India accepts ‘spy’ as former navy officer, denies having links

ISLAMABAD: The Indian Foreign Office on Friday, while admitting the alleged RAW agent arrested by Pakistani security forces to be its citizen, claimed that the suspect had already taken early retirement from the Indian Navy, DawnNews reported. A statement issued by New Delhi denied having any links with the arrested individual and said “he was no longer a serving official of the Indian armed forces”. “The arrested man is a former Indian Navy officer,” the Indian Foreign Office was quoted as saying. The arrested man is a former Indian Navy officer.” —Photo courtesy NDTV

The arrested man is a former Indian Navy officer.” —Photo courtesy NDTV

Security forces in Balochistan had on Thursday claimed the arrest of a man who was 'a serving officer in the Indian Navy and deputed to the Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).' The Pakistan government, on the other hand, claim to have recovered the travel documents and multiple fake identities of the arrested ‘spy’, establishing him as an Indian spy who entered into Balochistan through Iran — having a valid Iranian visa.

Pakistan lodges protest with India

Pakistan summoned Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale to lodge a strong protest over 'India's spying activities' in Balochistan and Karachi, the Foreign Office (FO) sources said.

The spy was linked to separatist elements in Balochistan, as well as involved in acts of sectarian terrorism and terror attacks in Karachi, a security official had said.

The RAW officer had been shifted to Islamabad for interrogation, as he was suspected of involvement in various acts of terrorism and other subversive activities in the province, the official said.

FO spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said Bambawale was summoned by Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry, who shared details of the man's arrest with the Indian High Commissioner.

Chaudhry lodged a strong protest over the RAW officer's spying activities in Balochistan and Karachi, making it clear that this was unacceptable, FO sources said.

India set to expel Pakistan high commission staffer for 'espionage'

India will expel a Pakistani high commission staff member for “espionage activities”, a foreign ministry official said Thursday, as local media reported that New Delhi police had detained him.

The Indian foreign secretary summoned Pakistani ambassador to India Abdul Basit to inform him that a Pakistan High Commission staffer has been declared persona non grata for espionage activities, Spokesperson of Indian Ministry of External Affairs Vikas Swarap said in a tweet.


Delhi police crime commissioner Ravindra Yadav said the official had been detained on Wednesday with defence and other documents in his possession.

The documents included information on deployment of India's border security forces, Yadav told a press conference.

A Pakistani diplomatic source said the visa official, named as Mehmood Akhtar, had been given 48 hours to leave the country.

Akhtar was released in about three hours on intervention by our High Commission, the Foreign Office said.

Two other officials, identified as Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir, have also been arrested for allegedly passing on sensitive information to the staffer.

Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit "strongly protested with Indian Foreign Secretary at the detention and manhandling of Pakistan High Commission staff," a spokesperson of the Pakistan High commission in Delhi said.

The high commissioner also said the detention contravened the 1961 Vienna Convention.

He asked the Indian government to ensure that such harassment does not happen in the future and strongly rejected accusations of the Indian government.

“Pakistan never engages in activity that is incompatible with its diplomatic status,” the envoy said.

"This act clearly reflects Indian actions to shrink diplomatic space for the working of Pakistan High Commission," the FO said.

Tense relations
The possible expulsion of the official comes amidst soaring tensions between Pakistan and India in the wake of a spate of cross-border firing which has caused casualties on either sides.

The Indian prime minister stepped up a drive to isolate Pakistan diplomatically after the Uri army base attack last month.

Hours after the attack occurred, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh termed Pakistan a 'terrorist state'. India also accused Pakistan of involvement in the attack.

The Uri attack occurred days before Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was set to address the United Nations General Assembly regarding Indian human rights violations in held Kashmir.

Following the attack, India claimed to have conducted a cross-border 'surgical strike' against 'launch pads of terror' in Azad Jammu and Kashmir — a claim Pakistan has strongly rejected.

Pakistan maintains that India is attempting to divert the world's attention away from 'atrocities' committed by government forces in India-held Kashmir.

Pakistan and India have locked horns over the Kashmir issue since Indian forces stepped up a crackdown against protesters after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed by government forces in July.

Drone strike targets senior Al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan: US official

A US drone strike targeted a senior Al Qaeda leader in northeastern Afghanistan and his deputy on Sunday, a US military official said.

The strike in Kunar province targeted Farouq al-Qahtani, Al Qaeda's emir for northeastern Afghanistan, and his deputy Bilal al-Mutaybi, the senior US defence official said.

The US military believes the men were killed but has not confirmed the strike was successful.

“We feel pretty confident,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.

The Pentagon first started tracking Qahtani years ago. Military officials had him in their sights in 2012 and almost conducted a strike then, but the mission was scrapped at the last minute because of the risk of civilian casualties.

Qahtani and his deputy were in Hilgal village in Kunar's Ghazi Abad district, officials said. They were in two separate buildings a few hundred meters (yards) apart and were targeted almost simultaneously by multiple drones.

Provincial spokesman Abdul Ghani Mosamem told AFP at least 15 insurgents were killed, including two Arabs. A number of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters were also among the fatalities, he said.

An Afghan intelligence official in the province also confirmed two Arabs were killed in the strikes.

Qahtani and Mutaybi are well-known senior Al Qaeda commanders in Kunar, and had been actively involved in recruiting local young people for the group.

Qahtani was born some time between 1979 and 1981 in Saudi Arabia and is a Qatari national.

