MASON, W.Va. — They aren’t unwanted guests when they are invited by the host.
Point Pleasant ended up spoiling a regularly scheduled Tri-Valley Conference Hocking Division golf match Monday night with a 28-stroke victory in a quad match held at Riverside Golf Course in Mason County.
The Black Knights were invited by host Wahama to play along in a league tri-match against both Eastern and South Gallia, but PPHS dominated the event after posting the top five scores en route to winning tally of 163.
Eastern ended up second in the quad match with a 191, while Wahama posted a 225 for third place and SGHS did not have a team score with only two participants. In TVC Hocking play, Eastern finished the night 1-0, the White Falcons were .500 at 1-1 and SGHS ended the evening with an 0-1 mark.
Point Pleasant senior Doug Workman won medalist honors with an even par round of 35, while teammate Colby Martin was the runner-up with a 40. Matt Martin and Bryce Tayengco rounded out the winning quad tally with respective efforts of 43 and 45.
Dylan Tayengco shot a 45 for the Black Knights also Haley Pierson also carded a 53 for the victors.
In the actual TVC Hocking match, John Little came away with medalist honors with a 10-over par round of 45. Teammate Kaleb Honaker and South Gallia’s Curtis Haner shared runner-up honors with identical efforts of 46.
Ryan Harbour and John Harris completed the Eagles’ winning total with respective rounds of 47 and 53. Nick Durst and Garrett Chalfant also fired efforts of 56 and 65.
Anthony Ortiz led Wahama with a 51, followed by Walker Stanhope with a 55 and Gage Smith with a 59. Jace Heckaman rounded out the WHS tally with a 60, while Kaleigh Stewart and Caitlyn Harrison added respective rounds of 67 and 70.
Besides the effort by Haner, SGHS also received a 66 from Bryce Nolan.
Bryan Walters can be reached at 740-446-2342, ext. 2101.
Wahama junior Anthony Ortiz, left, watches a putt attempt on the second hole during Monday night’s TVC Hocking golf match at Riverside Golf Course in Mason, W.Va. http://mydailysentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_8.31-WAH-Ortiz.jpg Wahama junior Anthony Ortiz, left, watches a putt attempt on the second hole during Monday night’s TVC Hocking golf match at Riverside Golf Course in Mason, W.Va. Bryan Walters/OVP Sports Point Pleasant senior Dalton Dangerfield watches a putt attempt on the second hole go in during Monday night’s quad golf match at Riverside Golf Course in Mason, W.Va. http://mydailysentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_8.31-PP-Dangerfield.jpg Point Pleasant senior Dalton Dangerfield watches a putt attempt on the second hole go in during Monday night’s quad golf match at Riverside Golf Course in Mason, W.Va. Bryan Walters/OVP Sports


Sunday, August 28, 2016 at 4:54 pm |
LEBANON, Ohio (AP) - Officials in a southwest Ohio city say a new firetruck the city bought for almost $868,000 doesn’t fit in the station houses.
Lebanon city manager Pat Clements tells WLWT the problem started with a ladder truck that was taken out of service a few weeks ago because of mechanical failure. For public safety reasons, Clements issued an emergency order to buy a new truck.
Clements says officials knew the truck wasn’t going to fit into the stations. The bay doors aren’t tall enough to fit standard height ladder trucks.
But plans had already been underway to modify a station with taller doors and allow for a drive-thru. He says a front bay also will be modified to fit the new truck. He expects the renovations to be finished by January.

Ohio City's New $868k Firetruck Doesn't Fit in Station


A real estate sign advertising a new home for sale is pictured in Vienna, Virginia, outside of Washington, October 20, 2014. REUTERS/Larry Downing/File Photo
NEW YORK U.S. consumer confidence rose to an 11-month high in August, with households more upbeat about the labor market, in a further sign that the economy was regaining steam after faltering in the first half of the year.
While other data on Tuesday showed a moderation in house prices in June, the gains probably remain sufficient to boost household wealth and continue to support consumer spending, as well as make home purchasing affordable for first-time buyers.
"This will likely be interpreted as more evidence that the U.S. economic recovery is back on track following the missteps earlier this year," said Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at TD Securities in New York.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index increased 4.4 points to 101.1 this month, the highest reading since September 2015. Consumers' assessment of both current business and labor market conditions improved significantly in August.
The survey's so-called labor market differential, derived from data about respondents who think jobs are hard to get and those who think jobs are plentiful, was the most favorable since January 2008. This piece of data, which closely correlates to the unemployment rate in the Labor Department's employment report, is pointing to further declines in the jobless rate and labor market slack.
There was a rise in the share of consumers expecting an increase in incomes and fewer anticipated a decline.
The dollar rose to a session high against a basket of currencies after the confidence data, while prices for U.S. government debt fell. U.S. stocks were trading marginally lower.
STREAM OF UPBEAT DATA
The consumer confidence report added to strong data on consumer spending, residential construction, durable goods orders and industrial production that have suggested an acceleration in economic growth after output expanded at 1.0 percent in the first half of the year.
The steady stream of bullish economic reports could give the Federal Reserve ammunition to raise interest rates this year, even as inflation pressures remain benign.
"We advise Fed officials to throw their caution to the wind just like the American consumer is. It is time for Fed officials to get back on track and move rates up at a gradual pace," said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York.
Separately, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller composite home price index of 20 U.S. metropolitan areas rose 5.1 percent in June from a year ago after increasing 5.3 percent in May.
"Overall, residential real estate and housing is in good shape," said David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Prices in the 20 cities fell 0.1 percent in June from May on a seasonally adjusted basis, the survey showed, matching expectations for a decline of 0.1 percent.
On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, prices increased 0.8 percent from May. Home prices in three U.S. cities - Denver, Seattle and Portland, Oregon - showed the highest year-over-year gains, the survey showed.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani and Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

U.S. consumer confidence hits 11-month high; house prices gain


U.S. consumer confidence rose to an 11-month high in August, with households more upbeat about the labor market, in a further sign that the economy was regaining steam after faltering in the first half of the year.


The LCCC Nursing Advisory Board held their annual meeting on campus. Nurse educators, nursing clinical staff and faculty met to collaborate on issues and make recommendations for the nursing program. In attendance, from left, first row, are: Doreen Kolojejchick, Larksville, ACNO, Wilkes-Barre General Hospital; Brenda Rehrig, MSN, RN, Berwick, assistant professor, nursing, LCCC; Dr. Deborah Vilegi Payne, Mountain Top, dean, nursing and health sciences, LCCC; Loree Gerich, Plains, professor, nursing, LCCC; Dr. Annette Calderone, RN, Dallas and Mary Waclawski, Nanticoke, secretary, nursing, LCCC. Second row: Debbie Klaproth, RN, West Pittston, nurse coordinator, New Story; Peggy Sosnak, Wilkes-Barre, professor, nursing, LCCC; Jeanne Kravitz, RN, Kingston, nurse aide instructor, West Side CTC; Donna M. Bertone, RN, MSN, Sunbury, assistant professor, nursing, LCCC and Susan Chandler, Wilkes-Barre, RN recruiter, Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. Third row: Debra Sabalesky, RN, Wilkes-Barre, clinical educator, Wilkes-Barre General Hospital; Sandy Hollock, Wapwallopen, MSN, RN, associate professor, nursing, LCCC; Tim Campbell, Sunbury, assistant professor and curriculum coordinator, nursing, LCCC; Jenifer Olszyk, RN, Nanticoke, Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center and adjunct faculty, LCCC; Mary Hennelly Burgin, chief nursing officer, Geisinger and Gina Harrison, RN, Plymouth, West Side CTC.
http://timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_TTL082716lccc.nursing.board_.jpg


Accused teen 'doctor' arrested on new theft charges
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A Florida teenager accused of pretending to be a doctor and stealing money from an 86-year-old patient is facing new charges of grand theft and fraud.
News outlets report that 19-year-old Malachi Love-Robinson, who had been out on bond, was back in the Palm Beach County Jail on Monday. Love-Robinson, who had been free on $18,000 bail, was released after another $8,000 in bail was posted.
Court records show Love-Robinson is now also accused of writing a bad check for $1,500 as a down payment for a car. Details on the new grand theft charge weren't available.
Love-Robinson was arrested in February after deputies say he was practicing medicine without a license and stole more than $35,000 from a patient.


WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A Florida teenager accused of pretending to be a doctor and stealing money from an 86-year-old patient is facing new charges of ...


Accused teen 'doctor' arrested on new theft charges


The Week in Review is a quick roundup of links to stories that we wrote and you clicked on the week of August 26, 2016.
Caption Freshman move into McDaniel College With the help of upperclassmen and even McDaniel College President Roger Casey, freshmen move into their dorms. (Emily Chappell / Carroll County Times) With the help of upperclassmen and even McDaniel College President Roger Casey, freshmen move into their dorms. (Emily Chappell / Carroll County Times) Caption Freshman move into McDaniel College With the help of upperclassmen and even McDaniel College President Roger Casey, freshmen move into their dorms. (Emily Chappell / Carroll County Times) With the help of upperclassmen and even McDaniel College President Roger Casey, freshmen move into their dorms. (Emily Chappell / Carroll County Times) Caption McDaniel students take part in new student traditions New McDaniel students take part in a walk through campus, candle ceremony and ceremonial bell ringing. (Emily Chappell / Carroll County Times) New McDaniel students take part in a walk through campus, candle ceremony and ceremonial bell ringing. (Emily Chappell / Carroll County Times) Caption Union Bridge ranch hosts penultimate rodeo of season The Battle of the Beast is J Bar W Ranch's annual summer rodeo series, currently in its 20th year at the ranch in Union Bridge. (Jacob deNobel/Carroll County Times) The Battle of the Beast is J Bar W Ranch's annual summer rodeo series, currently in its 20th year at the ranch in Union Bridge. (Jacob deNobel/Carroll County Times) Caption Westminster Recreation and Parks summer camp explores science and stories Zach Thomas, of the Sciencetellers, performed Tuesday in Westminster City Park. Zach Thomas, of the Sciencetellers, performed Tuesday in Westminster City Park. Caption Making a Maryland Rye Lager Johansson's head brewer Jay Lampart and Union Mills Homestead miller Ivan Lufriu talk about what goes into making a Carroll County rye lager that will be featured during Carroll County Beer Week. (Jon Kelvey and Dylan Slagle / Carroll County Times) Johansson's head brewer Jay Lampart and Union Mills Homestead miller Ivan Lufriu talk about what goes into making a Carroll County rye lager that will be featured during Carroll County Beer Week. (Jon Kelvey and Dylan Slagle / Carroll County Times)

The week in review: News around Carroll from the week of August 26


Needle of suspicion points to the Taliban
Two roadside bombs have killed at least nine Afghan civilians, officials said on Monday.
Six people were killed in a blast in the southern Helmand province, which has seen heavy fighting between Taliban insurgents and security forces in recent weeks, according to Omer Zwak, the spokesman for the Provincial Governor. He said five others — three women and two children — were wounded in the attack, and that all the victims were from the same family.
Another roadside bomb in the central Ghor province killed two women and a man. The blast late Sunday wounded eight other people, mostly women and children, said Abdul Hai Khatebi, spokesman for the provincial governor.
Looks like Taliban act
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Taliban insurgents frequently target security forces with homemade bombs placed along roads and footpaths.

