosecutor's office opened a preliminary investigation into the case. Witnesses who worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs were questioned and the room where the interrogation took place searched. No electric wires were found. A medical evaluation of Gorgisheli recorded light injuries on his eyes, chest, stomach, and arms. Gorgisheli was released on bail; law enforcement authorities were subsequently unable to contact him to continue the investigation.

According tothe public defender's office and human rights monitors, abuse in police stations remained low due to ongoing unannounced and random monitoring of stations. According to the public defender's office, instances of abuse at temporary detention facilities were practically eliminated by the end of 2007, but some cases of physical abuse were reported directly to the police stations. On June 26, the public defender reported that incidents of torture had become rare in the country and there had been efforts to improve laws, discuss complaints publicly, and raise awareness. The penalty for torture was changed from five to 15 years in prison. Despite the changes, intimidation of suspects remained a problem.

The public defender's office noted 112 detainees who were admitted at pretrial detention facilities with injuries during the year,


of whom eight claimed to have been injured as a result of physical pressure by police. Three detainees claimed that they had been pressured by police officers.

During the year the Human Rights Protection Unit of the Ministry of Justice took steps to address torture and mistreatment by random monitoring of detainees who were in temporary detention cells. The office reported that 132 complaints of police mistreatment of detainees had been filed during the year. Mistreatment included verbal and physical abuse.

During the year there were 39 investigations opened into claims of torture or degrading treatment against Ministry of Internal Affairs personnel. Eight cases were carried over from 2007. Of these, 23 investigations were terminated for lack of cause, two cases went forward to criminal proceedings, and five persons werelaw enforcement officers, as well as low public awareness of the protections afforded citizens, impeded improvements.

The public defender's office noted that monitoring groups found no instances in which police officers had incorrectly registered a detainee upon arrival at the police station, which previously had been a means for police officers to conceal abuse. All law enforcement officers and representatives of the prosecutor's office, except for officers of the special police unit, were required to wear identity badges during meetings with detainees and prisoners. Special police units were exempt to protect members' anonymity. NGOs believed this prevented accountability for any abuse by the units.

The Prosecutor General's Office continued to investigate former Chief of the State Audit Agency Sulkhan Molashvili's allegation that he was tortured while in pretrial detention in


2004. Molashvili was pardoned and released on January 6.

In 2007, a presidential decree created an Interagency Anti-torture Council to address torture and mistreatment of those in prisons and closed facilities. The council consisted of representatives from the Public Defender's Office, the Prosecutor General's Office, the Ministries of Justice, Internal Affairs, Education, Foreign Affairs, Health, and Defense, the penitentiary department, domestic NGOs, and three nonvoting international observers. On June 12, a multifaceted action plan proposed by the council was approved by presidential decree; the plan addressed torture, mistreatment, and medical care. Although the plan included multiple ministries responsible for law enforcement, detention, prisons, and closed facilities, the plan lacked concrete milestones and provisions for outlying years. The office that was expected to conduct independent monitoring of all facilities constitutedan important piece of the plan. This independent monitoring mechanism was widely assumed to be the Public Defender's Office, but the law had not been amended to reflect this change as of year's end.

Prison and Detention Center Conditions

Conditions in many prison and pretrial detention facilities generally remained poor and did not meet international standards. The public defender's office, the OSCE, the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), and many NGOs, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), continued to report inhumane and life-threatening conditions, including poor facilities, overcrowding, and inadequate health care. Most prison and pretrial detention facilities lacked adequate sanitary facilities.

According to Ministry of Justice data, 94 convicts died in prison during the year, compared with 98 in 2007 and 91 in 2006. The public defender's office reported