In February this year, the US Department of the Treasury designated Qahtani, also known as Nayf Salam Muhammad Ujaym al-Hababi, as a specially designated global terrorist.

“Al-Hababi has a long history of directing deadly attacks against US forces and our coalition allies in Afghanistan, along with plotting Al Qaeda terrorist operations in the United States and around the world,” Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam Szubin said at the time.

In October 2001, in response to the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush launched military operations to dislodge the Taliban from Afghanistan and capture or kill Al Qaeda militants they were harbouring.

Their numbers have since been decimated, but the United States continues to target the group's remnants.

Qahtani has operated in Afghanistan since at least 2009 and led an Al Qaeda battalion since at least mid-2010, Treasury officials said.

They added that he had planned to carry out multiple attacks against the US and other Western nations.

Still think today’s country music sounds fake? Get real.

The year’s best country album comes from Maren Morris, and if the trophy gods deliver justice at the 50th annual CMA Awards on Wednesday, she’ll win a prize for it. The 26-year-old is a straight-talking, forward-thinking fountain of dash, and she’s funneling it into some great country music.

Is it real country music? For a half-century now, the CMAs have been celebrating the excellence of country — a genre where greatness is synonymous with realness, and realness is ratified through tradition, but tradition is perpetually threatened by progress, yet progress remains inevitable. And to think that this poor snake has been chomping its tail since Hank Williams walked the Earth.

Graciously, the Country Music Association helps Nashville calibrate its compass every November. Last autumn, CMA voters heard a gust of clarity in the voice of Chris Stapleton, a respectable Kentucky songwriter whose growly twang sounds a lot like yesterday. Stapleton took home some of the evening’s heaviest hardware — for album, male vocalist and new artist of the year — and his sweep read as an industry-wide apology for overloading the airwaves with mucho macho party music. As corrective measures go, it felt weird. A tasteful traditionalist was being celebrated as a champion of change.

In Nashville, time can often feel like it’s flowing in the wrong direction, but for the songwriters on Music Row, that’s the goal. Forestalling time itself is something that good country songs do. Since the dawn of the record biz, country singers have been soundtracking our journey across modernity, memorializing the more fragile facets of American life as they obsolesce into oblivion. These stories have tremendous value, especially considering the fact that the march of human progress is a story about trading up. Accepting the gifts of the modern world requires us to loosen our grip on the past, and while some of these transactions might bruise our little hearts, our lives are routinely improved. Next time you find yourself marveling over the survival of some stray telephone booth, think about whether you’d be willing to swap that tiny computer in your pocket for a fistful of quarters.

Here’s where country’s un-realness becomes useful. It provides a fantasy space for listeners to indulge the notion that things used to be better — and it’s a much more suitable arena for parsing that irrational sentimentality than, say, politics. But the nostalgia rendered on the lyric sheet seldom runs parallel to the action of the marketplace. Country music, like every other style of pop currently on sale, validates change. We love what’s old, but we buy what’s new.


So if you’re trying to write a country hit in 2016, you’re trying to sell something new without anyone noticing how new it actually is. This is why, even against the hurry-uppity rush of our 21st-century existence, country music continues to change with such delicious slowness. The genre’s most important singers are still the ones who sound most comfortable in that slow-motion riptide between innovation and sentimentality. They’re the ones capable of carrying the most history into the brightest future. Right now, nobody is doing that job better than Morris.

Florida Georgia Line. (Rick Diamond/Getty Images For CMT)
Sam Hunt. (Christopher Polk/Getty Images For DirecTV)
Plenty of listeners in the greater country protectorate remain skeptical of Morris’s pop-gloss, which should come as no surprise. Country’s fandom is rife with watchdogs eager to defend the purity of the music. They groan whenever they hear a song leaning too close to pop, and they grouse whenever they feel the industry prioritizing dollar-sucking over tradition-building.

It’s an honorable fight, but too many babies get tossed out with that bathwater. Sam Hunt, for one. After releasing the most confident country debut in recent memory, the Georgia newcomer was inexplicably snubbed at last year’s CMAs. Instead of hearing an heir to Conway Twitty’s intimate sing-speak, voters presumably heard another country singer trying to rap. Which was too bad. Even if your ears can’t detect Hunt’s fluency in country, hip-hop and R&B, his syncretic ballads still do the work of classic country songs: They tell accessible, unambiguous stories that convey genuine emotional truths.

But on country radio, Hunt remains surrounded by less-artful bros who insist on sprinkling their singles with blunderous rap verses, and lazy listening makes it easy to hear these hits as one monolithic, hunky-dorky whole. Eric Church — a relatively outspoken star who will compete with Morris for album, song and single of the year on Wednesday — made that very complaint to the Las Vegas Sun in April: “Country has become too homogenized and too commercial. It has lost what makes it special. It’s great that it’s popular, but then it starts to become watered down.”

Funny. Church could have been a time traveler sent from the 1950s, when Chet Atkins famously took country music “uptown” by swapping steel guitars for string sections — the sonic hallmark of his once-controversial “Nashville Sound.” Or from the ’80s, when the “Urban Cowboy” boom inspired Nashville to steer its songcraft toward mainstream eardrums. Or from the ’90s, when a phalanx of ambitious “hat acts” became platinum-selling, stadium-packing powerhouses. Each of these upheavals threw Nashville into an identity crisis; each produced a glut of enduring hits; and each is currently regarded as a classic era for country music. So if the sameness of today’s “bro-country” rings foul in our ears, perhaps we should sharpen our listening and wait for tomorrow. This music will be classic to someone someday.


