Hurricane Nicole has hit Bermuda, tearing roofs from buildings and uprooting trees, before moving out into the Atlantic Ocean.
It had weakened from a Category 4 to a Category 3 storm, but still had maximum sustained winds of more than 125mph.
Teams are out clearing roads and repairing buildings and power lines.
Image source National Hurricane Center
Last week Hurricane Matthew devastated parts of Haiti, killing hundreds of people.
Bermuda’s PM Michael Dunkley told Reuters: “At this point, there is no indication of any loss of life or serious injuries.”
“Nicole is now racing away,” said James Dodgson, deputy director at the Bermuda Weather Service.
“There has been a bit of sunshine trying to poke through.”
Although the impact of Hurricane Nicole was less than feared, there has been some damage to the island’s infrastructure, daily newspaper The Royal Gazette reported.
Some walls and roads had collapsed, it said, and some boats had been smashed.
Schools and government offices in Bermuda were closed on October 13 and airlines canceled flights as Hurricane Nicole approached.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been hit with a criminal summons for his alleged role in the 2013 closure of George Washington Bridge.
The case will move to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office to determine whether an indictment will follow.
The news comes as two former aides of the governor are on trial for allegedly closing part of the bridge after a mayor refused to endorse the governor.
The Republican governor has repeatedly denied knowing about the lane closures.
Photo Reuters
Bridget Kelly, Chris Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive, are facing conspiracy and fraud charges for allegedly closing part of the George Washington Bridge, a major bridge connecting New Jersey to New York City.
Federal prosecutors say the move was political retribution to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing the governor in his re-election bid.
Revelations about “Bridgegate” have dogged Chris Christie, who endorsed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in a surprising move after dropping out of the primary race earlier this year.
Chris Christie has become a prominent supporter of his former rival, Donald Trump, and manages the New York businessman’s transition team should he win the White House.
David Wildstein, a former Port Authority official who pleaded guilty last year, testified late last month that Chris Christie was told about the bridge closure at a 9/11 memorial service two days after the lanes were blocked and laughed about the revenge plot.
Activist Bill Brennan filed the official misconduct complaint against Chris Christie in September after David Wildstein’s testimony.
The prosecutor’s office will decide whether there is enough evidence to indict Chris Christie for official misconduct, which could lead to a sentence of five to 10 years in prison.
Chris Christie appointed the prosecutor who will review the case.
The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office had “no comment at this time”, spokeswoman Maureen Parenta said in an email to Reuters.
Chris Christie’s spokesman Brian Murray said the ruling would be appealed and reiterated the governor had no knowledge of the plot.
“This is a dishonorable complaint filed by a known serial complainant and political activist with a history of abusing the judicial system,” he said.
“This matter has already been thoroughly investigated by three separate independent investigations.”
King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, has died at the age of 88.
King Bhumibol was widely revered but had been in poor health in recent years, making few public appearances.
After 70 years as head of state, the king was seen as a stabilizing figure in a country hit by cycles of political turmoil and multiple coups.
Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will be the new monarch, the prime minister has said.
After two days of speculation and rumors surrounding King Bhumibol’s deteriorating health, the palace announcement confirming the monarch’s death finally came early on Thursday evening, October 13.
“His majesty has passed away at Siriraj Hospital peacefully,” a statement said, adding he had died at 15:52 local time.
In a TV address to the nation, PM Prayut Chan-ocha said Thailand would hold a one-year mourning period, that flags would fly half-mast and all entertainment functions must be “toned down” for a month.
In a later statement the prime minister urged vigilance, saying national security was a top priority.
“Everyone will need to be alert in every region and throughout the country to ensure safety,” he said.
King Bhumibol’s death comes as Thailand remains under military rule following a coup in 2014.
A palace official, speaking to crowds outside the hospital, said the king’s body would be moved to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok on October 14.
The king was widely respected across Thailand, and thought of by many as semi-divine.
Hundreds of mourners gathered outside the Bangkok hospital where he died, stricken with grief at the news.
Many held pictures of King Bhumibol and wore yellow or pink clothing in his honor.
Although the prime minister said Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn would become the new monarch, he added that the official proclamation would be made at a later date.
PM Prayut Chan-ocha said the crown prince had confirmed that he would perform his duty as heir to the throne, but had asked for time to mourn his father’s death.
The 64-year-old crown prince is much less well known to Thais and has not attained his father’s widespread popularity. He spends much of his time overseas, especially in Germany.
King Bhumibol, who was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, acceded to the throne on June 9, 1946 after his brother, King Ananda Mahidol, died.
Though a constitutional monarch with limited official powers, many Thais looked to King Bhumibol to him to intervene in times of high tension. He was seen as a unifying and calming influence through numerous coups and 20 constitutions.
However, the king’s critics argued he had endorsed military takeovers and at times had failed to speak out against human rights abuses.
Following the death of King Bhumibol, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has become the world longest-reigning monarch, having been on the throne for 64 years.
The 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to Bob Dylan “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”.
Bob Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman in 1941, and began his musical career in 1959, playing in coffee houses in Minnesota.
Image source Wikipedia
Much of Bob Dylan’s best-known work dates from the 1960s, when he became an informal historian of America’s troubles.
Songs like Blowin’ in the Wind and The Times They are A-Changin’ became anthems of the anti-war and civil rights movements.
Bob Dylan’s move away from traditional folk songwriting, paired with a controversial decision to “go electric” proved equally influential.
His many albums include Highway 61 Revisited in 1965, Blonde on Blonde in 1966 and Blood on the Tracks in 1975.
