diff --git "a/nc2016/concatenated_en2de_test_en.txt" "b/nc2016/concatenated_en2de_test_en.txt" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/nc2016/concatenated_en2de_test_en.txt" @@ -0,0 +1,3154 @@ + +Obama receives Netanyahu +The relationship between Obama and Netanyahu is not exactly friendly. +The two wanted to talk about the implementation of the international agreement and about Teheran's destabilising activities in the Middle East. +The meeting was also planned to cover the conflict with the Palestinians and the disputed two state solution. +Relations between Obama and Netanyahu have been strained for years. +Washington criticises the continuous building of settlements in Israel and accuses Netanyahu of a lack of initiative in the peace process. +The relationship between the two has further deteriorated because of the deal that Obama negotiated on Iran's atomic programme, . +In March, at the invitation of the Republicans, Netanyahu made a controversial speech to the US Congress, which was partly seen as an affront to Obama. +The speech had not been agreed with Obama, who had rejected a meeting with reference to the election that was at that time impending in Israel. + +In 911 Call, Professor Admits to Shooting Girlfriend +In a 911 call, his voice only slightly shaky, college professor Shannon Lamb told police he had shot his girlfriend and officers needed to get over to their house. +Lamb made a point to say his "sweet dog" was there alive and probably upset, and said the dead woman's family contacts could be found on her phone. +Inside the home, officers found Amy Prentiss' body and a hand-written note scribbled on a white legal pad: "I am so very sorry I wish I could take it back I loved Amy and she is the only woman who ever loved me," read the letter authorities say was signed by Lamb. +There was no indication that Lamb, who was teaching two online classes for Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, had already traveled 300 miles to the school's campus, where police believe he shot and killed a well-liked history professor, Ethan Schmidt, in the doorway to his office. +Delta State University police chief Lynn Buford said university officials heard about the shooting at 10:18 a.m. +He said Lamb made the fateful 911 call sometime after that. +By the end of the day, there would be one more death: Lamb took his own life as police closed in on him. +A day after the school shooting forced students and faculty to hide behind locked doors, authorities were still trying to piece together what motivated Lamb. +The details released by investigators at both ends of the state as well as students and staff who knew him helped paint a picture of a talented but possibly troubled teacher. +Students said they looked forward to his class. +Police in Gautier, where Prentiss died, said he had no history of violence or criminal record. +Schmidt himself had included Lamb in a book he wrote where he acknowledged the "wonderful people" he shared his academic life with. +Both taught in the Division of Social Sciences and History, which lists 17 faculty members, and many students took courses from both. +At the same time, there were some inclinations of problems. +A student who praised Lamb, Brandon Beavers, said he also seemed agitated and jittery, "like there was something wrong with him." +Another student, Mikel Sykes, said Lamb told him he was dealing with stress at the end of the 2014-15 academic year. +Lamb had earlier asked Delta State University for a medical leave of absence, saying he had a health issue of some sort. +This year, he was only teaching two online classes. +Recent changes in the university's hiring policies meant that the doctorate Lamb had worked so hard to earn would not guarantee him an automatic tenure track to become an assistant professor. +University President William LaForge said he didn't know of any conflict between Lamb and Schmidt but "obviously there was something in Mr. Lamb's mind." +Those are questions Lamb can no longer answer. +After fleeing the campus, police later picked up Lamb's trail when he crossed back into Mississippi from Arkansas. +Before he could be apprehended, Lamb killed himself with a single .38-caliber pistol in the backyard of a home about a mile south of his parents' home on the outskirts of Greenville, Mississippi, said Washington County Coroner Methel Johnson. +His car was still running in the driveway. +It was not immediately clear why Lamb went to that home, though Johnson said she believes he knew the people who lived there. +Lamb grew up in the area. +Lamb started working at the university, which has 3,500 students in a city of about 12,000, in 2009 and taught geography and education classes. +He received a doctorate in education in the spring. +One of Lamb's longtime friends described him as smart, charismatic and funny. +Carla Hairston said she was 15 and Lamb was 20 when they met through mutual friends. +She and her friends were in high school, and he was the cool older guy who tried for several years to teach her to play guitar. +He was quite the heartthrob back then. +All the girls would melt when he was around," said Hairston, now 40 and living in the Jackson suburb of Brandon. +Lamb and Prentiss had apparently been dating for some time. +In the 911 call, Lamb said "I killed my wife," but there was no record of them ever marrying. +They had a dog named Lightning that lived with them at the brick house that backs up to a bayou in Gautier. +Police said the dog was OK. +Prentiss' ex-husband, Shawn O'Steen, said they divorced 15 years ago but remained friends and had a daughter who's now 19. +"She was completely devastated," O'Steen said of his daughter. +She and her mother were absolutely best friends. +O'Steen said he had not met Lamb but heard through his daughter Abigail that Lamb was interested in music and played the blues. +Lamb met Prentiss when he and Abigail both performed at a summer fair three years ago. +Later, they played together in the occasional gig. +O'Steen said his daughter writes and sings her own music. +Prentiss was a nurse who worked for various companies online. +Mike Shaffer, a bartender and sometimes entertainment coordinator at The Julep Room, a dimly lit bar near Gautier, said he last saw Lamb and Prentiss the night of Sept. 5, after Lamb had finished playing his guitar and harmonica for a sparse crowd. +There was no sign of anything amiss. +"Just a happy couple," he said. +We were cutting up and throwing one-liners at each other. +I mean, they both had a good sense of wit about them. +Schmidt, the slain professor, directed the first-year seminar program and specialized in Native American and colonial history, said Don Allan Mitchell, an English professor at the school. +He was married and had three young children. +He studied at Emporia State University in Kansas and was president of his fraternity and student government. +On the Delta State campus in Cleveland on Tuesday night, about 900 people, including faculty members, staff, students, and members of the community, attended a candlelight memorial. +Schmidt's wife, Liz, and brother Jeff Schmidt also attended the vigil, during which the university choir sang "Bright Morning Star" and "Amazing Grace." +Classes resume Wednesday. +"We're trying to get our students to come back," LaForge said. +The crisis is over. +This is a day of healing. +Amy and Rogelio Solis reported from Cleveland, Mississippi. +Associated Press writers Emily Wagster Pettus in Greenville, Mississippi, and Rebecca Santana in New Orleans contributed to this report. +This story has been corrected to reflect that police are now saying Lamb made the 911 call after shooting Schmidt, and that while Lamb referred to Prentiss as his wife in the 911 call, there is no indication the two ever married. + +Toys R Us Plans to Hire Fewer Holiday Season Workers +Toys R Us says it won't hire as many holiday season employees as it did last year, but the toy and baby products retailer says it will give current employees and seasonal workers a chance to work more hours. +The company said it plans to hire 40,000 people to work at stores and distribution centers around the country, down from the 45,000 hired for the 2014 holiday season. +Most of the jobs will be part-time. +The company said it will start interviewing applicants this month, with staff levels rising from October through December. +While the holidays themselves are months away, holiday shopping season is drawing closer and companies are preparing to hire temporary employees to help them staff stores and sell, ship and deliver products. + +Michael J. Fox Jokes About His 'Date' With Princess Diana +The premiere of "Back to the Future" was a huge moment for Michael J. Fox professionally. +It was noteworthy because of personal reasons, too. +"We were sitting in the theater waiting for the royals to come in and I realize that the seat next to me is empty, and it dawns on me that Princess Diana is going to be sitting next to me," he said in a trailer for an upcoming documentary, "Back in Time." +The movie starts and it occurs to me that I'm a fake yawn and an arm stretch away from being on a date with the Princess of Wales. +"Back in Time," a documentary about "Back to the Future," features interviews with Fox, Lea Thompson, and Christopher Lloyd, as well as director Robert Zemeckis, and executive producer Steven Spielberg. +"Back for the Future" premiered 30 years ago. +"It really is for me," said Spielberg, "inarguably the greatest time travel movie ever put on film." +"Back in Time" will be available on VOD, DVD and in select movie theaters Oct. + +UN Chief Says There Is No Military Solution in Syria +Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says his response to Russia's stepped up military support for Syria is that "there is no military solution" to the nearly five-year conflict and more weapons will only worsen the violence and misery for millions of people. +The U.N. chief again urged all parties, including the divided U.N. Security Council, to unite and support inclusive negotiations to find a political solution. +Ban told a news conference Wednesday that he plans to meet with foreign ministers of the five permanent council nations - the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France - on the sidelines of the General Assembly's ministerial session later this month to discuss Syria. +He expressed regret that divisions in the council and among the Syrian people and regional powers "made this situation unsolvable." +Ban urged the five permanent members to show the solidarity and unity they did in achieving an Iran nuclear deal in addressing the Syria crisis. + +8 Poll Numbers That Show Donald Trump Is For Real +Some have tried to label him a flip-flopper. +Others have dismissed him as a joke. +And some are holding out for an implosion. +But no matter how some Republicans are trying to drag Donald Trump down from atop the polls, it hasn't worked (yet). +Ten of the last 11 national polls have shown Donald Trump's lead at double digits, and some are starting to ask seriously what it means for the real estate mogul's nomination chances. +Of course, it's still early in the election cycle. +None of this is to say that Trump is likely to win the Republican nomination. +Pundits point out that at this time in 2011, Rick Perry's lead was giving way to a rising Herman Cain, neither of whom won even one state in the nomination process. +And there are many reasons he would struggle in a general election. +But outside groups like Jeb Bush's Super PAC and the economic conservative group Club for Growth are recognizing Trump's staying power and beginning to unload their dollars to topple him. +Here are some recent poll numbers that suggest that the real estate mogul isn't just a passing phase: +Trump's favorability ratings have turned 180 degrees. +Right before Donald Trump announced his candidacy in mid-June, a Monmouth University poll showed only two in 10 Republicans had a positive view of the real estate mogul. +By mid-July, it was 40 percent. +In early August, it was 52 percent. +Now, six in 10 Republicans have a favorable view of Donald Trump. +Roughly three in 10 say they have a negative view. +And these numbers hold up in early states. +A Quinnipiac poll in Iowa last week found that 60 percent of Republicans there had a favorable view of Trump. +Two-thirds of GOP voters would be happy with Trump as the nominee. +In a CNN/ORC poll last week, 67 percent of Republicans said they would be either "enthusiastic" or "satisfied" if Trump were the nominee. +Only two in 10 say they would be "upset" if he were the nominee. +Only Ben Carson generates roughly the same level of enthusiasm as Trump (43 percent say they would be "enthusiastic" vs. 40 percent who say the same of Trump). +The next closest in enthusiasm? +Marco Rubio with only 21 percent. +On the flip side, 47 percent of Republican voters say they would be "dissatisfied" or "upset" if establishment favorite Jeb Bush becomes the nominee. +A majority of Republicans don't see Trump's temperament as a problem. +While Donald Trump has been widely criticized for his bombast and insults, 52 percent of leaned Republican voters nationwide think that the real estate mogul has the right temperament to be president, according to Monday's ABC News/Washington Post poll. +The same number holds in the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa, where the same 52 percent of Republicans think he has the personality to be commander in chief, according to Quinnipiac last week. +Still, 44 percent think he doesn't have the personality to serve effectively, and almost six in 10 independents say his temperament does not belong in the White House, according to ABC/Post. +Republican voters are getting used to the idea. +When they put on their pundit hats, Republican voters think Trump is for real. +When asked who is most likely to win the GOP nomination, four in 10 said Trump was the best bet, according to a CNN/ORC poll out last week. +That's a change from when four in 10 placed their money on Jeb Bush in late July. +Full disclosure: GOP voters haven't had the clearest crystal ball in the past. +At this time last cycle, four in 10 Republicans picked Rick Perry to win the nomination, vs. only 28 percent for eventual nominee Mitt Romney. +Still, it shows that a plurality of GOP voters see Trump's campaign as plausible. +Even if Republicans rallied around another candidate, Trump still beats almost everyone. +Some pundits point out that the splintered field is likely contributing to Trump's lead, while anti-Trump support is be spread diffusely among more than a dozen other candidates. +But a Monmouth University poll in early September shows that, in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup between Trump and most other Republican candidates, Trump almost always garners majority support. +He leads Carly Fiorina by 13 points, Marco Rubio by 14 points, Walker by 15 points, Jeb Bush by 19 points, and, finally, Rand Paul, John Kasich and Chris Christie by 33 points each. +He's in a dead heat with Ted Cruz. +The only candidate who beats him? +Ben Carson would lead the businessman by a wide 19 points in a hypothetical head-to-head. +A bare majority of Donald Trump's supporters say they've made up their minds. +A new CBS/NYT poll out on Tuesday shows that just more than half of voters who support Trump say they have locked in their votes. +Obviously, a lot can happen to change that, and no one can really say they would never change their mind. +46 percent said they are leaving the door open to switching candidates. +Still, Trump's strongest competition at the moment is from fellow outsider neurosurgeon Ben Carson, but voters who say they have made up their minds are twice as likely to go for Trump. +Six in 10 Republicans say they agree with Trump on immigration. +Even since Donald Trump called immigrants from Mexico "rapists" in his campaign announcement speech two months ago, immigration has been front and center in the 2016 conversation. +Some are worried that Trump's bombast will drive crucial Hispanic voters away from the Republican Party and damage rebranding efforts. +But according to Monday's new ABC/Post poll, six in 10 Republicans say they agree with Trump on immigration issues. +So as long as immigration remains in the spotlight, it seems Donald Trump will remain too. +Frustration with government is climbing to new highs. +Donald Trump and Ben Carson now account for roughly half of the support from Republican voters, largely due to their outsider status. +Six in 10 Republicans in Monday's new ABC/Post poll say they want a political outsider over someone with government experience. +And they are angry at Washington, too. +A Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll in Iowa from two weeks ago shows that three in four Iowa Republicans are frustrated with Republicans in Congress, with 54 percent "unsatisfied" and 21 percent "mad as hell." + +Munich, Sylt und Co.: the five most exclusive residential areas in Germany +The most expensive residential developments are located here in Hobookenweg – with a view over the North Sea mudflats. +On this road one square metre of a thatched house costs an average of €73,300. +"On Sylt, the number of properties on offer is naturally limited," says a study – hence the high prices. +This new study indicates the particular locations with the most expensive accommodation per square metre. +Of course, €18.70 per square metre for student digs in Munich is not really low. +Compared with Germany's top areas, however, this price seems likes peanuts. +Property service Engel & Volkers has published a league table of the most exclusive residential areas in Germany - with staggeringly high prices per square metre. +More than €10,000 is nothing there - per quare metre, mind you. +Ok, if you can't afford it... +Incidentally, for once Munich is not in the lead. + +Champions League: Bayern off to a dream start thanks to Müller and Götze +Double goal scorer in Piraeus: Bayern star Thomas Müller is simply on a roll. +A