We can start with Florida Georgia Line, two humanoid golden retrievers who are favored to win best duo at Wednesday’s CMAs. The pair’s new album, “Dig Your Roots,” is overflowing with gaudy songs, but their current single, “May We All,” feels like an exhilarating double-shot of sweetness and gusto. Again, babes and bathwater. And even if Florida Georgia Line fails to radiate righteous conviction at every turn, when these guys sing about baseball, beer and bikinis, they’re very much singing about things that exist in reality.

So maybe it’s not reality that makes a country song “real” as much as the singer’s authenticity. But then how to make sense of our very authentic responses to seemingly inauthentic art? We’re quick to dismiss these electric feelings as guilty pleasures, but pleasure isn’t a deception. Pleasure is truth. It might be the biggest truth a country song can tell.


Maren Morris and her ’80s Mercedes. (Robby Klein)
Nashville still seems dazed by the apotheosis of Taylor Swift, a darling planet-eater who, in the end, treated country music more like a sales floor than a cultural continuum. Either way, she conquered the genre unequivocally, then renounced it for a career in pop — a job change that she spelled out via formal declaration in 2014, as if genres were actual nation states, not demographic zones of moneymaking make-believe.

There’s some Swiftian ambition in Morris’s music, but there’s a lot more Patsy Cline, a woman who initially dismissed her own masterstroke, “Walkin’ After Midnight,” as “a little ol’ pop song.” The presumption — then and now — is that pop is a rootless music attached only to the faddish present. And while Morris seems too smart to buy into that nonsense, she clearly understands the secret of Cline’s alchemy: If “Walkin’ After Midnight” was a pop tune, Cline sang it like a country singer.

On her debut album, “Hero,” Morris reanimates various country tropes by flipping them straight over. Instead of cooing another lullaby to some godforsaken pickup truck, she serenades a vintage luxury sedan — a retro kitsch-mobile with a “hula girl on the dash.” The song is called “80s Mercedes,” and it warps time by memorializing a new kind of old thing.


“Rich” pulls off a similar inversion, updating the romance-across-class-lines drama that Jeanne Pruett was singing about when she took “Satin Sheets” to No. 1 in 1973. In Pruett’s ballad, the protagonist marries rich, but quickly learns that wealth has disconnected her from real love and real life. With “Rich,” Morris turns the idea upside-down, daydreaming about ditching her no-good man for a life of “head-to-toe Prada/Benz in the driveway/yacht in the water.” Instead of being stranded in sudden wealth, she’ll finally be free.

Whether Morris wins big with all of these songs on Wednesday night, the way she sings them should remind us that reality is something country stars must transmit with their voices. The lyric sheets, the backing musicians, the studio tricks and the cultural context all play significant roles, but they aren’t as consequential as the curves in a singer’s tone — those beautifully bent notes that have been passed across generations, from Jimmie Rodgers on down. We’ll never tire of arguing about what real country music isn’t, but listening to the human voice is our best shot at understanding what real country music is. We know what’s real when it’s being delivered on a breath. The trophies are just for fun.

Double-quake rocks central Italy

Hundreds of people were forced to leave their homes after two tremors struck central Italy last night.

The first 5.5 magnitude quake hit at 7.10pm and could be felt across central Italy and as far south as Caserta. A second 6.1 quake struck two hours later with its epicentre near the small town of Visso in the province of Macerata. The tremors are believed to be aftershocks of the major earthquake on 24 August which killed almost 300 people in and around the Lazio region of central Italy.

The Italian Red Cross sent a fleet of nine ambulances to the worst-hit areas last night, along with teams of volunteers specializing in psychological support as many people are suffering from trauma.

President of the Red Cross branch in Visso, Giovanni Casoni, said: “We spent the night trying to reassure people as much as we could that they were safe, especially the elderly. We could see the fear in people’s eyes -  fear of what they had just experienced and of what will happen next.

“Unfortunately, these are scenes that we are now familiar with.”

The Red Cross’s Visso branch was turned into a temporary shelter overnight for 200 people who were unable to return home following the quake which also downed power lines and blocked roads.

Casoni said: “The full extent of the damage is yet to be determined but we’re working closely with the Italian authorities to make sure people get the help they need.”

The Red Cross’s mobile kitchen, which can produce up to 1,000 meals per day, is ready to be set up to provide food for people who have been evacuated and volunteers from Red Cross branches in Umbria, Marche, Lazio and Abruzzo are on standby to provide extra support.

'I can't imagine being a doctor for five more years'

The General Medical Council has taken unprecedented steps to warn there was "a state of unease within the medical profession across the UK that risks affecting patients as well as doctors".

Five doctors speak about their experiences. 'Worried I'll miss something' A hosptial wardImage copyrightPA Dr Eloise Elphinstone, a GP in London, says she feels "very demoralised and pressured in the current climate". "I work incredibly long hours to ensure patients get the treatment they deserve, but sometimes to the detriment of my own health.

"I worry that I may miss something, being so tired by the end of a 12 hour day. I feel it's such a shame as it is an incredibly rewarding job on a good day.

"However, even over the last year the pressures are getting greater and greater and I feel we can provide a less good service.