Roadside bombs kill 9 civilians in Afghanistan


Two roadside bombs have killed at least nine Afghan civilians, officials said on Monday. Six people were killed in a blast in the southern Helmand province, which has seen heavy fighting between Tali


2:12 Watch baby polar bear Nora grow up fast Pause
0:22 NASA animates the powerful winter storm headed for the Mid-Atlantic
2:32 Vincent the cat gets very rare prosthetic legs
1:03 Video: How to wash your hands
1:08 'Lucky' Turkey to Receive Presidential Pardon
2:59 The Buzz with Buzz: the Koch brothers, money and politics
1:16 Talking with Pasco High School football player Ryan Calveard
2:25 Take a leap with Army Golden Knights parachuting team
2:08 Fans speak out on Colin Kaepernick's refusal to stand during the national anthem
2:07 Astronomers discover new earth-sized planet

Former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner leaves jail Friday after serving half his sexual assault sentence


On Friday, Brock Turner, the Stanford swimmer who was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious classmate when he was 20 years old, is scheduled to be released from jail.


2:12 Watch baby polar bear Nora grow up fast Pause
0:22 NASA animates the powerful winter storm headed for the Mid-Atlantic
2:32 Vincent the cat gets very rare prosthetic legs
1:03 Video: How to wash your hands
1:08 'Lucky' Turkey to Receive Presidential Pardon
2:59 The Buzz with Buzz: the Koch brothers, money and politics
4:50 Seahawks CB Richard Sherman on Colin Kaepernick's stance, society
1:16 Talking with Pasco High School football player Ryan Calveard
2:25 Take a leap with Army Golden Knights parachuting team
2:08 Fans speak out on Colin Kaepernick's refusal to stand during the national anthem

Taylor Swift dismissed for jury duty in rape case


A radio host sued Taylor Swift last year, saying he lost his job after she accused him of groping her backstage. Swift has counter-sued and told a judge Monday that she felt it would conflict with her being on a jury.


Bon Jovi, Coldplay and U2 tribute bands plus top local acts will play Doncaster Fake Festival at Keepmoat Stadium on Saturday, August 6.
A rocking line-up of world-class look and sound-a-likes will be headlined by Bon Jovi Experience, Coldplace and New2.
South Yorkshire's latest young indie blues band Sundance, who play a mix of their own material and crowd pleasing covers by the likes of Oasis and Arctic Monkeys, are one of five local support acts along with Nick Aslam's Rebel City Revival.
Promising to be the hottest ticket in town, festival-goers will have the opportunity to enjoy a full day and night of live music at the stadium inside a huge big top style marquee - which means it goes ahead whatever the weather,
There will be a variety of food and entertainment stalls in true festival style. Parking is available, but there is no camping at the festival site.
Fake Festival, which is celebrating its tenth year, features professional ‘touring-grade’ tribute bands that look, sound and move like the real rock-stars.
Home grown support bands include Barnsley four-piece Sundance, who recently took Tramlines by storm after featuring on BBC Music Day. They are Harry Walker (vocals/lead guitar), Kyle Grattan (drums), Owen Keane (rhythm guitar) and Jamie Darbyshire (bass).
The band's riffs and swagger belie their young years and they harbour a not-so-quiet confidence that's sure to take them places. Check out and like their Facebook page facebook.com/sundancemusicuk, follow on Twitter @sundancemusicuk and visit their YouTube page - CLICK HERE
Nick Aslam's Rebel City Revival, whose inspirations range from Kiss, David Bowie and Oasis, will perform original music including their debut single Night Train - see www.nickaslam.com, his Facebook page www.facebook.com/NickAslam or follow on Twitter @NikAslam
Doncaster Fake Festival provides a friendly environment that caters for all ages, says Mark Hughesman, of Doncaster Rovers FC, who are hosting the event.
He said: “This year celebrates 10 years of Fake Festivals. It promises to be a fabulous day of live music and we can’t wait to start the party.
"Bring your friends and family, young and old, and catch up with those you haven’t seen in a while. It’s going to be a fun-packed day with the music and bar in the marquee and the entertainments arena just outside with a variety of food stands and games.”
Coldplace
Jez Lee, owner of Fake Festivals, said: “It’s hard to believe that Fake Festivals started out in a small Lincolnshire village 10 years ago and now tours around the UK.
"I can clearly remember the day, and never imagined it would take off like it has. I’m really proud to be able to say we are the UK’s only touring tribute festival, and that we have kept it community-led to, and not sold out to commercial pressures that a lot of festivals experience nowadays.”
DONCASTER FAKE FESTIVAL SCHEDULE: Times are an estimate only.
12.30pm Doors open
New2
1.15pm Local support bands
5.45pm New2
7,45pm Coldplace
9.45pm Bon Jovi Experience
BUY TICKETS: Advanced tickets are adult (18-plus) £21, young people (10 to 17 years) £11, family (two adults/two young people} £53, children uo to nine years, free. Buy online at www.fakefestivals.co.uk or from selected retailers listed on the website. You can register, after your purchase, for a discounted ticket to The Big Fake Festival in September.
FREE DRINK: Enter the festival before 2pm on the day and bosses will give you a drink token that can be exchanged for one bar drink or two soft drinks.
Sundance - one of five home-grown bands supporting tribute acts at Doncaster Fake Festival.
FACEBOOK: For Doncaster Fake Festival updates, to invite friends, family and tell everyone you're going, follow and visit the official Facebook page - CLICK HERE.
TWITTER: Follow the dedicated Doncaster Fake Festival Twitter account @fakedoncaster
THE BIG FAKE FESTIVAL: Each Doncaster ticket can be used to redeem a 50 per cent discount on a ticket for The Big Fake Festival 2016, September 2 to 4, 2016 - at Thoresby Park, Nottinghamshire. The three-day, end-of-season festival features all 20 tribute bands that perform on the Fake Festivals tour.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Sundance's latest demo Haze is free to stream or download - CLICK HERE
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Bon Jovi, Coldplay and U2 tribute bands plus top local acts will play Doncaster Fake Festival at Keepmoat Stadium on Saturday, August 6.