lucky goal from Thomas Müller paved the way for a 3:0 victory for FC Bayern at Olypiacos Piraeus - then it got better. +A confident start to the Champions League season. +World champions Thomas Müller and Mario Götze brought about a dream start to their "Milan Mission" in the seething cauldron at Pireaus. +Trainer Pep Guardiola's team won their opening match in the Champions League in a hot atmosphere away to the Greek record holders, thanks to Müller's brace (52nd and 90th minutes +2) and Götze's goal (89th minute), ending in a score of 3:0 (0:0). +The twelfth successful start in a row should be the first step toward the final in Italy on 28 May 2016, where Guardiola wants to end his third attempt by taking the trophy back to Munich. +With his 28th goal in the Champions League, Müller took Bayern into the lead with the gracious help of Olymiacos goalie Roberto, who let through a cross shot from the world champion. +"We aren't going to underestimate them," promised Bayern captain Phillipp Lahm before the game in the Karaiskakis Stadium in front of 31,688 hot-blooded fans - and the Munich player kept his word. +They demonstrated a concentrated and committed performance without being showy. +Piraeus had won their six most recent premiere class home games, including against prominent clubs such as Manchester United, Atletico Madrid and Juventus Turin. +In 2011 Borussia Dortmund stumbled here too. +But Bayern, undefeated in seven Europa Cup duels with Greek teams, did not want to be the next victim. +They went to work boldly, but often too uninspired in their offensive efforts. +Attacks were too often initiated by bringing left winger Douglas Costa, who rarely got past former Brunswick player Omar Elabdellaoui, into play. +Müller had more luck from the right when his cross shot from right field drove into the top left corner of the goal. +In the 67th minute the world champion missed the chance of taking the match to 2:0. +Robert Lewandowski had the best opportunities in the first half. +First when Olympiacos striker Ideye Brown hit the Pole's header from the line in the 26th minute. +Then with a shot which the goalie parried with his knee in the 35th minute. +Although Bayern is used to playing a dominant game, Piraeus were able to needle them. +But they could count on goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. +For example when he steered a shot from Ideye over the crossbar in the 56th minute. +Guardiola had a four-man backfield defence deployed in front of Neuer, with David Alba in the centre next to Jerome Boateng. +Mario Götze, back in the squad following muscle problems, initially sat on the sidelines. +The world cup hero had only been given the green light following final training, said Sporting Director Matthias Sammer on Sky: "If anyone wants to make something else out of that, they are being malicious". +At the first change, Guardiola decided against him, when he brought in Kingsley Coman for the stricken Lewandowski in the 59th minute. +Götze came late for Arturo Vidal in the 76th minute and proved himself 13 minutes later; Müller put another one in with a penalty. +Before the match there was a riot in the stadium. +After a small group of Bayern fans, some wearing masks, had apparently provoked supporters of hosts Piraeus from behind their fence with words and gestures, security forces attacked them and used batons against the Munich supporters. +At least one Bayern fan was taken injured from the stadium. + +Smokers at a greater risk of losing teeth +Smokers damage not only their lungs but also their teeth, concludes a long-term study in Potsdam. +The good news is: if you give up the risk decreases fast. +Smokers have a significantly increased risk of losing their teeth early. +This emerges from a long-term study by an international team of researchers, including a number of employees of the German Institute for Nutritional Research (DIfE) in Potsdam. +Compared to non-smokers, the risk of losing their teeth prematurely is between 2.5 and 3.6 times higher for smokers. +The scientists monitored more than 23,300 participants. +The main reasons for tooth loss are caries and inflammation of the gums, the DIfE states. +Smoking is a risk factor for this periodontitis, emphasise the authors. +The connection between smoking and loss of teeth can therefore be attributed to more frequent gum inflammation in smokers. +It has not been clarified to what extent smoking raises the risk of caries. +People who stop smoking could reduce their risk within a short time, the researchers write in the "Journal of Dental Research". +It could however take 10 years before the danger once more drops to the level of non-smokers', declared lead author Thomas Dietrich of the University of Birmingham in England. +People should be persuaded to become non-smokers, declared study leader Heiner Boeing of DIfE: "Smoking shortens the lifespan". +Not smoking is good for the lungs and vessels and in our experience leads to good dental health to an advanced age. +In Germany over 20 percent of the population in the 65 to 74 age group are affected by toothlessness, according to the DIfE. +Earlier studies had already indicated that smoking increases the risk of early tooth loss. +The new long term study substantiates these findings. + +Archaeologists discover ancient remains on the banks of the Rhine at Cologne +Archaeological finds have again been made on the right bank of the Rhine in Cologne. +Archaeologists from the Roman Germanic Museum have unearthed skeletons and remains of historical buildings near the site where the new Rhine Boulevard is being constructed , said museum Director Marcus Trier on Tuesday. +Historians have been in search of so-called architectural monuments since the start of construction work on the Rhine. +The museum, as the department for archaeological monument conservation, is always consulted when construction projects are carried out in the city district of Cologne. +The archaeologists made a find in the third construction phase of the Rhein Boulevard. +It is already known from text documents that a fortress stood on this spot in the 4th century, and in the 8th century a church, explained Trier. +Besides the remains of the fortress and the church tower, a cemetery with around 350 graves, which probably belonged to the church, has also been discovered. + +Young woman hit by goods train +After a young woman met with an accident at the station in Geilenkirchen-Lindern, police are asking for help from the general public. +Early on Wednesday morning, at about 1:40 a.m., the young woman crossed the tracks at the end of the platform coming from the direction of the station building and was hit by a goods train coming from the direction of Mönchengladbach. +According to the Federal police she suffered severe injuries from the accident. +She was treated at the site by an emergency doctor and taken to hospital by ambulance. +Investigating officers have no idea why the young woman was crossing the tracks at night. +It is possible that the event was observed by witnesses or residents may have heard something. +This may apply to residents of or people passing by the Lindern station, Ziegelbäckerweg, Thomashofstrasse and Leiffarther Strasse (L364). +Any information that can be provided about the cause of the accident can be given by calling the free 24-hour police hotline on 0800/688 8000 or at any police station. + +EU Commission proposes new court in controversy over TTIP +To defuse the controversy over the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP, the EU Commission has proposed a substantial reform of the current arbitration system. +According to this, the disputed private arbitration board for conflicts between corporations and countries would be replaced by a transparent system which corresponds considerably more in its function to traditional courts. +"We want to set up a system which citizens trust," stated the responsible EU Commissioner, Cecilia Malström, when introducing it. +The Swede plans to introduce the proposal as the European negotiating position in the free trade talks with the USA. +The German government has announced its support. +The creation of TTIP will result in the largest free trade zone in the world, covering 800 million people. +Plans for reform of the current arbitration procedure specifically provide for the EU states and the USA to jointly select independent judges for a new investment court. +They should come in equal proportions from the EU, the USA and from non-member countries. +For the first time, a second instance is also provided for. +This would allow for appeals to be made against judgements. +Up to now, the parties to proceedings have agreed on the arbitrator among themselves and there has been no possibility of appeal against their judgements. +In the discussions over the past months it has become clear that citizens do not trust the old ISDS system to be fair and just, commented Malström. +In the long term, according to her statement, she wants to aim at an international investment court. +In this, for example, disputes between Chinese companies and EU countries could be cleared up. +Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), which is required particularly by large companies, is said to be one of the main reasons for the stiff opposition to the TTIP in Europe. +Traditional arbitration courts are criticised by adversaries as a form of parallel justice through which companies are able to fight for compensation at the expense of tax payers, make national laws null and void, or enforce a lowering of consumer and environmental protection standards. +In initial reactions, anti TTIP organisations such as Capact called the EU Commission's proposals inadequate. +There was criticism in particular that they would not apply to the already negotiated free trade agreement with Canada (Ceta). +The German Secretary of State for the Economy, Matthias Machnig (SPD), on the other hand, referred to the plans as major progress. +The Commission included in the reforms key points which Federal Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel developed with other EU trade ministers. +The old system of private arbitration courts is off the table. +The French government, too, welcomed Malström's plans. +The European business association BusinessEurope warned against restricting the options for industry to take legal action with too many new rules. +Small and medium sized enterprises in particular could be disadvantaged, they said. +When talks over the TTIP free trade agreement can be concluded was still unclear on Wednesday. +Negotiations have been taking place since the middle of 2013. +The issue of investor protection, however, has to date not been discussed with the USA. +It was originally planned for a structure for the agreement to be completed by the end of this year. +This date is no longer tenable. + +Exquisite folk from Sufjan Stevens in Hamburg +Eleven years ago, Sufjan Stevens sits on the stage in the Prime Club (now Luxor) in Cologne. +Beside him stands a flip chart on which the shy-seeming folk singer has drawn the picturesque US state of Michigan in felt-tip pen. +The entire audience, some 40 people, is virtually mesmerised by Stevens's performance. +Referring to different places, which each time he marks on the map, he talks about the stories behind his meticulously and subtly contrived songs. +Where they originated, and what it looks like, in his home country. +Since then Stevens has proved himself to be a wonderfully creative nutcase. +His third album, "Greetings from Michigan: the Great Lake State", released in 2003, features cleverly composed songs which cling harmonically to the traditions of American folk rock of the late sixties, but which might drift at any time into amazing opulence. +Rumour has it that "Michigan" was the first part of a bold series: it was to have been followed by songs about each of the 50 United States. +But in 2004 in the Rhine area, "Seven Swans" came out, bursting positive expectations. +Stevens seems to have downsized here. +Playing live he only needs a guitar and banjo. +One year later the New York-based musician returns to his series. +With "Illinois" ("Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come On Feel The Illinoise") in 2005, a widely acclaimed masterpiece is released. +Exuberant with ideas and stylistic sophistication. +The album climbs the American Billboard charts and appears in every best album of the year list in the influential music press. +After extremely productive experiments Stevens then serves up "The Age of Adz" (2010), an elaborate electronic set piece. +This sixth proper studio album is still broadly orchestrated, but supported by programmed sequences or beats and plays with a variety of effects and echoes. +Long since moved on from the smaller clubs, the stage shows here are becoming colourful spectacles with neon headbands and huge fluorescent stage decorations. +Currently Sufjan Stevens is touring Germany as part of a five-man band. +Hamburg Mehr kept in the dark! +Since March the theatre has primarily presented "Carrie and Lowell". +Although an audience of almost 2000 sit spellbound in their seats, the clearly more mature Stevens returns to intimacy and to folk. +Without directing a word at the public the group of excellent musicians plays through the widely enriched album. +From the audience one can hear: the performance is more "opulent" and it makes you want to "chuck away the album". +Only with his encore does Stevens give his modest thanks, play a few of his older songs acoustically and finally take a bow to thunderous applause. + +Jeremy Corbyn to make debut at Prime Minister's Questions +Since his election, Mr Corbyn's debut at PMQs has been keenly awaited +New Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is to make his debut at Prime Minister's Questions later, taking on David Cameron for the first time. +Mr Corbyn will rise to ask the first of his six allotted questions shortly after midday, with his performance likely to be closely scrutinised by the media and Labour MPs. +He has called for "less theatre and more facts" at the weekly showpiece. +He has also said he could skip some sessions, leaving them to colleagues. +The encounter will be the first parliamentary test of Mr Corbyn's leadership, coming after his appointment of a shadow cabinet and his speech to the TUC annual congress on Tuesday. +Meanwhile, the Labour leader's decision to stand in silence during the singing of the national anthem at a service on Tuesday to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain has attracted criticism from a number of Tory MPs and is the focus of several front page stories in the newspapers. +Mr Corbyn's decision not to sing the national anthem has attracted attention +A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said he had "stood in respectful silence" and did recognise the "heroism of the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain." +But a member of Mr Corbyn's shadow cabinet, Owen Smith, told BBC Two's Newsnight programme he would have advised the Labour leader to sing the national anthem "irrespective" of his belief that the monarchy should be abolished. +Nearly a dozen shadow ministers have refused to serve in Mr Corbyn's top team, citing differences over the economy, defence and foreign affairs, while less than a sixth of the parliamentary party originally backed him as leader. +BBC political correspondent Robin Brant says policy differences are also "stacking up" within Labour following Mr Corbyn's appointment over its position on the European Union and the government's cap on benefits. +Mr Corbyn told the TUC conference Labour was putting forward amendments to remove the whole idea of a cap altogether. +Hours later Mr Smith, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said the party was "very clear" that it was only opposing government plans to reduce the level of cap from £26,000 to £23,000. +Mr Corbyn will be the fifth Labour leader that David Cameron has faced across the despatch box over the past decade since he became Tory leader. +The Labour leader, who has promised a different approach to politics, says he has "crowd sourced" ideas for questions to ask Mr Cameron and has been given more than 30,000 suggestions. +The Islington North MP has said PMQs is too confrontational and that he will refrain from both "repartee" and trading barbs, instead vowing to focus on serious issues such as poverty, inequality and the challenges facing young people. +Mr Corbyn has said that Angela Eagle, the shadow business secretary, will deputise for him at PMQs when he does not attend - for instance when Mr Cameron is travelling abroad. +He has also floated the idea of allowing other colleagues to take the floor on occasion, saying he had approached the Commons Speaker John Bercow to discuss the issue. +When he became leader in 2005, Mr Cameron said he wanted to move away from the "Punch and Judy" style of politics often associated with PMQs but admitted some years later that he had failed. +Since it was first televised in 1990, PMQs has been seen as a key barometer of a leader's judgement, their command of the Commons and their standing among their fellow MPs although critics have argued it has become a caricature and is in need of far-reaching reforms. + +'Shot in Joburg': Homeless youth trained as photographers +Downtown Johannesburg is a tough place to be homeless. +But one group of former street children have found a way to learn a skill and make a living. +"I was shot in Joburg" is a non-profit studio that teaches homeless youngsters how to take photographs of their neighbourhood and make a profit from it. +BBC News went to meet one of the project's first graduates. + +How to share your stories, pictures and videos with BBC News +Every day BBC News - on TV, on radio and online - brings you the latest stories from across the globe... but what we want to hear are the issues that matter to you. +The part you play in making the news is very important. +Whether it is breaking news or a featured item, your