(CNN) Pep Bonet started documenting the rock 'n' roll scene in 2008. He photographed the British band Motorhead, spending years on the road with legendary singer Lemmy Kilmister.
But soon he discovered there were heavy-metal lovers in a different part of the world.
"I heard about these guys in Botswana," Bonet said. "A lot of people think rock 'n' roll is a white man thing, and I'm thinking no way. I think it's black and white and anything in between."
Bonet got in touch with a man nicknamed Vulture, seen in photo No. 10 in the gallery above. He said Vulture is a singer and bass player in the best band in Botswana, Overthrust.
And with Vulture's welcome wishes, the photographer set off for Gaborone, the country's capital, in December.
Bonet points out that the title of his photo series "The Hellbangers" is a play on "headbangers," the heavy-metal fans who go to concerts and shake their heads along with the music. And he adds that it also has to do with how metal music is usually "related more to hell than to heaven, let's say."
Photographer Pep Bonet
One of Bonet's favorite moments was when he first arrived and he and Vulture went to pick up a rental car.
"They gave us a car with the plate number 666," Bonet said. "That was kind of like, f***ing A, that's something."
In Gaborone, Vulture introduced the Spanish photographer to his metalhead friends.
"They're like huge music bibles," Bonet said. "They know every metal band, from Metallica to Iron Maiden to the older guys like Deep Purple. They know who is the singer, who is the bass player, who is the drummer."
The tattooed photographer is no stranger to that kind of music. Ever since he was a child, he has loved metal.
"When I got (to Botswana), I got a monkey skull with a chain and some things which I had to wear, which I love to wear," he said. "It was like visiting friends here in Spain and basically: hang out with them, have some beers, listen to music and then, 'OK, let's go to the bar and keep on drinking and listen to heavy-metal music.' "
According to Bonet, the people he met were able to learn about metal via the Internet. He says they don't have metal albums or clothes they can buy in their country.
Social media Follow @CNNPhotos on Twitter to join the conversation about photography.
Instead, they put on their own concerts and radio program, and they buy leather to make outfits. "Desert Super Power," in photo No. 7, designs many of the clothes for those in the heavy-metal scene.
"It's a community that is very accepting for you to become one of them," Bonet said. "There is a place for everyone who likes rock 'n' roll to be themselves, and they will embrace you and you can talk to them."
And it's not just a community of men. Just look at Lady Rocker in photo No. 5, who started listening to heavy metal about 14 years ago.
"It's not a man's club," the photographer said. "It's open."
Bonet is no stranger to Africa, either. He has documented the continent extensively, covering the impact of low-interest, microcredit loans on the lives of poor women in Morocco; the aftermath of the civil war in Sierra Leone; child mortality in Chad; and the collapse of the Siad Barre regime in Somalia.
Every year, Nikon sponsors a project in collaboration with Noor, the photo agency and foundation Bonet is a member of. Noor means "light" in Arabic, and Bonet's "The Hellbangers" is part of the latest collaboration, "Noor on Africa," or "light on Africa."
They know every metal band, from Metallica to Iron Maiden to the older guys like Deep Purple. They know who is the singer, who is the bass player, who is the drummer. Photographer Pep Bonet
"I think at a point, after 20 years of shooting issues in Africa, a lot of people came to me and said: 'But don't people laugh in Africa? Aren't there positive stories in Africa?' " Bonet said. "I found that with photography sometimes we stigmatize, more than they are, people that have issues."
Bonet observed that Botswana's heavy-metal community is well-respected by their society. But he acknowledges that this might not be the case outside the city in rural areas, or even in other African countries.
He attributes such acceptance and tolerance to the nation itself.
"This year, it's their 50th anniversary for independence and democracy, and I think because of the situation of the country -- of peace and good economics -- this allows for people to be themselves," Bonet said.
Going to Gaborone and photographing the heavy metal community was love at first sight, he said.
"For me, it opened my eyes a little bit and my mind to say, 'There are other stories in Africa which are worth looking at,' " he said. "They might not be the obvious ones, but with a bit of research and a bit of patience and a lot of love, they can be done."
Bonet is not finished with this body of work just yet. He plans not only to go back to Botswana, but to explore the metal communities in other African countries as well.
"In the future I hope there are many, many, more African people becoming 'hellbangers' and making their own music with their own roots and with their own way of doing things," he said.
"They have a naivety, or an innocence, which a lot of the bands in America, for example, or in Europe, have lost. Every band resembles another band. If you hear the metal from Botswana, it doesn't look or sound like any other band, and that is, for me, very, very special."


Pep Bonet photographed the heavy-metal subculture in Botswana. These metalheads in southern Africa learned about the music through the Internet, he said.


ALEXANDRIA - When Katie Coopet went to work Monday, she expected it to be a typical day working at the snack bar in the waterpark at Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center.
The 17-year-old, who will be a senior at Alexandria Area High School this fall, also works as a lifeguard at the waterpark. But Monday, she was "off duty" - or so she thought.
She not only had to call 911 for one of the lifeguards on duty who was having a seizure, she helped save the life of another lifeguard who also ended up having a seizure.
"I almost had to do CPR on my friend," she said. "At one point, he just stared at the ceiling, there was nothing there. His eyes were lifeless."
Coopet recalled the events that took place Aug. 22 during her shift at the waterpark. There were four lifeguards on duty and two people working the snack bar. She was one of them. Shortly after 5 p.m., one of her co-workers told her to call 911 because one of the lifeguards was having a seizure on the pool deck.
"She wasn't in the water, which was good," Coopet said.
While on the phone and after she knew help was on the way, Coopet told a coworker, whom she described as panicky, to wait outside for the ambulance.
"I tend to stay the calmest," she said, "so I stayed with the girl, who seemed terrified, and told her EMS was on its way."
In addition, Coopet called the waterpark manager, Beth Housen, and explained what was happening.
"She was calm and had a cool head. Katie did a good job," Housen said. "She was very professional."
Once the seizing lifeguard was being tended to by EMS and everything was OK, Coopet was asked by Housen to change into her swimsuit and move from the snack bar to lifeguarding.
Coopet said she was on her way to her car when she saw one of the other lifeguards, Austin Hohler. She said he has a history of seizures and she had witnessed two of them. She asked him if he was OK because he looked a little off. Hohler assured her he was fine. Coopet jokingly told him, "If I come back and you're on the floor, I'm going to punch you."
Because she has been with him having seizures before, she knew his signs. When she came back from changing into her suit, she asked Hohler again if he was OK.
"He just stared at me blankly," she explained. "I took him into our lifeguard room and had him sit down. I asked him what day it was, what time it was. He couldn't speak. And he was pale as a ghost."
Coopet said she has been through lifeguard training and is CPR certified so she remembered with seizure patients that you have to protect their head and put them on their side. However, at that point, her co-worker and friend was not actually seizing. She said Hohler was sitting down and that he was "kind of going in and out of it." She told him to lean on her as she felt like something was going to happen.
Although she could recall most of what happened, Coopet said some things are still a little fuzzy.
She remembers taking off his glasses and his lifeguard whistle from around his neck. At that point, Housen was with them and Coopet asked her to get a cold towel to put on Hohler's head.
"Katie saw that he was in trouble and took charge," said Housen. "She did an awesome job. I am proud of her. I am proud of all of them. As a group they worked hard and pulled together."
Coopet explained that Hohler wasn't necessarily having a seizure, but he was more or less twitching and it wouldn't last more than a few minutes.
At one point, however, he stopped breathing. "I had two fingers on his neck at all times, his heart was beating, but he wasn't breathing.
"I told him I needed to see his stomach rise and at that moment, his eyes darted open and he looked at me," explained Coopet. "I got him calmed down and told him to focus on me."
After Hohler had the first seizure, Housen called 911. Housen said she had to repeat herself a couple of times because the dispatcher thought she was still needing an ambulance for the first incident. She had to explain that there was a second person who was seizing.
At one point, Coopet said she took the CPR mask out of the first aid kit and ripped it open.
"I had it ready just in case," she said.
After five or six cycles of Hohler going in and out of consciousness, Coopet said he looked at her and got teary-eyed.
"I asked him if he was scared," Coopet said. "Even though he couldn't answer, I knew he was. I promised him he was going to be OK and I would get him through this. He stared right through me, like nothing was there."
Coopet admitted that she, too, was scared.
"Even if I am freaking out, I don't show it. I do what I need to do," Coopet said. "I was just doing my job."
That's the kind of job Coopet plans to do after she graduates. Coopet has plans to go to nursing school in Washington state with a goal of becoming a trauma nurse.
Her mother, Tracie Berglund, said it is very fitting. "Since she was 2, she's wanted to be in the medical field."
"I am so very proud of her. She's going to do well whatever she decides to do," Berglund said.
Hohler was transported to the Douglas County Hospital and then to Children's Hospital in the Twin Cities. According to a family member's Facebook page, he was expected to go home Thursday.