Since the late 1980s Bob Dylan has toured persistently, an undertaking he has dubbed the Never-Ending Tour.
Bob Dylan had long been tipped as a potential Nobel recipient, but few experts expected the academy to extend the prestigious award to a genre such as folk rock music.
The award will be presented alongside this year’s other five Nobel Prizes on December 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel’s 1896 death.
Two new women accuse Donald Trump of inappropriate contact, after media outlets reported claims from several women.
Both of them told the New York Times that Donald Trump groped or kissed them.
A reporter for People magazine wrote a first person account describing being forcibly kissed by Donald Trump.
The Republican nominee’s campaign have rejected the claims, describing the NYT article as “defamatory”.
Donald Trump’s camp has made public a letter to the NYT threatening legal action unless the paper retracts the article, which it called “a politically-motivated effort to defeat Mr. Trump’s candidacy”.
The publication said it was standing by its article.
Late last week, a video shot in 2005 emerged which showed Donald Trump making inappropriate remarks about groping women.
The Republican apologized for the comments – which were widely condemned – but described them as “locker-room talk”.
Many top Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, have since distanced themselves from Donald Trump.
However, four Republican members of Congress who had urged Donald Trump to step aside have changed position, saying they backed their party.
In the NYT article, Jessica Leeds, 74, from Manhattan, said she had been sitting next to Donald Trump in the first-class cabin of a flight to New York when he lifted the armrest and began to touch her.
“He was like an octopus… his hands were everywhere,” said Jessica Leeds, who was 38 at the time.
“It was an assault.”
A second woman, Rachel Crooks, said she was kissed on the lips by Donald Trump outside a lift in Trump Tower when she was a 22-year-old receptionist at a real estate company there.
“It was so inappropriate,” Rachel Crooks told the NYT.
“I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that.”
Neither women reported their accounts to the authorities, but both shared what happened to them with friends and family.
In People magazine, meanwhile, writer Natasha Stoynoff said an incident took place in December 2005, when she went to interview the Trumps ahead of their first wedding anniversary.
Donald Trump said he wanted to show her around their Florida estate, including one “tremendous” room.
“We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat,” Natasha Stoynoff wrote.
A spokesman said the account in People had “no merit or veracity”.
Another woman, Mindy McGillivray, now 36, told the Palm Beach Post she was 23 when Donald Trump grabbed her bottom at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in 2003.
Her companion that day, photographer Ken Davidoff, told the newspaper he remembers her pulling him aside moments afterwards and telling him: “Donald just grabbed my ass!”
Donald Trump’s campaign rejected this claim.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign said the “disturbing” New York Times story “sadly fits everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women”.
“These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behavior he bragged about in the tape is more than just words.”
A car is the equivalent of freedom. You have a car, you have the liberty to move around the world. Nothing is off limits when you have a good vehicle, courage and enough fuel to run into the sunset with your friends. Owning a car comes with plenty of advantages, but, as we already know, if we want something to stay in our lives for as much as possible we have to take care of it as best as possible.
From time to time you will have to find replacement parts in order to ensure that your car is running smooth and it doesn’t break down when you most need it. But what do you need to know when it comes to choosing the right car parts?
How to choose the best car parts for your vehicle?
Do some research – the key to success starts off with an attentive research on the best company and quality brands. Don’t declare yourself satisfied with the first results you find. Be patient and continue digging so that you can compare various products and prices.
Triple check the features of the car parts you are looking for. Better yet, quadruple check them. It is highly important to order the car parts which correspond to your car. Otherwise the part you order will not fit or you will have to return it. And we all know the time and effort that this involves.
Get coupons – not only mothers get to enjoy the luxury of discounts using coupons. You can use the same trick and get the same type of results. This site might get you great deals. And remember that in the case of ordering from a website that promises free delivery if you reach a certain amount, you can buy stuff that you will always use like filters, coolant, etc.
Why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free? If you don’t manage to find rare parts for your car or you simply need more than one part to bring your car back on the right track think about buying a car from a salvage auction and use the parts that you need from there. This might cost you more than buying just one single piece but at the same time it will give you more advantages on the long term.
Whenever you are looking for something, make sure that you do your research and weight all the information that you receive. Asking around might also get you connected to different automotive businesses.
And don’t forget to check out Boodmo which is an online marketplace for shops. With a huge database of genuine and aftermarket parts replacement, Boodmo is the place to go if your car has any malfunctions. What’s the best part about working with them? You get worldwide delivery, a customer friendly return policy, updated catalogs and the guarantee that the parts ordered will match your car.
Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf will step down immediately in the wake of a scandal over its sales practices, the bank has announced.
The bank is investigating how two million accounts were opened without customers’ permission.
In September, it said John Stumpf, who was paid $19.3 million in 2015, would not receive a salary during the inquiry.
John Stumpf will be succeeded by the bank’s current president and chief operating officer, Timothy Sloan.
Image source Flickr
Wells Fargo’s independent chairman, Stephen Sanger, will take over as board chairman.
Last month, the bank was fined $185 million and accused of “widespread illegal practice” by the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The fine imposed on Wells Fargo by the CFPB was the largest to date by the watchdog.
“While I have been deeply committed and focused on managing the company through this period, I have decided it is best for the company that I step aside,” John Stumpf said.
The bank has fired more than 5,000 staff in response to the scandal.
Wells Fargo has said it will be contacting every deposit customer across the country to see if their accounts were properly authorized.
The bank will also contact hundreds of thousands of customers with valid credit cards to see if they want or need those cards.
In the future, confirmation emails will be sent to customers within one hour of the opening of a new deposit account.