contribution can make a difference. +Have you seen or been involved in a news event? +Is something significant, bizarre or unusual happening where you live? +Have you got a story to tell or is there something you think we should follow up? +Are there topics you want to get the world talking about? +What do you want to comment on? +Or do you want to find out what others are talking about? +Terms and conditions for sending contributions to the BBC. +Here are the different ways to send in your contributions: +Contact us on Twitter +We may use your tweets displaying your Twitter username on BBC output. +Message us on WhatsApp +Send us a picture, video or message to our WhatsApp number +44 7525 900971 +In some cases your text, as well as your images, may be used on BBC output. +We will publish your name as you provide it (unless you ask us not to) but we will never publish your mobile phone number. +You can send us your pictures and videos or an SMS to 61124. +Or if you are outside the UK, send them to the international number +44 7624 800 100. +You can download the BBC News app on iOS or Android devices and send us images or contributions using the buttons in the app. +Email your stories and comments to haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk +We aim to read all of your emails but due to the numbers we receive each day it is not always possible to reply to everyone individually. +Email your pictures, video or audio to us at yourpics@bbc.co.uk +If we use your material on BBC programmes or online we will publish your name as you provide it (unless you ask us not to) but we will never publish your email address. +You can also upload your video or pictures. +We will publish your name as you provide it, unless you ask us not to. + +Pound rises as UK wage growth accelerates +The pound jumped following data showing a pick-up in UK wage growth, while the FTSE 100 was led higher by bid target SABMiller. +Between May and July, UK earnings excluding bonuses grew 2.9% compared with the same period last year. +The rate was the fastest since 2009, and was seen as bringing forward estimates of when rates might rise. +Sterling rose more than 1% against the dollar to $1.5505 and was up 0.84% against the euro at €1.3730. +The FTSE 100 index closed up 1.49% to 6,229.21. +SABMiller was the stand-out stock on the market, jumping 20% after it received a bid approach from rival AB InBev. +A deal would combine the world's two largest brewers, bringing together brands such as Budweiser, Stella Artois, Peroni and Grolsch. +Burberry shares were 0.9% higher following encouraging news from rival luxury goods group Richemont. +Richemont's latest sales figures beat expectations and also showed that sales in China - a key market for Burberry - had begun to grow again. +Shares in Glencore rose 5% after the mining giant said it had raised $2.5bn through a share placement as part of its debt-cutting strategy. +Shares in packaging and paper group Mondi were the biggest fallers on the index, down 4.3%, after Goldman Sachs cut its rating on the firm to "sell." +JD Sports rose 3.1% after the sportswear firm reported an 83% jump in half-year pre-tax profits to £46.6m. + +JD Sports boss says higher wages could hurt expansion +JD Sports Executive Chairman Peter Cowgill says a higher minimum wage for UK workers could mean "more spending power in the pockets of potential consumers." +But that spending power is unlikely to outweigh the higher labour costs at his firm, he says. +The costs could hit JD Sports' expansion plans, he added, which could mean fewer extra jobs. + +Justin Bieber in the capital city: on a Bieber expedition in Berlin +Justin Bieber, megastar. +A ridiculous 21 years young, a wimpy kid with a too trendy haircut. +The guy with the platinum blond hair is worth a hundred million euros. +Probably even more. +At the moment Monsieur Bieber is in Berlin. +And the under-17 generation is going berserk. +Like Wiktoria Rudzinska. +The 15-year-old has never heard the name Ritz Carlton. +Not so bad. +Hundreds of fans accompanied Justin yesterday. +Including Eva and Viktoria from Poland. +But the Poles have been sitting on the cold stone slab in front of the luxury Berlin hotel on the Potsdamer Platz since 7 o'clock in the morning. +The Bieber building: their idol, whose face appears on huge numbers of posters in Szczecin, has been staying here since Monday evening. +The suite where the Canadian singer is staying costs as much for one night as her mother Ewa earns in six months. +At least. +She says: "My Viktoria should really be sitting in the 10th class in the grammar school at the moment." +"I'm fulfilling her dream for her." +Compulsory education? +Who wants that? +Not the fans. +Nor Bieber himself. +He is financially secure anyway. +He is earning three million for advertising in the commercial break at the Super Bowl, a two-year deal with an anti-spot company pours many many dollars into Bieber's account. +And for every doll that looks like him and passes over the counter Bieber cashes in as well. +When Justin Bieber drinks coffee people goggle through the window. +He has looted more than a hundred million like that. +Some say the hype goes too far. +Others point out that after all Bieber is charting in both the USA and Great Britain with his new single "What do you mean?" at number one. +Bieber himself, whose new album is due out in November, is not interested in all those zeros. +At least that's what he says. + +Pegida poster suggests the idea of potato doner kebabs to Lebanese man +Potatoes or doner kebab? +You can have both – in the potato kebab that Oldenburg snack bar owner Hani Alhay has created. +Inspired by the slogan "potatoes instead of kebabs" on a Pegida movement poster, Alhay put potatoes and meat together on a skewer. +A poster at a Pegida demonstration with the slogan "Potatoes instead of kebabs" which he happened to see on television gave him the idea. +Since then a spit laden with meat and potatoes has been rotating in his shop. +"That is multi-cultural food!" says Alhay. +Now he has registered his idea at the patent office in Munich. +According to officials there it is now protected as a registered design. +Because of this, Alhay does not want to reveal how much meat and how many potatoes the spit holds. +Just enough so that, "They taste much better together," he reckons. +Customers also appreciate this international culinary understanding. + +Metcash launches grassroots campaign to fight Aldi incursion +Metcash is trying to protect its IGA stores from an Aldi onslaught in South Australia and Western Australia. +Grocery wholesaler Metcash has kicked off a grassroots campaign to defend the market share of IGA retailers in South Australia and Western Australia ahead of a $700 million Aldi invasion. +As Aldi prepares to open two distribution centres and the first of as many as 120 stores in South Australia and Western Australia early next year, Metcash and IGA supermarkets are strengthening relationships with local food suppliers and building the IGA brand through mainstream and social media marketing and events such as the Adelaide show. +IGA retailers and suppliers are jumping on board, with brands such as Dunsborough-based ice cream maker Simmo's offering taste testing at IGA stores and store owners selling discounted South Australian football league tickets to loyal customers. +Metcash is expected to reveal more details of its defence strategy on September 29, when the food, liquor and hardware wholesaler hosts its annual investor strategy day. +There is much at stake, as South Australia and Western Australia account for almost 30 per cent of Metcash's IGA store footprint and generate higher profit margins than Metcash's IGA network in the eastern states. +South Australian and Western Australian shoppers are notoriously parochial and IGA retailers enjoy a much stronger market share than they do in NSW, Victoria and Queensland - more than 30 per cent in SA and 24 per cent in WA compared with around 14 per cent in the Eastern states. +However, analysts such as Morgan Stanley believe Aldi will snare around 5 per cent of the grocery market in these two states within 12 months of opening its first stores, taking sales from all existing players but mainly from independent retailers. +In a report this week, Morgan Stanley analyst Tom Kierath estimated that IGA retailers could lose $360 million a year in sales and Metcash $250 million by the end of 2016. +This forecast is based on the assumption that Aldi opens 25 stores in SA and 30 in WA next year, generating sales of $500 million and $600 million in each market. +The loss of food and grocery sales and volumes on Metcash's high fixed-cost base could cost Metcash around $13 million in earnings before interest and tax, Mr Kierath said. +At the same time, Metcash is losing market share in the eastern states, mainly to Aldi and Coles, even though a recent Roy Morgan survey found IGA shoppers were most loyal. +Morgan Stanley believes Metcash's food and grocery sales will fall 3.8 per cent in 2016, 4.1 per cent in 2017 and 2.1 per cent in 2018, reducing its market share from 14 per cent in 2015 to 10.3 per cent by 2020. +Last week, leading fund manager Hamish Douglass, the founder of Magellan Financial Group, told a business lunch in Melbourne that Metcash could "highly, probably disappear within a decade. +Metcash has declined to respond publicly to Mr Douglass' comments. +But it is understood that a Metcash board member contacted Mr Douglass last week. +IGA's market share has fallen from 18 per cent to 14 per cent since 2010 and earnings from Metcash's food and grocery business, which supplies about 1200 IGA retailers, have fallen 43 per cent since 2012, reflecting operating deleverage as sales and margins come under pressure. +However, the wholesaler is fighting back, investing more than $150 million a year matching shelf prices at Coles and Woolworths on hundreds of products each week, helping IGA retailers refurbish stores by adding faster-growing fresh food, and rolling out a better range of private label groceries. +Metcash chief executive Ian Morrice says the price matching and store refurbishment programs are gaining traction and is hoping the wholesaler will return to underlying profit growth in 2017, for the first time in four years. + +Thanasi Kokkinakis backed by Tennis Australia president Steve Healy +Thanasi Kokkinakis deserves kudos rather than criticism for his behaviour. +Thanasi Kokkinakis has been the collateral damage in the recent storm around his friend Nick Kyrgios and deserves kudos rather than criticism for his own behaviour, according to Tennis Australia president Steve Healy. +Kokkinakis, the younger of the talented duo regularly referred to as the "Special Ks," was dragged into an unwelcome spotlight by the infamous Kyrgios sledge of Stan Wawrinka at the Montreal Masters. +In a fiery qualifying match in Cincinnati soon after, Kokkinakis and his opponent Ryan Harrison twice had to be separated by the chair umpire, with Harrison declaring: "Wawrinka should've decked Kyrgios, and I should deck that kid." +While he was last seen smashing a racquet after cramp foiled a potential US Open upset of Richard Gasquet, Kokkinakis has been defended staunchly by Healy. +The teenager is currently in Glasgow, competing with Sam Groth for the second singles berth behind Bernard Tomic in the Davis Cup semi-final against Britain. +"One thing I do feel quite keenly about is I think Thanasi's been dragged into the fray a little bit," Healy said. +He did break a racquet when he lost when he cramped in the US, but he's not the first player to break a racquet out of frustration with himself, and I know Thanasi well enough to know he wouldn't be proud of that. +But, really, he's handled himself extremely well, in pretty provocative circumstances in the US with Harrison and so on, and I think he deserves a lot of credit. +He's a great team around him, he's got a great family around him and I just think he's been a little hard done by. +He's a very mature 19-year-old, he works very hard, and he fits in with the team and so on, he hasn't ever had an issue with the other players, he's well respected in the locker room, he trains hard, he's in great shape, he's a very stable and mature young guy and I just think he deserves to be judged on his own merits. +Healy also backed the decision to overlook Kyrgios for the important tie, starting on Friday, describing the "mutual decision" as the right thing for all, but backing the Canberran to return as a long-term fixture in the team. +"First of all we want the team to be completely focused on the tie and not all the controversy around [Kyrgios]," Healy said. +And I think Nick, he's risen very quickly, as people like Federer and Murray have pointed out, he's growing up in the public eye and he's made some terrible errors and deserves all the criticism he gets, but we're trying to support him, we're trying to help him understand the consequences of his actions, and some time out of the limelight where he can just reflect on that I think is appropriate and it's best for the team and it's best for him. + +Europe migrant crisis: Hungary declares emergency, seals border, detains migrants +Declaring a state of emergency, Hungary sealed off its southern border with Serbia on Tuesday and detained those trying to enter illegally, aiming to shut down the flow of migrants pouring in. +Chaos ensued at the border, as hundreds of migrants piled up in a no man's land, and Serbian officials reacted with outrage. +Stuck for an unknown amount of time on a strip of road between the two countries' checkpoints, those fleeing violence in their homelands pitched tents and settled in. +But frustrations were on the rise. +As a police helicopter hovered above, migrants chanted "Open the border!" and shouted insults at Hungarian riot police. +Some refused food and water in protest. +Serbia's foreign minister declared it was "unacceptable" that migrants were being sent back from Hungary while more and more were arriving from Macedonia and Greece. +(Serbia) wants to be part of the solution, not collateral damage. +There will have to be talks in the coming days with Brussels and other countries," Ivica Dacic said in Prague. +The turmoil at the Hungarian-Serbian border came a day after the 28-nation bloc failed to come up with a united immigration policy at a contentious meeting in Brussels. +The ministers did agree to share responsibility for 40,000 people seeking refuge in overwhelmed Italy and Greece and spoke hopefully of reaching an eventual deal - next month or by the end of the year - on which EU nations would take 120,000 more refugees, including some from Hungary. +German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Austria called Tuesday for a special European Union summit next week to discuss the continent's immigration crisis. +Hungary, however, was not pinning its hopes on any action soon from Brussels or its neighbors. +Tuesday's state of emergency in two southern regions gave authorities greater powers to deal with the crisis, allowing them to shut down roads and speed up asylum court cases. +Meanwhile, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said his country is also planning to build a razor-wire fence along part of its border with Romania to stop the flow of migrants through the country, now that it has finished a fence on the Serbian border. +CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata reported that even prison inmates were enlisted in the race to finish the razor wire fence between Hungary and Serbia. +In the last few months, Hungary has become a major bottleneck and entry point into the European Union for migrants, many of them war refugees from Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East. +Prime Minister Viktor Orban, however, has insisted that most arriving are economic migrants seeking a better life, not war refugees entitled to protection - a view sharply at odds with other EU nations, including Germany. +The new laws that took effect at midnight in Hungary now make it a crime to cross or damage a 4-meter (13-foot) razor-wire fence the government has built along the southern border with Serbia and also includes longer prison terms for convicted human traffickers. +"Due to the situation caused by mass migration, the Hungarian government declares a state of crisis," government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told reporters in the southern city of Szeged. +We are very clear on this: Illegal border crossing is a crime. +Technically, parliament must still approve the deployment of the military, expected next week, but Associated Press reporters at the border have seen heavily armed military personnel with vehicles and dogs for days. +Gyorgy Bakondi, homeland security adviser to Orban, said authorities caught 45 people trying to cross at the border and 15 deeper in the country. +They got across by damaging the fence, are now in police custody and are being charged with committing offenses under the new laws. +Authorities are quickly repairing the fence. +Hungarian officials also closed two of seven border crossings with Serbia on Tuesday morning after deploying a train car covered with razor wire to close one of them. +Chaos enveloped the main border crossing near Roszke, Hungary, as the Hungarians opened a tiny office in a metal container to process people and crowds pressed to squeeze inside. +About 20 managed to get in, but thousands remained outside. +Another group of migrants blocked the main highway connecting Serbia and Hungary, saying they were refusing food and water until they are allowed to cross into Hungary. + +Election 2016: Hillary Clinton's lead over Bernie Sanders cut by half in national poll +Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to hold a double-digit lead in the Democratic race for the nomination nationally, but Sen. Bernie Sanders is gaining on her. +Clinton now has the backing of 47 percent of Democratic primary voters (down from 58 percent), while Sanders comes in second, with 27 percent (up from 