Alexandria lifeguard credited following back-to-back emergencies


After a week in which few Republicans rushed to his defense as Hillary Clinton painted him as a flat-out racist who does not represent the party's traditions, Donald Trump got a boost on Saturday from Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa.
The Republican presidential nominee appeared at Ernst's "Roast and Ride," which in its second year is already one of the highest-profile events for Iowa Republicans, who have been mostly united in their support for Trump.
Attending the fundraiser, rally and barbecue in Des Moines, Trump enjoyed a rare moment of Republican unity led by one of the party's rising stars as Ernst cements her status in the state that holds the first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest. "You're very lucky," he told Iowa Republicans about Ernst. While Trump may have been the main attraction, it was clear whose house he was in. Every Iowa politician who spoke at the event praised the senator -- from ultraconservative U.S. Rep. Steve King to Gov. Terry Branstad.
"She's doing a great job for us ... She's taking D.C. by storm and she's making them squeal," said Branstad, the longest serving governor in U.S. history.
Saturday's event had all the trappings of a presidential campaign rally - for Ernst. Eager supporters had enlarged cardboard cut-outs of the letters J-O-N-I and I-O-W-A. Ahead of the event, Ernst called for both campaigns to show some restraint in what promises to be a nasty run-up to an election between two candidates freighted down with high negative ratings.
"There have been a lot of barbs thrown at each other," Ernst told reporters in Iowa. "They need to take this into a civil discourse and we're not seeing that right now. I don't like it when campaigns go that in direction."
As her party struggles to deal with Trump's deficit in the national polling average -- currently at 6 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics -- Ernst, a first-term senator, is doing all she can "to fill leadership roles with Republicans," she told Bloomberg Politics.
For now, that means supporting the nominee, as she did on Saturday. But her name is often mentioned as a potential presidential contender if Trump loses to Clinton in November.
She "would be part of a small subset of talented Republican women who the party might look toward to challenge the nation's first female president," said Iowa Republican insider David Oman. In her Roast-and-Ride comments, Ernst lauded Trump but spent more time attacking Clinton -- a tantalizing preview of a theoretical 2020 match-up.
Ernst, 46, says she has no White House ambitions, but she's acting like someone who's ready to look like a candidate once the 2016 race is over.
She's campaigned for fellow Senate Republicans Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire, John McCain in Arizona and Rob Portman in Ohio. She's taken the lead in raising money for them as vice chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. At the Republican convention in July, she received a prime-time speaking slot -- at least until earlier speakers overran their allotted time. She regularly speaks at prominent conservative events, and is signed up for the Koch network summit over Labor Day weekend.
When Ernst articulates her goals, however, she ignores any presidential possibilities.
"The way you should operate every day is to strive for excellence. Every single day. And then the future will shake out," said Ernst, the first female combat veteran in the Senate, who represents a party whose platform doesn't support women in combat.
"She truly is not thinking about or considering a White House run," said Ernst's spokeswoman, Brook Hougesen. "I can't stress that enough."
But that doesn't stop the speculation. Ernst is already a one-name household brand for conservative activists like the ones who went to Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz's consolation rally during the Cleveland convention. Cruz backers there lamented his loss, but said they were ready to look to the future - and Ernst is on their radar.
"She's all-American. Awesome," said U.S. Rep. David Livingston of Arizona."Strong conservative," said his wife, Tracy Livingston, a teacher.
Robert McCutcheon, 18, of Phoenix, said he met Ernst when she was in the state stumping for McCain in February and immediately liked her. "She takes the time to hear people's stories," he said.
"I know there are a lot of people in Arkansas that love her. She was in a hog commercial, right?" said Vicky Arellanes, a Republican from the state, referring to Ernst's infamous 2014 campaign ad that equated her skills at hog castration with budget cutting. Comedian Stephen Colbert likes to razz her about it, saying once "I'm pulling for Joni Ernst whole hog, or whatever's left."
Ernst emerged from a five-way Republican primary in 2014 and went on to beat Bill Braley, then a Democratic congressman, to claim the Senate seat previously held by Democrat Tom Harkin, who chose not to run for a sixth term. Almost immediately, her political talent was apparent to influential members of the party. For example, at an exclusive donor event in Washington recently, the room was already occupied by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other party heavyweights when Ernst arrived. Everything stopped, one donor told Bloomberg, as attendees turned their attention to her. And when she had to leave early, she caused a scene because everyone wanted to hug her or shake her hand.
But ask Republicans nationally and in Iowa if Ernst is already presidential material, and some express doubts. Future cabinet member? Yes, they say. Nominee? Not so much.
"Yes, she has the talent. Her military experience gives her the chops to be president," said former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, one of five candidates who ran against Trump that ended up speaking at his convention. "But she's young. She has plenty of election cycles ahead of her."
The words "not ready" aren't heard as often about Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, 39, another Senate freshman with a military background, whose office is across the hall from Ernst's. "Joni's one of the very fine emerging leaders in the party," Cotton told Bloomberg. "I feel very lucky to have been elected in the same year. We met very early on in our campaigns, went through the same experiences."
Some strategists say privately that Ernst was overly cautious in her first year in the Senate, often declining to co-sponsor or co-sign legislation. But she's starting to do that more this year. The Conservative Review website, which assigns lawmakers a "Liberty Score" that measures their adherence to conservative principles, puts Ernst solidly in the top half of the 54 Republicans now in the 100-member Senate.

Sen. Joni Ernst tries to rise with Donald Trump by her side


Two people have charged been with murder in connection with the death of a 47-year-old Sheffield man who has now been named by police.
The man who died following a reported assault in Fox Walk, Walkley on Thursday evening was named by South Yorkshire Police as Craig Wild a few moments ago.
Emergency services were called to house in Fox Walk, Walkley at about 6.45pm on Thursday following reports that Craig had allegedly been assaulted.
RELATED LINKS:
MURDER: Residents’ shock after two arrested on suspicion of murder in Sheffield
BREAKING NEWS: Two arrested on suspicion of murder in Sheffield
He was pronounced dead shortly after and a post-mortem examination concluded that he died from multiple injuries, including stab wounds.
Two people have been charged in connection with his death.
David Webster, 49, of Leppings Lane, Hillsborough and Alison Moss, 46, of Fox Walk, Walkley, appeared before Sheffield Magistrates’ Court this morning charged with murder.
They have been remanded into custody to appear at Sheffield Crown Court on Wednesday, August 31.
Craig’s family have asked for their privacy to be respected at this extremely difficult time.
Detectives remain keen to hear from anyone who has any information about Craig’s death.
If you have any information that could assist officers with their enquiries, please call 101 quoting incident number 988 of August 25, 2016.
Alternatively, information can be given to Crimestoppers anonymously by calling 0800 555111.

Two charged as Sheffield murder victim is named


Get the latest breaking news from The Star - politics, education, health, crime, showbiz, environment and more. Visit now.


EXPAND Courtesy of Dreamworks
Tension and release is the driving principle of a tearjerker, where every good fortune is countered by something worse. And as dismissive as critics often are of the genre, it’s actually quite difficult for a director to make people cry en masse and genuinely feel things. Derek Cianfrance’s foreboding melodrama The Light Between Oceans follows a quiet lighthouse keeper whose family crest seems emblazoned with misery after the end of the first World War, until he meets a woman who will marry and join him on his own private island. Then, of course, the results of this isolationism are also catastrophically sad. But for all the tragedy descending upon the characters of this film, it’s difficult to muster adequate tears — not because the acting is lackluster (it’s incredible, actually), but because the onslaught of melancholia is so relentless that it’s near impossible to refill the tear reserves.
Cianfrance may be the best actors’ director working in the business today. His heartbreaking relationship drama Blue Valentine (2010) is unrivaled in its realism, complexity and compassion, achieved through intense development with his two leads, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams — they lived in a house together for months to create their characters and dialogue. In this film, the trifecta of Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Rachel Weisz could themselves sweep the acting categories at the Oscars.
Fassbender is Tom Sherbourne, a quiet man who saw so much death in the war that he’s convinced he can never be allowed in the same room with happiness. He does surrender to joy, however, in the form of a young woman, Isabel Graysmark (Vikander). The two become married and retreat to the lighthouse on Janus Island, where Tom is the keeper. They frolic in the breeze-blown grasses until they must stake not one but two gravesites for babies who didn’t make it to term. Isabel’s grief resonates as she heaves, sobs and gasps while sitting at her piano, realizing her body’s betrayal; we watch her confused emotions as stray, unsure smiles ripple over her face for a full minute in this scene. The couple’s loss is compounded by their circumstances — with so many dead after the war, they feel it's imperative that they procreate — and their remoteness. So when a baby washes ashore in a rowboat, the event seems almost a blessing, but the baby’s accompanied by a dead body, and Tom knows an albatross when he sees one.
The context and the substance of this story are heart-wrenching, but Cianfrance sometimes relies too heavily on our “mirror” neurons — watching people cry continually for two hours becomes more numbing (or grating) than moving. And the characters become frustrating, despite the performances. Playing into this is the economic film language Cianfrance employs to swiftly carry the story along (it’s based on a novel, so there’s much ground to cover). He uses pre-lapping dialogue, an artful montage technique in which words spoken in a new scene are heard before the film has cut from the preceding one.
This allows Cianfrance to convey the characters' thoughts while making room for more quick, soundless moments to add texture to the story. For the first two acts of The Light Between Oceans, the technique is seamless and mastered (his longtime editors Jim Helton and Ron Patane deserve much credit for their work). But toward the end, I found myself begging for a break, for just one lengthy scene where no women had wet eyes to round it all out.
As with any brazenly romantic and tearful film, there are clichés: Women are carried and prostrate more often than they are walking, and men are always hugging their pregnant women from behind while the female is washing dishes or cooking. But the sense of authenticity that marks The Light Between Oceans at its best has everything to do with the acting — and if all Cianfrance ever gives us is that, it’s worth the price of his lagging third act.


Derek Cianfrance’s foreboding melodrama The Light Between Oceans is catastrophically sad.