"It has even got to the point that I have private health insurance for myself and my family as I worry that the NHS can not provide a timely service anymore with the pressures.

"I've also started looking to work in other environments - with the military or privately - where you get longer appointments with patients and the pressure is less...

"I also feel ashamed to say that a relative is thinking of training as a doctor, and I have been very reluctant to encourage this."

'Extremely disheartening'

Dr Kapla de Silva

Dr Kapla de Silva, 35, a final year cardiology registrar from London, says the "unstinting" belief in the NHS he had when he left medical school "has been whittled away".

A slew of government interventions have seen the training system "eroded", and most proposals under Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt - leading to recent strikes by junior doctors in England - have "degraded morale even further," he said.

"The way the whole saga has been portrayed by the government and, more worryingly by the media, has been extremely disheartening," he said.

"I work days, and nights, seven days a week, on a rota, as do all of my colleagues, and many hospital specialties do the same...

"Whilst I do not ask for a pay rise, I am frustrated that I will be financially less secure despite the number of years I have worked and trained for."

He added: "As cliched as it sounds, I work for my patients... no matter what happens I will do my utmost to deliver the best care that is possible. "

"I do however, think that overtime, a workforce that is disenchanted and disillusioned will inevitably be less inclined to work the extra hours, and go the extra mile…which would be a sad thing to see."

'Taking breaks from work'

Doctor's filesImage copyrightPA

Dr Andrew Bull, from Bristol who qualified nine years ago, says he has had to take breaks from work due to low morale.

A GP for just two years, he says: "Gradually I am enjoying my career less and less. I originally thought I would be a doctor for 40 years but now I struggle to imagine being a doctor beyond five more years.

"The low morale has complex causes but most doctors chose this job for the satisfaction it gives rather than for the money. Take away the satisfaction and we are not left with much from our career.

"I've had a couple of breaks from work to help get my enthusiasm back. It worked - it's useful to have a break, some people have enough and retire early.

"I've worked in Australia - it's another health system, you realise the NHS isn't as bad as everyone makes out. Outside the UK, many countries are jealous of the NHS. There are so many things it can do that the rest of the world can't.

"I'm thinking of working abroad again, maybe next year as things can get a bit stale. It'll be short term to begin with - maybe a year, like I did in Australia. I'm not planning on leaving forever. My plan would be to come back."

'The last straw'

GP checking a patient's blood pressureImage copyrightPA

Dr Stefan Cembrowicz, 69, former Senior Partner at Montpelier Health Centre in Bristol, said that the current generation of doctors face fresh challenges.

In the mid-1990s, he interviewed 20 of his registrars at Montpelier about a number of staff conditions, including morale.

He said: "They all had surprisingly high morale - they nearly all said their morale was eight out of 10. Why? Well they were a capable, high calibre bunch, but it was because they were looking forward to a good career."

Twenty years later, there is "a state of unease within the medical profession", the GMC has warned.

Dr Cembrowicz said: "As I understand it, the junior doctors' problem isn't money, it's the rota. What you have is a very hard pressed workforce already filling in the cracks, and being asked to fill in even more gaps on the rota is the last straw.

He added: "We must cherish them because they are the brightest and motivated people in the country."

Dr Cembrowicz pointed out that his generations of doctors were almost entirely male and did not have the shared childcare duties that they face today.

"If you change have to ask people to change their child care for rotas all the time, the sky will fall - it costs money and what's worse is all the organising".

'An exhausting privilege'

Dr Matt Piccaver, 38, a GP from Suffolk, maintains doctor will take the pressure first, before it hits the patients.

"Doctors just put more hours in - there aren't really corners you can cut. You can tell them to keep their coat and shoes on to save time, that's about it. To do the job properly you have to do all the right checks and you can't cut corners with those.

"You keep on absorbing until you personally suffer. I've been a GP for 11 years and it's an exhausting privilege - I'm knackered but I love the job".

With morale remaining low in the aftermath of the junior doctors' strikes, he said: "I think patients are still on our side, but in the media it's like we are the bad guys. We seem to be vilified in the press - it's reduced the perception of it being an attractive career.

"No one wants to be a GP anymore, no one wants to work - unbelievably - in paediatrics, or A&E.

He said the NHS was being "set up to fail" by the government, which is not giving it enough money in the face of rising patient numbers.

"The government needs to shape society around a world where one in three of us is elderly. They need to invest in social and community care - and give us adequate funding for the job, we need to attract people to it and get away from this toxic, awful feeling".

Melania Trump to give two or three 'important speeches'

Donald Trump said in an interview aired Thursday that his wife, Melania, will give "two or three speeches" during the remainder of his presidential run, praising his press-averse spouse as "an amazing public speaker." Trump delivered the news in a sit-down interview alongside Melania on ABC's "Good Morning America," their first joint appearance since a cascade of allegations of sexual assault against the Republican presidential nominee, which were also discussed. Asked by host George Stephanopoulos if she wants "to get out there yourself and help (Trump) out in the final two weeks," Melania Trump said "we'll see" before Trump jumped in.

"She's actually going to make two or three speeches," Donald Trump said. "She's amazing when she speaks. She is an amazing public speaker. So she's agreed to do two or three speeches, and I think it's going to be big speeches, important speeches. I think it's going to be great."