17 percent). +Vice President Joe Biden, who has yet to announce whether he is running for president, receives support from 15 percent of Democratic primary voters. +More than five months before the start of the primary contests, most Democratic voters say it is too early to say that their minds are made up about which candidate they will support. +But Clinton's backers are more firm in their choice than those backing other candidates. +Since last month's CBS News Poll, Clinton has lost ground among a number of demographic groups, while Sanders has made some gains. +Clinton maintains a large lead among women and moderates, but those leads have narrowed. +Her support among men has dropped considerably and Sanders only trails her by 5 points. +Clinton's advantage with Democratic voters under age 50 has evaporated, and she and Sanders are now even. +However, Clinton still has a large lead with older voters. +Last month, Clinton was ahead of Sanders by double-digits among liberals, but Sanders now has a 5-point edge with this group. +About half of Democratic primary voters nationwide say they would enthusiastically support Clinton if she became the party's nominee. +A quarter would support her with some reservations and another 15 percent would only back her because she is the nominee. +Six percent would not support her. +Perhaps not surprisingly, Clinton's current supporters are especially likely to be enthusiastic about her. +Views are more mixed among those not currently backing Clinton - only about a quarter would enthusiastically support her. +While 48 percent of Democratic primary voters say they would enthusiastically back Clinton, fewer Republican voters say that about their frontrunner, Donald Trump (35 percent). +When Clinton's supporters are asked in an open-ended question why they want her to be the nominee, the top answer is that she has the right experience (16 percent), followed by it's time for a woman president (13 percent), and that she is the best candidate for the job (10 percent). +Also mentioned by Clinton supporters is her association with Bill Clinton (9 percent). +Agreement on the issues, and electability are also cited. +As the vice president weighs a potential run for president, 57 percent of Democratic primary voters would like to see him jump in the race - although a third don't think he should. +When Democratic primary voters are asked who would be their second choice for the party's nomination, Biden is the top pick. +Among Clinton supporters, more than half say Biden would be their second choice, far ahead of Sanders. +If Biden chooses not to run for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton's lead over Sanders widens, from 20 points with Biden in the race to 30 points without him in the running. +Fifty-five percent of Democratic voters see Clinton as the candidate with the best chance of winning the general election; however that figure is down from 78 percent last month. +Biden is a distant second on this measure, but the percentage that sees him as the most electable has risen. +Still, when asked which is more important in a nominee, Democratic voters pick issues over electability. +Similar to last month, no single Democratic candidate or potential candidate stands out as unacceptable as the nominee to these primary voters. +The Democratic candidates, or potential candidates, perform well on some key characteristics among their party's primary voters. +Majorities see Clinton, Sanders and Biden as honest and trustworthy and as having strong leadership qualities. +Biden does the best of the three on honesty, while Clinton's strength is leadership. +Thirty percent of Democratic primary voters don't think Clinton is honest and trustworthy, twice as many as say that about Sanders (15 percent), but 27 percent don't have an opinion of him on this. +Democratic primary voters also generally see Clinton, Sanders and Biden as in line with their views ideologically. +On all of these measures, about a quarter of Democratic voters do not have an opinion of Sanders. +As questions continue about Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email address and server while Secretary of State, most Democratic primary voters are satisfied with her explanation of the matter and say it hasn't impacted their overall views of her. +But it's a different story among the American public overall. +Half of Americans are now dissatisfied with her explanation, while just about a third are satisfied. +The public's views on this were split back in March, shortly after the issue came to light. +Most Americans say the email controversy has had no effect on their overall opinions of Clinton, although 36 percent say their opinion of her has grown worse. +It is mainly Republicans, more than six in 10, who say their views of Clinton have become worse. +Even though Clinton is viewed as honest and trustworthy by her party's voters, this continues to be a problem for her among registered voters overall: only 32 percent see her as honest and trustworthy, down eight points from last month, and 15 points since May. +Sixty-two percent of registered voters don't think of her as honest and trustworthy. +At the same time, 55 percent of registered voters nationwide don't see Trump as honest and trustworthy either. +Both Clinton and Trump, however, get good marks on leadership. +Of the six candidates tested, Biden, Carson and Bush do the best on honesty. +More see Sanders as honest than not, but like Carson, many don't have an opinion of him. +The margin of error for the sample of 351 Democratic primary voters is 6 percentage points. + +Ben Carson draws close behind Donald Trump in national poll +Ben Carson is running close behind Donald Trump in the newest CBS News/New York Times poll +The two candidates account for half the support of voters in the new poll, leaving others scrounging for a foothold +Republican voters nationwide continue to back Trump in large numbers, climbing from 23% support in the last CBS poll, conducted before the Fox News debate last month, to 27% in the poll out Tuesday. +But Carson rocketed in that same period from 6% to 23%. +The survey also found Carson doing well across demographic groups, edging out Trump among college-educated Republican voters. +The rest of the field, with the exception of Carly Fiorina and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, has slipped behind with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker falling farthest from 10% support last month to 2% now. +Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio all tied for third place with 6%. +The margin of error for the 376-person sample of Republican voters in this newest poll is plus-or-minus 6%, and was conducted Sept. +The latest CNN/ORC survey, released last week, showed Carson rising in the polls -- landing at 19% support among Republicans, behind Trump's 32% support. +The latest poll from ABC News/Washington Post also showed Trump significantly ahead of Carson. +Facing a rising Carson last week, Trump took some potshots at the retired neurosurgeon, even as Carson apologized for questioning Trump's faith. +"We need energy," Trump said last Saturday during a campaign stop in Iowa. + +Pleasant temperatures for bathing: the eastern Mediterranean is currently as warm as 29 degrees +Even if peak levels are only measured in the distance, a trip to the Mediterranean is enough for beach lovers to find warm water. +A dip in the North Sea or the Baltic Sea can only be a brief treat with temperatures at a maximum of 17 degrees. +Many people no longer go into the sea: the water in the North Sea and the Baltic this week is a maximum of 18 degrees, according to the German meteorological office (DWD). +The Mediterranean, by contrast, offers suitable temperatures for bathing: in the east they are as high as 29 degrees. +In the Adriatic peak temperatures are 25 degrees, and in France 23 degrees. +The Red Sea in Egypt is 28 degrees. + +Five fraternity members charged in death of Baruch College freshman +Nearly two years after a college student died during a fraternity hazing ritual in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, murder charges have been filed against five people. +Members of New York City's Baruch College Pi Delta Psi fraternity brutally assaulted Chun "Michael" Deng during an initiation rite in September 2013 and delayed taking him to the hospital, contributing to his death, police said. +Officials said he was blindfolded, saddled with a 30-pound backpack full of sand, and repeatedly tackled while he tried to walk toward a target across a frozen field. +Mr. Deng eventually complained that his head hurt then fell unconscious. +Pi Delta Psi fraternity members did not call 911 after Deng passed out, and allegedly waited an hour before bringing him to a hospital, police say. +They did, however, find time to change Deng's clothes, Google his symptoms, and contact Andy Meng, the fraternity's national president to seek advice, Police Chief Chris Wagner said at a news conference. +"At this point, members began to hide paraphernalia and basically put the fraternity's well-being over that of Michael Deng's," Chief Wagner said. +He could not be revived and he died the next morning. +According to an autopsy report, Deng was subjected to repeated blunt force trauma to his head, torso, and thighs. +"Too many families have been devastated as a result of fraternity hazing, with at least one student dying every year from hazing since 1970," Douglas Fierberg, an attorney representing Deng's family, said in a statement. +Fraternities and their members must be held accountable, and this step by authorities is an important one. +A Monroe County grand jury recommended third-degree murder charges for the first five members. +Thirty-two other fraternity members, including Mr. Meng, will also be charged with assault hazing and criminal conspiracy. +"We want to hold not only the individuals involved, but if there's an organization that sanctioned it, whether officially or unofficially, we're going to hold them accountable as well," Wagner said at a news conference Tuesday. +Baruch College banned the fraternity and the national fraternity revoked its affiliation with the local chapter. + +Here's what will happen when the Fed raises interest rates +A rate hike will come and the bull market will stumble, bond yields will climb and the economy will slip into a recession. +This we know. +What we don't know is how long all of that will take and how long it will last. +For the economy specifically, history offers little guide about timing. +A recession has come as quickly as 11 months after the first rate hike and as long as 86 months. +The Federal Reserve's aggressiveness in raising rates is often, though not always, a determinant in how the economy and financial assets respond. +That's why officials at the U.S. central bank have stressed so vigorously that investors should not be focused on when it starts raising rates but rather the trajectory of how long it will take to normalize. +There are, indeed, multiple variables at play. +In the end, however, market participants may find that all the rate-hike fuss may have been overdone. +"The first hike from the Fed since the global financial crisis will inevitably be interpreted by some as signaling the end of the era of 'cheap money,' " Julian Jessop, chief global economist at Capital Economics, said in a note to clients. +In contrast, we do not expect the gradual return of U.S. interest rates to more normal but still low levels to be the seismic shock that many seem to fear. +That's not to say there won't be effects, however. +Here's a look at how some areas of the economy could react, based on historical trends: +As the market has seen over the past month or so, anticipation of rate hikes can make things volatile for a while. +Once the hike hits, though, the impact is not as dramatic. +"It does seem there is a trend for equity returns to stall 12-24 months after the first hike, which again perhaps reflects the lag in monetary policy," Deutsche Bank analysts said in a recent study of what happens after the Fed hikes. +More specifically, the market over the past 35 years or so is most often up sharply - about 14 percent - heading into the rate hike, fairly flat in the 250 days after (average gain of 2.6 percent) then back to normal once 500 days have passed, with average return in the past six cycles of 14.4 percent, according to a recent analysis Bob Doll, chief equity strategist at Nuveen Asset Management, posted on Barron's. +Deutsche said the impact on stocks tends to get more pronounced later in the rate-hiking cycle and returns begin to diminish. +Recessions are a fact of economic life, but rate hikes often help them along. +In the current case, the Fed is facing some conditions that did not exist before and could hasten a recession. +Most notably, gross domestic product will be near its lowest point ever for a Fed rate hike. +According to Deutsche Bank, in the 118 rate hikes since 1950, only twice has nominal year over year GDP been below 4.5 percent. +Even though the second quarter of 2015 was at 3.6 percent, few expect that to last, with the third quarter tracking at just 1.5 percent, according to the Atlanta Fed. +Hiking rates into such a fragile economic backdrop could be risky and set up the question of "whether this time is different," Deutsche said. +Market participants have been bracing for a Fed hike all year, with all eyes turned toward this week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which ends Thursday. +While many strategists and economists believe the FOMC could approve a hike at this meeting, futures trading indicates just a 25 percent probability. +"In our study since 1950, all hiking cycles to date have been in a super cycle of increasing leverage with GDP eclipsing prerecession peaks very quickly post the recovery commencing," the report said. +By contrast this has been a uniquely slow recovery from what was the worst recession in the sample period. +The current cycle is by far the longest the Fed has waited since the end of the last recession; the record had been 35 months, and this is 74 months and counting. +Fixed income also has been volatile as the market anticipates a rate hike, and the pattern is somewhat similar to what equities experience. +The principal difference is that the impact happens faster in bonds than stocks when the Fed changes course in policy. +For bonds, it does seem yields change direction immediately as the first hike/cut in the cycle arrives. +At the end of the hiking cycle bond yields fall immediately," Deutsche said. +Charles Schwab strategists believe the hike in rates will cause yields between longer- and shorter-dated bonds to move closer together, flattening the curve. +High-yield bonds often perform better in such a climate, though "we are still cautious about stretching for yield," Kathy Jones, fixed income analyst at Schwab, said in an analysis. +Interestingly, Jones thinks markets already have adapted to Fed policy expectations. +"In addition to the strength in the dollar and the drop in inflation expectations, there are several signs that the market has adjusted to the prospect of tighter monetary policy," she wrote. +Short-term interest rates are up, the yield curve is flatter, credit spreads have widened and volatility has increased - all characteristics of the market when the Fed tightens policy. +Broadly speaking, companies that do the majority of their business in the U.S. will win as interest rates rise and local products become more attractive. +Multinationals with lots of debt will fare worse, as a rising dollar makes their products more expensive in the global market space and their debt more expensive the finance. +"History shows that 'quality' stocks tend to outperform during the three months following an initial rate hike," Goldman Sachs analysts said in a report for clients. +Firms with strong balance sheets outpaced weak balance sheet companies following each of the 1994, 1999, and 2004 rate hikes, by an average of 5 percentage points. +Companies with high returns on capital as well as low volatility stocks also outperformed their lower quality counterparts, by an average of 4 (percentage points) and 3 (percentage points), respectively. +Debt will become a big issue. +Companies with a high percentage of floating rate debt stand to lose the most, Goldman said. +Outside pure stock plays, consumers stand to benefit as well through the rising dollar. +Savers could see gains as well through higher yields at the, though experts differ on how quickly that will take hold. + +BBC Radio 3 is a copy of Classic FM says MP Andrew Bingham +Conservative MP Andrew Bingham criticised station for 'dumbing down' +Argues it's becoming increasingly indistinguishable from commercial rival +Also took aim at the BBC Music Awards, saying they just rip off the Brits +Colleague Damien Collins MP attacked The Voice, saying that too wasn't original +BBC Radio 3 is "turning into" Classic FM, a leading MP has claimed, piling fresh pressure on the broadcaster to prove that it does something that commercial broadcasters do not. +Conservative MP Andrew Bingham also told BBC bosses that the public service radio station appeared to be "dumbing down" and is becoming increasingly indistinguishable from its commercial rival. +"Radio 3 seems to be - I don't like to use the word "dumbing down" - but it seems to be turning into Classic FM," he said. +He also took aim at the BBC Music Awards, launched last December. +The BBC Music Awards which started last year seem to be the Brits by another name. +So, if you're trying to do something different - those are two examples from the top of my head where you're actually just mimicking what is already on the market," Mr Bingham said. +BBC director general denied the charges, arguing that BBC Radio 3 is far ahead of its commercial rival when it comes to live music and educating the public. +What I learn from Radio 3, I am not going to learn about classical music from anywhere else. +And it's commitment to live music and music