PREVIEW: Bon Jovi, Coldplay and U2 tributes at Doncaster Fake Festival


New Story
Turkish forces will remain in Syria for as long as it takes to cleanse the border of Islamic State and other militants, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Friday, after a truck bombing by Kurdish insurgents killed at least 11 police officers.
The suicide bombing at a police headquarters in a province bordering Syria and Iraq came two days after Turkey launched its first major military incursion into Syria, an operation meant to drive Islamic State out of the border area and stop Kurdish militias from seizing ground in their wake.
Turkey, a NATO member and part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, has seen a series of deadly bombings this year blamed on the radical Islamists. But it also fears Kurdish militias in Syria will seize a swathe of border territory and embolden Kurdish insurgents on its own soil.
President Tayyip Erdogan said the bombing in Sirnak province would increase Turkey’s determination as it fights terrorist groups at home and abroad. Yildirim said there was no doubt the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy, was responsible.
“From the beginning we have been defending Turkey’s territorial integrity. We are also defending Syria’s territorial integrity. The aim of these terrorist organization is … to form a state in these countries… They will never succeed,” Yildirim told a news conference in Istanbul.
“We will continue our operations (in Syria) until we fully guarantee security of life and property for our citizens and the security of our border. We will continue until Daesh (Islamic State) and other terrorist elements are taken out.”
After he spoke, the PKK claimed responsibility for the attack on the police headquarters, according to a website affiliated to the group.
Syria has condemned the Turkish operation, codenamed “Euphrates Shield”, as a breach of its sovereignty. Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes launched the incursion in support of Syrian rebels, mostly Turkmen and Arab, who quickly took the border town of Jarablus from Islamic State on Wednesday.
An alliance of 23 Kurdish parties in Syria also condemned the Turkish operation on Friday. In a joint statement, they called for a complete withdrawal of all Turkish forces from the country and accused Ankara of trying to occupy Syria under the pretence of fighting terrorism.
Turkish military vehicles shuttled in and out of Syria on Friday, Reuters witnesses said, including a construction machine that helped to flatten the route for a tank. Controlled explosions rang out around the Karkamis border crossing as Turkish security forces removed mines and booby traps left by Islamic State.
Ismail Metin, the commander of Turkey’s second army responsible for the borders with Syria and Iraq, visited Jarablus on Friday, local sources said.
WEEKS OR MONTHS
Turkey has shown little sign so far of a quick withdrawal. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who met Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday, said Turkey was ready to stay in Syria for as long as it takes to destroy Islamic State.
A Syrian rebel commander in charge of one of the main groups involved in the Turkish-backed operation told Reuters the forces now aimed to move westward after taking Jarablus, an advance that could take weeks or months to complete.
Colonel Ahmad Osman, speaking to Reuters from Jarablus, said the priority was now to advance about 70 km (40 miles) west to Marea, a town where rebels have long had a frontline with Islamic State.
Turkey has long lobbied for a “buffer zone” in northern Syria controlled by what it regards as moderate rebels, potentially in border territory currently held by Islamic State and stretching about 80 km (50 miles) west of Jarablus.
Sweeping out Islamic State would deprive the group of a smuggling route taken by foreign fighters joining its ranks, and could also create a safe area for displaced civilians and help to stem the flow of refugees, Turkish officials have said.
They argue the proposal has become all the more urgent since Ankara began implementing a deal with the European Union to stop illegal migration earlier this year.
“The situation in Syria and Iraq is getting worse,” Yildirim told a joint news conference with the visiting prime minister of Bulgaria, which has also been struggling to slow migrant flows.
“We’re cleansing Islamic State and other terrorist elements (in northern Syria) so people living there are not forced to leave their homes. But the problem has to be comprehensively handled at the EU level. Solutions are needed quickly.”
Syria’s five-year conflict has killed at least a quarter of a million people and forced almost five million to flee the country, many of them to Turkey. The United Nations estimates that 6.5 million are internally displaced.
An agreement was reached on Thursday to evacuate around 4,000 civilians and 700 fighters from the besieged Damascus suburb of Daraya, ending one of the conflict’s longest stand-offs. Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) vehicles entered the area to prepare for the evacuation on Friday.
Syria’s army has surrounded rebels and civilians and blocked food deliveries in Daraya since 2012, regularly bombing the area, one of the first places to see peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad.
OVERLAPPING INTERESTS
The suicide bombing in Turkey’s southeastern town of Cizre is another reminder of the risks Ankara faces as its gets drawn ever more deeply into Syria’s conflict, with the threat of reprisals from both Islamic State and Kurdish insurgents.
The provincial governor’s office said 11 police officers were killed and 78 people, three of them civilians, wounded.
Large plumes of smoke billowed from the blast site.
Photographs showed a large three-storey building reduced to its concrete shell, with no walls or windows, surrounded by rubble.
Turkey views the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, as closely linked to the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. Washington, however, has backed the YPG in a separate campaign against Islamic State in northern Syria.
Turkish troops fired on YPG fighters south of Jarablus on Thursday, highlighting the cross-cutting of interests of two pivotal NATO allies.
The Cizre attack came as Turkey has been weakened by a failed July 15 military coup. More than 1,700 military personnel have been removed for their alleged role in the putsch, including some 40 percent of admirals and generals, raising concern about the NATO member’s ability to protect itself.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Twitter that Islamic State, the PKK and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia were all attacking to take advantage of the failed coup.
Last week Erdogan accused followers of a U.S.-based Islamic cleric he blames for the coup attempt of being complicit in attacks by Kurdish militants.
The cleric, Fethullah Gulen, has denied any involvement in and denounced the coup plot.

Turkey signals no quick end to Syria incursion as truck bomb kills 11


Turkish forces will remain in Syria for as long as it takes to cleanse the border of Islamic State and other militants, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on


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The Latest on bus-fire truck wreck near New Orleans (all times local):


By Sarah El Deeb, The Associated Press
BEIRUT — Rebels backed by Turkey made major gains Sunday in northern Syria, expelling Kurdish-led forces from towns and villages as part of a determined campaign by Ankara to push the militants east of the Euphrates River.
At least 35 civilians were killed, according to activists. The dramatic escalation of Turkey’s involvement in the Syrian civil war last week aimed to help the Syrian rebels drive the Islamic State group out of the border town of Jarablus. But it also is aimed at U.S.-allied Kurdish forces that have gained control in recent months of most of the territory along the Turkey-Syria border.
The fighting pits Turkey, a NATO ally, against a U.S.-backed proxy that is the most effective ground force battling IS militants in Syria in the 5-year-old civil war. It leaves Washington in the tough spot of having to choose between its two of its allied forces, and is likely to divert resources from the fight against IS.
A Turkish soldier was killed by a Kurdish rocket attack late Saturday, the first such fatality in Turkey’s ground offensive dubbed Euphrates Shield that began Aug. 24.
Speaking at a rally in the border town of Gaziantep, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his military is committed to fighting terrorism in Syria and Iraq.
Turkey, he said, also is determined to “uproot” the Syrian Kurdish group, calling it a terrorist organization. But he didn’t specify a goal for the fight against the Kurdish forces.
Turkey is part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the militants of the Islamic State group, but the airstrikes that began Saturday marked the first time it has targeted Kurdish-led forces in Syria.
“We will support all work to clean Syria and Iraq of Daesh,” Erdogan told the rally, using an Arabic acronym for the IS group. “That’s why we are in Jarablus, that’s why we are in Bashiqa (in Iraq). If necessary, we will not shy away from taking responsibility in the same way in other areas.”
Turkey has troops stationed in Bashiqa in northern Iraq, and it was not clear if his reference to Jarablus means he intends to base his troops there.
Erdogan then turned his focus to the main Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party, known as the PYD.
“We are as determined about the PYD, the separatist terror organization’s Syrian wing,” he said. Ankara views the PYD and the militia affiliated with it, which forms the backbone of the U.S.-backed Syria Democratic Forces, or SDF, as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency that is raging in southeastern Turkey.
“We will continue until we uproot this terror organization,” Erdogan told the rally.
A spokesman for a Syrian rebel group said the Turkish-backed offensive will continue south of Jarablus to clear IS and Kurdish forces from northeastern Aleppo. Turkish leaders have vowed to drive both IS and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, away from the border.
Turkey’s military said Sunday its warplanes killed 25 Kurdish “terrorists” and destroyed five buildings used by the fighters in response to attacks on advancing Turkish-backed rebels in the Jarablus area.
Various factions of the Turkey-backed Syrian rebels said they had seized several villages and towns from Kurdish-led forces south of Jarablus, including Amarneh, where fighting was fiercest in recent days.
The Kurdish-led forces “must pull back to the east of the Euphrates. We will fight all terrorist groups, including (the Kurdish-led fighters) … in all of northeast Aleppo,” said Capt. Abdel-Salam Abdel-Razzak, a spokesman for the Nour el-Din el-Zinki group.
Turkish-backed fighters will move south of Jarablus, toward Manbij and beyond, he said.
Earlier this month, the Kurdish-led SDF crossed the Euphrates and drove IS militants out of Manbij, a key supply hub south of Jarablus, after a 10-week campaign. Both Turkey and the United States have ordered the YPG militia to withdraw to the east bank of the river. YPG leaders say they have, but their units advise the Syrian Democratic Forces, and it is not clear if any remain west of the Euphrates.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the bombing killed at least 20 civilians and four Kurdish-led fighters in Beir Koussa, a village about nine miles (15 kilometers) south of Jarablus, and left another 15 dead in a village to the west.
SDF spokesman Shervan Darwish said the airstrikes and shelling began overnight and continued Sunday along the front line, killing many civilians in Beir Koussa and nearby areas. He said the bombing also targeted the village of Amarneh. He said 50 Turkish tanks were taking part.
The Kurdish Democratic Union Party condemned the attack on the village. It also condemned what it said was international silence regarding “Turkish occupation” of Syria.
The Syrian state news agency SANA reported that 20 civilians were killed and 50 wounded by Turkish artillery and airstrikes, calling it “encroachment” on Syrian sovereignty under the pretext of fighting IS. Turkey is a leading backer of the rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad, but both Ankara and Damascus share concerns over Kurdish ambitions for autonomy.
Syrian warplanes renewed their bombing of the besieged al-Waer neighborhood in the central city of Homs. An activist in the neighborhood of Bebars al-Talawy said there were at least a dozen airstrikes, killing one person.
The neighborhood came under attack Saturday, including incendiary bombs that killed two children, a brother and sister. Images of doctors treating other children for their burns were posted on social media sites. The district’s hospital was bombed and taken out of operation earlier this month.
Human Rights Watch said it had documented the use of incendiary weapons in at least 18 different instances between June and August in rebel-held areas. The group blamed Russian and Syrian joint military operations room for the use of such weapons in violation of international law.
The al-Waer neighborhood of nearly 75,000 people has been under siege since March and has been one area that U.N agencies have reported difficult to access. An aid convoy reached the area Aug. 25.
According to residents, the escalation followed recent threats by soldiers at checkpoints that the Syrian government’s patience was running out with the district, the last rebel holdout in the city.
It also follows the evacuation of Daraya, a Damascus suburb, as part of a deal struck between the government and rebels after a bombing campaign and siege.
The Homs Local Council appealed to the U.N. envoy to Syria to negotiate a truce for al-Waer, condemning the government’s “siege policy” that aims to force residents and fighters to surrender.
___
Associated Press writer Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul and Mucahit Ceylan in Karkamis, Turkey, contributed to this report.