Wells Fargo’s former head of retail operations, Carrie Tolstedt, has forfeited $19 million of bonuses and left without a payoff.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s health has “overall not yet stabilized”, the Thai palace has said.
On October 9, the palace announced that King Bhumibol was in an unstable condition after receiving haemodialysis treatment.
The 88-year-old monarch is widely revered and a crowd of well-wishers have gathered outside Siriraj hospital.
Thailand’s PM Prayuth Chan-ocha canceled an official engagement to meet the Crown Prince.
A palace statement late on October 12 said the king’s “blood pressure lowered and breath quickened”.
It said King Bhumibol’s liver and kidneys were not working properly and he remained on a ventilator.
The unprecedented concern over the king’s health has caused stocks and Thailand’s currency, the baht, to tumble.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand closed down 2.5%, its lowest since the end of May.
A government spokesman urged people to rely on official announcements for updates on the situation, rather than on “uncorroborated information in social media circles”.
King Bhumibol is the world’s longest reigning monarch, having acceded to the throne when his brother died in 1946.
During his seven decades on the throne King Bhumibol, who is seen as a unifying force, has intervened when events threatened to plunge Thailand into crisis.
Amid increasing concerns about his health in recent months, the Royal Household Bureau has issued more frequent bulletins.
Earlier this month, a statement said King Bhumibol was recovering from a respiratory infection.
Thailand’s strict lese majeste laws mean public discussion of the king’s health and succession plans are not permitted, and are punishable by lengthy jail terms.
John Podesta, the Chairman of the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, has said the FBI is investigating whether Russia was behind a hack on his private email.
He also suggested Donald Trump’s campaign was given advance notice of the breach.
John Podesta’s remarks come after WikiLeaks published a trove of his hacked emails.
Hillary Clinton’s top adviser said the enquiry was part of a wider probe into hacks on the Democratic Party by groups with Russian ties.
“I’ve been involved in politics for nearly five decades,” John Podesta told reporters aboard the Clinton campaign plane.
“This definitely is the first campaign that I’ve been involved with in which I’ve had to tangle with Russian intelligence agencies, who seem to be doing everything they can on behalf of our opponent.”
John Podesta pointed to a tweet by Donald Trump’s adviser Roger Stone in August that said Podesta’s “time in the barrel” was coming.
Image source Wikipedia
However, the tweet was posted shortly after WikiLeaks released thousands of hacked emails from other Democratic officials.
John Podesta also claimed Roger Stone has been in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, but acknowledged evidence was “circumstantial”.
Roger Stone told the AP that John Podesta’s claims were “categorically false” while WikiLeaks tweeted that it “has had no contact with Roger Stone”.
John Podesta also speculated that the timing of the first WikiLeaks release on October 7 was intended to distract from the explosive 2005 footage showing Donald Trump making inappropriate comments about groping women.
The Clinton campaign has not verified the authenticity of the leaked emails, adding that they could have been altered.
Hillary Clinton’s spokeswoman, Jennifer Palmieri said: “The pattern is they hack, they leak truthful things, and then they build up to leaking documents that are either doctored or wholly fabricated.”
The latest batch of emails offer a glimpse into Hillary Clinton’s political network, suggesting that Donna Brazile, Democratic National Committee interim chairman, had given the nominee advance notice of a question she would be asked at a CNN town hall event.
Donna Brazile denied any impropriety on October 11.
US relations with Russia have taken a central role in the presidential election.
Last week, US intelligence officials said the Russian government was behind a series of hacks aiming to influence the presidential election.
Hillary Clinton has also questioned Donald Trump’s praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin as a strong leader, his connection to Russian businessmen and his criticism of the NATO alliance.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov told CNN the hacking allegations were flattering but ridiculous.
When asked about Donald Trump’s comments about women, Sergey Lavrov said there were “pussies” on both sides.
Janet Jackson has confirmed she is pregnant with her first child, at the age of 50.
The singer told People magazine after posing for a picture with her growing baby bump: “We thank God for our blessing.”
Speculation about Janet Jackson’s pregnancy surfaced in April when she postponed her Unbreakable tour, saying she wanted to focus on planning a family with her husband, Wissam al-Mana.
Janet Jackson was recently spotted in London shopping for baby essentials.
The People magazine quoted a source close to the singer as saying: “She is super excited about her pregnancy and is doing extremely well. She actually feels very good about everything.”
Photo Getty Images
In a video posted on Twitter in April, Janet Jackson told her fans that she was postponing her world tour because “there’s been a sudden change”.
“I thought it was important that you be the first to know. My husband and I are planning our family,” she said.
She added: “Please if you can try and understand that its important that I do this now.”
Janet Jackson went on to say: “I have to rest up, doctor’s orders.”
The singer is far from the only famous face to give birth later in life.
In 2013, Halle Berry had her second child at 47, while John Travolta’s wife, Kelly Preston, gave birth to her third child at 48.
Geena Davis became a mother later in life after falling in love with an Iranian-American neurosurgeon in her 40s. Her first child, a girl, arrived when she was 46, followed two years later by twin boys.
Then there was Swiss billionaire Maria Louis-Dreyfus, who gave birth to twin girls in March 2016, at the age of 53.
However, these mothers – including Janet Jackson – are all positively young when compared to the world’s oldest new mothers.
In fact, there are at least three women in India who claimed to have carried their children to term when at least twenty years older than Janet Jackson.
Each time, the births caused a debate over the ethical issues surrounding having a baby so late in life – especially after Maria del Carmen Bousada de Lara, the Spanish woman who once held the title of the world’s oldest mother, died three years after having twin boys.