Melania Trump has been conspicuously limited as a campaigner, making few political statements or appearances during the 2016 cycle. And her biggest moment in the spotlight -- her speech at the Republican National Convention over the summer -- became a disaster after observers noted that significant portions of it appeared to have been plagiarized from a speech by Michelle Obama at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Trump's previous promises that his wife would make public statements have yet to come to fruition. In August, when she was facing scrutiny, he said she would hold a news conference to discuss her immigration story, which hasn't happened.

"They said my wife, Melania, might have come in illegally. Can you believe that one?" Donald Trump had said. "Let me tell you one thing. She has got it so documented, so she's going to have a little news conference over the next couple of weeks. That's good. I love it. I love it."

Stephanopoulos asked the potential first lady what her focus would be should her family move into the White House, and she pointed to negativity on social media as a primary concern.

"I will focus on helping children and women and also about social media in this 21st century, what's going on -- it's very hurtful to children, to some adults, as well, but we need to take care of children," she said. "We need to teach them how to use it, what is right to say, what is not right to say and -- because it's very bad out there, and children get hurt."

Stephanopoulos then asked, "Do you give him advice about tweets?"

"Yes, I do, all the time," Melania Trump replied. "Hey, look, it's a modern-day form of communication," Donald Trump said, laughing. "It's a big asset. You have to use it right. But it's a big asset." Asked about the women who have come forward to accuse her husband of sexual assault, Melania Trump dismissed the charges as "lies."

"They were -- they were lies, and as I said before, all the accusations, they should be handled in a court of law," she said. "To accuse somebody of -- without evidence, it's very hurtful and it's very damaging and unfair. And -- but honestly, do we still need to talk about that? I think American people want to hear the problems that we have in America."

"She's so right about that," Donald Trump added. "I can't apologize for something that I didn't do."

Stephanopoulos asked if he still planned to sue his accusers as he recently said he would. "We'll see what happens, OK? Let's see what happens on November 8," Trump said.

Philippine president says to review military deal with U.S.

Visiting Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday that he wanted to review amilitary agreement with the United States. Duterte, on his final day in Japan, reiterated his stance that he intended to review the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement inked with the United States in 2014, which allows U.S. troops to maintain military bases in the Philippines and rotate its troops in and out."Maybe, I will review the EDCA and ask them (the U.S. military) one of these days to leave the country," he was quoted as saying. Duterte also said the joint military exercises held between the Philippines and the U.S. have not been as beneficial to Manila as they should be. During the president's three day visit, Japan and the Philippines have agreed to enhancecooperation in a number of areas, including Japan providing the Philippines withinfrastructural support. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan would assist Duterte's war against drugsby helping out with addicts' rehabilitation.Abe, after a meeting with Duterte a day earlier, said the Philippines will serve as ASEANchair next year and Japan would provide its utmost support in this regard. Duterte gave recognition to Japan as being an important dialogue partner for ASEAN.

Authority of CPC Central Committee should be firmly upheld: communique

BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- A key meeting of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has called on all Party members to firmly uphold the authority of the CPC Central Committee, a communique said Thursday.

Ensuring the authority of the CPC Central Committee and the proper execution of orders of the Party are concerned with the destiny of the Party and the state, according to the communique issued after the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee convened from Monday to Thursday.

They are also concerned with the fundamental interests of the people of all ethnic groups in China, and they are important purposes of strengthening and regulating intra-Party political life, the communique said.

A leading core is vital to a country and a political party, it said, adding the entire Party should consciously maintain a high degree of consistency with the CPC Central Committee in thoughts, politics and actions.

Party organizations at all levels and all Party members, especially senior cadres, should conform to the CPC Central Committee and CPC theory, path, principle and policy, as well as decisions made by the CPC Central Committee.

Party organizations at all levels and all Party members should firmly follow what the CPC Central Committee advocates, firmly implement what the CPC Central Committee decides, and must not do what the CPC Central Committee prohibits, according to the communique.

West Ham v Chelsea: Children hit with coins amid violence

A football fan has said his eight-year-old daughter was among a number of children hit with coins as violence broke out when West Ham played Chelsea at the London Stadium.

Chelsea season ticket holders Paul Streeter and his daughter, Victoria, were sitting in the disabled section when they were caught in the crossfire as fans hurled coins.

They spoke to BBC Sports News Correspondent Richard Conway after West Ham beat Chelsea 2-1 in their EFL Cup tie.

CPC vows to tackle corruption in promotion system

BEIJING, Oct. 27 -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) on Thursday promised toresolutely address election malpractice, putting an end to the buying and selling of officialposts or vote rigging.

According to a communique released after the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPCCentral Committee, requesting an official post, honor or special treatment is not allowedunder any circumstances.

The communique also underscored that the practice of bargaining with Partyorganizations to secure a promotion or disobeying any decisions made by Partyorganizations is also forbidden.

The selection and appointment of officials should not be contaminated by outsideinterference or misconduct, according the document.

China-Russia Internet Media Forum to open in Guangzhou

China Russia Internet Media Forum will be held in Tianhe district, Guangzhou, capital ofSouth China's Guangdong province between Oct 28 and Oct 29, 2016. The forum, whose theme is "development and cooperation between Chinese and Russianinternet new media organizations", aims to enhance people-to-people exchanges between thetwo countries, create an information platform for the Belt and Road countries, enable relevantenterprises to hold dialogues and further promote development in the cultural, creative andinformation industries of the two nations.