Turkey-backed rebels expel Kurdish forces from Syrian towns


US STOCKS-Wall St weighed by Apple but banks shine on
By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Apple Inc was the largest weight on U.S. stock indexes on Tuesday after antitrust regulators ordered the company to pay about $14.5 billion in back taxes to the Irish government, but gains in bank shares partly offset the decline.
The S&P 500 fell for the fourth time in five sessions, but was still within 1 percent of its record closing high set earlier this month. Cyclical sectors, which are expected to perform better in an expanding economy, have taken the lead in the past few weeks as economic data paints a rosier picture of the U.S. economy.
U.S. consumer confidence rose to an 11-month high in August, with households more upbeat about the labor market. Payrolls data on Friday could strengthen the case for higher U.S. interest rates, as has been hinted over the past week by Federal Reserve officials.
Bets on a bottoming out of bond yields have given support to bank stocks of late. The S&P 500 financial sector is up 1.8 percent so far this week, compared with a 0.3 percent advance for the S&P.
"The economy is doing well, the labor market is still doing well, there's reasons to think (interest) rates have bottomed and that is good for financials," said Paul Zemsky, chief investment officer, Multi-Asset Strategies and Solutions at Voya Investment Management in New York.
S&P 500 financials closed at their highest level since early December, right before the Fed raised interest rates for the first time in nearly 10 years.
Cyclical sectors should continue to lead the stock market despite Tuesday's declines in all sectors outside financials, Zemsky said.
"A day is not a way to look at the trend," he said.
But Apple weighed on major indexes after the European Commision ordered the iPhone maker to pay Ireland up to 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in unpaid taxes, as it ruled the firm had received illegal state aid.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 48.69 points, or 0.26 percent, to 18,454.3, the S&P 500 lost 4.26 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,176.12 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 9.34 points, or 0.18 percent, to 5,222.99.
Hershey dropped 11.2 percent to $99.19 after Mondelez abandoned its pursuit to buy the chocolate maker on Monday. Mondelez rose 3.7 percent.
United Continental Holdings rallied 8.6 percent to close at $50.99 after it hired the No. 2 executive at rival American Airlines as United's board and chief executive officer seek to shape a new strategy and boost the airline's stock price. American shares rose 2.4 percent to $37.05.
Abercrombie & Fitch plunged 20.3 percent to $18.29 after the teen apparel retailer posted its 14th straight quarter of declining sales and said it no longer expects comparable sales to improve this year.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.04-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.13-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 26 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 121 new highs and 20 new lows.
About 5.66 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, compared with the 5.98 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions. The 20-day average dipped below 6 billion shares for the first time since June 2015.


By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Apple Inc was the largest weight on U.S. stock indexes on Tuesday after antitrust regulators ordered the compa...


US STOCKS-Wall St weighed by Apple but banks shine on


POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. — Quilters are once again being asked to pull out their favorite quilts and get them ready to be shown in the annual Harvest of Quilts sponsored by Mason County’s Community Educational Outreach Service.
The quilt show will take place Oct. 1-2 in the back of the Country Kitchen of the West Virginia State Farm Museum, with quilt registration beginning 3 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30. There is no fee to enter one or more quilts. Viewing of the quilts is open and free to the public.
Members of the Mason County CEOS Quilt Show Committee recently met at the West Virginia University Extension Office in Point Pleasant to create the prize ribbons which will be awarded to the following quilts: Large, machine-quilted; Large, hand-quilted; Small, machine-quilted; Small, hand-quilted, and a 5th category, Quilt blocks. Quilt blocks can be of any size, using any fabric, but must feature West Virginia as the theme. Large and small quilts can be of any pattern.
Winners of these five categories are arrived at via ballots submitted by visitors to the quilt show. Voting for the quilts and quilt blocks will end at 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon, Oct. 2. While waiting for the ballots to be counted, participating quilters are invited to enjoy refreshments in the Country Kitchen. No food or drink is permitted in the quilt room at any time. Winning entries will be announced around 4 p.m. Cash prizes consist of $20, $15, $10, or $5, depending on category and placement.
The Harvest of Quilts is an example of West Virginia’s Appalachian heritage at its finest. It is but one item that is featured during the farm museum’s Country Fall Festival. Other events include an Antique Gas Engine Show, the Gravely Tractor Swap Meet, an Antique Tractor Pull, an Antique Bottle Show, church on Sunday, and a Sunday Afternoon Gospel Sing. Sorghum, apple butter, cider and soup will also be made and sold on site during the Festival. The Museum’s Old Village includes a country store, a doctor’s office, an old time church, a one-room school house, and much, much more.
The farm museum is located at 1458 Fairground Road, north of Point Pleasant, W.Va. Quilts will be on display Oct. 1, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Oct. 2, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Quilt Show Committee members include Clinedda Austin, Mary Sue Kincaid, Yvonne Fetty, Catherine Yauger, Anne Byus, April Pyles, Stella Morgan, and Carolyn Litchfield.
For more information, please contact Catherine Yauger, Committee Chair, at 304-675-5049.
This year’s Harvest of Quilts show is Oct. 1-2, with quilt registration beginning 3 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 30. The show is held in conjunction with the Country Fall Festival at the West Virginia State Farm Museum. Pictured is a scene from last year’s event. http://mydailysentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_10.6-PPR-Inside-12.jpg This year’s Harvest of Quilts show is Oct. 1-2, with quilt registration beginning 3 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 30. The show is held in conjunction with the Country Fall Festival at the West Virginia State Farm Museum. Pictured is a scene from last year’s event. File photo Pictured are members of the Harvest of Quilts Committee making prize ribbons for the annual show coming up this October at the West Virginia State Farm Museum. Quilt Show Committee members include Clinedda Austin, Mary Sue Kincaid, Yvonne Fetty, Catherine Yauger, Anne Byus, April Pyles, Stella Morgan, and Carolyn Litchfield. http://mydailysentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_8.30-PPR-Quilt-Show-Committee-Mtg.jpg Pictured are members of the Harvest of Quilts Committee making prize ribbons for the annual show coming up this October at the West Virginia State Farm Museum. Quilt Show Committee members include Clinedda Austin, Mary Sue Kincaid, Yvonne Fetty, Catherine Yauger, Anne Byus, April Pyles, Stella Morgan, and Carolyn Litchfield. Courtesy
CEOS clubs prepare for show Oct. 1-2
By April Pyles Special to OVP
April Pyles is a freelance writer and member of WoHeLo CEOS Club.
April Pyles is a freelance writer and member of WoHeLo CEOS Club.

Harvest of Quilts returns with fall fest


Phyllis Carlyle has been hired as new chief administrative officer of the Regional District of Nanaimo.
Carlyle has 26 years of experience in municipal governance, most recently as general manager of law and community safety for the City of Richmond, the regional district said in a press release. She was chosen by the regional district board after a Canada-wide search.
Carlyle has both a law degree from the University of B.C, as well as a master of science degree from the University of Calgary.
Carlyle will replace former CAO Paul Thorkelsson, who assumed the same role for the District of Saanich.
Dennis Trudeau, interim CAO, will resume his position as general manager of transportation, solid waste and emergency planning services, the regional district said.
Carlyle will assume her new post on Oct. 11.
— Nanaimo News Bulletin

Regional District of Nanaimo hires Phyllis Carlyle as CAO


Phyllis Carlyle has been hired as new chief administrative officer of the Regional District of Nanaimo.


He made it official via Instagram on Monday that he is set to return to season 23 of Dancing With The Stars.
And Derek Hough leaped into preparation the same day as he was spotted shirtless in Los Angeles leading a dance rehearsal with his fellow DWTS pro cast mates.
Accompanied by alumni Val Chmerkovskiy, the 31-year-old pro showed off his impressive muscles while busting poses outside on a green lawn.
It was also revealed on Monday by Entertainment Tonight that pro Cheryl Burke would be back as well and celebrity cast mates will include Jana Kramer, Marilu Henner, former Texas Governor Rick Perry and Vanilla Ice.
Scroll down for video
It's official! Derek Hough was spotted shirtless on Monday rehearsing with his fellow dancers after announcing he is back on season 23 of ABC's Dancing With The Stars
Spotted with nine other dancers, including Sharna Burgess and Keo Motespe who assisted in leading, Derek was preparing the team for the show's upcoming promo.
This is his first appearance since winning the Mirrorball trophy with Bindi Irwin on season 21, and according to his Instagram, it's a 'challenge' he's looking forward to.
Taking to social media, Derek wrote that the delay in Broadway's Singin' in the Rain freed up his fall schedule, allowing him to reoccur on the reality series.
Taking charge: The 31-year-old pro lead the dancers in a routine for the show's upcoming promo video along with DTWS alum Val Chmerkovskiy
Look at 'em go! Returning cast members Sharna Burgess and Keo Motespe were also among the dancers leading the routine
Muscle man: The 30-year-old pro showed off his impressive moves under the hot summer sun wearing only pants and sneakers
'It's always great to be back with my DWTS family, coaching, creating and making lasting memories,' said the brother of Julianne Hough. 'I'm grateful to everyone at Hairspray LIVE for enabling me to do double duty on two major productions at the same time this fall. It's going to be a challenge that I'm looking forward to.'
He added: 'This next year is gonna be JAM packed with exciting projects and I can't wait to share it ALL with you. Are you guys ready to MOVE?'
His post was accompanied by a professionally-shot video of Derek's silhouette walking through the beach and dancing during sunset as Chainsmokers' Don't Let Me Down played on top of the video.
Although Singin' In The Rain will happen later than anticipated, the six-time winning champion will make his appearance as Corny Collins in NBC's Hairspray Live! on December 7th.
'Everything happens for a reason:' Derek took to Instagram on Monday officially announcing his return, which was possible because of Broadway's Singin' In The Rain production delays
Reflective: The six-time winning champion wrote: 'This next year is gonna be JAM packed with exciting projects and I can't wait to share it ALL with you. Are you guys ready to MOVE?'
Busy boy: Sister of Julianne Hough is also set to star in NBC's Hairspray Live! on December 7th as TV host Corny Collins
While ABC will announce the official roster during Good Morning America on Aug 30th, Us Weekly confirmed that Olympic gold medalist Laurie Hernandez was snagged as this season's competitor along with a slew of other stars.
Sources have also reported two-time winning Julianne Hough will return as a judge alongside Olympic medalist and disgraced swimmer Ryan Lochte, Maureen McCormick, talk show host Amber Rose, Jake T. Austin, Terra Jole, Beverley Mitchell, Kenneth Edmonds and Emma Samms.
Kramer, Henner, Perry and Vanilla Ice are the latest names to be announced. ET also reported that retired football star Calvin Johnson and Indy race car driver James Hinchcliffe would be on board as well.
Returning cast, who will appear on ABC's September 12th premiere includes Maksim and Val Chmerkovskiy, Witney Carson, Sharna Burgess, Artem Chigvintsev, Lindsay Arnold, Sasha Farber, Allison Holker and Gleb Savchenko.