making is actually second to none. +"And also, Radio 3's commitment to finding new music and commissioning new works I think is also really important," he said. +Earlier this year, BBC Radio 3 controller Alan Davey argued that it has to work harder to engage audiences than it did in the past, because Britons are less educated about classical music. +However, Radio 3 was not the only element of the BBC's output which came under fire for treading on the toes of commercial rivals, during the Culture, Media and Sport select committee hearing. +Tory MP Damien Collins attacked The Voice - the musical talent show which the BBC bought in from Dutch producer Talpa Media at an estimated cost of £22million. +Can you see why that programme is often discussed because it is not original and it is not particularly distinctive? +Lord Hall insisted that the BBC1 show - which stars Paloma Faith and Boy George as judges - was produced "in a particularly BBC way." +He added that he wants the Corporation to "find a hit from our own in-house stable" next time it launches an entertainment series. +However, he refused to rule out ordering more series of The Voice in the future, or spending licence fee payers' money on other entertainment formats. + +Internet sales increased at slowest ever rate in August and Black Friday may be to blame +First three months of 2015 saw seven per cent increase in online sales +Last month saw lowest growth rise since records began in 2000 +Online sales bolstered three years ago by the use of mobile for shopping +Experts believe November's Black Friday could be holding back spending +For over a decade virtual shopping has been booming and turning many of Britain's high streets into ghost towns. +But experts say there are now signs that online sales are leveling off, after new figures showed just a seven per cent increase in the first three months of 2015. +Total spending for August presented the lowest increase in growth since records began in 2000, with just a five per cent rise on last year. +Experts say there are signs that online sales are leveling off, after new figures showed just a seven per cent increase in the first three months of 2015 +'If you look at growth levels for previous years and go back to 2000, it was always going to rationalise over time,' Andy Mulcahy, editor of IMRG sales index, told the Guardian. +He explained that online sales were bolstered three years ago when shoppers started using their mobile phones to make purchases. +It meant more people were able to shop online and that people could do it in different contexts, such as on the sofa. +But now that is plateauing a bit, you might see (growth) fall away. +The Black Friday phenomenon, which has been imported from America, is being cited as one of the reasons behind the slowing sales. +Experts believe shoppers could be holding off making purchases ahead of the event, which takes place on the last Friday in November . +Last year five times the average number of shoppers flocked to their computers to snap up deals crashing a number of retailers websites. +Experts believe Black Friday, which saw shoppers fight over bargains, could be holding shoppers off from making purchases +Research published by the British Retail Consortium found just over £1 in every £5 was being spent online. +For some products, such as TVs and washing machines, more than one third of purchases are now done through web stores. +At the same time, more than a quarter of people are buying clothes and shoes online, rather than using high street fashion chains. + +Muslims bury those killed in Mecca crane crash as Bin Laden family sanctioned +Bodies of 29 of the dead carried through the streets by Muslims as the first funerals take place in Mecca +Come as Saudi Arabia has partly blamed the collapse on construction giant Saudi Binladin Group +The Health Ministry said a total of 394 people were also injured after the crane crashed down +Carried aloft through the streets, hundreds of Muslims gathered to bury 29 of the victims killed when a crane collapsed at Mecca's Grand mosque. +Dressed largely in white, mourners packed the route to pay their respects as the first of the dead made their final journey to Al-Moaissem cemetery. +The sad possession passed by the holy site, where just days earlier a construction crane crashed through the ceiling of the mosque and toppled onto worshipers. +The bodies were released for funeral as the Saudi King sanctioned the Bin Laden family construction group over the disaster, which also left 394 injured. +The bodies of 29 of the worshipers killed when a crane crashed collapsed at Mecca's Grand Central Mosque were carried through the streets +Among the dead was father-of-four Qasim Akram, from Bolton, Greater Manchester, who was on his first pilgrimage when the crane crashed down. +Mr Akram had been in the Grand Mosque with his parents ahead of the start of the annual hajj pilgrimage. +Saudi officials have already vowed that the hajj to Mecca will go ahead with thousands continuing to descend on the city. +Today, King Salman said the Binladin Group should not have left the crane's arm up when it was not in use. +An Arabic version of the decree, carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, said the Binladin Group was partly to blame for the collapse. +The news agency's English service did not report that detail, but did say leaders of the company have been banned from travelling abroad. +Earlier this week Salman vowed to reveal what caused the crane to topple into a courtyard of the Grand Mosque, where hundreds of thousands of Muslims have converged ahead of the hajj pilgrimage later this month. +Binladin Group has not released any statements about the crane collapse and its representatives have not been made available for comment. +The royal decree also blamed the group for not using up-to-date safety measures and failing to coordinate with meteorological officials. +Dozens of cranes surround Mecca's Grand Mosque, part of the massive construction effort headed by the Binladin Group. +The Binladin family has been close to Saudi Arabia's ruling family for decades and runs major building projects. +Al Qaida's late leader Osama bin Laden was a renegade son disowned by the family in the 1990s. +The crash came amid high winds and rain just days before millions arrive in the kingdom for the pilgrimage, which is required at least once in the life of every able-bodied Muslim. +Officials said 158 people remain in hospital. +Officials ordered one million riyals (£174,000) be paid to the relatives of those killed, and the same amount to those permanently injured. +Others injured will receive half that amount. + +B&Q boss says Eastern European tradesmen working cheap is behind trend +Britons are increasingly employing handymen says Veronique Laury +Number of skilled tradesmen from Eastern Europe behind rise +Resulting in 200 more Screwfix stores, aimed at tradesmen, opening +At same time Kingfisher is closing 60 B&Q outlets across the country +By Rupert Steiner, Chief City Correspondent for the Daily Mail +Britons are said to be putting down their hammers and paintbrushes in favour of employing skilled Eastern European tradesmen to carry out work in their home +If you are handy with a hammer or a whizz at painting walls, it seems you are in the minority these days. +Because Britons are increasingly employing handymen to carry out DIY jobs in their homes, according to the boss of the company behind B&Q. +Veronique Laury, new chief executive of Kingfisher, which owns the home improvement chain, said a big rise in the number of skilled tradesmen from Eastern Europe offering services at rock-bottom prices is behind the trend. +As a result, Kingfisher is planning to open 200 more Screwfix stores, which are aimed at tradesmen, while closing 60 B&Q outlets. +Mrs Laury said she wants more women to be employed in B&Q shops because eight out of ten purchasing decisions in store are made by the fairer sex. +Currently the majority of staff are men. +She said there was a need to address growing demographic trends which have seen more single female households who are doing more home improvements than in the past. +Mrs Laury said: "We still have a majority of men working in our stores. +We need to move more towards a balance. +Fundamentally half of our customers are female with 80 per cent of the decisions over items purchased taken by women. +Women play a big part in the decision-making process. +Mrs Laury, who is one of only five women at the helm of Britain's FTSE100 index of leading firms, has also restructured her top team to reflect an equal number of men and women directors. +Kingfisher is almost alone in having exactly 50 per cent of its team staffed by women, including its chief executive and finance director. +Mrs Laury said: "This was a conscious decision - diversity is an important topic here. +It has not been difficult to find good women to put on our board. +Kingfisher posted a fall in both half-year profit and sales after the group shouldered the cost of shutting stores. +As a result of the trend Kingfisher, which owns Screwfix and B&Q, is opening 200 new stores + +Officials from Aich-Dob in court for breach of trust +Two officials from the Austrian volleyball runner-up champion team Aich-Dob attended the Klagenfurt regional court on Wednesday to answer charges of breach of trust and tax evasion. +The defendants pleaded not guilty. +One of them had also also been charged with abuse of his position. +He was legally acquitted of this charge in May. +The current case was adjourned. +According to senior Public Prosecutor Robert Riffel, it emerged during preliminary investigations that in the years 2006 to 2011 the defendants used monies from the club's accounts, to which they had access due to their roles, for private purposes. +The loss is estimated at around €400,000. +The sports officials are also accused of financial offences. +The Chairwoman of the Lay Judge Senate, Judge Michaela Sanin, ordered proceedings on this fact to be postponed. +It will be tried at a later date. +On the charge of breach of trust, the defence argued that the club had never at any time suffered any pecuniary disadvantage +The sports officials had only offset expense allowances, and brought the sports club for which they worked from 1982 to 2011, and in which they had invested much time and money, out of debt - liabilities in 2001 amounted to around 600,000 Schillings (around €44,000). +"At that time we were faced with the situation of whether we should continue with the club or close it down," said one of the defendents, who makes his living as an auditor of large companies for the tax authorities. +With his colleague and co-defendant, he had then resolved to undertake this task. +With all the risks. +"We advanced money and deposited our life insurance policies with the bank as security," he said during the examination. +It was agreed with the club that they had a free hand to manage the money, but they were not permitted to run up any debts. +Furthermore, if there was appropriate financial success, retrospective payment of the expense allowance back to 1991 was agreed. +As a result, a part of the expense allowance was paid off years later, that is to say from the year 2003 when the account went into credit. +This is why general and not detailed debit entries appeared, was the former chairman's explanation for the processes. +The two defendants managed the accounts and passbooks together, said the second defendant. +The Judge asked why the payments had not been disclosed to the club in detail. +The club was not interested in details of the financial arrangements, it was only important that it should be debt free, was the answer. +When investigations into abuse of his position against one of the officers began in 2011, a sum of €120,000 was transferred into the club's account. +Those were reserves, explained the defendant. +This securities account was run in the name of the two defendants and according to a statement by the club its existence was not known to the club. +"Why?" the Judge wanted to know. +There was no answer to this for a long time. +Then he finally said that he had thought it would be best for the club. +Had something happen to him then nobody would have known anything about this money, the State Prosecutor put to the room. +The co-defendant knew about it, the official justified himself. +The purpose of the transfer was given as compensation for damages. +"Why compensation for damages?" the Judge and the State Prosecutor wanted to know. +In response, the first defendant said that he had disagreed with this wording because no damage had ever occurred to the club. +But what can I do when the lawyer says, "This lets us all off the hook"? +"Am I a legal representative?" he asked. +The official carried on that he had never received a cent in salary, he had only charged for mileage and a per diem allowance. +The club had set aside €1,000 per month for per diem allowances, which were in fact expenses which would have been much higher, he added. +The defendants were not able to provide accurate documentation for the earlier years. +This was no longer kept since an audit in which everything was properly assessed, they explained. +The second defendant had also obtained a mileage allowance. +All adjustments were made in cash, for which he had to drive from his home in Völkermarkt to the bank in Bleiburg, he explained in his statement. +The trial will continue on 23 September with the questioning of witnesses. + +Hewlett Packard cutting a further 30,000 jobs +In addition to the job cuts that have been taking place for the past three years, the computer giant is going to lay off even more staff with the splitting of the company. +There seems to be no end to the job cuts at the US computer giant Hewlett-Packard (HP). +As part of its restructuring, the US technology group plans to lay off between 25,000 and 30,000 staff in its corporate customer section. +This should lead to cost savings of around $2.7 billion (€2.4 billion), the company disclosed on Tuesday. +The step will lead to a one-off charge of around $2.7 billion, which will be incurred in the fourth quarter. +The reduction of 55,000 jobs which has been taking place for three years is not yet completed. +At the end of the 2013/14 business year HP still employed around 302,000 staff. +At the end of trading Hewlett-Packard shares had fallen by 2.3 percent. +The group based in Palo Alto, California, which initially grew through its printer sales, is currently splitting its business: this year the computer and printer side will be combined in a new company, separated from the the promising areas of computer servers and data storage for business as well as other services. +Both operations will be listed on the stock exchange. +Repeatedly disappointing sales of PCs as well as a slow demand from business customers for their services have recently afflicted the world's second-largest PC manufacturer after Lenovo. +In the third fiscal quarter to the end of July, sales of PCs and printers fell by 11.5 percent. +Revenue dropped by eight percent to just under $25.4 billion. +This means profits have dropped in 15 out of 16 quarters. +HP responded to the changes in the industry with a split and massive layoffs. +The 76-year-old business headed by Meg Whitman has been slow to react to the rise in customers buying smartphones and tablets instead of conventional computers and equally carrying out business more and more online. +Whitman's plans for restructuring include around 55,000 job losses. + +Conflicts: the majority support anti ISIS training mission +The majority of people, however, are opposed to direct involvement of German soldiers in combat operations in Iraq: 54 percent were against it, 35 percent have expressed themselves in favour. +Sixty-one percent reacted positively to other countries carrying out air attacks against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. +Twenty-four percent are against intervening in the conflict. +Fifty-one percent of those surveyed are against cooperating with the Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, but 20 percent were in favour. +Twenty-nine percent were undecided. + +Cars: Second press day at the 66th IAA +At the centre of the exhibition until 27 September are interlinked, self driving cars as well as electro-mobility. +After two press days, Chancellor Angela Merkel will officially open the 66th International Automobile Exhibition, whose motto is "Mobility Connects", on Thursday. +The general public can visit the IAA from Saturday. +The organisers from the automobile Association VDA estimate that approximately 900,000 visitors, similar to 2 years ago, will attend. + +Röszke: outbreak of violence on the Serbian-Hungarian border +The Hungarian police have used tear gas and water cannons against several hundred angry refugees on the Serbian border near Röszke. +Euronews correspondent Dániel Bozsik witnessed the outbreak of violence at the border control point. +He reported by telephone: +A group of refugees broke through the border. +A line of police was formed behind it and behind the police a water cannon stood at the ready. +Between 40 and 50 refugees started to throw stones, sticks and plastic bottles at the officers. +At first the officers used a continuous spray of pepper spray. +Then the police used tear gas. +A lot of tear gas was sprayed in the direction of the refugees. +This caused the group to break up. +The group has now reluctantly withdrawn. +A pregnant and obviously injured woman has been carried away from the area. +Children who have inhaled tear gas are screaming. +Other refugees have slumped down together and are suffering from respiratory distress. +The press spokesman for the Serbian police also sustained injuries from the use of tear gas and pepper spray. + +Decision time on interest rates for US Federal Reserve +The world is watching as the US Federal Reserve meets over two days on Wednesday and Thursday, to take the crucial decision on whether or not to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade. +A