With the assistance of Sputnik News Agency and Radio, the forum will be hosted by ChinaDaily website under the guidance of the organizing committee of Sino-Russian MediaExchange Year and the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the RussianFederation. Due to achievements made by Guangzhou's Tianhe district in recent years in technologicalinnovation and international exchanges, it was chosen as the venue of the forum, a majorevent of the 2016-2017 Sino-Russian Media Exchange Year, which was proposed byPresident Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in 2015, according to theorganizer of the event.

The China-Russia New Media Youth Leadership Summit will be held over the same time inGuangzhou's Tianhe district.

2 Yazidi women who escaped IS group win human rights prize

BRUSSELS (AP) — Two Yazidi women who escaped sexual enslavement by the Islamic State group and went on to become advocates for others have won the European Union's Sakharov Prize for human rights. Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the European Parliament's liberal ALDE group, said Thursday that Nadia Murad Basee and Lamiya Aji Bashar are "inspirational women who have shown incredible bravery and humanity in the face of despicable brutality. I am proud that they have been awarded the 2016 Sakharov Prize." Parliamentarian Beatriz Becerra Basterrechea, who backed their nominations, said the prize is "a recognition of Nadia's and Lamiya's fight throughout their life. Both have impressively overcome the brutal sexual slavery they were exposed to by jihadist terrorists and become an example for all of us."Murad has become a spokeswoman for other women abused by IS. In December, she told the U.N. Security Council how she and thousands of other Yazidi women and girls were abducted, held in captivity and repeatedly raped after the Iraqi area of Sinjar fell to Islamic State militants in August 2014. She escaped after three months in captivity. Bashar tried to flee four times before finally escaping this past March. As fighters pursued her, a land mine exploded, killing the two people she was with and leaving her scarred and unable to see out of her right eye. Still, she said, she considered herself among the lucky.

"Even if I had lost both eyes, it would have been worth it, because I have survived them," she told The Associated Press in an interview earlier this year in her uncle's home in the northern Iraqi town of Baadre. The prize comes as Iraqi forces backed by the U.S. are waging an offensive aimed at retaking the northern city Mosul, the Islamic State group's last major holding in Iraq. Hundreds of Yazidi women and girls are still captives of IS militants in Iraq and Syria. The Yazidi minority follows an ancient religion that IS and other Muslim hard-liners consider heretical. The award, named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honor individuals or groups who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms. Last year's winner was Saudi blogger Raif Badawi. Other former winners include Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Aung San Suu Kyi from Myanmar. Among the finalists this year were the Crimean Tatars and a former Turkish newspaper editor.

Thieves hit Arizona farm where it hurts just before Halloween, grab hundreds of pumpkins

BUCKEYE, Ariz. -- Someone stole hundreds of pumpkins from a farm’s pumpkin patch in the western Phoenix suburb of Buckeye, days before the busiest weekend of the year, reports CBS Phoenix affiliate KPHO-TV.

“These were volleyball-sized and larger, and our biggest carving pumpkins,” Kelly Stecker said while walking in the now empty field at Rocker 7 Farm Patch.

Rows of small pumpkins, given to kids on school trips, were untouched, but thieves took the 300 largest, priciest pumpkins.

“We’re looking at a $3,000 loss,” Stecker estimated.

Wednesday night, owners secured a new shipment of pumpkins, which they expect to arrive before the coming weekend.

Still, they hope to get answers about who took their crop, and why.

“You can’t help but feel violated. Someone came on the property without permission,” Stecker said.

While the farm is gated, dirt farm roads crisscross the rural Buckeye area, and thieves would be able to drive through other farms to get to the pumpkin patch.

Stecker says the thieves must have driven a large truck onto the property, which is not lit at night.

“We’re out in the country. The closest light is half a mile that way,” she said.

Buckeye police officers have been called to investigate.

BORDERS AND THE POLITICS OF MOURNING

Border crises and migrant deaths are increasingly the norm. And with these come the most pressing questions from our latest issue of Social Research: How—and whom—do we mourn as thousands of migrant deaths go unnamed and invisible? Our latest issue, "Borders and the Politics of Mourning," guest edited by Alexandra Délano Alonso and Benjamin Nienass, addresses this urgency. When identifying bodies can take days, and may not ever be possible due to lack of documentation or difficulties communicating with family members in conflict zones, how do we honor the dead? And does the unclaimed or unnamed status make these victims "ungrievable?"

 

The response to migration crises has largely been tighter borders and military intervention—often in the name of "humanitarianism." Such language, author Miriam Ticktin argues, has the effect of restricting aid only to those who are seen as "good victims"—those who stir compassion. Marina Kaneti and Mariana Prandini Assis suggest governments strategically refer to "borders" and "humanitarianism" to absolve their ethical responsibilities toward migrants. Are they more responsive to dead bodies over live humans?

 

When the dead are unidentified and unclaimed, local communities on both sides of the border find new ways to grieve with creative mourning practices. Anthropologists Erdem Evren and Alice von Bieberstein describe the artistic initiative "The Dead are Coming," which brought the bodies of Syrian migrants to Berlin for proper burial. In Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, the invisible departed are commemorated—and hence made grievable—with unofficial public memorials in the form of graffiti and handicrafts, as well as official memorials, including that of Villas de Salvarcar, detailed in the issue by photographer and Latin American Studies scholar Corrie Boudreaux.