Derek Hough dances shirtless for DWTS promo rehearsal after officially announcing his season 23 return


Spotted with nine other dancers, including Sharna Burgess and Keo Motespe who assisted in leading, Derek was preparing the team for the show's upcoming promo.


Emergency services have attended a death at an address in West Sussex that was described as ‘sudden’ by police.
Sussex Police said officers were sent to a property at Grove Road, Broadwater, in Worthing, at around 12.30pm today following reports of a death.
The police have issued a statement which said: “Police are currently in attendance at an address in Grove Road, Broadwater following the report of a sudden death.
“The circumstances are currently unexplained and have required the attendance of specialist officers.
“Police believe the circumstances to relate to one address, with no other residents or members of the public in danger.”
A spokesperson added that the coroner’s office had been informed and that two police vehicles were currently at the scene.
They added that ambulances and the fire service had also been in attendance.
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COUNTY NEWS: ‘Sudden death’ reported in suburban road


Emergency services have attended a death at an address in West Sussex that was described as ‘sudden’ by police.


Liverpool born country sensation Nathan Carter is heading for the Victoria Theatre on Saturday, September 10 and we have got two pairs of tickets for his fabulous show to win.
Following the release of his 2012 album Wagon Wheel, which went to three in the Irish Album Chart, he now celebrates his latest album Stayin Up All Night, which went straight to the top in the same chart, beating artists like Beyoncé and Drake.
Along with his six man band, the country superstar kicked off his tour at the Guildford G Live back on May 23 and six days later played London Palladium.
To stand a chance of winning one of two pairs of tickets for this gig all you need to do is answer the following question.
Where is country star Nathan Carter from?
(a) Merseyside
(b) Greater Manchester
(c) Cheshire
Once you have your answer send it on an email marked Nathan Carter competition to tim.worsnop@halifaxcourier.co.uk
The closing date of the competition is Friday, August 26. Winners will be informed immediately the draw has been made. Usual Johnston Press rules apply.
For more information on Nathan Carter, visit www.nathancartermusic.com
Get ticket for the gig from the Victoria Theatre box office on 01422 351158.
Have you got something to share on the story? Were you there? What do you think? - Send your pictures, videos or story and we'll publish the best × Continue the story Win tickets to see Nathan Carter ... Loading ... Add up to 3 photos or 1 videos to the story There's been a problem uploading your files. Please try again. By uploading your file you agree to our Terms and Conditions × Continue the story Sign in to contribute sign in shape the news in your area...


Liverpool born country sensation Nathan Carter is heading for the Victoria Theatre on Saturday, September 10 and we have got two pairs of tickets for his fabulous show to win.


Bolivian miners on Thursday during a clash with the police in the town of Panduro hacked the Deputy Interior Minister to death.
Interior Minister, Carlos Romero, confirmed on Friday that reports by witnesses indicated that the 55-year-old was beaten to death following clashes between police and miners in the town of Panduro, 165 kilometres south-east of La Paz.
Romero said Illanes had been kidnapped by miners after attempting to initiate talks with them at a roadblock.
The minister, who spoke of a “cowardly and brutal” murder, added that his aide was also injured and was taken to hospital.
He said that one miner was reportedly also killed in the Thursday’s clashes, bringing the death toll in several days of protests against controversial trade union legislation to three.
He said, “Two miners were killed on Wednesday.
“Around 100 miners were detained after Thursday’s protests.”
Miners currently represented by independently organized cooperatives have been using street blockades to protest against a law allowing them to join trade unions.
The national federation of mining cooperatives representing some 10,000 miners rejects any trade union influence on Bolivia’s mining sector.
NAN

Minister beaten to death by striking workers


Nigeria news, news in Africa, politics, Entertainment, Sports


Asia stocks bounce, dollar dips on Fed hike doubts
By Wayne Cole
SYDNEY, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Asian shares bounced on Tuesday as doubts the Federal Reserve really would hike rates as soon as September undermined the dollar, while investors continued to count on more policy stimulus elsewhere in the world.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.4 percent, recouping around half of Monday's loss. Stocks in South Korea and Australia both rose around 0.6 percent.
Japan's Nikkei dipped 0.1 percent as the yen turned around and starting nudging higher once more.
A raft of Japanese data, from unemployment to retail sales, mostly beat analysts forecasts but did nothing to change expectations the Bank of Japan would eventually have to ease further.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen on Friday said the case for a rate increase was strengthening, but provided little detail on when the Fed would next move. Vice Chair Stanley Fischer suggested a hike as soon as next month was possible.
Yet while the initial market reaction was to push up the probability of a September hike to 44 percent, investors quickly had second thoughts and early Tuesday the implied chance was back at 36 percent .
On Wall Street, the Dow ended Monday up 0.58 percent, while the S&P 500 added 0.52 percent and the Nasdaq 0.26 percent.
Financials was the best performer on the S&P 500, with Wells Fargo up 2.2 percent.
The sector typically rises with talk of higher rates, on the expectation that banks' income could rise as they charge more for loans. However, the correlation is not direct as it requires the yield curve to steepen and, so far, it is not obliging.
Indeed, longer-term yields fell further than the short end on Monday, in part because much of the market suspects any Fed tightening would lead to even lower inflation over the long run.
Figures out Monday showed the Fed preferred measure of core inflation stuck at 1.6 percent for a fifth straight month.
The San Francisco Fed underlined the subdued outlook for inflation and rates in a research note.
The "natural" rate of interest - the real rate consistent with full use of economic resources and steady inflation near the Fed's target level - was near zero and would rise to only 1 percent over the next decade.
"If these projections are accurate, then a monetary policy designed to track the rise in r-star (natural rate) would imply a very gradual normalization of the federal funds rate," the note said.
The retreat in Treasury yields undid some of the dollar's gains and its index edged back to 95.575 from a two-week top of 95.834.
The dollar likewise ebbed to 101.82 yen from a peak of 102.39, while the euro steadied at $1.1184.
In commodity markets, oil steadied after falling by around 1 percent on Monday. Oversupply remained a major concern with U.S. crude stockpiles forecast to have risen by 1.3 million barrels last week, a Reuters poll showed.


By Wayne Cole SYDNEY, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Asian shares bounced on Tuesday as doubts the Federal Reserve really would hike rates as soon as September undermine...


Asia stocks bounce, dollar dips on Fed hike doubts


WASHINGTON – Bernie Sanders never understood the epic quality of the Clinton scandals. In his first debate, he famously dismissed the email issue, it being beneath the dignity of a great revolutionary to deal in things so tawdry and straightforward.
Sanders failed to understand that Clinton scandals are sprawling, multilayered, complex things. They defy time and space. They grow and burrow.
The central problem with Hillary Clinton’s emails was not the classified material. It wasn’t the headline-making charge by the FBI director of her extreme carelessness in handling it.
That’s a serious offense, to be sure, and could very well have been grounds for indictment. And it did damage her politically, exposing her sense of above-the-law entitlement and – in her dodges and prevarications, her parsing and evasions – demonstrating her arm’s-length relationship with the truth.
But it was always something of a sideshow. The real question wasn’t classification but: Why did she have a private server in the first place? She obviously lied about the purpose. It wasn’t convenience. It was concealment. What exactly was she hiding?
Was this merely the prudent paranoia of someone who habitually walks the line of legality? After all, if she controls the server, she controls the evidence, and can destroy it – as she did 30,000 emails – at will.
But destroy what? Remember: She set up the system before even taking office. It’s clear what she wanted to protect from scrutiny: Clinton Foundation business.
The foundation is a massive family enterprise disguised as a charity, an opaque and elaborate mechanism for sucking money from the rich and the tyrannous to be channeled to Clinton Inc. Its purpose is to maintain the Clintons’ lifestyle (offices, travel, accommodations, etc.), secure profitable connections, produce favorable publicity and reliably employ a vast entourage of retainers, ready to serve today and at the coming Clinton Restoration.
Now we learn how the whole machine operated. Two weeks ago, emails began dribbling out showing foundation officials contacting State Department counterparts to ask favors for foundation “friends.” Say, a meeting with the State Department’s “substance person” on Lebanon for one particularly generous Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire.
Big deal, said the Clinton defenders. Low-level stuff. No involvement of the secretary herself. Until – drip, drip – the next batch revealed foundation requests for face time with the secretary herself. Such as one from the crown prince of Bahrain.
To be sure, Bahrain, home of the Fifth Fleet, is an important Persian Gulf ally. Its crown prince shouldn’t have to go through a foundation – to which his government donated at least US$50,000 – to get to the secretary. The fact that he did is telling.
Now, a further drip: The Associated Press found that over half the private interests who were granted phone or personal contact with Secretary Clinton – 85 of 154 – were donors to the foundation. Total contributions? As much as US$156 million.
Current Clinton response? There was no quid pro quo.
What a long way we’ve come. This is the very last line of defense. Yes, it’s obvious that access and influence were sold. But no one has demonstrated definitively that the donors received something tangible of value – a pipeline, a permit, a waiver, a favorable regulatory ruling – in exchange.
It’s hard to believe the Clinton folks would be stupid enough to commit something so blatant to writing. Nonetheless, there might be an email allusion to some such conversation. With thousands more emails to come, who knows what lies beneath.
On the face of it, it’s rather odd that a visible quid pro quo is the bright line for malfeasance. Anything short of that – the country is awash with political money that buys access – is deemed acceptable. As Donald Trump says of his own donation-giving days, “when I need something from them … I call them, they are there for me.” This is considered routine and unremarkable.
It’s not until a Rolex shows up on your wrist that you get indicted. Or you are found to have dangled a Senate appointment for cash. Then, like Rod Blagojevich, you go to jail. (He got 14 years.)
Yet we are hardly bothered by the routine practice of presidents rewarding big donors with cushy ambassadorships, appointments to portentous boards or invitations to state dinners.
The bright line seems to be outright bribery. Anything short of that is considered – not just for the Clintons, for everyone – acceptable corruption.
It’s a sorry standard. And right now it is Hillary Clinton’s saving grace.
Charles Krauthammer’s email address is letters@charleskrauthammer.com. © 2016, The Washington Post Writers Group