survey of 80 economists polled by Reuters found a little over half who only last week thought the Fed would go for it, now think it will hold fire a bit longer and keep rates at the current 0-0.25 percent range. +It's a historical event because it's been seven years since the Fed cut rates to zero. +For the first time we are approaching a situation where a major central bank might be able to get out of the zero bar and start a process of normalization of interest rates," said Angel Ubide, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. +The US economy has been performing relatively well, the recovery adding trillions of dollars to the balance sheet and generating little inflation. +However the Fed cannot ignore the less rosy global outlook. +It has warned markets to be ready for a hike but indications are they also believe the odds are against such a move. +The decision is due to be announced at 20.00 CET on Thursday. + +Delta State University shooter left note of apology +After shooting and killing his girlfriend in Mississippi on Monday morning - and before he shot and killed his colleague later that day - Shannon Lamb wrote a note to say that he was "sorry" for the first murder and wished he "could take it back," authorities revealed Tuesday. +Police in Gautier, Miss. said Lamb, a geography and social science education instructor at Delta State University, called 911 around 10 a.m. +Monday and said he had shot and killed someone. +Lamb told the dispatcher that police needed to send officers over to his home. +He said "I shot my wife last night" and also mentioned that there is a "sweet dog" in the house that is "not going to bother anyone" but is likely upset. +Police asked the caller his name, but he didn't give it. +Lamb did not provide an explanation for the shooting. +When police got to the scene they found the body of Amy Prentiss, 41, and a handwritten note from Lamb, 45, that said: "I am so sorry I wish I could take it back. +I loved Amy and she is the only person who ever loved me. +After writing the note, Lamb drove 300 miles to Delta State where he killed Ethan Schmidt, a history professor, before eventually taking his own life late Monday as cops closed in. +University President William LaForge said he didn't know of any conflict between Lamb and Schmidt but "obviously there was something in Mr. Lamb's mind." +Despite reports Monday that Lamb allegedly believed Prentiss was also romantically involved with Schmidt, authorities said Tuesday that there was "no information, no evidence" of a "love triangle." +Prentiss was described as a "good person" by Shawn O'Steen, who said he had been married to her for about seven years. +The two divorced 15 years ago, but remained friends. +O'Steen said he and Prentiss had a daughter, who is 19, and she was "devastated." +He said Prentiss and her daughter were "absolutely best friends." +Prentiss worked an online job from her home, according to Linsday Knowles, identified as a close friend of Prentiss by the Sun Herald. +Knowles said Prentiss, who had a hound dog named Lightning, had been dating Lamb for about three years. +"She always wanted to help other people," Knowles said. +Police said Lamb had phoned relatives at some point Monday to tell them "he's not going to jail." +When cops caught up with him on Highway 1 near Greenville later that night, Lamb pulled his car over, bailed out on foot, ran into the woods and shot and killed himself. +Lamb received a doctorate in education from Delta State in the spring of 2015, according to his resume posted on the university's website. + +Stars who lost their mojo +The actor (left), pictured with his son Redmond (right), has had a stressful few years. +In 2001, he battled leukemia, and in 2009, he lost long-time partner, Farrah Fawcett, to cancer. +The actor has also reportedly struggled with drugs, and in 2008, he was busted for drug possession. +All that stuff sure does take a toll. + +Eurowings: Lufthansa reconstructing group +Lufthansa is planning a major reconstruction of its group. +The Lufthansa group will save half a billion Euros per year through improvements to the organisation alone. +Reconstruction of the group will cost 150 of the approximately 1,000 managers worldwide their jobs. +Meanwhile new negotiations are being carried out with the pilots' union. +Lufthansa is reorganising the structure of its business and upgrading its low-cost subsidiary Eurowings. +The goal of the realignment is a contribution to profits of around €500 million per year from cost and revenue synergies, the airline announced on Wednesday. +Among other things, Lufthansa in the future will have no executive board for the passenger business. +The Eurowings budget airline will instead be developed to become as independent as possible. +In the future, Karl Ulrich Garnadt will be responsible for Eurowings on the management board headed by Carsten Spohr. +With this new realignment Spohr underlines the importance of Eurowings, with which the group wants to compete against Ryanair and Easyjet in the future. +Up to now the organisation of the 120,000 employees has been extremely complex. +The airline is consolidating the passenger airline group, which provides three quarters of the annual turnover of €30 billion, under one umbrella. +New negotiations with pilots +Following the strike which was halted on legal grounds, negotiations with the pilots' union Cockpit (VC) in the pay dispute will be resumed on Thursday. +This was announced by the union. +Under discussion will be the pilots' retirement scheme. +"In a year with record results predicted" Cockpit wants to come up with a viable solution as quickly as possible +The conflict between the union and the airline had led to a number of strikes over the past months. +Besides the pilots' transitional pension payments, the background is the "Wings" budget concept. +It proposes that in the battle against competitive routes Lufthansa outsources to the group's own budget airline, Eurowings. + +Paintings by Leena Krüger are on view in the Künstlerhaus under the title "Morning Train to the South". +The Finn, who has long been a resident of Göttingen, has assembled a selection of untitled works, which encourage viewers to embark on an intellectual journey, for the Weisser Saal in the gallery. + +Manchester United's Luke Shaw out for months with double fracture +Luke Shaw suffered a double fracture of his right leg during Manchester United's Champions League defeat at PSV Eindhoven. +While this left the full-back in tears and will rule him out for at least six months, Louis van Gaal remains hopeful Shaw could play again this season. +The injury was caused by a reckless tackle from Héctor Moreno in the 15th minute after the 20-year-old Shaw had burst into the PSV area. +He had nine minutes of treatment on the pitch and required oxygen before being taken to hospital. +Van Gaal said: "He has a double leg fracture and is in hospital." +He will be transferred tomorrow or maybe a day later and then operated on in Manchester. +It is awful - a boy who comes to Manchester United at 18, has it very difficult and then plays fantastically and then this happens. +When it was in the dressing room he had an oxygen mask on. +He was crying. +I am not a doctor but when you have a double fracture it is six months and he will not play in the group phase. +I hope he can play again this season. +Moreno appeared fortunate to escape a red card and the concession of a spot-kick. +Nicola Rizzoli, the referee, did not penalise the Mexican. +Van Gaal suggested the Italian official had erred. +You can judge for yourself when I say it is a penalty and a red card. +It was a very bad tackle with two legs. +A tweet on Shaw's account read: "Thank you everyone for your messages, words can't describe how gutted I am, my road to recovery starts now, I will come back stronger." +Related: Manchester United suffer Luke Shaw blow in defeat at PSV +The England defender will have an added incentive to recover with the European Championship in France next June. +Phillip Cocu, the PSV coach, said: "It's a very bad injury." +If any player goes off with this kind of injury, everybody is very sad about it. +It is never the intention of our players to injure an opponent. +Moreno suffered a broken leg when playing for Mexico against Van Gaal's Holland at the 2014 World Cup. +"He finds it very difficult because the intention was not to injure the opponent, and when you hear it is a very bad injury, it's not good," Cocu said. +For me it was not possible to see the moment. +The only thing I could see was the ball, which was heading in a different direction, so it looked like he [Moreno] touched it, but I couldn't see the tackle on Luke. +Speaking to SBS6, Moreno said: "I know how it feels, I know how difficult such a thing can be. +I feel very bad about it, I am so sorry. +PSV's Andrés Guardado was also taken to hospital following a challenge by Chris Smalling. + +Surely David Cameron knows The Lorax better than this? +It's one thing any parent soon learns: when your child loves a book, it won't be long before you know it almost by heart. +Unless, it seems, you are David Cameron. +Asked by a provider of holiday childcare schemes to name his favourite kids' book, the prime minister opted for The Lorax, the 1971 environmental fable by Dr Seuss. +It was a difficult choice, Cameron writes in a message published on the website of the SuperCamps company, continuing: "Funny, moving, creative and with a powerful message, it's one I enjoy reading to my children because there always seems to be an image or a message that we have previously missed." +All very well, except that the subsequent paragraph in which Cameron supposedly describes the plot of the book instead gives a précis of the 2012 film version, which added new characters and detail to pad out the fairly brief original text. +"Set in the walled city of Thneed-Ville, where all nature has gone and even the air is a commodity, a boy named Ted hopes to win the heart of his dream girl, Audrey, by fulfilling her wish to see a real tree," it reads, chronicling a love interest unknown to Dr Seuss, real name Theodor Seuss Geisel, who died in 1991. +If that wasn't suspicious enough, Cameron's submitted text reads in part like a plot summary of the Lorax film provided on the Internet Movie Database website, which begins: "In the walled city of Thneed-Ville, where everything is artificial and even the air is a commodity, a boy named Ted hopes to win the heart of his dream girl, Audrey." +Given he is an avowedly hands-on parent, it seems unlikely Cameron is so unfamiliar with the book's plot, in which a young unnamed boy hears how the local environment was devastated by the avaricious, tree-chopping, thneed-knitting Once-ler, despite the protests of the eponymous Lorax, a squat, moustachioed creature who "speaks for the trees." +Most likely, such a relatively lowly PR task would have been outsourced to an aide, seemingly one who has never read The Lorax 20 times in a row to a child. +A Downing Street spokeswoman said the text was believed to have come from Cameron's constituency office. +SuperCamps confirmed that the text was provided from Cameron's staff, but had no further immediate comment. + +Adam Lyth was clearly at risk of England omission but it's still tough +Taking on Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates is a tough assignment but after seeing the squad England have selected for the tour, a repeat of the 3-0 Test series defeat suffered last time does not look on the cards for me. +I wouldn't rule out an away win, either. +Alastair Cook's side may be less experienced than the one three years ago but there are good players of spin in that batting lineup and the collective mindset is strong; they will not carry scars from 2012, only a youthful positivity. +With the ball, Moeen Ali is developing as a spinner and Adil Rashid, even if he is an unknown quantity at Test level, represents an attacking option. +Related: Adam Lyth dropped from England Test squad and replaced by Alex Hales +The decision to omit Adam Lyth is obviously a tough one for me to analyse as his head coach at Yorkshire. +His seven Tests have been against two good attacks in challenging conditions and the simple but harsh reality is that cricketers are judged on output. +There were no question marks over Joe Root, for example, leading up to the announcement because - and I have said this before - players are their own best selectors. +A couple of half-centuries and Lyth might have seen his run extended but he was in control of his own destiny. +Hopefully if he punches out more runs for Yorkshire another opportunity will come along. +The England head coach, Trevor Bayliss, praised his attitude even when he was not performing as well as he can and that does not surprise me; he is a team man above all else. +The question of how long a Test batsman gets to make his mark is a tough one. +Lyth got seven caps - like Sam Robson before him - while Nick Compton got nine. +Only Compton got the chance home and away. +The only gripe you could have was that England went for Jonathan Trott in the Caribbean first - when Lyth was in top form - but that wasted opportunity is in the past now. +Alex Hales comes in and he is a batsman I rate highly. +He is an X-factor cricketer, which we at Yorkshire saw early this season when he made 236 against us on a Trent Bridge pitch that was doing a bit. +He must at least be afforded the same opportunity as those before him but this will of course depend on the make-up of the side in the UAE. +The idea of Moeen opening the batting alongside Cook, which would get the extra spinner in while keeping four quicks, has been floated and it is not something I am against. +I don't see why a strokemaker cannot bat there and this left-hander has already shown he is one hell of a cricketer. +Moeen may not have done the job for his county, Worcestershire, but he has been a No3 for them and there is not much difference. +My old team-mate Justin Langer played his first 38 Tests at first drop before stepping up to open in 2001. +He peeled off three centuries immediately and did not look back. +Zafar Ansari comes into the squad as back-up spinner and, in my limited dealings with him, he has struck me as very impressive young man. +People may look at his raw stats - averaging 31 with the bat and 35 with the ball - and think it's a punt but there are not a heap of spinners putting their hands up and selectors have opted for youth. +He will learn a lot on this tour. +Away from the squad, England look to have made a couple of shrewd additions to their coaching staff. +The appointment of Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka batsman, as a consultant for the Test matches could be a masterstroke. +He is one of the game's loveliest blokes, who will bring a wealth of experience having done it in all conditions and against all attacks. +Paul Collingwood comes in for the white-ball leg of the tour and will bring both energy and a ruthless streak into the setup. +I always felt he was born to be involved in international cricket, be it playing or coaching, and like Mahela has nous that can be tapped. +Sometimes new voices in the dressing room, even if the messages are consistent with what has been said before, can freshen up a side. +Colly's Durham team-mate Ben Stokes is rested for the one-dayers, Root was given a similar break against Australia and I for one have no issue with this. +While not everyone will agree, the coaches and selectors do not set the schedule. +And you have to remember, like players, their jobs are dependent on results. +Such decisions are never taken lightly. + +Brexit camp might win the day if economy is in doldrums by 2017 +David Cameron's half-baked renegotiation strategy for keeping Britain in the EU gets deeper into trouble with every day that passes, even without the election of genial Jeremy "Is it Yes or No?" Corbyn to the Labour leadership, or the TUC cutting up rough over Europe on Tuesday. +Foreigners have their Corbyns and Nigel Farages too. +A European diplomat chum explained the other day that, sunk in assorted crises as the EU is - not all of their own making - some member states are fed up with Britain's self-absorbed agenda of divisive concessions and disruptive treaty changes which they mostly don't want. +In Brighton for its annual bean, the TUC decided it didn't want them either if they eroded social protection. +We could even call it Dave and George's selfie agenda. +PM and chancellor rock up to summits or bilateral sessions in foreign capitals, take a photo of themselves in front of a famous local monument, with or without local grandee, then come home and say they are winning allies for reform. +It's all about me. +My European pal, who wants an outward-looking Britain inside the EU tent - "Don't leave us alone with France," says Berlin - suggests that more short-sighted ministers and officials in some capitals have got to the point where they don't care whether we stay or leave. +Angela Merkel, Germany's cautiously level-headed chancellor, is an ally, but has been in power for 10 years and wants to leave office before it goes bad for her, as it did for overstayers Thatcher (11 years), Mitterrand (14) and Kohl (16). +France's François Hollande is facing re-election or replacement in 2017. +He is a fading force too. +Poland may soon have a nationalistic government of the right, Spain one of the left. +It's hard to see them breaking a leg to help the Selfie Brits, whose energy might be better spent preventing Scotland leaving the UK - something they don't want either because most have similar separatist tendencies. +So some such ministers may even be planning to make deliberately unhelpful remarks, SNP-style, during the UK's 2017 referendum campaign to hasten the Brexit process, my pal suggests. +"The renegotiation was a fix" and "Britain got nothing of value out of the renegotiation." +The Europeans know to their cost how predatory Fleet Street can be and how EU-sceptic the oligarch press barons are, as