All three are understood to have used donated eggs in order to have their children.
Conventional date scenarios work for anybody, true. However, they get really boring with time. If you are a geek, you likely date someone who shares your interests. And this is what you should use to make your mate’s heart melt. So what are the top 7 date ideas for geeky couples? Discover now with Russian Singles Dating site!
Play board games
Without any doubt, it’s simple, convenient, and relaxing. There’s no need to use your wits or get out of your cozy home. Spend an evening together with your partner or even set a double date. Another variant is to host an overnight game party – invite your friends or neighbors for snacks and amusements.
How about cookery?
We don’t mean you have to stick at the kitchen stove to make something ordinary, no. Pick some geeky cookbook instead – there are many can be found on the Internet. Any popular modern fandom has its own book of thematic recipes. Food is actually one of the proper ways to immerse in a special atmosphere. Choose what you two like above all and simply cook it; then, enjoy your meal together!
Take a fun in sports
Enough of sitting at your computer table! Take your geeky soul mate outside. Physical activity really helps establish a mutual bond. As your organism produces various hormones, the chemistry between the two of you strengthens. In the summer, that may be rollerblading, biking, or skating, in the winter, you may get to skiing or bowling. Just decide what cheers you the most!
Go to a museum
Educational activities can also be fun and romantic. Take your sweetheart and visit some museum nearby; let it be relevant to what you two adore. Art, science, craft, history, technology – everything contains geeky features. Why not deepen your knowledge of some field? Like learning new cool things about the Universe if you are a Star Wars fun or studying history to get a better insight into “A Song of Ice and Fire”.
Spend a trivia night
Check out local bars: there must be some options for geeky couples as well as for groups of friends. Or merely set a quiz night on your own. Pick up a topic referred to your area of interests, think out questions, and bring snacks. Invite some buddies if you wish or stay with your dearest person. And you are free to decide what prize should be like.
Take up some art
Another way to get pleasantly busy for a weekend. There’s a great variety of nerdy things to do together: draw fun arts, work out a home décor project, create a geeky story, write poetry etc. First, this upgrades your creativity. Next, this brings you two even closer. Finally, you will travel to the world of your dreams and fantasies – and get a piece of art in the end.
Visit a fan convention
Well, that’s rather a trip than a date. But isn’t it even more fabulous? Spend a nerdy vacation with your beloved. Artisan alleys, panels, role plays are at your disposal. Only consider that you should arrange this trip in advance – tickets are quickly sold out.
If you are deciding whether a reverse mortgage is the right move for you, it’s important to have an honest conversation with your adult children if they are still living at home. Ultimately, it is your decision to get a reverse mortgage, but informing them on the product can help eliminate any miscommunication and conflict down the road.
Explain the basics
First, informing your children on what a reverse mortgage is all about is vital. A common misconception among many people is that in a reverse mortgage transaction, the bank takes ownership of the borrower’s home. This is not true. The borrower maintains ownership throughout the course of the loan, which typically becomes due and payable when he or she moves or passes away.
Next, talk to your kids about what people actually use reverse mortgages for. Explain that the payments from the loan could help to cover the costs of things that your retirement savings and finances may not be able to cover such as home renovations or medical care. You may be less of a financial burden on your kids due to the reverse mortgage. Many adult children are relieved to hear this. Also share that you won’t have to pay back the loan until you either pass away or move out of the house permanently.
Explain the basics of what your responsibilities will still be in terms of loan obligations. Even though you will not be responsible for making a monthly mortgage payment with a reverse mortgage, this does not mean all other payments go away. You are still responsible for keeping up on property taxes and insurance on the home and ensuring the property is kept in good condition.
Share their role
Adult children are often skeptical of their parents taking out a reverse mortgage because they fear that when they pass away, they will have to pay back the loan. This is another misconception.
Explain to your kids that a reverse mortgage is a non-recourse loan. This means that no matter how large the loan balance gets; they will never have to pay back more than the appraised value of the home at the time of sale.
If the loan balance is higher than the appraised value of the home, then the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insurance fund absorbs that loss. This is one of the benefits of FHA insurance, which is a requirement of all Home Equity Conversion Mortgage reverse mortgages. So share with your kids that if you pass away, they can use the value of the home to pay back the loan, but they won’t go into debt over it.
In fact, if the loan balance is less than the value of the home, share with your kids that they will be able to keep the difference as inheritance, if you choose to name them as your heirs. This is a very possible outcome if you live in an area with high home appreciation because the value of your home could go up over the years.
It is also extremely important to explain non borrowing spouse rules of the loan to your adult children, if you are married. This can give your children peace of mind knowing the protections available for spouses of reverse mortgage borrowers.
Bringing this topic up may not be the easiest, so try to start off by talking about your broader financial planning agenda. You could even include your adult kids in the reverse mortgage counseling that’s required for all borrowers. This counseling can take place over the phone, which can make it easier for adult children to be included.
If you would like to learn more about how to talk to your adult kids who still live at home about a reverse mortgage and speak to your trusted adviser.
President Barack Obama has signed a new law making baby changing stations available in men’s bathrooms.
Male toilets in public buildings in the United States must now have baby changing facilities.
According to the new law, both male and female bathrooms should have a “physically safe, sanitary and appropriate” place to change a diaper.
Known as the Bathrooms Accessible in Every Situation (BABIES) Act, it was first raised back in April by Congressman David N. Cicilline.
Image source Pixabay
“Federal buildings are paid for by taxpayers,” he says.
“It’s important to ensure that they are as open, as accessible, and as family-friendly as possible.”