Bernie Sanders never understood the epic quality of the Clinton scandals. In his first debate, he famously dismissed the email issue, it being beneath the dignity of a great revolutionary to deal in things so tawdry and straightforward.
Sanders failed to understand that Clinton scandals are sprawling, multilayered, complex things. They defy time and space. They grow and burrow.
The central problem with Hillary Clinton's emails was not the classified material. It wasn't the headline-making charge by the FBI director of her extreme carelessness in handling it.
That's a serious offense, to be sure, and could very well have been grounds for indictment. And it did damage her politically, exposing her sense of above-the-law entitlement and — in her dodges and prevarications, her parsing and evasions — demonstrating her arm's-length relationship with the truth.
But it was always something of a sideshow. The real question wasn't classification but: Why did she have a private server in the first place? She obviously lied about the purpose. It wasn't convenience. It was concealment. What exactly was she hiding?
Was this merely the prudent paranoia of someone who habitually walks the line of legality? After all, if she controls the server, she controls the evidence, and can destroy it — as she did 30,000 emails — at will.
But destroy what? Remember: She set up the system before even taking office. It's clear what she wanted to protect from scrutiny: Clinton Foundation business.
The foundation is a massive family enterprise disguised as a charity, an opaque and elaborate mechanism for sucking money from the rich and the tyrannous to be channeled to Clinton Inc. Its purpose is to maintain the Clintons' lifestyle (offices, travel, accommodations, etc.), secure profitable connections, produce favorable publicity and reliably employ a vast entourage of retainers, ready to serve today and at the coming Clinton Restoration.
Now we learn how the whole machine operated. Two weeks ago, emails began dribbling out showing foundation officials contacting State Department counterparts to ask favors for foundation "friends." Say, a meeting with the State Department's "substance person" on Lebanon for one particularly generous Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire.
Big deal, said the Clinton defenders. Low-level stuff. No involvement of the secretary herself. Until — drip, drip — the next batch revealed foundation requests for face time with the secretary herself. Such as one from the crown prince of Bahrain.
To be sure, Bahrain, home of the Fifth Fleet, is an important Persian Gulf ally. Its crown prince shouldn't have to go through a foundation — to which his government donated at least $50,000 — to get to the secretary. The fact that he did is telling.
Now, a further drip: The Associated Press found that more than half the private interests who were granted phone or personal contact with Secretary Clinton — 85 of 154 — were donors to the foundation. Total contributions? As much as $156 million.
Current Clinton response? There was no quid pro quo.
What a long way we've come. This is the very last line of defense. Yes, it's obvious that access and influence were sold. But no one has demonstrated definitively that the donors received something tangible of value — a pipeline, a permit, a waiver, a favorable regulatory ruling — in exchange.
It's hard to believe the Clinton folks would be stupid enough to commit something so blatant to writing. Nonetheless, there might be an email allusion to some such conversation. With thousands more emails to come, who knows what lies beneath.
On the face of it, it's rather odd that a visible quid pro quo is the bright line for malfeasance. Anything short of that — the country is awash with political money that buys access — is deemed acceptable. As Donald Trump says of his own donation-giving days, "when I need something from them I call them, they are there for me." This is considered routine and unremarkable.
It's not until a Rolex shows up on your wrist that you get indicted. Or you are found to have dangled a Senate appointment for cash. Then, like former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, you go to jail. (He got 14 years.)
Yet we are hardly bothered by the routine practice of presidents rewarding big donors with cushy ambassadorships, appointments to portentous boards or invitations to state dinners.
The bright line seems to be outright bribery. Anything short of that is considered — not just for the Clintons, for everyone — acceptable corruption.
It's a sorry standard. And right now it is Hillary Clinton's saving grace.
Washington Post Writers Group
Charles Krauthammer is a syndicated columnist.
letters@charleskrauthammer.com

Explaining the bribery standard - again - to Clinton defenders


Tuesday, August 30, 2016 at 2:47 pm |
Bernie Sanders never understood the epic quality of the Clinton scandals. In his first debate, he famously dismissed the email issue, it being beneath the dignity of a great revolutionary to deal in things so tawdry and straightforward.
Sanders failed to understand that Clinton scandals are sprawling, multilayered, complex things. They defy time and space. They grow and burrow.
The central problem with Hillary Clinton’s emails was not the classified material. It wasn’t the headline-making charge by the FBI director of her extreme carelessness in handling it.
That’s a serious offense, to be sure, and could very well have been grounds for indictment. And it did damage her politically, exposing her sense of above-the-law entitlement and — in her dodges and prevarications, her parsing and evasions — demonstrating her arm’s-length relationship with the truth.
But it was always something of a sideshow. The real question wasn’t classification but: Why did she have a private server in the first place? She obviously lied about the purpose. It wasn’t convenience. It was concealment. What exactly was she hiding?
Was this merely the prudent paranoia of someone who habitually walks the line of legality? After all, if she controls the server, she controls the evidence, and can destroy it — as she did 30,000 emails — at will.
But destroy what? Remember: She set up the system before even taking office. It’s clear what she wanted to protect from scrutiny: Clinton Foundation business.
The foundation is a massive family enterprise disguised as a charity, an opaque and elaborate mechanism for sucking money from the rich and the tyrannous to be channeled to Clinton Inc. Its purpose is to maintain the Clintons’ lifestyle (offices, travel, accommodations, etc.), secure profitable connections, produce favorable publicity and reliably employ a vast entourage of retainers, ready to serve today and at the coming Clinton Restoration.
Now we learn how the whole machine operated. Two weeks ago, emails began dribbling out showing foundation officials contacting State Department counterparts to ask favors for foundation “friends.” Say, a meeting with the State Department’s “substance person” on Lebanon for one particularly generous Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire.
Big deal, said the Clinton defenders. Low-level stuff. No involvement of the secretary herself. Until — drip, drip — the next batch revealed foundation requests for face time with the secretary herself. Such as one from the crown prince of Bahrain.
To be sure, Bahrain, home of the Fifth Fleet, is an important Persian Gulf ally. Its crown prince shouldn’t have to go through a foundation — to which his government donated at least $50,000 — to get to the secretary. The fact that he did is telling.
Now, a further drip: The Associated Press found that over half the private interests who were granted phone or personal contact with Secretary Clinton — 85 of 154 — were donors to the foundation. Total contributions? As much as $156 million.
Current Clinton response? There was no quid pro quo.
What a long way we’ve come. This is the very last line of defense. Yes, it’s obvious that access and influence were sold. But no one has demonstrated definitively that the donors received something tangible of value — a pipeline, a permit, a waiver, a favorable regulatory ruling — in exchange.
It’s hard to believe the Clinton folks would be stupid enough to commit something so blatant to writing. Nonetheless, there might be an email allusion to some such conversation. With thousands more emails to come, who knows what lies beneath.
On the face of it, it’s rather odd that a visible quid pro quo is the bright line for malfeasance. Anything short of that — the country is awash with political money that buys access — is deemed acceptable. As Donald Trump says of his own donation-giving days, “when I need something from them … I call them, they are there for me.” This is considered routine and unremarkable.
It’s not until a Rolex shows up on your wrist that you get indicted. Or you are found to have dangled a Senate appointment for cash. Then, like Rod Blagojevich, you go to jail. (He got 14 years.)
Yet we are hardly bothered by the routine practice of presidents rewarding big donors with cushy ambassadorships, appointments to portentous boards or invitations to state dinners.
The bright line seems to be outright bribery. Anything short of that is considered — not just for the Clintons, for everyone — acceptable corruption.
It’s a sorry standard. And right now it is Hillary Clinton’s saving grace.
(c) 2016, The Washington Post Writers Group