they were not during the Tony Benn-inspired 1975 referendum which endorsed our 1973 entry by a ratio of 2:1. +They may dimly remember Boris Johnson, the arch Euro-opportunist, making his name as an "EU straight bananas" Brussels correspondent in the early 90s. +For all his foolishness Ed Miliband knew who his enemies were. +They included the medley of tax-shy rascals, phone-hacking foreigners and pseudo non-doms who own most of our great newspapers. +Actually Tony Blair thought much the same about them, but realised that when you're in a cage with a randy gorilla you have to pass the bananas to distract it from having you for lunch and again for tea. +In fact Miliband was more Blairite than Blair in opposing Cameron's referendum wheeze, since Blair had conceded the principle over the EU's aborted constitution, sunk by French and Dutch voters in 2005 who gave him a get-out card. +The press never forgave him that either. +But nice Jeremy Corbyn, who gave me a friendly pat on the back at Westminster on Monday - I told him he no longer has time to waste on me - seems to be in danger of re-adopting Neil Kinnock's boycott Murdoch strategy of the 80s, a mistake then and now. +It may take time, but he must develop a coherent strategy to engage with the media, not with me, but certainly with Andrew Marr whose BBC sofa he vacated on Sunday. +Corbyn's official position on Europe is what I will kindly call evolving. +He says he'd like us to stay in a reformed EU. +Well, most people outside Ukip's woad-wearing tendency and the wilder shores of Tory little Englanderism can probably say yes to that. +It's what Hilary "A Benn, but not a Bennite" Benn said on radio and TV this week as the boy scout in him struggled not to admit that Corbyn's appointment of abrasive John McDonnell as shadow chancellor was a bad idea. +It reminded me of the 70s, when his old dad struggled on TV to be disloyal to Labour cabinet colleagues without going too far and losing his cabinet job. +Hilary's struggle was more attractive. +But fighting to stay in "in all circumstances" - Benn's phrase - was not what McDonnell was saying, nor what JC told peers and MPs at their private meeting on Monday night, by all accounts. +Whatever the bottom-up, touchy-feely image Corbyn wants to convey - remember, he even touched me - message discipline remains important in the age of 24/7 TV and especially in the maelstrom that is social media, a hotbed of paranoia and betrayal. +It's fair enough not to give Cameron a free pass on Europe, allowing him to take Labour's support for granted in the referendum campaign, as McDonnell has said. +Simon Jenkins certainly thinks so. +But McDonnell and Corbyn's basic equivocation about EU membership - consistent with their Bennite siege economy, anti-capitalist past - is no longer just a matter of esoteric discussion among leftwing dissidents for whom the narcissism of small difference is a central tenet of doctrinal squabbles. +As with his equivocation over Nato - Tom Watson is adamant that JC won't campaign to quit - foreign diplomats will be obliged to try to make sense of it all for their masters at home. +Why should Paris or Berlin waste political capital - they have suspicious voters too - on concessions to Britain when it may all be pointless? +The US is already pretty disappointed with the Brits" feeble military performance in Iraq, Libya and Syria, even with a cost-cutting Tory government in power, as I was reminded at the launch of something called the British Influence Security Forum on Monday. + +Experts criticise Public Health England e-cigarettes review +Claims by a government-funded agency that e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than smoking arose from a meeting of 12 people, some with links to the tobacco industry, researchers have said. +Experts writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) joined the Lancet in criticising the evidence used by Public Health England (PHE) in its report on e-cigarettes. +PHE published the "landmark" report last month, describing it as a "comprehensive review of the evidence." +But several researchers have questioned the robustness of the data and pointed to links between some experts and the tobacco industry. +An editorial in the Lancet medical journal last month attacked the "extraordinarily flimsy foundation" on which PHE based its main conclusion. +Writing in the BMJ, two further researchers have questioned whether the claims were "built on rock or sand." +Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Simon Capewell, professor of clinical epidemiology at the University of Liverpool, said: "A fundamental principle of public health is that policies should be based on evidence of effectiveness." +They said the public would expect PHE's claims that "the current best estimate is that e-cigarettes are around 95% less harmful than smoking" would be based on a detailed review of evidence and modelling. +In fact, it comes from a single meeting of 12 people convened to develop a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) model to synthesise their opinions on the harms associated with different nicotine-containing products; the results of the meeting were summarised in a research paper. +McKee and Capewell said one sponsor of the meeting was a company called EuroSwiss Health, whose chief executive was reported to have previously received funding from British American Tobacco for an independent study. +He also endorsed BAT's public health credentials in a sustainability report, they said. +One of the 12 people at the meeting declared funding from an e-cigarette manufacturer but not the funding he was reported to have received previously from the tobacco company Philip Morris International, they added. +The rationale for selecting the members of the panel is not provided, but they include several known e-cigarette champions, some of whom also declare industry funding in the paper. +Some others present at the meeting are not known for their expertise in tobacco control. +The meeting was also attended by the tobacco lead at PHE. +The research paper produced by the group "tellingly concedes" there is a lack of "hard evidence for the harms of most products on most of the criteria," McKee and Capewell wrote. +However, none of these links or limitations are discussed in the PHE report. +McKee and Capewell said PHE's claims that "there is no evidence so far that e-cigarettes are acting as a route into smoking for children or non-smokers" were premature. +Prof Kevin Fenton, director of health and wellbeing at PHE, said the claims in the BMJ had been responded to before. +He said: "E-cigarettes are significantly less harmful than smoking." +One in two lifelong smokers dies from their addiction. +All of the evidence suggests that the health risks posed by e-cigarettes are small by comparison, but we must continue to study the long-term effects. +PHE has a clear duty to inform the public about what the evidence shows and what it does not show, especially when there was so much public confusion about the relative dangers compared to tobacco. +Nearly 80,000 people a year die of a smoking-related illness and smoking costs the NHS £2bn a year. +By spelling out clearly the current evidence - that while e-cigarettes are not risk-free, they carry only a fraction of the harm caused by smoking - we are fulfilling our national remit. + +BBC should give up EastEnders, says former Channel 4 chief +The former Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson has said the BBC should stop broadcasting programmes such as EastEnders and The Voice, saying its commercial rivals would "give their right arm" for hit shows such as the Albert Square soap. +Johnson said the licence fee should only be used to make the sort of programmes that are not made by other UK broadcasters. +He criticised the BBC for putting public service programmes likely to be watched by a smaller audience in tough slots against its rivals" biggest rating shows, and on channels such as BBC4. +After the BBC's director general, Tony Hall, said the corporation wanted to do more in partnership with other organisations, Johnson said he had tried for six years in his time at Channel 4 to do a tie-up with the BBC without success. +"I do struggle with the idea that the BBC commissions and broadcasts programmes that would clearly be shown by unsubsidised rivals," Johnson told the House of Lords communication committee, as part of its inquiry into the future of the BBC. +If you keep the licence fee, which I'm not sure in the medium or long term is a good idea, it should reduce its output at least to programmes that others aren't making and commissioning. +They broadcast The Voice in a prime slot because they want to gain as broad a support as possible for its future. +The idea that no one else would show that is a joke, it's ludicrous, it's obviously nonsense. +Johnson said: "I don't see why a regressive tax should fund programmes that could be funded without subsidy. +The Voice is one, EastEnders is another, admittedly made in-house. +Frankly other channels would give their right arm for it. +I struggle to see how it's public service broadcasting. +I don't think that would diminish the BBC at all. +Johnson, a serial entrepreneur who led Channel 4 from 2004 to 2010, said the BBC was guilty of chasing ratings "because of the ambitions of people who work there, and because they believe that is the best way to secure long-term support." +His comments about the BBC's most popular shows echo those of former Sky executive Tony Ball, who used his MacTaggart lecture in Edinburgh in 2003 to propose that the BBC sell off shows such as EastEnders. +Johnson said the BBC's more niche public service programmes "go on to BBC4 where quite often you can't measure the audience but they fulfil their remit and they can argue when they go on their sanctimonious missions about justifying £4bn in licence fee income, "Well of course, we do all these obscure programmes that no one watched." +They put them on a slot where no one was ever going to watch them. +On the licence fee, Johnson told the committee: "I challenge you to find a more regressive system in terms of who gets the best value from it. +Of course you all think, we all think, £150 a year is great value, but for people for whom £150 is a lot of money I wonder if they do because they don't consume a lot of the BBC. +Former Sky and Channel 5 executive David Elstein, who also gave evidence to the committee on Tuesday, said the BBC should revise its Reithian mission to "inform, educate and entertain." +He said little of the BBC's output was now formally classified as education - he said it was 1% of its TV output and 0.1% on radio - and it should take a lead from public service broadcasters in Australia and Canada and change it to "inform, enlighten and entertain." +On the issue of partnerships, Elstein said the BBC should do more in areas such as the Proms, of which he said only a handful were shown on TV, and enter into alliances with commercial broadcasters to make them all available to watch online. + +'Sonogenetics' allows brain cells to be controlled by sound waves +The video shows how the nematodes change direction the moment they are blasted with sonic pulses. +Scientists have bred worms with genetically modified nervous systems that can be controlled by bursts of sound waves. +The tiny nematodes change direction the moment they are blasted with sonic pulses that are too high-pitched for humans to hear. +The pulses work by switching on motor neuron cells that are genetically modified to carry membrane channels that respond to ultrasonic waves. +Related: Researchers read and write brain activity with light +Researchers said the worms demonstrate the power of a new procedure, dubbed sonogenetics, in which ultrasound can be used to activate a range of brain, heart and muscle cells from outside the body. +Sreekanth Chalasani, a researcher at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, told the Guardian that the procedure could one day replace deep-brain stimulation, an invasive procedure that delivers electrical pulses into people's brains to treat symptoms of Parkinson's disease. +Nematode worms do not usually react to ultrasound, but Chalasani found that they did when they were surrounded by a fluid containing microscopic bubbles. +The bubbles, he found, amplify the ultrasonic waves which then pass inside the worms. +The amplified ultrasound waves act on structures called TRP-4 ion channels, found in the membranes of some of the worms" cells. +The sound waves make these ion channels open up and activate the cells they are attached to, according to a report in Nature Communications. +To make ultrasound-controlled nematodes, Chalasani genetically modified the worms so that some of their motor neurons carried TRP-4 ion channels. +When he applied ultrasound to the modified creatures, the sound waves were amplified by the microbubbles and transmitted into the worms, where they switched on the modified motor neurons. +The procedure has some similarities with optogenetics, a groundbreaking tool that allows scientists to switch neurons on and off with pulses of light. +But Chalasani said that sonogenetics could have some advantages over that technique. +Unlike light, which has to be sent down an optic fibre to the desired location inside the brain, low frequency ultrasound waves can pass through tissue unhindered, and so can be sent into the brain from on top of the skull. +"We believe that, using gene therapy and a therapeutic virus, it may be possible to make target human neurons temporarily susceptible to the ultrasound signal in a clinical setting for certain neurological treatments," said Chalasani. +Other applications could focus on muscle cells and insulin-producing cells, he added. + +Illegal torture equipment - right on your doorstep! +The adverts shaming Britain's arms trade +Watch Amnesty International's anti-arms fair video. +Horrific killer drones! +Ankle-shattering leg irons! +Cluster bombs! +And electric stun batons that cause excruciating pain but leave no trace! +The cheery voice and cartoon imagery leave no doubt that this advert for the world's biggest arms fair is a sharp spoof, produced for Amnesty International to highlight the British government's willingness to flog weapons to repressive regimes via the Defence and Security Equipment International's jamboree at the ExCeL Centre in London's Docklands. +Related: DSEI weapons fair: authoritarian regimes descend on London +But a separate campaign is also leading to many posters cropping up at bus stops and on tube trains that require a second glance. +"Important announcement, Travelling on the DLR from 15th to 18th September?" reads one, using London Underground fonts and branding with the DLR line turning into the image of a tank. +This September, a swarm of arms dealers will be descending on the DLR ... Customers are requested to help stop the arms fair. +The 300 posters are by artists who exhibited work at the Museum of Cruel Designs in Banksy's Dismaland. +A collective called the Special Patrol Group helped distribute it around London using "Ad Space Hack Packs," a £6 pack of Allen keys which it claims "gain access to around a third of bus stop advertising space on the planet." +Transport for London is not amused by this flyposting "vandalism." +One of the spoof ads produced by the Special Patrol Group collective. +According to Gavin Grindon, curator of Cruel Designs and a lecturer at the University of Essex, artists are becoming more questioning and seeking to take political work to audiences outside galleries. +A lot of artists are moving to work with activists within protest movements, realising they have to get out in the real world for their art to have an impact on society. +Another of the anti-arms trade posters greeting commuters on the tube. +The Amnesty video has been watched more than 100,000 times in 24 hours via Facebook and was created by ad agency VCCP working pro bono, with the graphic designer and voiceover artist also working for free. +VCCP creative director Matt Lever was struck by the silence surrounding the advertising of the arms fair - with a blank space on ExCeL's calendar - and thought: "Let's give them the campaign they are trying to avoid." +They toyed with creating a more realistic dodgy corporate advert, but "by ramming it home with bright colours and animation, it was more arresting." +"They've done a fantastic job in helping us raise concerns about the selling of illegal torture equipment at the fair," says Tom Davies at Amnesty. +What we need now is for the UK government to take action and ensure that torture equipment is not illegally traded on our doorstep. +Perhaps the most creative art surrounding the arms fair comes from inside ExCeL, where exhibitors flog fantastically euphemistic products. +In a press release, Saab revealed an order from the US army for "the shoulder-launched AT4CS RS." +This includes a "unique shaped-charge warhead that delivers outstanding behind-armour-effects inside the target." +Whatever that does, it won't be pleasant. + +Eight golden rules for living in student halls +It's been 11 years since I moved into student halls as an oblivious 19-year-old, still believing in berets and moral relativism, but it's only now I recall the strained smiles of those I annoyed - and the numerous, lengthy complaints about others. +Most of what I learned can be distilled into eight simple rules. +Moving into halls can range from mildly nerve-racking to totally terrifying. +It's tempting to babble: telling people where you're from, whether and where you took a gap year, where you stand on Corbyn and why you "honestly neither love nor hate Marmite because seriously guys it's just yeast extract HAHAHA I'll be in my room." +Take a breath. +And help others take one too - ask questions and show interest. +It steers the conversation and helps you to scout out the people you like versus those you wouldn't talk to even if your eyelashes were on fire and they were dispensing extinguishers. +Give people space. +People's