Priddis, Alberta (AP) — Ariya Jutanugarn missed a chance to take a big lead into the final round of the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, making two late bogeys Saturday at Priddis Greens.
A week after withdrawing from the Rio Olympics because of a left knee injury, the 20-year-old Thai player bogeyed the par-4 16th and par-5 18th for a 5-under 67.
“Feeling good,” Jutanugarn said. “I mean, I had two bogeys the last three holes, but I still shot 5 under, so it’s still good.
At 17-under 199, she had a two-stroke advantage over South Korea’s In Gee Chun.
“I keep the eye on me,” Jutanugarn said. “I’m not really care like who the leader is, like what I say yesterday. I really want to play my game and be happy on the course.”
Jutanugarn won the Women’s British Open in the event before the Olympics to tie Lydia Ko for the LPGA Tour victory lead with four. After a late meltdown in the major ANA Inspiration in April, Jutanugarn picked up the nickname “May” with three straight victories in the breakthrough month.
“After I won my first tournament, I kind of know how I play under pressure, so I know when I get really excited what I have to do,” Jutanugarn said.
Hitting 2-iron and 3-wood off the tee on the driving holes, Jutanugarn had seven birdies in an 11-hole stretch Saturday on the tree-lined layout.
Chun shot a 66.
“I could see the putting lines very well,” said Chun, the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open champion. “I was so good at rolling the ball on those lines, and I made really good up-and-downs today. Those really got my game going.”
South Korea’s Sei Young Kim and Northern Ireland’s Stephanie Meadow were 12 under. Kim had a 68, and Meadow shot 69.
“Hitting fairways is key,” said Meadow, a former Alabama player. “The rough is pretty penal, especially with the greens being so firm, so if you can hit the fairways there’s a lot of wedges into holes here, and if you can kind of dial in your yardages, you’re going to make some birdies.”
Three-time champion Ko was tied for 10th at 10 under, and Canadian star Brooke Henderson was nine strokes back at 8 under.
“I hit the ball really solid and I gave myself so many looks at birdies, but really not one of them dropped,” Ko said after a 70. “When you’re having those kind of days, it’s really hard for you to go low. It was a little bit of a struggle with the putter.”
Ko won the event three of the last four years, the first two as an amateur. The 19-year-old New Zealander won in 2012 at Vancouver Golf Club at 15 years, 4 months to become the LPGA Tour’s youngest winner and fifth amateur champion. She successfully defended her title in 2013, winning by five strokes in Edmonton. Last year back at Vancouver as a pro, she beat Stacy Lewis in a playoff.
Henderson shot her second straight 68 after opening with a rain-delayed 72.
“I felt way better today, and I think feeling the energy from my massive crowds has definitely really helped that,” the 18-year-old Henderson said. “Through bad shots and good shots, they’re supporting me and giving me a little bit of extra energy and positive vibes. That’s really helped me the last two days.”
Henderson beat Ko in a playoff in June in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship for her first major title, and successfully defended her Cambia Portland Classic title last month.
Alena Sharp topped the five Canadians to make the cut in the national championship, shooting a 67 to move into a tie for fifth at 11 under with Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist (66), South Korea’s Ha Na Jang (67), Amy Yang (68) and Chella Choi (69).
“Started off kind of ugly,” Sharp said. “I was not hitting it well the first nine holes, but I hung in there. I think that’s something that’s gotten better with my game is when it’s not good, I realize, ‘OK, just keep grinding away, it’s going to change.'” And the last six holes were great.”

Ariya Jutanugarn falters late, has 2-shot lead in Canada


JOHANNESBURG Africa's rare forest elephants which play a key role in replenishing the central African rainforests will need almost a century to recover from an onslaught by ivory poachers because of their slow birth rate, a study published on Wednesday said.
The study by the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society is the first analysis of the demography of an elusive animal that is hard to track because of its remote wooded surrounds.
But the thickly-forested tropical range it inhabits has not deterred poachers, who reduced its population by a staggering 65 percent between 2002 and 2013 to meet red-hot demand for ivory in China and other fast-growing Asian economies.
"In the intervening time we are down significantly from that 100,000 - it could be as low as 70,000 now," Peter Wrege of Cornell University, one of the study's authors, told Reuters.
"To come back to the population it was before 2002, based on their natality rates, it could take nearly a century to recover," Wrege said.
Much more is at stake than the fate one animal's population: forest elephants are regarded by biologists as a "keystone species" playing a crucial role in the robustness of central Africa's wooded ecosystems, the study, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, said.
Plant species depend on elephants to disperse their seeds in their excrement - big animals travel widely, eat a lot, and produce vast amounts of dung. The gaps that their bulk and diet create in thick vegetation also provide smaller creatures with pathways.
"The structure of the forests would change if they did not have the elephants doing this dispersal," Wrege said.
The health of the central African rainforests has global consequences as they are the planet's second largest carbon sequestration zone - which means they soak up carbon, slowing climate change.
"Forest elephants are experiencing the greatest levels of poaching in Africa with potentially as much as 10 to 18 percent of the population killed per year," the study said.
One of two species of African elephant - the other is the more numerous and larger Savannah elephant - the forest dwellers can hardly sustain this kind of lethal pressure because few other mammals reproduce so slowly.
The study found females begin giving birth when they are around 23, about a decade later than their Savannah counterparts. And female forest elephants only produce a calf every five or six years, compared to the three- to four-year interval of their Savannah kin.
Some of the worst poaching is taking place in forest-elephant range states such as Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo - poor countries that suffer from bad governance and conflict.
The findings come ahead of a major United Nations' meeting in Johannesburg at the end of September where Zimbabwe and Namibia will push for permission to sell ivory stocks, a move opposed by many other African countries.
Those seeking to open up the ivory trade argue it will raise badly-needed funds for conservation, but others say it would provide cover to poachers and make products that threaten species such as forest elephants socially acceptable.
Overall, the illicit killing of elephants in Africa is believed to have declined from a peak of 30,000 in 2011 but remains far too high, according to a recent report.
(Editing by Richard Balmforth)

Africa forest elephants may take almost a century to recover from poaching: study


Africa's rare forest elephants which play a key role in replenishing the central African rainforests will need almost a century to recover from an onslaught by ivory poachers because of their slow birth rate, a study published on Wednesday said.


BUXTON, N.C. (AP) — A tropical weather system off the coast of North Carolina’s Outer Banks is expected to strengthen in the next day, bringing winds up to 45 mph and heavy rains that could flood low-lying areas, officials said.
Early Tuesday, the tropical depression with winds of 35 mph was about 95 miles (150 kilometers) south-southeast of Cape Hatteras and was expected to become a tropical storm Tuesday afternoon but not grow any stronger. A hurricane hunter aircraft was sent in to investigate the depression, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said early Tuesday.
A tropical storm warning has been issued for areas of the coast from Cape Lookout to the Oregon Inlet along North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
National Weather Service meteorologist Shane Kearns in eastern North Carolina said in an interview that “anything is possible, but we’re not really seeing any kind of significant strengthening for the storm.”
At the same time, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said that another tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico could hit northern Florida as a tropical storm later in the week and possibly head toward the Atlantic coast. They cautioned that the storm’s exact path remained uncertain days in advance, but the storm was becoming better organized Monday night.
Beachgoers, boat captains and business owners waited warily for the storm to wash out one of the summer’s last busy weeks.
Tourists in North Carolina sought to take the approaching storm in stride.
Visitor Katherine Vega, 45, of Springhill, Tennessee, said she could handle a day indoors during her vacation. By Monday afternoon, she had already fled the Atlantic’s swelling waves and strengthening currents off Hatteras Island in Buxton.
“We were just knee-deep, and there were a few times where we had to run out because it kept sucking us in,” she said, adding she’d watch movies with her husband until the storm blows through.
“We came from Tennessee,” she said with a shrug. “There are tornado threats over there.”
“I would advise everybody to take a look at the weather,” Dare County emergency management director Drew Pearson said when asked whether visitors should keep their travel plans. “They need to make those decisions based on what they see in the weather forecast.”
The second depression was about 305 miles (495 kilometers) west of Key West, Florida, with maximum winds of 35 mph (55 kph). It was moving west, but forecasters expect it could curve back to the northeast in the coming days. Authorities at some locations in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area of Florida were hauling out sandbags Monday to offer residents amid predictions of heavy rains.
On North Carolina’s Outer Banks, business owner Jennifer Scarborough said her biggest concern was that the first storm could saturate the area before another blow by the second storm.
“The second storm is the one I’m more worried about,” she said. “I’m definitely keeping an eye on it and planning accordingly. … If we have a lot of rain in a short amount of time that could be a problem.”
Roads along the thin barrier islands are prone to flooding and damage from erosion, including the two-lane N.C. Highway 12 that is the area’s main north-south artery.
“N.C. 12, our lifeline on Hatteras Island, even in a winter storm has some challenges,” Pearson said.
Scarborough, who manages Hatteras Harbor Marina and owns the Harbor Deli next door, said she’s receiving concerned calls from customers and that some captains are canceling fishing trips for Tuesday and Wednesday. With Labor Day approaching, the week represents one of the last busy stretches of summer for the area.
“It’s definitely making people think twice about coming here,” she said.
In the central Pacific, Hurricane Madeline strengthened Monday into a Category 4 storm about 515 miles (830 kilometers) east of Hilo, Hawaii. Top sustained winds reached 130 mph (215 kph) as Madeline moved west at 9 mph (15 kph). A hurricane watch was posted for Hawaii County and those in the main Hawaiian Islands were urged to monitor the storm’s progress.
Elsewhere in the Pacific, Hurricane Lester weakened to a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kph) while churning west near 14 mph (22 kph) about 1,435 miles (2,305 kilometers) east of the Hilo, Hawaii. It posed no immediate threat to land.
___
Drew reported from Raleigh, North Carolina.