The BABIES Act only affects bathrooms in government-owned or government-financed buildings like courthouses and public libraries.
But it is a first step toward reducing the indignity that parents frequently face when trying to care for their babies in bathroom stalls. US federal law previously did not require changing tables anywhere.
The BABIES Act makes public places “more accommodating for working moms and dads” across the United States.
Kim Kardashian is suing celebrity gossip website Media TakeOut and its founder for claiming that she faked being the victim of a robbery in Paris last week.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for defamation and names both Media TakeOut and Fred Mwangaguhunga.
Kim Kardashian was tied up by gun-wielding robbers who broke into a Paris flat earlier this month, police say.
Image source Instagram
They made off with jewelery worth about $10 million.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in New York said that after being “the victim of a horrific and traumatic armed robbery in France, Kim Kardashian returned to the US only to again be victimized, but this time by an online gossip tabloid that published a series of articles in early October 2016 referring to her as a liar and thief”.
The articles, the lawsuit said, “claimed, without any factual support whatsoever, that Kardashian faked the robbery, lied about the violent assault, and then filed a fraudulent claim with her insurance company to bilk her carrier out of millions of dollars”.
Fred Mwangaguhunga refused to publish a retraction and an apology “for calling her a liar and a criminal”, the lawsuit added.
Media TakeOut has so far not commented.
Kim Kardashian, 35, who is married to rapper Kanye West, became a household name thanks to the reality TV series Keeping up with the Kardashians.
Barack Obama has blasted Republican nominee Donald Trump’s recent remarks about women, saying they would be intolerable even for someone applying for a job at a 7-Eleven convenience store.
At a rally supporting Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, President Obama also urged senior Republicans to formally withdraw their endorsement of Donald Trump as presidential candidate.
Many top Republicans have withdrawn their support for Donald Trump afer a video in which he boasts of groping women emerged last week.
Donald Trump accused them of disloyalty.
The New York billionaire was particularly scathing about House Speaker Paul Ryan whom he described as a “weak and ineffective” leader.
Addressing a campaign rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, on October 11, Barack Obama referred to Donald Trump’s crude remarks about women, saying: “Now you find a situation in which the guy says stuff that nobody would find tolerable if they were applying for a job at 7-Eleven.”
The president said: “You don’t have to be a husband or a father to say that’s not right. You just have to be a decent human being.”
Barack Obama questioned how senior Republican politicians could still want Donald Trump to be president.
“The fact is that now you’ve got people saying: <<We strongly disagree, we really disapprove… but we’re still endorsing him>>. They still think he should be president, that doesn’t make sense to me,” he told the crowd.
Barack Obama was interrupted several times by anti-Clinton campaigners but seemed unfazed, saying: “This is democracy at work. This is great.”
The hecklers were escorted from the venue by security officials.
In another development, Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Chairman John Podesta has said that Russia was behind an apparent hacking of his emails and may have been colluding with the Trump campaign.
John Podesta said on October 11 that the FBI was investigating the hacking of the emails that were published by WikiLeaks.
The 2005 video released on October 7 revealed Donald Trump describing how he had sought to have s** with a married woman and making other aggressive comments about women.
Nearly half of the 331 incumbent Republican senators, House members and governors have condemned the lewd remarks and about 10% have called for Donald Trump to drop out of the race, according to Reuters.
On October 10, Paul Ryan said he would not defend Donald Trump over the remarks.
Paul Ryan told fellow House Republicans he would instead focus on congressional elections to ensure Republicans could maintain legislative control.
Donald Trump fired back in a string of tweets, saying the “shackles” had been removed, allowing him to “fight for America the way I want to”.
He said he neither wanted nor needed Paul Ryan’s support.
Donald Trump said “disloyal” Republicans “come at you from all sides. They don’t know how to win – I will teach them!”
He attacked Senator John McCain, who has denounced Donald Trump’s conduct and faces a close re-election battle in Arizona, as “foul-mouthed”.
Despite a widening divide within the Republican Party, some members insist they are sticking by Donald Trump.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he was “really disturbed” by Donald Trump’s comments about women but still planned to support him, saying the election was “about bigger issues than that”.
Texas Senator and former rival Ted Cruz also said he would still cast his ballot for Donald Trump, telling a Texas TV station that Hillary Clinton was an “absolute disaster”.
Donald Trump delivered a gaffe while addressing supporters in Florida on October 11, telling them to go out and vote on the wrong date.
ABC News footage showed Donald Trump saying: “Go and register. Make sure you get out and vote, November 28.”
The election date is November 8.
A recent PRRI/Atlantic poll suggested Hillary Clinton holds a 49-38 lead over Donald Trump.
Samsung Electronics has revised down its Q3 profit forecast due to the scrapping of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.
The company now expects Q3 profits of 5.2 trillion won ($4.7 billion), which is a third lower than its original estimate of 7.8 trillion won.
The Galaxy Note 7 was recalled last month after battery fires, but after replacement phones experienced the same problem, Samsung scrapped the device.
Ahead of the profit warning, the South Korean company’s shares fell 0.8% on October 12.
That added to October 11 8% fall.
Photo Samsung
Samsung has seen more than $20 billion wiped off its market value in two days.
Its shares have fallen on concerns that the current crisis will go beyond the costs of the recall and affect the brand’s overall reputation.
According to analysts, the Note 7 crisis could cost Samsung in the long run, particularly coming just as rivals, such as Google and Apple, have announced new high-end smartphones.
The Galaxy Note 7 had been seen as the main rival to Apple’s new iPhone 7 model. Samsung’s woes have sent Apple’s shares to a 10-month high.