 

Renowned activist and forensic anthropologist Mercedes Dorettipoints points out that "mourning gets into a kind of frozen stage" for the relatives of deceased or missing migrants. Yet the papers compiled in this issue indicate there may also be a public, political grief, in which we all are implicated outside the private sphere, the limits of humanitarianism or national identity, beyond borders.

 

"Borders and the Politics of Mourning" is available in print through Johns Hopkins University Press and online through ProjectMUSE.

 MIGRATION POLITICS

"Borders and the Politics of Mourning," builds on the work of our Spring 2010 issue, "Migration Politics." Comparing these two issues, we can see that in the six intervening years, migration issues have taken on a new urgency. On the international arena, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) earlier this year said that migrant deaths are now the "new normal" as the flood of those trying to get to Europe and other places of relative safety has reached the level of a "global crisis." Domestically, in the United States, immigration issues have become one of the most bitterly polarized aspects of this year's election contest.

 

Who is "The Other"? And who defines "The Other"? These questions are at the core of social sciences, particularly migration politics, as Riva Kastoryano notes in her paper, "Codes of Otherness."  Mary C. Waters and Philip Kasinitz, in their article on "Discrimination, Race Relations, and the Second Generation," point out that discrimination is not a singular experience. Highlighting that while the African American experience of discrimination has been harsher than that of other groups, they note that "the civil rights struggles have also provided a heroic model for opposing discrimination," even as other, more privileged groups are ironically better placed to make use of this model than African Americans.

 

"Migration Politics" addresses themes of discrimination, social inequality, integration, and the role of the state. Many authors in the issue focus on how these factors operate together, especially in democracies in a post-9/11 climate. The problems they sought to address are still with us, six years on, and it is obvious that no “quick fix” solutions exist.  

 

Professor Zolberg passed away in 2013. The work of the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility continues today. "Migration Politics" is available in print through Johns Hopkins University Press and online through Project MUSE.

EDWARD SNOWDEN: LIMITING KNOWLEDGE IN A DEMOCRACY

Edward Snowden, a global symbol of the struggle between national security and the sharing of information in democracy, is back in the news. An Oliver Stone biopic, an Intelligence Committee Report, and now the arrest of another NSA contractor charged with stealing highly classified information beg for the analysis provided in Volume 77.3 of Social Research "Limiting Knowledge in a Democracy" on the subject. The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, in their unclassified "Executive Summary of Review," is eager to classify Snowden as the perpetrator of the “largest and most damaging public release of classified information in US intelligence history.” 

 The reality remains, however, that not enough information is available for the American public to be informed on this matter, as in so many others concerning the US government. Daniel Ellsberg in his article "Secrecy and National Security Whistleblowing," writes in the special issue that "in the national security area of the government … there is less whistleblowing than in other departments of the executive branch or in private corporations. This despite the frequency of misguided practices and policies within these particular agencies that are both better concealed and more catastrophic than elsewhere, and thus even more needful of unauthorized exposure.”

 When information is not shared, the public is expected to trust in officials and not to think for themselves. But without the full picture, how can they? As James E. Miller states in his “Introduction: Recurrence of Limits on Knowledge," “[for] those who work in politics and the media it is surprisingly easy to forget about the other key group in this ongoing democratic drama: namely, the public. For ordinary citizens, when roused from their customary lethargy, remain the backbone of modern American democracy, at least in theory.”

 Can the people effectively rule themselves with limited knowledge? The debate that Edward Snowden sparked surrounding national security, big data, and what it will mean for democracy, is part of an ongoing conversation that is not likely to end any time soon.”

 "Limiting Knowledge in a Democracy" is available in print through Johns Hopkins University Press and online through Project MUSE.

POLITICS AND COMEDY: SOME LIGHT RELIEF

Did you hear the one about the upcoming election? Of all the sentiments being expressed in old and new media about this wild campaign season, it is in comedy that we can often find the most cutting and insightful comments. In 2012, in the lead up to the last presidential election, Social Research issue Vol. 79, No.1 took a look at "Politics and Comedy." Since then, comedy has only become more relevant, more nuanced, and more immediate, as both internet usage has increased and the election antics have become ever more unlikely in 2016. In place of Aristophanes, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, or George Orwell, in 2012 we had Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Tina Fey. In the four years since, some of these contemporary commentators have withdrawn from the spotlight, ushering in the likes of John Oliver, Samantha Bee, and Trevor Noah. Angelique Haugerud reminds us that "humor reflects a profound human quest to make sense of the world" in herarticle on "Satire and Dissent in the Age of Billionaires." Though comedians' goal is entertainment, they are increasingly looked to for commentary on public affairs. In "Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colbert Go to Washington," Jeffery Jones, Geoffrey Baym, and Amber Day reflect on Stephen Colbert's creation of a Super PAC "Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow" to highlight through satire the influence that unlimited and anonymous money can have on the electoral process. They also discuss Jon Stewart's use of episodes of The Daily Show to draw attention to legislative inaction over provision of health care for 9/11 rescue workers. "Despite the months-long legislative logjam, the Senate passed the bill less than a week after the episode aired.” Both Stewart and Colbert have been dubbed "important political actors" by such publications as Time and New York magazine. As comedians step into the political realm themselves, the lines between political commentator and political actor become blurred.