North Carolina warily watching 2 tropical weather systems


By Ben Finley and Jonathan Drew, Associated Press
BUXTON, N.C. — A tropical weather system off the coast of North Carolina’s Outer Banks is expected to strengthen in the next day, bringing winds up to 45 mph and heavy rains that could flood low-lying areas, officials said.
Early Tuesday, the tropical depression with winds of 35 mph was about 95 miles (150 kilometers) south-southeast of Cape Hatteras and was expected to become a tropical storm Tuesday afternoon but not grow any stronger. A hurricane hunter aircraft was sent in to investigate the depression, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said early Tuesday.
A tropical storm warning has been issued for areas of the coast from Cape Lookout to the Oregon Inlet along North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
National Weather Service meteorologist Shane Kearns in eastern North Carolina said in an interview that “anything is possible, but we’re not really seeing any kind of significant strengthening for the storm.”
At the same time, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said that another tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico could hit northern Florida as a tropical storm later in the week and possibly head toward the Atlantic coast. They cautioned that the storm’s exact path remained uncertain days in advance, but the storm was becoming better organized Monday night.
Beachgoers, boat captains and business owners waited warily for the storm to wash out one of the summer’s last busy weeks.
Tourists in North Carolina sought to take the approaching storm in stride.
Visitor Katherine Vega, 45, of Springhill, Tennessee, said she could handle a day indoors during her vacation. By Monday afternoon, she had already fled the Atlantic’s swelling waves and strengthening currents off Hatteras Island in Buxton.
“We were just knee-deep, and there were a few times where we had to run out because it kept sucking us in,” she said, adding she’d watch movies with her husband until the storm blows through.
“We came from Tennessee,” she said with a shrug. “There are tornado threats over there.”
“I would advise everybody to take a look at the weather,” Dare County emergency management director Drew Pearson said when asked whether visitors should keep their travel plans. “They need to make those decisions based on what they see in the weather forecast.”
The second depression was about 305 miles (495 kilometers) west of Key West, Florida, with maximum winds of 35 mph (55 kph). It was moving west, but forecasters expect it could curve back to the northeast in the coming days. Authorities at some locations in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area of Florida were hauling out sandbags Monday to offer residents amid predictions of heavy rains.
On North Carolina’s Outer Banks, business owner Jennifer Scarborough said her biggest concern was that the first storm could saturate the area before another blow by the second storm.
“The second storm is the one I’m more worried about,” she said. “I’m definitely keeping an eye on it and planning accordingly. … If we have a lot of rain in a short amount of time that could be a problem.”
Roads along the thin barrier islands are prone to flooding and damage from erosion, including the two-lane N.C. Highway 12 that is the area’s main north-south artery.
“N.C. 12, our lifeline on Hatteras Island, even in a winter storm has some challenges,” Pearson said.
Scarborough, who manages Hatteras Harbor Marina and owns the Harbor Deli next door, said she’s receiving concerned calls from customers and that some captains are canceling fishing trips for Tuesday and Wednesday. With Labor Day approaching, the week represents one of the last busy stretches of summer for the area.
“It’s definitely making people think twice about coming here,” she said.
In the central Pacific, Hurricane Madeline strengthened Monday into a Category 4 storm about 515 miles (830 kilometers) east of Hilo, Hawaii. Top sustained winds reached 130 mph (215 kph) as Madeline moved west at 9 mph (15 kph). A hurricane watch was posted for Hawaii County and those in the main Hawaiian Islands were urged to monitor the storm’s progress.
Elsewhere in the Pacific, Hurricane Lester weakened to a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kph) while churning west near 14 mph (22 kph) about 1,435 miles (2,305 kilometers) east of the Hilo, Hawaii. It posed no immediate threat to land.


WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Friday that the case for raising interest rates has strengthened in light of a solid job market and an improved outlook for the U.S. economy and inflation. But she stopped short of offering any timetable.
Yellen sketched a generally upbeat assessment of the economy in a speech to an annual conference of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She pointed to steady gains in employment and strength in consumer spending.
She also noted that while inflation is still running below the Fed’s 2 percent target, it’s being depressed mainly by temporary factors.
“In light of the continued solid performance of the labor market and our outlook for economic activity and inflation,” Yellen said, “I believe the case for an increase (in the Fed’s benchmark borrowing rate) has strengthened in recent months.”
Still Yellen declined to hint at whether the Fed might raise rates at its next policy meeting, Sept. 20-21, or at its subsequent meetings in early November and mid-December. Instead, she stressed, as she frequently has, that the Fed’s rate decisions will depend on whether the freshest economic data continues to confirm its outlook.
“As ever,” she said, “the economic outlook is uncertain, and so monetary policy is not on a preset course.”
Economists took her remarks to mean that while a rate hike remains possible at the Fed’s September meeting, it isn’t necessarily likely.
“We think most officials will want to see more concrete evidence of a rebound in GDP growth and a rise in inflation towards the 2 percent target, with a December move still appearing the most likely outcome,” said Andrew Hunter, an economist with Capital Economics.
Hunter pointed to a government report Friday that the economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, grew at an anemic 1.1 percent annual rate last quarter as evidence that the Fed likely wants to see stronger growth.
In December, the Fed raised its benchmark rate modestly in response to a brighter economic picture, notably a job market nearing full health. The rate had been kept at a record low near zero since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis.
At the time, the Fed foresaw four additional rate increases in 2016. But since then, global economic pressures, financial market turmoil and a brief slump in the U.S. job market have kept the Fed on the sidelines.
Some economists have said they think conditions are ripe for the Fed to boost rates next month. Others say they foresee no action until December, after the elections, in at the earliest.
Stanley Fischer, the Fed’s vice chairman and a close Yellen ally, said after her speech that in deciding whether to raise rates as soon as September, policymakers will assess the August jobs report next Friday to see whether employment growth maintains its solid pace of the past three months.
“That will probably weigh in our decision, along with other data that may come in,” Fischer said in an interview on CNBC. “We think the evidence is that the economy has strengthened.”
Fischer said it was still possible that the Fed could raise rates twice before year’s end. But he said that would depend on the strength of forthcoming economic data.
In her speech, Yellen said the Fed still believes that future rate increases, whenever they occur, will be “gradual.”
Some have said that if the Fed does decide to act in September, it would need to further prepare investors. After Yellen’s speech, data from the CME Group indicated that investors foresee only a 24 percent probability of a rate hike in September and about a 58 percent chance by December.
The Fed chair on Friday defended the extraordinary tools the central bank has used to support the economy since the 2007-2009 Great Recession. To ease the impact of the recession, for example, she said the Fed had effectively used bond purchases to reduce long-term borrowing rates and had assured investors that short-term rates would stay low.
But to combat future downturns, she said the Fed should explore other options, too. She mentioned raising the Fed’s 2 percent inflation target to give it more leeway or possibly expanding the types of assets the Fed could buy beyond Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities. But she said those options would require more study.
Yellen said that while the Fed’s support had been critical in supporting the economy, political leaders should considering using the government’s tax and spending powers as well. She said efforts need to be made, in particular, to boost the productivity of U.S. workers. Productivity growth has weakened sharply in recent years and has been a major factor in holding the economy back.
Yellen was the lead-off speaker Friday for the annual conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. The conference draws members of the Fed’s board of governors in Washington, officials from the 12 regional banks and monetary leaders from around the world.
In advance of Yellen’s speech Friday, several Fed officials met Thursday with about 120 activists from the Campaign for Popular Democracy’s Fed Up coalition. The group of policy activists, labor unions and community groups has been lobbying the Fed to keep rates low to allow the economy to strengthen enough to benefit more Americans.
The group, some wearing T-shirts bearing the slogan, “We Need a People’s Fed!” posed questions about economic policy and the need for diversity to the Fed officials who took part in the 90-minute discussion.
“Our communities are being sacrificed for an inflation enemy that isn’t here,” said Rod Adams, a community organizer for Neighborhoods for Change in Minnesota.
The coalition said it wanted the Fed and Congress to consider changes in the makeup of the boards of directors of the 12 regional banks to promote more diversity among a group of officials that is mainly white and male and dominated by bankers.

Yellen suggests rate hike is coming but offers no timetable


The next president of the United States should be ready to work with Congress to spend more money.
That's the message from investors and economists, including Janet Yellen. The question is how much cash to drop -- and when.
About everyone agrees that if a crisis hits, government spending must be part of the rescue effort.
"Fiscal policy has traditionally played an important role in dealing with severe economic downturns," Federal Reserve chair Yellen said in a speech Friday.
One of Yellen's colleagues at the Fed was even more blunt.
"Fiscal policy should be our equivalent of a first responder to recessions," said John Williams, head of the San Francisco Fed, this month. There's even talk of whether the U.S. should enact "automatic stabilizers" that would kick in whenever the economy sinks below a certain level.
America's central bank has been doing the bulk of the work to try to boost hiring and economic growth in recent years, but the Fed argues it can only do so much.
Related: Janet Yellen says Fed rate hike odds have 'strengthened'
Clinton and Trump propose stimulus
Many investors and business economists say the same thing. In fact, many in the corporate world want Congress (and foreign governments) to open the money valve soon.
A record 48% of investors think global fiscal policy is currently too restrictive, according to a recent BofA Merrill Lynch Global Fund Manager Survey. They want Europe, especially, to spend more after the shocking Brexit vote.
Even in the U.S., where the economy is doing pretty well, 43% of experts surveyed this month by the National Association of Business Economics think government spending is "too restrictive." That's up from just 29% who felt that way a year ago.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have heard the message. Both propose a bump in government spending, especially on infrastructure. Clinton wants to inject $275 billion in her first term into improving America's roads and bridges. Trump promises twice that much if he's elected.
Related: U.S. domestic spending is near 53-year lows.
Does the U.S. need a lot more stimulus?
Pumping up infrastructure spending can help create jobs and beef up business in the short-term.
"Roads, bridges, sewers, water. You name it, we are lagging," says David Kotok, chairman of investment firm Cumberland Advisors. "The United States needs somewhere between $3 trillion and $4 trillion of infrastructure spending."
If Congress and the next president pass a big infrastructure bill (Clinton wants to do it in her first 100 days), it should help the economy and markets in 2017 and 2018.
The debate is whether the U.S. needs even more stimulus from the federal government. It could come the form of tax cuts (as Trump proposes) or more spending (as Clinton proposes).
The U.S. is in a slow-growth recovery. The economy has been expanding about 2% a year, far below the historic average of over 3%. So far this year, U.S. growth has been below 1%, according to the latest data released Friday.
Related: Clinton better for economy than Trump, say business economists
U.S. 'not in a recession'
The Fed believes a rebound is coming in the second half of the year. In fact, on Friday Yellen said she thinks the economy has "strengthened" and may be ready for another interest rate hike, the ultimate sign of confidence from the Fed.
"Stimulus is what you might need during a recession. We're not in a recession. The economy does not need stimulus per se from the federal government," says chief economist Tim Hopper of TIAA-CREF.
With the U.S. debt growing, the Republican-controlled House seems reluctant to spend much more. Whether that changes after November -- or after the next crisis -- remains to be seen.


On Friday Janet Yellen reiterated again that the government has to spend more during crises. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump want to do more stimulus.