Last month, Samsung recalled around 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 phones after complaints of exploding batteries.
The company later insisted that all replaced devices were safe. However, that was followed by reports that those phones were catching fire too.
On October 11, Samsung said it would permanently cease production of the device and urged owners to turn it off.
Salah Abdeslam’s lawyers say they will no longer defend the main suspect in last year’s Islamist attacks in Paris.
He will use his right to remain silent, one of the lawyers, Frank Berton, told BFM TV.
“We said from the beginning… that if our client remained silent we would quit his defense,” Frank Berton said, alongside fellow lawyer Sven Mary.
The attacks in Paris in November 2015 on bars, restaurants, a concert hall and the Stade de France killed 130 people.
ISIS said it was behind the attacks.
Salah Abdeslam was arrested in Brussels in March 2016 and has kept silent since his transfer to France in April.
The attacker is being monitored 24 hours a day by video in his prison cell.
Frank Berton said in May the suspect was “particularly disturbed” by the surveillance.
Salah Abdeslam is thought to have played a key role in planning the Paris attacks and transporting the attackers, but investigators are yet to determine his specific role.
The lawyers informed Salah Abdeslam they would no longer represent him on October 6, BFM TV reports. It says that at present, he does not want to be represented by anyone else.
Legal representation is not required while the investigation continues but will be at his trial.
“The real victims of all of this are the victims of the Paris attacks, because they are entitled to this truth and they have the right to try to comprehend the incomprehensible,” Sven Mary said.
New finds suggest that China and the West were in contact more than 1,500 years before Marco Polo arrived in Asia.
Archaeologists say inspiration for the Terracotta Warriors, found at the Tomb of the First Emperor near today’s Xian, may have come from Ancient Greece.
Researchers also say ancient Greek artisans could have been training locals there in the Third Century BC.
Marco Polo’s 13th Century travel to China had been thought the first by a European.
Senior Archaeologist Li Xiuzhen, from the Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum Site Museum said: “We now have evidence that close contact existed between the First Emperor’s China and the West before the formal opening of the Silk Road. This is far earlier than we formerly thought.”
A separate study shows European-specific mitochondrial DNA has been found at sites in China’s westernmost Xinjiang Province, suggesting that Westerners may have settled, lived and died there before and during the time of the First Emperor.
Image source Wikimedia
Farmers first discovered the 8,000 terracotta figures buried less than a mile from the tomb of China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huang in 1974.
But there was no tradition of building life-sized human statues in China before the tomb was created. Earlier statues were simple figurines about 7.9ins in height.
To explain how such an enormous change in skill and style could have happened, Dr. Li Xiuzhen believes that influences must have come from outside China.
“We now think the Terracotta Army, the Acrobats and the bronze sculptures found on site have been inspired by ancient Greek sculptures and art,” she said.
According to Prof. Lukas Nickel from the University of Vienna, statues of circus acrobats recently found at the First Emperor’s tomb support this theory.
Lukas Nickel believes the First Emperor was influenced by the arrival of Greek statues in Central Asia in the century following Alexander the Great, who died in 323BC.
“I imagine that a Greek sculptor may have been at the site to train the locals,” he said.
Other discoveries include new evidence that the First Emperor’s tomb complex is much bigger than first thought and 200 times bigger than Egypt’s Valley of the Kings.
They also include the mutilated remains of women, believed to have been high-ranking concubines of the First Emperor, and the skull of a man with a crossbow bolt embedded in it.
The skull is believed to have belonged to the First Emperor’s eldest son, thought to have been killed along with others during a power struggle after the emperor’s death.
Vladimir Putin has decided to cancel a planned visit to France amid a row over Syria.
The Russian president had been due to meet his French counterpart Francois Hollande and open a new Orthodox church on October 19.
However, after the French government said talks would be confined to Syria the visit was halted, presidential sources said.
On October 10, Francois Hollande suggested Russia could face war crimes charges over its bombardment of Syria’s city of Aleppo.
The French presidency had told the Russians President Hollande would attend only one event with Vladimir Putin during the visit planned for October 19 – a working meeting on Syria, according to the sources.
But after this Russia “let it be known that it wanted to postpone the visit”, they added.
A spokesman for Vladimir Putin confirmed the trip had been canceled, adding that the visit would take place when it becomes “comfortable for President Hollande”.
Despite this Francois Hollande has said he will meet Vladimir Putin at “any time” if it would “further peace”.
The development comes a day after President Hollande told French TV that prosecutions over Syria could take place in the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“These are people who today are the victims of war crimes. Those that commit these acts will have to face up to their responsibility, including in the ICC,” the French president said.
Neither Russia nor Syria is a member of the ICC.
Moscow has repeatedly denied attacking civilians, and says it targets terrorist groups in Syria.
The besieged east of Aleppo has come under intense aerial bombardment since a cessation of hostilities brokered by the US and Moscow collapsed last month.
The area was hit again on October 11 in some of the heaviest air strikes in days, a monitoring group and activists said.
According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 8 civilians were killed in strikes on the Bustan al-Qasr and Fardos districts.
Diplomatic efforts to revive the ceasefire have so far come to nothing.
The UN has warned that eastern Aleppo, where an estimated 275,000 people still live, could face “total destruction” in two months.
Last week Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution drafted by France calling for an end to the bombing in Aleppo.
Samsung has urged owners of the Galaxy Note 7 to turn off its high-end smartphone while it investigates new reports of the device catching fire.
The South Korean tech giant also said it would stop all sales of the phone.
The company recalled 2.5 million phones in September after complaints of exploding batteries, and later insisted that all replaced devices were safe.