BERLIN (AP) — Faced with more than 1 million migrants flooding across the Mediterranean last year, European nations tightened border controls, set up naval patrols to stop smugglers, negotiated an agreement with Turkey to limit the numbers crossing, shut the Balkan route used by hundreds of thousands, and tried to speed up deportations of rejected asylum-seekers.
Yet many issues still remain.
European nations continue to squabble about whether, and how, to share the newcomers between them and the issues that drove refugees to Europe in the first place — such as Syria’s unrelenting war — are unresolved.
Overall, 2,901 people have died or disappeared crossing the Mediterranean in the first six months of 2016, most along the dangerous central route to Italy — a 37 percent increase over last year’s first half, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Here’s where things stand in key countries:
TURKEY
Turkey is hosting some 3 million refugees, including more than 2.7 million Syrians. Most refugees there don’t get government support, but the agreement with the EU calls for the bloc to provide up to 6 billion euros ($6.8 billion) to help Syrian refugees in Turkey.
The deal also provides for one Syrian refugee from Turkey to be relocated to EU countries for each Syrian who arrives illegally in Greece and is sent back. So far only 1,152 have been resettled under the program — more than half of them to Germany and Sweden.
___
GREECE
The numbers of migrants arriving in Greece have dropped dramatically since the March agreement with Turkey, but several thousand a month still make the journey, some 160,000 in the first half of this year.
Over 58,000 people remain stuck in the financially struggling country, most hoping to continue north to nations like Germany or Sweden. The majority have applied for asylum, hoping to be relocated among EU nations — but the program is moving at snail’s pace amid fierce resistance from eastern and central European countries.
So far, only around 4,400 people have been relocated from southern Europe under a plan that’s supposed to see 160,000 moved over two years through September 2017. Yet there’s little Brussels can do to force any nations to comply.
New arrivals now are insignificant compared to 2015, but they have increased since the July 15 attempted coup in Turkey, topping 2,300 in the first three weeks of August. This is straining resources on the eastern Aegean Sea islands and the government has promised to build more housing on the mainland.
Fears are also growing that the EU-Turkey deal might fall apart as Ankara presses for the 28-nation bloc to allow its citizens visa-free entry.
___
ITALY
About 70,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean into Italy from January to June this year, similar to the same period last year. But with routes northward now restricted, there’s nowhere for them to go and, as smugglers resort to more dangerous practices, more migrants are dying en route.
Migrants are sleeping in hotels, homeless shelters, train stations and tent camps. The Tuscan city of Capalbio is putting them in fancy villas and Milan is readying a jail to take in some.
Nigerians make up the biggest group of newcomers to Italy, followed by Eritreans, Gambians, Ivorians and Sudanese, according to the U.N. refugee agency.
The wave of arrivals is testing Italy’s social services and Premier Matteo Renzi’s patience as he faces domestic resistance from the anti-immigrant Northern League and reluctance from Italy’s EU partners to resettle asylum-seekers. To date, only 961 would-be refugees have moved out of Italy, according to the IOM.
Earlier this month, France returned to Italy some 200 migrants who plunged into the sea at the Ventimiglia border crossing. The latest hotspot is Como on the Swiss border. There authorities have approved a tent camp to house the estimated 300-500 migrants who have camped out at the train station after taking trains daily into Switzerland, only to be returned.
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GERMANY
Germany has seen a much-reduced number of newcomers this year after taking in hundreds of thousands in 2015, the majority of those entering Europe.
Up to the end of July, 238,424 new arrivals were recorded — 92,000 of them in January, before the Balkan route was shut down. The figure has since leveled out at around 16,000 per month.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has stuck to her insistence that Germany will give shelter to those who need it and that Germany “will manage” the refugee crisis. That mantra has fueled ongoing strife in her conservative bloc, and benefited the nationalist, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party.
Two attacks this summer by asylum-seekers that were claimed by the Islamic State group have also fueled concerns.
Meanwhile, Germany has moved to tighten asylum rules, deport more rejected asylum applicants and turn more people back at the border
Merkel has criticized other European countries’ unilateral moves to shut the Balkan migration route at Greece’s expense but was a leading advocate of the Turkey-EU agreement. She insists the deal remains necessary, despite tensions with Ankara over visa-free travel.
___
AUSTRIA
The discovery of 71 suffocated people in the back of a smuggler’s truck in Austria a year ago triggered an outpouring of support for refugees. That now seems a distant memory.
Then-Chancellor Werner Faymann urged Austrians to open their arms to the migrants, but faced increasing concerns that the country couldn’t cope. Faymann changed course early this year, suddenly backing calls to shut Austria’s border. He resigned in May amid falling support.
His successor, Christian Kern, has continued on the restrictive path welcomed by most Austrians, even as he urges them to be open-minded toward new arrivals.
Austria was the main force in the shutdown early this year of the Balkan route. After accepting more than 80,000 migrants last year, the country stands ready to turn back the first would-be refugee over the 37,500 limit it has set as a quota for 2016.
___
SERBIA & HUNGARY
The flow of migrants into Serbia has diminished drastically but not dried up entirely.
Instead of thousands a day registering at organized centers, hundreds a day now try to enter illegally. Illustrating the dangers, a 20-year old Afghan migrant crossing illegally from Bulgaria was shot and killed this week by a hunter in an apparent accident.
Human Rights Watch says migrants and refugees at Hungary’s border with Serbia are being forced back, in some cases violently.
UNHCR estimates that some 4,400 asylum-seekers are now stranded in Serbia, mostly since Hungary started enforcing new regulations in July that allow authorities to “escort” migrants and refugees caught within 8 kilometers (5 miles) of the border back to Serbia.
Two “transit zones” on the Serbian side now process around 30 asylum applications a day, while 1,000 or more people are waiting in poor conditions to file asylum claims, most of which are rejected.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called migrants “poison” and said Friday that Hungary will build a new, “more massive” fence on its southern border to defend against a possible surge in numbers. A government-initiated referendum on Oct. 2 is meant to rally political support against any EU plan to resettle migrants among the bloc’s members.
___
FRANCE
Migrant numbers in Calais have soared this month, even though authorities shut down half of the city’s wretched camp earlier this year, and the British and French governments erected security fences and announced measures to deter new arrivals.
The French government says the number of migrants in the makeshift Calais camp known as the “jungle” has reached its highest official level yet: 6,901. Aid groups say it’s closer to 9,000.
This week, a Sudanese migrant died after a clash between groups of Sudanese and Afghans, the 11th migrant to die in Calais this year.
___
Nicole Winfield in Rome, Nicholas Paphitis in Athens, Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Elaine Ganley in Calais, George Jahn in Vienna and David Rising in Berlin contributed to this report.

Europe’s refugee crisis simmers despite efforts to solve it


Courtesy of Disney
It's hard out there for a TV comedy fan.
That's the case for network television, at least. Before All in the Family altered the TV comedy landscape, most sitcoms hewed closely to the formula of solving minor annoyances in 22 minutes (with the occasional “OMG Vincent Price in Hawaii” curveball). AitF dared to tackle issues like racism and sexism, and while the game didn’t change immediately, it opened the door a crack for other comedies to tackle weightier issues. That door is now the proverbial one attached to the barn, as the growth of original content on pay networks and elsewhere has exploded.
The Big Four’s feeble response to the threat posed by cable networks and streaming providers appears to begin and end with Melissa McCarthy and Jim Parsons making coy references to STDs and oral sex on prime time. Problem is, that still can’t compete with the likes of FCC-free HBO and Showtime. It also has the added drawback of driving away older audiences, increasingly the Big Four’s core demographic.
Meanwhile, kids these days (note to self: trademark that phrase) are reveling in a cornucopia of choices undreamed of by those who grew up on airwaves strangled by the Hanna-Barbera industrial-entertainment complex. With nearly a dozen cable options, not to mention On Demand and the aforementioned online streaming services, today’s children can glut themselves 24 hours a day on shows specifically programmed for them. This is a far cry from the hellscape of Saturday-morning-only cartoons, AKA Generation X’s Vietnam.
As a father of grade-school children, I adopted a brave and time-honored parental strategy to confront this reality: utter capitulation. Rather than forbid my kids from watching any TV and thereby turning them into Amish weirdos in the eyes of their peers, I elected to “get involved” — i.e. sit down and watch some of their favorite shows with them. As it turns out, I wasn’t careful and learned something before I was done. Namely, that children’s programming is actually the new refuge for old people who prefer TV like it used to be and have been driven away from prime time by Chuck Lorre and Kat Dennings’ bosoms.
The first exhibit in our traveling roadshow of parental defeat was Jessie, a Disney Channel offering that tells the story of a Texas girl who flees to the big city (New York) and — instead of becoming the subject of a Poison song — ends up hired as a nanny for the wealthy Ross family. The Ross children are four stereotypically multicultural kids whose mostly adoptive parents are mostly absent. There’s also a butler, who provides excellent joke fodder because he’s overweight, and a monitor lizard. The lizard belongs to Ravi, the boy adopted from India, and is named “Mr. Kipling,” presumably because the showrunners decided “Mr. Gandhi” was too on the nose.
Courtesy of Disney
There’s another adopted child, a girl named Zuri who comes from Uganda. Her skin color is the only thing setting her apart from the natural Ross children, which would seem to be a cultural slight, unless Disney is proposing all African children behave like the Cosbys.
Jessie was a bit of an outlier in my study, as the episode we watched was an almost note-perfect remake of the original Ghostbusters, the events of which turned out to be a nightmare brought about by Jessie eating all the kids’ Halloween candy and not, thankfully, a “men’s rights” answer to that Paul Feig movie.
Next up was Bella and the Bulldogs on Nickelodeon. Bella Dawson (Brec Bassinger) is a Texas middle-school cheerleader who becomes the quarterback for the football team. This kicks off (heh) two seasons of mildly sexist quandaries and dawning horror as the rest of the nation realizes they let 11-year-olds be cheerleaders and play football in Texas.
And although they’re fairly different shows, Bella and Jessie's mutual use of the Lone Star State was amusing (to me, as someone who lives there). For Jessie, it makes sense — few states set up the fish-out-of-water-in-NYC angle like Texas, while Nickelodeon undoubtedly figured using it as the background for a football-based TV show was a no-brainer. I mean, sports are big in California too, but you’d never set Bella and the Bulldogs there because hippies like Marcia Brady obviously can't catch a football properly.
Both shows are also fond of extended-length episodes, which are problematic when you tell your 7-year-olds they can watch “one more show” and they then proceed to lawyerball you by starting the 85-minute ep in which Jessie returns to Texas to make peace with her hard-ass military father.
More surprising than the overall banality of the shows in question was the almost complete lack of “very special” episodes. With almost no exception, no one in these programs ever deals with quandaries more challenging than an inability to connect with the opposite sex or easily circumvented school-district prohibitions against girls playing football. Routine problems like this also offer another reason for some to abandon prime-time TV and its insistence on acknowledging human ugliness.
Finally there was Bunk’d, because there are still summer-camp-comedy depths left unplumbed by Meatballs III. We watched this for five minutes before I realized I’d been had: It’s a Jessie spin-off, with three of the four Ross kids going to “Camp Kikiwaka” in Maine for further adventures in upper-class banality and laugh-track abuse. Mr. Kipling is gone and replaced by Tiffany, a Chinese-American girl who’s super neurotic about her grades and appeasing her overbearing mother. The eldest Ross child (Emma) is also forced to compete for the affections of the camp hunk with the head counselor (Hazel, as in “Witch”). These are all things that would’ve been rejected in the writers’ room of The Love Boat for being “too cliché.”
This is when I realized the solution to the Big Four’s sitcom problem is right here under their noses. In each of these shows, Disney and Nickelodeon have managed the insidious trick of reverting to a 1950s mindset by effectively leapfrogging the intervening decades and arriving in what older whiter audiences assume to be post-racial America. Three of the kids in Jessie’s charge are adopted from places like Uganda and India, but their problems are just as banal as any Wally and Eddie Haskell faced in Leave it to Beaver.
Obviously, these are children’s shows, and the closest they’ll get to real-world issues is the kind of arm's’ length you see when a boy and girl enjoy their first slow dance at the junior-high social. But isn’t that what the Big Four’s audiences want? Don’t the same folks who keep Blue Bloods and NCIS: Walmart (or whatever) in the Nielsen top 20 prefer their conflicts to be neatly wrapped up before the Mega Millions drawing?
It was an educational experience in other ways, as well. My daughters learned that people will always conform to comforting cultural stereotypes, rural Texas is very accommodating when it comes to equal rights for women and fat people are almost (but not quite!) worthy of human dignity. As for me, I came to realize those fears of my kids running off to the big city are wholly unfounded, that Jessie’s gluttony was probably a statement about America’s stance on resource consumption and that I should immediately drop my television from the top of the nearest football stadium.