Troops from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Benin have been fighting the jihadists as part of regional efforts to end the violence in the Lake Chad region. By Georges Gobet (AFP/File)
N'Djamena (AFP) - Four Chadian soldiers have been killed after a mine planted by Boko Haram Islamists destroyed their vehicle, a security source said on Saturday.
"An army car hit a mine planted by Boko Haram at Kaiga Kindji, near the border of Chad and Niger. There were four dead and a dozen wounded," said the security source, who requested anonymity.
Friday's bombing was the latest in a series of attacks on Chadian soldiers by Boko Haram militants, who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2015.
The Boko Haram insurgency has claimed more than 20,000 lives since it began its quest for a independent Islamist state in 2009 in northeast Nigeria.
The conflict has also spread to Niger, Chad and Cameroon, forcing more than 2.6 million people from their homes.
Troops from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Benin have been fighting the jihadists as part of regional efforts to end the violence in the Lake Chad region.
This force has made significant gains in recent months against Boko Haram, driving them out of some of the group's Nigerian heartlands.
However, Boko Haram has continued to carry out suicide bombings and has retrenched to difficult-to-access areas such as the islands of Lake Chad.

4 Chad troops killed by 'Boko Haram mine'


N'Djamena (AFP) - Four Chadian soldiers have been killed after a mine planted by Boko Haram Islamists destroyed their vehicle, a security source said on Saturda


A man has been arrested by police after suspicious items sparked a suspected bomb alert and homes to be evacuated in a South Shields street.
Scores of residents were forced to leave their homes in Lake Avenue, Marsden in the early hours of this morning as officers and an army bomb disposal team from Catterick sealed off the area.
The response came after officers discovered what they said ‘gave the appearance of improvised explosives’ as they searched a property over an unrelated matter.
Throughout the day searches at the address were carried out by specially trained officers which are now complete.
The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team carried out a controlled explosion mid-morning on an item police say was not an explosive device.
Around 61 households were evacuated and Temple Park Centre in South Shields was turned into a refuge centre to give residents refreshments.
Police have now confirmed a 38-year-old man was arrested earlier this evening in connection with the incident. He remains in custody and inquiries are continuing.
The cordon that was in place has now been lifted and residents are being allowed back into their homes.
Superintendent Brad Howe said: “First of all I would like to thank local residents for their patience during this incident, I know there has been a lot of disruption for them and I would like to assure them we did not do this without giving a great deal of thought to the impact this would have on them.
“We have been working closely with our colleagues at South Tyneside Council to try and keep this disruption minimal and to make sure there was support for residents who were directly affected by this.
“While initially it appeared there may have been suspected improvised explosive devices in the premises this has proved not to be the case and devices of this nature were not found. Other items were seized which included what is believed to be a homemade taser.”
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 Man arrested after ‘supicious items’ sparks evacuation of South Shields street 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...


A man has been arrested by police after suspicious items sparked a suspected bomb alert and homes to be evacuated in a South Shields street.


Man arrested after ‘supicious items’ sparks evacuation of South Shields street


DURANT, Miss. | A memorial Mass will be held Monday for two 68-year-old nuns who were killed in their Mississippi home, even as authorities continue to investigate the stabbing. A man from about 15 miles away has confessed without giving a reason, according to the sheriff.
The Mass will be at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Jackson, about an hour’s drive from Durant, the town of 2,500 where Sisters Margaret Held and Paula Merrill lived until last week.
They both worked at a health clinic for the poor in nearby Lexington, where they also led Bible study at a church. And more than 300 people came Sunday to St. Thomas Church to say farewell.
Relatives of Sister Margaret Held, pray before her casket, during the vigil for the deceased, at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Lexington, Miss., for Held and Sister Paula Merrill, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016. The two nuns, from different orders, were found murdered in the Durant, Miss., house they rented, on Thursday. Although authorities have arrested a suspect, they speculate on the motive of the deaths of the two nurse practitioners, who worked the poor in a clinic in Lexington. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) Relatives of Sister Paula Merrill, pray before her casket, during the vigil for the deceased, at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Lexington, Miss., for Merrill and Sister Margaret Held, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016. The two nuns, from different orders, were found murdered in the Durant, Miss., house they rented, on Thursday. Although authorities have arrested a suspect, they speculate on the motive of the deaths of the two nurse practitioners, who worked the poor in a clinic in Lexington. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) Area residents, patients of the Lexington Medical Clinic, relatives, and fellow religious, pray at a vigil for the deceased at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Lexington, Miss., for Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016. The two nuns, from different orders, were found murdered in the Durant, Miss., house they rented, on Thursday. Although authorities have arrested a suspect, they speculate on the motive of the deaths of the two nurse practitioners, who worked the poor in a clinic in Lexington. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) A Lexington, Miss., resident hugs the relative of Sister Margaret Held, following a vigil for Held and Sister Paula Merrill at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Lexington, Miss., Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016. The two nuns' bodies were found in their house in Durant, Miss., Thursday. Friends and colleagues who knew the two nuns gathered Sunday to remember them, as authorities continue to investigate the harrowing crime that shocked people in the small communities where the women committed their lives to helping the poor. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) People stand in line to attend a vigil for the deceased held at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Lexington, Miss., for Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016. The two nuns, from different orders, were found murdered in the Durant, Miss., house they rented, on Thursday. Over 300 people attended the service. Although authorities have arrested a suspect, they speculate on the motive of the deaths of the two nurse practitioners, who worked the poor in a clinic in Lexington. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) Pictures of Sisters Margaret Held, left, and Paula Merrill, right, sit atop their caskets during the vigil for the deceased, at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Lexington, Miss., Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016. The two nuns, from different orders, were found murdered in the Durant, Miss., house they rented, on Thursday. Although authorities have arrested a suspect, they speculate on the motive of the deaths of the two nurse practitioners, who worked the poor in a clinic in Lexington. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) The Rev. Greg Plata, sacramental minister at St. Thomas Catholic Church, leads a vigil for Sister Margaret Held, her coffin left, and Sister Paula Merrill in Lexington, Miss., Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016. The two nuns' bodies were found in their house in Durant, Miss., Thursday. Friends and colleagues who knew the two nuns gathered Sunday to remember them, as authorities continue to investigate the harrowing crime that shocked people in the small communities where the women committed their lives to helping the poor. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) Bishop Joseph Kopacz of the Jackson, Miss., Catholic Diocese, center, presides at a vigil for the deceased held at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Lexington, Miss., for Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016. The two nuns, from different orders, were found murdered in the Durant, Miss., house they rented, on Thursday. Although authorities have arrested a suspect, they speculate on the motive of the deaths of the two nurse practitioners, who worked the poor in a clinic in Lexington. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) Area residents, patients of the Lexington Medical Clinic, relatives, and other people pray at a vigil for Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Lexington, Miss., Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016. The two nuns' bodies were found in their house in Durant, Miss., Thursday. Friends and colleagues who knew the two nuns gathered Sunday to remember them, as authorities continue to investigate the harrowing crime that shocked people in the small communities where the women committed their lives to helping the poor. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
About 145 people filled the church to capacity, and there was an overflow crowd outside, where 160 folding chairs were set up and still people had to stand to watch on a monitor as Bishop Joseph Kopacz of the Jackson Diocese led the service.
The church’s priest, the Rev. Gregory Plata, spoke about how far-reaching the nuns’ work was, and how much they’ll be missed.
The final hymn, described as Sister Margaret Held’s favorite, was “How Can I Keep from Singing?”
Afterward, nuns from the dead women’s orders, people from other faiths, and members of the community embraced the women’s families.
The killing shocked people in the small communities where the women committed their lives to helping the poor.
Rodney Earl Sanders, 46, of Kosciusko, Mississippi, has been arrested and charged in the stabbings. The county sheriff said Sanders confessed to the killings although many people are struggling to comprehend why anyone would want to take the two women’s lives.
Their bodies were found after they failed to show up for work Thursday at the clinic.
Authorities have said Sanders was developed as a person of interest early in the investigation.
Holmes County Sheriff Willie March said he was briefed by Durant police and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation officials who took part in Sanders’ interrogation and was told that Sanders confessed to the killings but gave no reason.
Durant police could not be reached for comment Saturday or Sunday. Warren Strain, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety which includes the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, said the organization would neither confirm nor deny that Sanders confessed.
Sanders was on probation after a prison term for a felony DUI conviction last year, said Grace Simmons Fisher, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
Sanders was also convicted of armed robbery in Holmes County, sentenced in 1986 and served six years, Fisher said.
People who knew the nuns, known for their generosity and commitment to improving health care for the poor, have been grappling with why anyone would want to kill them.
Sanders was not a patient at the clinic, said Dr. Elias Abboud, the physician who oversees it.
Plata said he does not think people at the church knew Sanders.
Authorities said Sanders was being held in an undisclosed detention center pending a court appearance. They have not given any details on why they think Sanders killed the women or whether he knew them but they do say they believe he acted alone.
Strain said he does not know if Sanders has an attorney.
The clinic and the nuns’ home in Durant are in Holmes County, population 18,000. With 44 percent of its residents living in poverty, Holmes is the seventh-poorest county in America, according to the Census Bureau.
The nuns’ death leaves a gaping hole in what was already a strapped health care system.
The clinic provided about 25 percent of all medical care in the county, Abboud said.
Solis contributed from Lexington, Mississippi. Associated Press writer Steve Karnowski contributed from Minneapolis.