With the increase in digital content, audiences have shifted from passive consumers of political entertainment to active users, "increasingly transforming satirical television content into resources for real world political action," according to Jones, Baym, and Day in their article.  In February 2016, John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight, devoted a segment to lampooning Donald Trump, urging viewers to refer to Trump as "Drumpf," his forebears' name. Oliver launched the slogan "Make Donald Drumpf again", a play on Trump’s "Make America Great Again" and a jab at Trump’s mocking of Jon Stewart by referring to him as his birth name "Jonathan Leibowitz." By "Super Tuesday" on March 1, Google searches for "Donald Drumpf" were beating those for "Ted Cruz" and "Marco Rubio."" Humor has a long tradition of acting as a democratic safety valve, a subversion, a way to understand politics, or to commiserate over it. In line with other emerging non-traditional methods of activism and advocacy, in the age of "truthiness" (coined by Stephen Colbert himself) comedy may also be playing a role in shaping political outcomes. "Politics and Comedy" is available in print through Johns Hopkins University Press and online through Project MUSE.

 

 

Woman charged after man with maggot-filled foot wounds dies

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A former Pennsylvania caregiver has been charged with homicide after authorities say she failed to properly treat a man with a congenital defect who died after his foot wounds became severely infected and filled with maggots.

The state attorney general's office says 43-year-old Stacey Ann Cunnius of Reading neglected the care of Jessie McCrimmon, who had spina bifida.

Prosecutors say McCrimmon died last year because he didn't receive proper care and "endured considerable pain."

Investigators say McCrimmon was missing toes on one foot and had bone exposed. The other was being held on by necrotic flesh.

Cunnius also faces charges including Medicaid fraud, neglect of a care-dependent person and recklessly endangering another person.

Cunnius was in the Berks County jail Thursday with no attorney listed in court records.

Donald Trump Slams Hillary Clinton for Taking Time Off for Adele Concert

Donald Trump today blasted his critics for complaining that he is tending to business matters rather than his presidential campaign, arguing that Hillary Clinton takes time off the trail for less important matters.

“I built one of the great hotels of the world. What am I supposed to do, not show up? I’m taking one hour off. I’m going to North Carolina right after this, then I’m going back down to Florida. I’m going up to New Hampshire. I’m all over the place,” Trump said in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos from inside his new Washington, D.C., hotel. “I can’t take one hour off to cut a ribbon at a one of the great hotels of the world? I mean, I think I’m entitled to it.”

The Republican presidential candidate blasted Clinton for taking Tuesday night off to go to an Adele concert.

“I think it’s so unfair because, you know, Hillary Clinton goes to see an Adele concert last night, and everybody says, ‘Oh, wasn’t that nice, isn’t that wonderful?’” Trump said.

A Dead Heat for Congress, Despite Clinton’s Advantage (POLL)
A History of the Donald Trump-Megyn Kelly Feud
“She goes, she does one stop,” Trump told ABC News today, which is Clinton’s 69th birthday. “She has no energy. She’s got nothing going. She does one stop. And nobody complains about that. Nobody complains when she goes to an Adele concert all night long, while I’m making two speeches at rallies with, you know, massive crowds.”

Trump has repeatedly criticized what he calls Clinton’s lack of stamina, citing her decision to take five days off the campaign trail before the last of their three presidential debates. She has argued that the preparation last week for her final major national audience before Election Day was time well spent.

Trump spent the morning in Washington to attend the grand opening of his brand’s latest hotel. The hotel, which is in the city’s Old Post Office building, had a soft launch last month.

That “I built this hotel under budget and ahead of schedule … sends a real message,” he said.

But the hotel hasn’t been without controversy. Famed chef Jose Andres had been set to run one of the hotel’s restaurants, but he backed out of the project after Trump said last year that some Mexicans entering the U.S. are “bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists.”

No one will be allowed to shut down Islamabad on Nov 2, IHC tells authorities

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday ordered the capital administration not to place any containers or block roads during the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)'s scheduled "lockdown" of Islamabad on November 2.

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, while hearing the case, directed the capital city administration to ensure smooth running of daily business in Islamabad on Nov 2.

The administration should ensure that hospital, schools and markets remain open on the day and no containers are placed to block roads, the court said.

"We will not let rights of citizens be violated," Justice Siddiqui remarked.

He asked the administration to inform the PTI about the restriction of holding protests in democracy (parade) ground.

The court directed government authorities to follow the legal course in case the protest is held anywhere in the capital other than the designated spot called "Democracy Park and Speech Corner".

The space was designated by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in 2014 for political activities such as sit-ins and protests.

The court issued the directions while hearing four petitions which sought orders for the PTI to withdraw its decision to shut down Islamabad. The petitions also sought immediate arrest of PTI chief Imran Khan who was declared absconder by an anti-terrorist court.

The court issued orders to summon the PTI Chief in person on Oct 31. He also directed Pemra authorities to produce records of Khan's speeches in which he announced plans to shut down Islamabad on Nov 2.

'Only judiciary is the third umpire'

In his remarks, Justice Siddiqui expressed displeasure over Imran Khan's lockdown plans and the administration's behaviour.

Under which law, the judge asked, has Imran Khan has been announcing plans to shut down Islamabad on Nov 2.

"Only judiciary is the third umpire," he remarked.

He further said that the government has been paralysed and the administration and police are busy in only holding meetings.

Chief commission Zulfiqar Babar, Inspector General of Police (IG) Islamabad Tariq Masood, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Islamabad Sajid Kiyani were present during the hearing.