However, there are now reports that even those phones were catching fire.
A man in Kentucky said he woke up to a bedroom full of smoke from a replaced Note 7, days after a domestic flight in the US was evacuated after a new device started emitting smoke in the cabin.
Photo Samsung
Samsung said: “Because consumers’ safety remains our top priority, Samsung will ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 while the investigation is taking place.
“Consumers with either an original Galaxy Note 7 or replacement Galaxy Note 7 device should power down and stop using the device and take advantage of the remedies available.”
On October 10, a Samsung spokeswoman insisted the phones were safe to use.
South Korean media reports suggest Samsung is likely to stop selling the phone permanently.
However, South Korea’s finance minister has warned that the country’s exports would be hurt if the Note 7 model is scrapped altogether.
“Right now we can’t tell what the impact will be in the long term. It’s up to the company and the government cannot interfere,” said Yoo Il-ho.
“But if they do scrap the model, it will have a negative impact on exports.”
The US consumer protection agency has also urged people not to use their Samsung replacement devices.
“No one should have to be concerned their phone will endanger them, their family or their property,” Elliot Kaye, chairman of the safety commission, said.
He called Samsung’s decision to stop distributing the device “the right move” in light of “ongoing safety concerns”.
On October 11, the South Korean transport ministry said people should not use or charge their Galaxy Note 7 devices on a plane.
The original Galaxy Note 7 had already been banned by numerous aviation authorities and airlines around the world.
The Divergent star Shailene Woodley has been arrested during a protest in North Dakota against a huge oil pipeline project that will cross four states.
Shailene Woodley was arrested at a construction site as she was broadcasting the protest, which involved about 200 people, on Facebook.
According to police, the actress was one of 27 people arrested on charges of criminal trespass and engaging in a riot.
The Dakota Access pipeline project has drawn huge protests.
Native Americans have halted the pipeline’s construction in North Dakota, saying it will desecrate sacred land and damage the environment.
In the Facebook Live footage, Shailene Woodley, 24, said she had been walking peacefully back to her vehicle when “they grabbed me by my jacket and said that I wasn’t allowed to continue… and they have giant guns and batons and zip ties and they are not letting me go”.
Image source Facebook
As Shailene Woodley was led away with her hands cuffed, she said she had been singled out from hundreds of other protesters “because I’m well known, because I have 40,000 people watching”.
The video spread quickly on social media and by early evening had been viewed more than 2.4 million times.
Shailene Woodley has previously joined members of North Dakota’s Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to protest against the $3.7 billion pipeline.
The protest on October 10 took place at a construction site about two miles south of the town of St. Anthony.
The pipeline will run 1,168 miles through Iowa, Illinois, and North and South Dakota.
The company behind the project, Energy Transport Partners, has said it will boost local economies and is safer than transporting oil by rail or road.
However, environmental protesters believe the transporting of up to 570,000 barrels of crude oil a day will imperil local waterways.
Native American tribes believe the pipeline would also damage historic sites.
House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the most senior elected Republican official, has said he will not defend Donald Trump, after remarks he made about groping women led to outrage.
Paul Ryan vowed to focus on defending seats in Congress, but did not end his endorsement of the Republican Party’s nominee.
Donald Trump tweeted that Paul Ryan should not waste his time fighting him.
Earlier Hillary Clinton cast doubt on Donald Trump’s apology for the remarks, made 11 years ago.
On October 9, Donald Trump described his words as “locker-room talk”.
In a bitter TV debate, a month before the presidential election, Donald Trump denied he had groped anyone.
Hillary Clinton tweeted on October 10 that, if Donald Trump stood by this assertion, he was “clearly not sorry”.
Meanwhile Donald Trump’s running mate Mike Pence said he would stand by him despite an outcry over the remarks.
A 2005 video released on October 7 revealed Donald Trump describing how he had sought to have s** with a married woman and making inappropriate comments about women.
Photo Reuters
Asked about the video in the debate, Donald Trump turned his fire on Hillary Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, whom he described as “abusive to women”.
Hillary Clinton refused to address the comments.
At least 38 senior Republicans – including senators, members of Congress, and state governors – have withdrawn their support for Donald Trump since the video surfaced.
According to sources familiar with a conference call he held with congress members on October 10, Paul Ryan appeared to have accepted that Hillary Clinton would win the White House and wanted to make sure Republicans in Congress were strong enough to challenge her.
Paul Ryan said he would spend “his entire energy making sure that Hillary Clinton does not get a blank cheque with a Democrat-controlled Congress”, the source said.
“You all need to do what’s best for you in your district,” Paul Ryan was quoted as telling colleagues.
Donald Trump apologized for the remarks, and when pressed during the debate on whether he had engaged in s**ual misconduct, he denied doing so.
However, Hillary Clinton said his explanation that these were words not actions did not amount to an apology.
“If Trump stands by what he said about women as <<locker room talk>>, he’s clearly not sorry,” she tweeted.
Meanwhile Mike Pence praised Donald Trump’s honesty.
“I think last night he showed his heart to the American people. He said he apologized to his family, apologized to the American people, that he was embarrassed by it,” Mike Pence told CNN on October 10.
Earlier Mike Pence had described the remarks as indefensible.
The vice-presidential candidate said he was “honored to stand with” Donald Trump and denied he had considered withdrawing from the race.
When moderator Anderson Cooper asked about the video, Donald Trump denied ever assaulting women, dismissing the remarks as “just words”. Instead he focused on ex-President Bill Clinton’s indiscretions.
Hillary Clinton said the explosive video “represents exactly who he is”.