Memorial Mass for 2 nuns killed in their Mississippi home


Justice Department will probe metro Phoenix sheriff Arpaio
PHOENIX (AP) — The investigation and possible prosecution of metropolitan Phoenix Sheriff Joe Arpaio will be handled by the U.S. Justice Department after federal prosecutors in Arizona asked to be removed because of unspecified conflicts of interest, according to a court filing made public Friday.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for Arizona said in its brief filing in U.S. District Court in Phoenix that the case has been assigned to the Justice Department's criminal division, public integrity section.
The filing cited "existing conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts of interest pertaining to the matter" for Arizona's federal prosecutors, but it did not provide details.
Mel McDonald, an attorney for Arpaio, said he was disappointed by the decision.
"It's their call," McDonald said. "If they have a conflict ... I'm not one to second-guess that decision."
U.S. District Judge Murray Snow ruled last Friday that another judge should decide if Arpaio and others should be held in criminal contempt-of-court for ignoring court orders in a racial profiling case. Snow also said there was probable cause to believe Arpaio intentionally failed to turn over records that he had promised, under oath, to give to a court official.
The records were from a secret investigation that Arpaio's foes say focused on Snow in an attempt to discredit him.
Arpaio, a Republican who is running for a seventh term this year, has vigorously insisted that he didn't investigate Snow and instead said the probe was focused on widespread identity theft.
Snow has not publicly explained why he turned the Arpaio case over to another judge, but federal law says a judge is to be disqualified from a criminal contempt case if the defendant is accused of disrespecting or criticizing the court.
Snow also wanted another judge to determine whether sheriff's Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan, Capt. Steve Bailey and former Arpaio attorney Michele Iafrate violated orders in concealing nearly 1,500 IDs in an internal investigation into whether officers pocketed items from people during traffic stops.
In May, the judge found Arpaio, Sheridan and two other sheriff's employees in civil contempt of court for violating three orders within the nearly 9-year-old profiling case. Arpaio and Sheridan were previously found to have made several intentional misstatements of facts last year during their contempt hearings.
Three years ago, the sheriff's office was found to have racially profiled Latinos in regular traffic and immigration patrols.
Snow imposed a series of changes aimed at guarding against profiling, but he has complained that Arpaio has been slow to make the changes.
Arpaio, 84, built his political reputation on pushing the bounds of local immigration enforcement, making inmates wear pink underwear and jailing them in tents during Phoenix's triple-digit summer heat.
He voluntarily gave up his last major foothold in immigration enforcement in January 2015 after the courts and federal government gradually reined in his powers.
____


PHOENIX (AP) — The investigation and possible prosecution of metropolitan Phoenix Sheriff Joe Arpaio will be handled by the U.S. Justice Department after fed...


Justice Department will probe metro Phoenix sheriff Arpaio


Ascoli Piceno, Italy (AP) — Mourners in Italy prayed, hugged, wept and even applauded as coffins carrying victims of the country’s devastating earthquake passed by at a state funeral Saturday, grieving as one nation after three desperate days of trying to save as many people as possible.
In the central town of Ascoli Piceno, they gathered to bid farewell to 35 of the 291 people confirmed dead so far after the quake that struck a swath of countryside early Wednesday at the foothills of the central Apennine mountains.
The caskets of 35 people had been brought to a community gym — one of the few structures in the area still intact and large enough to hold hundreds of mourners. The local bishop, Giovanni D’Ercole, celebrated Mass beneath a crucifix he had retrieved from one of the damaged churches in the picturesque area of medieval stone towns and hamlets.
Emotions that had been dammed up for days broke in a crescendo of grief. One young man wept over a little girl’s white coffin. Another woman gently stroked another small casket. Many mourners were recovering from injuries themselves, some wrapped in bandages. Everywhere people knelt at coffins, tears running down their cheeks, their arms around loved ones.
“It is a great tragedy. There are no words to describe it,” said Gina Razzetti, a resident at the funeral. “Each one of us has our pain inside. We are thinking about the families who lost relatives, who lost their homes, who lost everything.”
As all of Italy observed a day of national mourning, with flags at half-staff, Bishop D’Ercole urged residents to rebuild their communities.
“Don’t be afraid to cry out your suffering — I have seen a lot of this — but please do not lose courage,” D’Ercole said in his homily. “Only together can we rebuild our houses and our churches. Together, above all, we will be able to restore life to our communities.”
President Sergio Mattarella and Premier Matteo Renzi joined grieving family members, stopping to speak to some of them.
When the caskets were brought out of the gym, the mourners applauded, a traditional Italian way of honoring people who die in tragedy.
The bishop recalled the heartbreaking story of 9-year-old Giulia Rinaldo, whose embrace apparently allowed her younger sister Giorgia to survive.
He said 15 hours after the quake struck Wednesday, he returned to the church in Pescara Del Tronto to recover its crucifix. Close by, firefighters were using their hands to dig out the two sisters.
“The older one, Giulia, was sprawled over the smaller one, Giorgia. Giulia, dead, Giorgia, alive. They were in an embrace,” D’Ercole said.
Giulia was among those buried Saturday, while her younger sister had her fourth birthday at a hospital, trying to recover from the traumatizing ordeal.
“The melancholy grabs on to your heart. You feel a sense of weakness, of depression,” said Fiore Ciotto, a resident of Ascoli Piceno who attended the funeral. “An event like this weakens you physically and mentally.”
Across the area, a cool retreat for those seeking to escape Italy’s hot summers, many of the dead were children and elderly people, some of them visiting grandparents before school resumed.
The magnitude 6.2 quake struck at 3:36 a.m. Wednesday and was felt across a broad swath of central Italy, killing at least 291 people and injuring nearly 400. Nobody has been found alive in the ruins since Wednesday, and hopes have nearly vanished of finding any more survivors.
Before Saturday’s mass funeral, the president visited Amatrice, which bore the brunt of destruction with 230 fatalities and a town turned to rubble and dust. Eleven others died in nearby Accumoli and 50 more in Arquata del Tronto, 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Amatrice.
Mattarella arrived by helicopter and was shown the extent of the damage in Amatrice by its mayor, Sergio Pirozzi. The president thanked rescue workers who have been working around the clock, some barely taking breaks for sleeping.
Saturday’s funeral involved most of the dead from Arquata del Tronto.
As deep as their anguish was, Saturday’s mourners at least had coffins with bodies to honor and bury. Many of the dead from Amatrice are now in a refrigerated morgue in an airport hangar in Rieti, the provincial capital that is 65 kilometers (40 miles) away, awaiting identification.
On Tuesday, a memorial service — without the bodies — will be held for the dead of Amatrice on that battered town’s outskirts.
Hundreds of people have been left homeless by the quake, with many spending their nights in tent cities and a gym in Amatrice, where volunteers are working to provide basic amenities.
With families unable to remain in the houses in Amatrice that were damaged but still standing, two persons were detained Saturday for suspected looting, the mayor said.
Overnight, residents were rattled yet again by a series of aftershocks. The strongest, at 4:50 a.m., had a magnitude of 4.2, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, while the Italian geophysics institute measured it at 4.
The Italian institute says the earthquake caused the ground below Accumoli to sink 20 centimeters (8 inches), according to satellite images.

Grief erupts in Italy as nation mourns quake dead


ASCOLI PICENO, Italy (AP) — Mourners in Italy prayed, hugged, wept and even applauded as coffins carrying victims of the country’s devastating earthquake passed by at a state funeral Saturday, grieving as one nation after three desperate days of trying to save as many people as possible.
In the central town of Ascoli Piceno, they gathered to bid farewell to 35 of the 291 people confirmed dead so far after the quake that struck a swath of countryside early Wednesday at the foothills of the central Apennine mountains.
The caskets of 35 people had been brought to a community gym — one of the few structures in the area still intact and large enough to hold hundreds of mourners. The local bishop, Giovanni D’Ercole, celebrated Mass beneath a crucifix he had retrieved from one of the damaged churches in the picturesque area of medieval stone towns and hamlets.
Emotions that had been dammed up for days broke in a crescendo of grief. One young man wept over a little girl’s white coffin. Another woman gently stroked another small casket. Many mourners were recovering from injuries themselves, some wrapped in bandages. Everywhere people knelt at coffins, tears running down their cheeks, their arms around loved ones.
“It is a great tragedy. There are no words to describe it,” said Gina Razzetti, a resident at the funeral. “Each one of us has our pain inside. We are thinking about the families who lost relatives, who lost their homes, who lost everything.”
As all of Italy observed a day of national mourning, with flags at half-staff, Bishop D’Ercole urged residents to rebuild their communities.
“Don’t be afraid to cry out your suffering — I have seen a lot of this — but please do not lose courage,” D’Ercole said in his homily. “Only together can we rebuild our houses and our churches. Together, above all, we will be able to restore life to our communities.”
President Sergio Mattarella and Premier Matteo Renzi joined grieving family members, stopping to speak to some of them.
When the caskets were brought out of the gym, the mourners applauded, a traditional Italian way of honoring people who die in tragedy.
The bishop recalled the heartbreaking story of 9-year-old Giulia Rinaldo, whose embrace apparently allowed her younger sister Giorgia to survive.
He said 15 hours after the quake struck Wednesday, he returned to the church in Pescara Del Tronto to recover its crucifix. Close by, firefighters were using their hands to dig out the two sisters.
“The older one, Giulia, was sprawled over the smaller one, Giorgia. Giulia, dead, Giorgia, alive. They were in an embrace,” D’Ercole said.
Giulia was among those buried Saturday, while her younger sister had her fourth birthday at a hospital, trying to recover from the traumatizing ordeal.
“The melancholy grabs on to your heart. You feel a sense of weakness, of depression,” said Fiore Ciotto, a resident of Ascoli Piceno who attended the funeral. “An event like this weakens you physically and mentally.”
Across the area, a cool retreat for those seeking to escape Italy’s hot summers, many of the dead were children and elderly people, some of them visiting grandparents before school resumed.
The magnitude 6.2 quake struck at 3:36 a.m. Wednesday and was felt across a broad swath of central Italy, killing at least 291 people and injuring nearly 400. Nobody has been found alive in the ruins since Wednesday, and hopes have nearly vanished of finding any more survivors.
Before Saturday’s mass funeral, the president visited Amatrice, which bore the brunt of destruction with 230 fatalities and a town turned to rubble and dust. Eleven others died in nearby Accumoli and 50 more in Arquata del Tronto, 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Amatrice.
Mattarella arrived by helicopter and was shown the extent of the damage in Amatrice by its mayor, Sergio Pirozzi. The president thanked rescue workers who have been working around the clock, some barely taking breaks for sleeping.
Saturday’s funeral involved most of the dead from Arquata del Tronto.
As deep as their anguish was, Saturday’s mourners at least had coffins with bodies to honor and bury. Many of the dead from Amatrice are now in a refrigerated morgue in an airport hangar in Rieti, the provincial capital that is 65 kilometers (40 miles) away, awaiting identification.
On Tuesday, a memorial service — without the bodies — will be held for the dead of Amatrice on that battered town’s outskirts.
Hundreds of people have been left homeless by the quake, with many spending their nights in tent cities and a gym in Amatrice, where volunteers are working to provide basic amenities.
With families unable to remain in the houses in Amatrice that were damaged but still standing, two persons were detained Saturday for suspected looting, the mayor said.
Overnight, residents were rattled yet again by a series of aftershocks. The strongest, at 4:50 a.m., had a magnitude of 4.2, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, while the Italian geophysics institute measured it at 4.
The Italian institute says the earthquake caused the ground below Accumoli to sink 20 centimeters (8 inches), according to satellite images.
___
Gera reported from Rome. Frances D’Emilio contributed reporting from Rieti.
___
This story has corrected that the president’s first name is Sergio.