What Disney's Horrible Tween Shows Taught Me About Parenting - and Today's TV Comedy


Children’s programming is actually the new refuge for old people who prefer TV like it used to be and have been driven away from prime time.


SEOUL: North Korea is making progress on a submarine-launched ballistic missile system but any deployment of the technology is years away, a US think tank said, as the UN Security Council promised action over Pyongyang’s latest test.
The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said late Friday on its closely-watched website, 38 North, that the success of North Korea’s SLBM test this week suggests the program may be progressing faster than originally expected.
“However, this does not mean it will be ready next week, next month, or even next year”, it said.
“Rather, the pace and method of the North’s SLBM testing would suggest possible deployment in an initial operational capability by the second half of 2018 at the earliest.”
The missile, launched from a submerged prototype “Gorae-class” submarine near the northeastern port of Sinpo, flew 500 kilometers (300 miles) towards Japan, marking what weapons analysts called a clear step forward for its nuclear strike ambitions.
The flight distance, which was tracked by South Korea’s military Joint Chiefs of Staff, far exceeded any previous SLBM tests, suggesting significant progress in technical prowess.
A proven SLBM system would take North Korea’s nuclear strike threat to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a “second-strike” capability in the event of an attack on its military bases.
Following the test, the UN Security Council agreed on Friday to “take further significant measures” against North Korea, without elaborating.
North Korea is barred under UN resolutions from any use of ballistic missile technology, but Pyongyang has carried out several launches following its fourth nuclear test in January.
Despite the North’s successful test this week, the country faces significant technological challenges including building a new class of submarine to carry the missile.
Last month, 38 North reported the North was building up infrastructure to construct new submarines at the Sinpo South Shipyard.
“A new submarine could probably be built within a two to three year time frame, but the likelihood of building new models without further testing and refinement of the experimental Gorae-class seems low”, it said.
But this is no information about whether actual submarine construction has begun, it added. AFP
AFP/CC

NKorea submarine missiles not ready until 2018 - experts


Turkey arrests 815 this year in Islamic State crackdown- minister
ISTANBUL, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Turkey has arrested 815 people since the start of 2016 in its fight against Islamic State, and more than half of those were foreigners, Interior Minister Efkan Ala said in remarks broadcast on Turkish television channels on Wednesday.
Thousands of foreign fighters from countries including Turkey, Britain, Europe and the United States have joined the Islamist militants in their self-proclaimed caliphate in recent years, many of them passing through Turkey. Turkey has since launched a crackdown on the networks facilitating their passage.
Since launching the crackdown, Turkey has detained a total of 5,803 people, of which about 2,200 were foreigners, the minister said, without giving a precise period.


ISTANBUL, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Turkey has arrested 815 people since the start of 2016 in its fight against Islamic State, and more than half of those were fore...


Turkey arrests 815 this year in Islamic State crackdown- minister


LOS ANGELES — Gene Wilder, the frizzy-haired actor who brought his deft comedic touch to such unforgettable roles as the neurotic accountant in “The Producers” and the mad scientist of “Young Frankenstein,” has died. He was 83.
Wilder’s nephew said Monday that the actor and writer died late Sunday at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, from complications from Alzheimer’s disease.
Jordan Walker-Pearlman said in a statement that Wilder was diagnosed with the disease three years ago, but kept the condition private so as not to disappoint fans.
“He simply couldn’t bear the idea of one less smile in the world,” Walker-Pearlman said.
Wilder started his acting career on the stage, but millions knew him from his work in the movies, especially his collaborations with Mel Brooks on “The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein.” The last film — with Wilder playing a California-born descendant of the mad scientist, insisting that his name is pronounced “Frahn-ken-SHTEEN” — was co-written by Brooks and Wilder.
“Gene Wilder, one of the truly great talents of our time, is gone,” Brooks wrote in a statement Monday. “He blessed every film we did together with his special magic and he blessed my life with his friendship. He will be so missed.”
With his unkempt hair and big, buggy eyes, Wilder was a master at playing panicked characters caught up in schemes that only a madman such as Brooks could devise, whether reviving a monster in “Young Frankenstein” or bilking Broadway in “The Producers.” Brooks would call him “God’s perfect prey, the victim in all of us.”
But he also knew how to keep it cool as the boozing gunslinger in “Blazing Saddles” or the charming candy man in the children’s favorite “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” His craziest role: the therapist having an affair with a sheep in Woody Allen’s “Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex.”
“The greatest comedic mind of my childhood is now gone,” actor Josh Gad wrote on Twitter. “#RIP #GeneWilder & thank you 4 your pure imagination. This one hits hard.”
Tweeted Jim Carrey: “Gene Wilder was one of the funniest and sweetest energies ever to take a human form. If there’s a heaven he has a Golden Ticket.”
Wilder was close friends with Richard Pryor and their contrasting personas — Wilder uptight, Pryor loose — were ideal for comedy. They co-starred in four films: “Silver Streak,” “Stir Crazy,” “See No Evil, Hear No Evil” and “Another You.” And they created several memorable scenes, particularly when Pryor provided Wilder with directions on how to “act black” as they tried to avoid police in “Silver Streak.”
But Wilder would insist in a 2013 interview that he was no comedian. He told interviewer Robert Osborne it was the biggest misconception about him.
“What a comic, what a funny guy, all that stuff! And I’m not. I’m really not. Except in a comedy in films,” Wilder said. “But I make my wife laugh once or twice in the house, but nothing special. But when people see me in a movie and it’s funny then they stop and say things to me about ‘how funny you were.’ But I don’t think I’m that funny. I think I can be in the movies.”
In 1968, Wilder received an Oscar nomination for his work in Brooks’ “The Producers.” He played the introverted Leo Bloom, an accountant who discovers the liberating joys of greed and corruption as he and Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) conceive a Broadway flop titled “Springtime For Hitler” and plan to flee with the money raised for the show’s production. Matthew Broderick played Wilder’s role in the 2001 Broadway stage revival of the show.
Though they collaborated on film, Wilder and Brooks met through the theater. Wilder was in a play with Brooks’ then-future wife, Anne Bancroft, who introduced the pair backstage in 1963.
Wilder, a Milwaukee native, was born Jerome Silberman on June 11, 1933. His father was a Russian emigre, his mother was of Polish descent. When he was 6, Wilder’s mother suffered a heart attack that left her a semi-invalid. He soon began improvising comedy skits to entertain her, the first indication of his future career.
He started taking acting classes at age 12 and continued performing and taking lesson through college. In 1961, Wilder became a member of Lee Strasberg’s prestigious Actor’s Studio in Manhattan.
That same year, he made both his off-Broadway and Broadway debuts. He won the Clarence Derwent Award, given to promising newcomers, for the Broadway work in Graham Greene’s comedy “The Complaisant Lover.”
He used his new name, Gene Wilder, for the off-Broadway and Broadway roles. He lifted the first name from the character Eugene Gant in Thomas Wolfe’s “Look Back, Homeward Angel,” while the last name was clipped from playwright Thornton Wilder. A key break came when he co-starred with Bancroft in Bertolt Brecht’s “Mother Courage,” and met Brooks, her future husband.
“I was having trouble with one little section of the play, and he gave me tips on how to act. He said, ‘That’s a song and dance. He’s proselytizing about communism. Just skip over it, sing and dance over it, and get on to the good stuff.’ And he was right,” Wilder later explained.
Before starring in “The Producers,” he had a small role as the hostage of gangsters in the 1967 classic “Bonnie and Clyde.” He peaked in the mid-1970s with the twin Brooks hits “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein.”
He went on to write several screenplays and direct several films. In 1982, while making the generally forgettable “Hanky-Panky,” he fell in love with co-star Gilda Radner. They were married in 1984, and co-starred in two Wilder-penned films: “The Woman in Red” and “Haunted Honeymoon.”
After Radner died of ovarian cancer in 1989, Wilder spent much of his time after promoting cancer research and opened a support facility for cancer patients. In 1991, he testified before Congress about the need for increased testing for cancer.
That same year, he appeared in his final film role: “Another You” with Pryor.
Wilder worked mostly in television in recent years, including appearances on “Will & Grace” — including one that earned him an Emmy Award for outstanding guest actor — and a starring role in the short-lived sitcom “Something Wilder.” In 2015, he was among the voices in the animated “The Yo Gabba Gabba! Movie 2.”
As for why he stopped appearing on the big screen, Wilder said in 2013 he was turned off by the noise and foul language in modern movies.
“I didn’t want to do the kind of junk I was seeing,” he said in an interview. “I didn’t want to do 3D for instance. I didn’t want to do ones where there’s just bombing and loud and swearing, so much swearing... can’t they just stop and talk instead of swearing?“
Wilder is survived by his wife, Karen, whom he married in 1991, and his daughter from a previous marriage, Katherine, from whom he was estranged.

Gene Wilder, ‘Willy Wonka’ star and Mel Brooks collaborator, dies at 83


LOS ANGELES — Gene Wilder, the frizzy-haired actor who brought his deft comedic touch to such unforgettable roles as the neurotic accountant in