“With prior Republican nominees, I disagreed with them, but I never questioned their fitness to serve,” she said.
Donald Trump said if he won, he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton and she would be in prison over her private email arrangements.
“Everything he just said is absolutely false but I’m not surprised,” she responded.
“It’s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country.”
“Because you’d be in jail,” Donald Trump interrupted.
He also said Hillary Clinton “has tremendous hate in her heart” while criticizing her for referring to his supporters as “deplorables”.
Hillary Clinton said she apologized for the comment, adding: “My argument is not with his supporters, it’s with him, about the hateful and divisive campaign he has run.”
Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton also sparred on the conflict in Syria, Russian aggression, Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns and his plan for the “extreme vetting” of immigrants arriving from countries with links to terrorism.
The evening concluded when an audience member asked the candidates to say one positive thing about each other.
Hillary Clinton said his children were a great reflection of him while Donald Trump called his opponent “a fighter” who never gives up.
An hour before the debate began, Donald Trump appeared at a news conference with women who accused Bill Clinton of s**ual misconduct.
Donald Trump joined three women who allege Bill Clinton assaulted them and called the women “very courageous”.
Hillary Clinton also defended controversial remarks she made in a private speech that was made public in leaked emails on October 8.
The transcript revealed Hillary Clinton said a politician has a public and private position, but at the debate she said she had watched a film about Abraham Lincoln and was referring only to what he had done.
Economists Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom have won the Nobel economics prize for work on contract theory.
Judges said Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom’s work laid “an intellectual foundation” for policies in areas such as bankruptcy legislation and political constitutions.
They will receive 8 million Swedish krona from the committee.
UK-born Oliver Hart, who was woken with the news at 4.40am, said his first reaction had been to hug his wife and wake his younger son.
Bengt Holmstrom of Finland said he felt “very lucky” and “grateful”.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said that Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom’s work was “valuable to the understanding of real-life contracts and institutions”.
It also said it could identify “potential pitfalls in contract design.”
Working separately, Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom created tools to help determine whether public sector workers should receive fixed salaries or performance-based pay, and whether providers of public services should be publicly or privately owned.
Bengt Holmstrom in particular is known for his research into how contracts and incentives affect corporate behavior.
The former Nokia board member declined to say whether he thought executive pay was too high these days, but commented: “My personal view is that [top executives’ contracts] are too complicated today.”
Bengt Holmstrom, 67, is a professor of economics and management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while Oliver Hart, born in 1948, is an economics professor at Harvard University in the US.
Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom saw off competition from the World Bank’s new chief economist Paul Romer, who was widely tipped to win.
New York University’s Stern Business School, where Prof. Paul Romer teaches, sparked controversy on October 6 when it accidently published a press release naming him as the winner.
It quickly took down the release, saying it was only preparing for a possible win.
Others believed to be the running included Olivier Blanchard, a former chief economist at the IMF, and Edward Lazear, a fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
The economics prize is the only Nobel not created by Alfred Nobel, and was instead launched in 1968, long after the philanthropist’s death.
To date Americans have dominated the award, with 55 of the 76 laureates holding US citizenship, including those with dual nationalities.
In 2015, Scottish-born economist Angus Deaton won the prize for his use of data to investigate income inequality and inform economic policy.
It is the fifth Nobel to be announced in 2016, after prizes for physiology or medicine, physics, chemistry and peace were awarded last week.
The 2016 Nobel prize for literature will be awarded on October 13.
You may find yourself in a position where you need to get life-saving treatment of some kind. In this situation you need to make sure you focus on getting ready for this, and what to expect. Here are some things you’ll need to focus on when it comes to treatment time.
Choose Your Treatment
It’s important that you think carefully about the sort of treatment you want to pick. There is going to be some choice when it comes to treatment for your condition. And it will largely depend on what illness you have. Consider what all the options for therapy and treatment are before you make a decision. Your doctor or consultant will probably go through them with you, and you can figure out a plan of action together. You will want to choose the treatment with the best chance of success, but you also need to factor in quality of life.
Before you have surgery, you’re going to get a briefing on the sorts of things that will be expected of you. It can be a scary and difficult time for you, and you may feel a little vulnerable. So you need to remember and understand what to do before you have surgery. Speak to a consultant or surgeon beforehand so you get a better idea of what to expect. Try to stay off the internet because you’re only going to focus on the negatives. Make sure you get plenty of rest so your body is in the best condition it can be for surgery. All this will help you to get yourself properly prepared for it, and focus on getting the best possible outcome.
Recovery
Once you’ve had your treatment, whether successful or not, you’ll need to focus on recovery. This is a crucial part of the process as your body may be very weak immediately after. You’re going to have undergone something very intense in a bid to save your life. And a big part of the treatment process is how well you recover from the surgery you’ve had. You will need to be in a reputable hospital in order to help with your recovery. And it will be important to have the right sort of people around you as well. Recovery is crucial when you have had any sort of treatment, and, if you rush it, then you may end up back at square one again.
What Next?
Now that you’ve had the treatment and focused on recovery you need to decide what’s next. Your life may well have been changed irrevocably as a result of this. And, you need to make certain that you have a plan for your life now. If you have been cured of whatever illness you had then consider this a fresh start. It’s a new chapter in your life, and one you should make the most of. You may also need to have an idea about what you’re going to do when it comes to further treatment. Have a plan in mind for the future, and how you will approach it after your treatment.
Many people will be in the position where they require life-saving treatment. There could be any number of conditions that require this. And you will need to prepare for what that process entails. It can be scary and worrying, but you should try to get as much information as possible before you get started.