Italy buries quake dead, recalls sisters embracing in rubble


ASCOLI PICENO, Italy (AP) — Mourners in Italy prayed, hugged, wept and even applauded as coffins carrying victims of the country’s devastating earthquake passed by at a state funeral Saturday, grieving as one nation after three desperate days of trying to save as many people as possible.
In the central town of Ascoli Piceno, they gathered to bid farewell to 35 of the 291 people confirmed dead so far after the quake that struck a swath of countryside early Wednesday at the foothills of the central Apennine mountains.
The caskets of 35 people had been brought to a community gym — one of the few structures in the area still intact and large enough to hold hundreds of mourners. The local bishop, Giovanni D’Ercole, celebrated Mass beneath a crucifix he had retrieved from one of the damaged churches in the picturesque area of medieval stone towns and hamlets.
Emotions that had been dammed up for days broke in a crescendo of grief. One young man wept over a little girl’s white coffin. Another woman gently stroked another small casket. Many mourners were recovering from injuries themselves, some wrapped in bandages. Everywhere people knelt at coffins, tears running down their cheeks, their arms around loved ones.
“It is a great tragedy. There are no words to describe it,” said Gina Razzetti, a resident at the funeral. “Each one of us has our pain inside. We are thinking about the families who lost relatives, who lost their homes, who lost everything.”
As all of Italy observed a day of national mourning, with flags at half-staff, Bishop D’Ercole urged residents to rebuild their communities.
“Don’t be afraid to cry out your suffering — I have seen a lot of this — but please do not lose courage,” D’Ercole said in his homily. “Only together can we rebuild our houses and our churches. Together, above all, we will be able to restore life to our communities.”
President Sergio Mattarella and Premier Matteo Renzi joined grieving family members, stopping to speak to some of them.
When the caskets were brought out of the gym, the mourners applauded, a traditional Italian way of honoring people who die in tragedy.
The bishop recalled the heartbreaking story of 9-year-old Giulia Rinaldo, whose embrace apparently allowed her younger sister Giorgia to survive.
He said 15 hours after the quake struck Wednesday, he returned to the church in Pescara Del Tronto to recover its crucifix. Close by, firefighters were using their hands to dig out the two sisters.
“The older one, Giulia, was sprawled over the smaller one, Giorgia. Giulia, dead, Giorgia, alive. They were in an embrace,” D’Ercole said.
Giulia was among those buried Saturday, while her younger sister had her fourth birthday at a hospital, trying to recover from the traumatizing ordeal.
“The melancholy grabs on to your heart. You feel a sense of weakness, of depression,” said Fiore Ciotto, a resident of Ascoli Piceno who attended the funeral. “An event like this weakens you physically and mentally.”
Across the area, a cool retreat for those seeking to escape Italy’s hot summers, many of the dead were children and elderly people, some of them visiting grandparents before school resumed.
The magnitude 6.2 quake struck at 3:36 a.m. Wednesday and was felt across a broad swath of central Italy, killing at least 291 people and injuring nearly 400. Nobody has been found alive in the ruins since Wednesday, and hopes have nearly vanished of finding any more survivors.
Before Saturday’s mass funeral, the president visited Amatrice, which bore the brunt of destruction with 230 fatalities and a town turned to rubble and dust. Eleven others died in nearby Accumoli and 50 more in Arquata del Tronto, 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Amatrice.
Mattarella arrived by helicopter and was shown the extent of the damage in Amatrice by its mayor, Sergio Pirozzi. The president thanked rescue workers who have been working around the clock, some barely taking breaks for sleeping.
Saturday’s funeral involved most of the dead from Arquata del Tronto.
As deep as their anguish was, Saturday’s mourners at least had coffins with bodies to honor and bury. Many of the dead from Amatrice are now in a refrigerated morgue in an airport hangar in Rieti, the provincial capital that is 65 kilometers (40 miles) away, awaiting identification.
On Tuesday, a memorial service — without the bodies — will be held for the dead of Amatrice on that battered town’s outskirts.
Hundreds of people have been left homeless by the quake, with many spending their nights in tent cities and a gym in Amatrice, where volunteers are working to provide basic amenities.
With families unable to remain in the houses in Amatrice that were damaged but still standing, two persons were detained Saturday for suspected looting, the mayor said.
Overnight, residents were rattled yet again by a series of aftershocks. The strongest, at 4:50 a.m., had a magnitude of 4.2, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, while the Italian geophysics institute measured it at 4.
The Italian institute says the earthquake caused the ground below Accumoli to sink 20 centimeters (8 inches), according to satellite images.

Grief erupts in Italy as nation honors, buries quake dead


ASCOLI PICENO, Italy (AP) — Mourners in Italy prayed, hugged, wept and even applauded as coffins carrying victims of the country’s devastating earthquake passed by at a state funeral Saturday, grieving as one nation after three desperate days of trying to save as many people as possible.


ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Suspected members of a little-known rebel group killed eight soldiers in an attack in northern Paraguay on Saturday, just days after guerrillas and officials in Colombia reached a peace deal to end the longest-running insurgency in Latin America.
Paraguayan Interior Minister Francisco De Vargas reported the first five deaths from the attack in Arroyito, a town about 305 miles (490 kilometers) from Asuncion. Dr. Bernardo Jacquet, a physician at Hospital Concepcion, located some 55 miles (90 kilometers) from where the attack occurred, later said the death toll had risen to eight.
Authorities suspect the attack was carried out by a little-known Paraguayan guerrilla group called the Paraguayan People’s Army.
Federico Delfino, the country’s prosecutor for anti-kidnapping efforts, said the attackers got away with eight M4 carbines, bulletproof vests and the victims’ personal belongings.
The spike in rebel violence in Paraguay came as Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia on Wednesday announced the finalization of a peace agreement after more than four years of grueling negotiations. A cease-fire in the Colombian conflict that lasted more than a half-century will take effect at midnight next Monday.
The Paraguayan government considers members of the Paraguayan People’s Army to be terrorists under an anti-terrorism law.
The group was blamed last year in the killing of a German couple. Their bodies were found after the rebels abducted the pair from their cattle farm and demanded that the owner of a farm pay $300,000 and give food to the poor.

8 troops killed in suspected rebel attack in north Paraguay


South Sudanese leader Riek Machar was replaced by Taban Deng Gai as first vice president. By Zacharias Abubeker (AFP/File)
Khartoum (AFP) - South Sudan's former rebel leader Riek Machar has been discharged from hospital in Khartoum after being treated for a swollen leg, his aides told AFP on Friday.
Machar was replaced by Taban Deng Gai as South Sudan's first vice president after hundreds of people died in Juba last month in clashes between Machar's forces and government troops.
On Tuesday, the Sudanese government announced that Machar had arrived in Khartoum for "medical treatment", but did not elaborate.
"He has been discharged," Manasseh Zindo, a senior aide from Machar's party SPLM/A (IO), told AFP.
Another party aide, Sabiet Majok, said Machar had been discharged on Friday morning.
"His condition has improved. His leg has improved. Basically, what we know is that his leg had swollen due to long-distance walking," Zindo said.
Following last month's deadly fighting in Juba, Machar escaped to the Democratic Republic of Congo before travelling to Khartoum.
On Tuesday, Sudan said that when Machar arrived in the capital that he needed "immediate medical treatment".
"He's in good health now, but he will stay in Khartoum for some more days," Majok said.
He said Machar plans to meet President Omar al-Bashir, and also to hold a press conference.
Majok said Machar soon plans to travel to Ethiopia, Djibouti, Uganda and Kenya -- the other member countries apart from Sudan of East African trading and security bloc IGAD.
After a 1983-2005 civil war, the mainly Christian south of Sudan split from the Muslim north on July 9, 2011, following a referendum six months earlier.
But in December 2013, a brutal civil war erupted in the world's youngest country between supporters of President Salva Kiir and Machar, after Kiir accused his deputy of plotting a coup.
Ties between Khartoum and Juba have been strained since then amid allegations that Sudan backs Machar in the civil war that has killed tens of thousands of people and forced more than two million from their homes.
The civil war in South Sudan has split the country along ethnic lines and driven it to the brink of collapse.
A peace deal signed between the government and rebels almost a year ago has so far failed to end the conflict.

S. Sudan ex-VP Machar discharged from Khartoum hospital: aides


Khartoum (AFP) - South Sudan's former rebel leader Riek Machar has been discharged from hospital in Khartoum after being treated for a swollen leg, his aides to


A Chevron gas station sign is pictured at one of their retain gas stations in Cardiff, California October 9, 2013. REUTERS/Mike Blake
SINGAPORE Chevron Corp's (CVX.N) liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply deal with China's ENN LNG Trading Co may boost the formation of a spot market for the fuel in Asia.
Chevron signed a 10-year term supply deal with ENN to supply up to 650,000 metric tons per annum of LNG with first delivery expected in 2018 or in the first half of 2019, Chevron said in a statement on Monday.
ENN is a subsidiary of ENN Energy Holding (2688.HK), which is one of China's largest gas distribution companies and operates in 150 Chinese cities. The firm is also constructing a LNG import terminal in the northeastern city of Zhoushan that is planned to start by 2018.
Chevron expects to supply ENN through its existing LNG assets, "including the company’s Australian LNG interests at Gorgon, Wheatstone and the North West Shelf", the statement said.
Companies such as Chevron with the flexibility to match their supply with customers around the world are growing in dominance.
By depending on a number of supply terminals rather than simply one site to supply ENN, the deal may help the formation of so-called spot market for LNG. This would help to replace the dominant sales model of multi-year contracts from one supply site to a buyer, said Sophie Corbeau, a research fellow at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center.
"We see this as a beauty of the spot market – we have a network of buyers where sellers are not particularly committed to one buyer for a certain time," said Corbeau.
(Reporting by Mark Tay; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

Chevron LNG supply deal with China's ENN may boost spot market growth


Chevron Corp's (CVX.N) liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply deal with China's ENN LNG Trading Co may boost the formation of a spot market for the fuel in Asia.


Story highlights In seven days, aircraft and boat patrol teams searched a total of 16,571 square miles
Survivors marooned for eight days with 'limited supplies'
(CNN) Two stranded mariners were rescued after a US Navy aircraft crew spotted three vital letters etched into the sand while flying over a deserted beach in Micronesia: "SOS."
The US Navy alerted a Guam search and rescue team identifying the uninhabited location, the Coast Guard in Guam said in a statement Friday.
Two stranded mariners were rescued after a US Navy aircraft crew spotted SOS etched into the sand while flying over a deserted beach in Micronesia.
The survivors, who were marooned for eight days with "limited supplies and no emergency equipment on board," were picked up Friday and transferred to Nomwin atoll, according to the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard received a report about an 18-foot vessel with two people aboard missing since August 19. The ship left Weno Island two days earlier en route to Tamatam Island -- but the castaway pair never made it.
In seven days, the aircraft and boat patrol teams searched a total of 16,571 square miles before rescuing the boaters, who have yet to be identified, the Coast Guard said.

Stranded mariners saved after writing 'SOS' in the sand


Two stranded mariners were rescued after a US Navy aircraft crew spotted three vital letters etched into the sand while flying over a deserted beach in Micronesia: "SOS."


NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks were mostly lower on Wall Street in early afternoon trading on Friday, giving up modest gains following a generally upbeat assessment of the economy from Fed Chair Janet Yellen. Phone companies and utilities, widely considered safe-play stocks, led the list of declining stocks, while the health care and technology sectors rose. AT&T and Verizon each fell 1 percent.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 67 points, or 0.4 percent, to 18,382 as of 12:19 p.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped 6 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,167. The Nasdaq composite dipped 10 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,203.
YELLEN UPBEAT: Federal Reserve Chair Yellen said in a speech that the Fed is moving toward raising interest rates in light of a solid job market and an improved outlook for the U.S. economy and inflation. But she stopped short of signaling any timetable for the next rate hike.
BOND REACTION: After initially rising after Yellen’s speech, U.S. government bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year note, which moves in the opposite direction of the price, rose to 1.59 percent from 1.54 earlier Friday. The yield was 1.58 percent late Thursday.
THE QUOTE: “Who would think the Fed would raise interest rates two months before a very important election and with economic growth that has been back and forth and back and forth for years?” said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at R.W. Baird. “She suggests the economy is improving, but the GDP numbers for the past three quarters are closer to 1 percent than three percent. That is very anemic.”
SOFTWARE SURGE: Design software company Autodesk rose $4.08, or 6 percent, to $67.78 after reporting a small profit, beating expectations of a loss.
HERBALIFE FALLS: Herbalife fell $3.39, or 5.6 percent, to $58.54 after the Wall Street Journal reported that Carl Icahn, the company’s biggest shareholder and defender, has been trying to unload his stake. Federal regulators recently ordered the company to change its sales practices, but did not agree with Wall Street critics that it was a pyramid scheme.
OVERSEAS: Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent, Germany’s DAX gained 0.6 percent, and France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.8 percent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.2 percent after consumer prices fell the most in three years in July. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.4 percent.
OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude oil slipped 9 cents to $47.24 a barrel. Brent crude, used to price oil internationally, fell 25 cents to $49.42 a barrel.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 101.46 yen from 100.57 yen the previous day. The euro fell to $1.1220 from $1.1281.

Stocks slip into losses in the afternoon after Yellen speech


2016-08-31 03:00
DEAL DONE: The bank’s New York branch was facing a bigger fine, but central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan helped facilitate negotiations to reduce it, the premier said
By Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
The Executive Yuan yesterday formed a supervisory task force to facilitate an investigation into a breach of US money laundering rules by Mega International Commercial Bank’s （兆豐銀行） New York branch.
The task force, consisting of legal and finance experts — including lawyer Chen Chuan-yueh （高涌誠）, former Judicial Reform Foundation director Kao Yung-cheng （高永成）, former Bank of Taiwan chairman Lu Chieh-cheng （呂桔誠）, former First Commercial Bank （第一銀行） chairman Michael Chang （張兆順） and former Land Bank of Taiwan （土地銀行） chairmen Tsai Jer-shyong （蔡哲雄） and Wu Fang-chih （吳藩志） — is to gauge public opinion regarding the case and facilitate probes by the Financial Supervisory Commission （FSC） and the Ministry of Justice.
“The Executive Yuan will get to the bottom of the case and hold accountable all of the people responsible,” Premier Lin Chuan （林全） told a news conference.
The FSC interviewed 28 Mega Bank officials, while the ministry is looking into suspicious accounts at the New York branch, Lin said, although little was revealed about the progress of the investigation.
The New York State Department of Financial Services （DFS） on Aug. 19 announced that the New York branch agreed to pay a US$180 million penalty for breaching US money laundering regulations.
There are 73 suspicious accounts and 174 suspicious transactions involved, but no money laundering activity has been detected so far, Lin said.
Lin reaffirmed the appointment of Mega Financial Holding Co （兆豐金控） chairman Hsu Kuang-shi （徐光曦） amid criticism that Lin should be held accountable for appointing someone who was responsible for the branch’s flawed practices, as suspicious transactions between Mega Bank’s New York and Panama branches occurred during Hsu’s term as the bank’s general manager.
“Although Hsu was not totally blameless, he did not bear a large share of responsibility” in failing to report suspicious account activity to US authorities, Lin said.
Hsu was appointed as chairman after the branch was fined because he has experience dealing with a similar crisis, in which the bank’s Australian branch was not fined for breaching Australia’s money laundering regulations, Lin said.
President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） was also informed of the appointment, Lin said.
Hsu is in the US to learn more about the New York branch’s operations and will prepare a formal report for the DFS, Lin said.
The FSC and the ministry are also looking into the New York branch’s practices instead of allowing Mega Bank officials to direct the investigation, Lin said in response to accusations that Hsu might cover up the branch’s activities.
The DFS was originally going to impose a bigger fine, but central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan （彭淮南） helped facilitate negotiations between Mega Bank and US authorities to reduce the fine to US$180 million, Lin said, confirming a rumor about Peng’s intervention.
Peng, who is Hsu’s brother-in-law, helped Mega Bank connect with the US Federal Reserve to negotiate with the DFS, Lin said.
The sum of the original fine cannot be revealed due to an agreement with the US, Lin said.
The case also shows that the FSC’s supervision of Taiwanese banks’ foreign branches has to be improved, Lin said.
“We have learned a painful lesson. There is apparently much room for improvement in terms of money laundering prevention and legal compliance,” Lin said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES

《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Cabinet task force to probe Mega Bank


DEAL DONE: The bank’s New York branch was facing a bigger fine, but central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan helped facilitate negotiations to reduce it, the premier saidBy Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter


Qaeda-linked group claims deadly Tunisia ambush: SITE
An Al-Qaeda-linked group Tuesday claimed responsibility for a blast that killed three Tunisian soldiers near Mount Sammama, a hideout for jihadists at war with authorities, SITE Intelligence Group said.
The Obka Ibn Nafaa Battalion, which has claimed a string of previous attacks, said on its Twitter account that it ambushed two military vehicles on Monday in Tunisia's western region, hitting one with an improvised explosive device, according to SITE.
The defence ministry blamed the attack, which came on the same day a new unity government took office, on "terrorists", adding that two militants were believed to have been killed by army fire and their bodies removed.
Tunisian forces have been tracking jihadists mainly in the mountainous regions of Chaambi and Sammama ©Fathi Nasri (AFP/File)
Jihadist attacks in Tunisia have cost dozens of lives among security forces as well as civilians, and 59 foreign tourists were also killed in 2015.


An Al-Qaeda-linked group Tuesday claimed responsibility for a blast that killed three Tunisian soldiers near Mount Sammama, a hideout for jihadists at war wi...


Qaeda-linked group claims deadly Tunisia ambush: SITE


2:57 Father Ron Madden talks about new pastoral center Pause
6:40 Law enforcement officers remember Deonn Carter as "an angel"
0:58 Who is your team's off-the-field superstar?
1:51 Columbus Police lead funeral procession for Deonn Carter
3:03 Young Fort Mitchell boxer Money Powell is a national champion
2:40 Auburn QB Sean White: Proud to live up to team's 'Earn it' motto in winning starting job
1:08 Auburn WR Marcus Davis: Offense confident in newly named starter Sean White
1:40 Auburn RB Kerryon Johnson: 'Spicy' Sean White brings mean streak to field
1:22 Staff and students at Springer share how Ron Anderson touched their lives
1:20 Public safety luncheon helps strengthen "chain of survival"


Long ago, as a new guy in an old building, I stayed around until the morning newspaper rolled off the press and consumed the clippings in scrapbooks about the cleanup of Phenix City.


0:58 Who is your team's off-the-field superstar? Pause
1:51 Columbus Police lead funeral procession for Deonn Carter
3:03 Young Fort Mitchell boxer Money Powell is a national champion
2:40 Auburn QB Sean White: Proud to live up to team's 'Earn it' motto in winning starting job
1:08 Auburn WR Marcus Davis: Offense confident in newly named starter Sean White
1:40 Auburn RB Kerryon Johnson: 'Spicy' Sean White brings mean streak to field
1:22 Staff and students at Springer share how Ron Anderson touched their lives
1:20 Public safety luncheon helps strengthen "chain of survival"
1:22 Mom to Carver and Spencer players discusses watching Heritage Bowl
1:47 Carver's Dre'Mail King: It's about doing things the right way

Men discover they were switched at birth 40 years ago


The two boys were born three days apart in 1975.