rooms often morph into drinks receptions, movie-night venues and communal hangout spots, but they're also where people get dressed and adjust their underwear. +Related: Don't even think about starting university in a relationship +Introverts get a raw deal at university. +Your room should be a retreat, yet many halls form an inter-room-strolling culture that's friendly, social and conducive to lifelong friendships. +That can be hell for someone who's trying to recharge. +Nothing in the culture allows you to say, "I like you and I want our friendship to continue, but I need you to go away so I can get back the energy I've expended on interacting with you." +Try to sense when a fellow student is exhausted from socialising - and maybe text instead of knocking. +Speaking of knocking: do it. +One guy in my student halls had a policy that if a door wasn't locked he was invited in. +He saw some things. +Make friends through baking. +Since you're starting uni at the height of Bake-Off mania, knocking on people's doors to introduce yourself with a plate of brownies seems marginally less weird, less 1950s "Welcome to the neighbourhood, I baked you something, now smile as I ask you personal questions." +Offering homemade treats is a great way to make friends. +Your housemates will feel obliged to chat, and may end up associating your face with a tasty surprise. +Obviously this is subject to you being a decent baker. +Poorly-fused lumps of flour, sugar and fat are more likely to make people pretend to be asleep when you knock. +Stealing food is a common crime in student halls. +Obviously nicking someones chicken is theft, but is taking a drop of milk for your tea stealing? +Double check with the milk owner. +Chances are they'll tell you to help yourself even if they're seething inside. +If someone steals your stuff, it's annoying and you have my sympathies - but try to deal with it more maturely than my hallmate, who tainted her milk with washing-up liquid to punish those who stole it. +She's in jail now. +You shouldn't make noise that keeps people from sleeping or studying. +This isn't just to be a decent human, but because you are the proverbial people in glass houses. +A girl on my corridor asked her neighbour if they wouldn't mind turning down the drum and bass because it was 3am and she had an exam in the morning. +They responded by turning it up. +When they finally shut up at 5am, she kindly let them sleep for two hours before blasting her own music, locking her door as she left for her three-hour exam. +Wouldn't it be romantic if your future spouse happened to move into the same hall as you? +Conversely, wouldn't it be knuckle-bitingly awkward if you mistook a hallmate for your future spouse, hooked up, broke up and had to see them every day and possibly watch them get custody of all your mutual friends? +Of course, the heart wants what it wants - but if a hot hallmate is definitely not your future spouse, try to at least talk some sense into your groin. +In the exhilarating moment you realise someone's left their keys inside their unlocked room, the line between pranking and bullying is finer than it seems. +A good prank is funny, but takes moments to reverse. +Teach a valuable and amusing lesson about security by hiding something - but never trash someone's room with toothpaste and shampoo. +Lock their door and put their keys in a glass of water, which you then put in the freezer - but don't Blu-Tack their possessions to the ceiling more than twice. + +Terraced houses for refugees, single parents, low earners +Property entrepreneur Markus Gildner is building terraced houses in the Middle Franconian town of Eckental for people who do not have much money. +For example for refugees – but also as a sign: "Not only refugees need accommodation, but also single mothers and people on low incomes." +"I am demonstrating how it is still possible to build economically and well nowadays," says the 44-year-old in an interview. +Thousands of refugees are pushing their way onto the housing market. +Entrepreneur Marcus Gildner believes he knows how quickly economical housing can be developed: with this project he is building terraced houses for refugees. +Mr Gildner, thousands of refugees are coming onto the housing market. +What solution are you offering? +Markus Gildner: Mass accommodation in containers and gyms is not sustainable. +Because most of the people will be staying here. +We will also need sufficient housing space to accommodate the influx of refugees over the next decades. +A totally standard three-storey terraced house is the solution. +Gildner: A terraced house needs little space. +It facilitates integration. +It is different when the people are housed in blocks of flats. +Each of the six houses which are currently being built in the pilot project consists of three living units each for four asylum seekers. +Each living unit has two bedrooms, one bathroom, one kitchen and a lounge. +It's possible that many refugees will say; now that peace has returned I'm going back. +Then the houses can easily be converted for different uses. +What are the costs? +Gildner: The price for 160 m² of living space per house amounts to €184,000 without land. +That is manageable. +Construction took six months. +That is reasonable. +Did building regulations complicate your plans? +Gildner: I carried out my project in accordance with building regulations. +The sword of Damocles threatening special building projects, and parking space regulations, always make it complicated. +Scary. +It is still assumed that anyone creating three flats in a terraced house needs at least three parking places. +Except that there is not enough space in towns. +And refugees and asylum seekers have no cars. +How have residents reacted to your terraced house project? +Gildner: There were some who accused me of building luxury accommodation for asylum seekers. +That is definitely not true. +But aren't you making the competition for affordable housing worse? +Gildner: The truth is over the last five years we have had a building boom in Germany, but it is luxury accommodation that has been built, which hardly anybody can afford any longer. +My project gives the message that normal people need housing space too. +Not only refugees need accommodation, but also single mothers and people on low incomes. +I am demonstrating how it is still possible to build economically and well nowadays. +This is what it is about. +Marcus Gildner (44) studied microsystems technology in Regensburg and initially worked in environmental analysis. + +iOS 9: how to get new iPhone operating system, as Apple update is released +The new operating system can be requested by heading to the Settings app, tapping "General," and then selecting "Software Update." +If it's ready, the phone will give you the option to download and then install it. +Some have run into problems after that installation, being hit by an error message telling them that "Software update failed." +To get around that, users are recommended either to wait for the rush to die down, or to try and upgrade through iTunes. +The phone itself will guide you through the rest of the process. +That might include deleting apps to make space - but Apple has made that less likely by slimming down the update, and also easier to do using a special tool that will suggest apps to delete and then re-install them once the process is over. +It's worth ensuring that your phone is charged or near a charger while the update happens, so that it doesn't run out of battery. +If the charge is too low, Apple won't let the update go ahead, since the phone dying halfway through could lead to the update breaking. +Read more: iOS 9 release still on track despite WatchOS delay iOS 9 review: the least exciting and best update ever iOS 9: how to prepare for new iPhone operating system +You should also make sure that you've been through our checklist of all the things to do before you download, to try and stop things going wrong and protect against them if they do. iOS 9 brings new features including a much cleverer personal assistant and huge new productivity features for the iPad, as well as tweaks that speed up and fix the operating system. + +Rosberg's only motto: full attack +Nico Rosberg knows only one motto in his fight for the Formula One world championship title against his clearly leading Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton: "Full attack". +The world championship runner-up stressed before the start of the decisive seven overseas races "that I've got nothing more to lose". +Before the night race in Singapore this Sunday, 53 points divide the vice world champion from the titleholder and two times champion Hamilton. +The Brit has already won seven of the 12 races of the season to date and is also starting the floodlit Grand Prix in the city state as favourite. +In 2009 and in the preceding year the 30-year-old Brit was able to win the race. +Whether the current smog in the city state will have any influence on the Grand Prix in Singapore is as yet unclear. +A pall of smog has been hanging over the city for days, caused by fires on the neighbouring island of Sumatra. + +Bad Kissinger chess club has a prominent member +The "Chess friends of Bad Kissingen" chess club, founded three months ago, has admitted another member to its ranks, taking the number of members to 19 players. +The new member is businessman Paul Gauselmann, a passionate chess and tennis player, who has stayed in Bad Kissingen more than 40 times for spa treatments. +Gauselmann is a holder of the Federal Cross of Merit 1st class and is a freeman of the towns of Espelkamp and Lübbecke. +Gauselmann supported the chess club in Bad Kissingen with a donation which was accepted by chairman Alfred Klein. +This makes it possible to take on members who cannot afford the membership fee +Youth work and talent searches can also be pursued. +Gauselmann wants his membership of the chess club as well as his friendly contact with the "Red-white" tennis club to be seen as an expression of his ties with the spa town. + +Accommodation office seeks face-to-face contact +Saludis and the Antonistift retirement centre have grouped together under the mantle of a social foundation and opened a new contact point on Graf-Stauffenberg-Platz. +In addition to obtaining advice it is also possible to participate in courses there. +The social foundation is moving down from the mountain into the town centre. +More precisely, to Graf-Stauffenberg-Platz. +A new accommodation office will be opening there shortly. +Here, directly next to the shopping centre, senior citizens and other people seeking advice can with immediate effect receive information on issues such as nursing insurance or the services of nursing and health insurance companies. +With our outpatient care service we have for years realised that family caregivers are often left alone. +This raises numerous questions. +"Not infrequently, too, many services provided by insurers are not used because the complexity of the insurance is so difficult to understand," the new manager, Jutta Weigand, who as head of the services division for old people's welfare is also responsible for the Antonistift and the Bürgerspital as well as for "Amadeus" outpatient services, explained. +Apart from advice, the new accommodation office also offers courses in prevention, health and wellness. +Saludis has been taken on board for this. +As a result, additional offerings such as prevention of falls, memory training or physiotherapy treatment are also available. +The offers from the senior citizens centre and from Saludis complement each other perfectly. +Saludis represents prevention, precaution, and rehabilitation. +"The senior citizens' centre for care and nursing," is how Heike Riedel, managing director of Saludis describes it. +Both managers see the reason behind the opening of the new accommodation office in the town centre as democratic change, +as this makes a good decentralised infrastructure in the individual districts of Bamberg essential in the future. +Furthermore, as Mayor Wolfgang Metzner (SPD) underlined at the opening ceremony, the accommodation office is also dedicated to dealing with the isolation of old people. "There are numerous activities and offers on the programme and these extend invitations to regular social gatherings". +Thus the social foundation makes a big contribution towards making senior citizens as independent as possible and towards enabling them to live well in their familiar environment. +The accommodation office is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. + +Eintracht Bamberg vs Würzburger Kickers on 6 October +It's now official: after the fixture for the FC Eintracht Bamberg match against third leaguers Würzburger Kickers could not be settled due to repair works at the Fuchspark stadium, the date has now been set for 6 October. +The meeting between FC Eintracht Bamberg and third league FC Würzburger Kickers in the last 16 of the Bavarian football pools cup is now finally scheduled. +The match will kick-off on Tuesday, 6 October at 7 p.m. in Bamberg's Fuchspark Stadium. +"We are happy that we now know when the match is going to happen; we can make plans now," says FCE team manager KarlheinzHümmer, confirming that ticket sales are now open. +It's something special for our team to be playing against a third league team. +We are hoping to get a large number of spectators, and not without reason, because floodlit games have a special appeal. +FC Eintracht Bamberg moved into the last 16 with their victory against district league no. 1 FC Oberhaid (3:1) and at home against regional league no. 1 FC Schweinfurt 05 (3:2). +The winner of the competition receives €5000 and qualifies for the first round of the DFB club cup 2016/2017. +The defending champions are SpVgg Unterhaching, who have been relegated to the third league. + +Viennese architect Karl Mang dies at the age of 92 +Karl Mang, one of the doyens of Viennese architecture, is dead. +He died on 5 September at the age of 92, according to the Künstlerhaus on Tuesday. +In Meng the Künstlerhaus has lost an honourary member and at the same time "one of the most important architects of the second half of the 20th century in Vienna," it is reported. +Born in Vienna in 1922, Meng studied architecture at the Technical University in Vienna under Friedrich Lehmann during and after the second World War. +He worked from 1952 as a freelance architect, but was also a teacher, writer and institute director. +From 1972 to 1983 he was President of the Austrian Institute for Design. +In the 1980s he was commissioned with the establishment of the treasury chamber in the Vienna Hofburg and the renovation of the Palais Lobkowitz in the Austrian Theatre Museum. + +Parking penalty: Tim Wiese throws money at traffic warden +Ex-footballer Tim Wiese attracts the wrong sort of attention in Bremen +He was once a footballer but now Tim Wiese, ex-national goalie for Germany who also played for Bremen and Hoffenheim, is a wrestler. +According to him he wanted to put on 30 kg of muscle mass in the past two years. +On the other hand he hasn't put on any intellectual weight. +Wiese was just having his hair cut in the centre of Bremen when outside he saw a traffic warden putting a penalty notice on his white Chevrolet Camaro. +Wiese stormed out of the hairdressers, abused the officer and threw down the money for the fine at her feet, according to a report in the "Bild" newspaper. +The accusation has been confirmed by the town of Bremen but it is not yet known what the consequences of this extraordinary incident will be. +"The matter is still being investigated," says a spokesperson for the town of Bremen. +Only after that will it be decided whether charges are going to be pressed against Wiese. + +Authorities in Panama destroy 4500 marijuana plants. +The fertile ground and the rainforest climate of Isla del Rey are ideal for growing marijuana plants. +Three days ago the authorities in Panama tore out the 4,500 plants and burnt them. + +Men set upon 17-year-old Afgan +Police are seeking witnesses to an incident in Bad Soden-Salmünster. At about 11.45 on Friday evening, three young men were walking from Bad Soden in the direction of Salmünster. +According to police one of the group, a 17-year-old Afghan, was walking about five metres behind his friends and called out to them for them to wait for him. +At this point the group were level with the bft petrol station. +Three people were standing on the petrol station premises. +One of these men shouted at the youth and hit him in the face with his fist. +This broke the victim's nose and his nose bled heavily. +One of his two friends ran to him and begged the attacker to let the victim go. +The injured young man was taken home by his friends. +The perpetrator followed the group to their home in a car and drove past it several times in an ostentatious manner. +As soon as they could no longer see the car, the injured man went outside the building to smoke a cigarette. +There he was attacked again by his original attacker and another male. +Using a club, they beat the victim in the face and upper leg. +The injured man had to be taken to hospital for medical care. +Up to now there is only a vague description of the perpetrators. +One was a man of about 5ft 11in tall. +The second attacker was about 5ft 5in tall and was dressed in jeans and a brown and white shirt. +Police are asking any possible witnesses to contact them by telephone on 0049 6181 100 123. + +Dr Frank Müller takes over Felstehausen practice and invests €310,000 +Sylvia Müller-Gongoll and Frank Müller (from left) take over practice from Karl-Heinrich and Ursel Felstehausen. +The mayor of the joint community, Bernd Bormann, business sponsor Uta Seim-Schwartz and Asendorf's mayor Heinfried Kabbert are delighted at this turn of events. +Many areas in the country have no doctor – Asendorf by contrast is fortunate: on 1 October Dr Frank Müller is taking over the Felstehausen practice. +While Ursel Felstehausen is retiring, her husband Karl-Heinrich will spend the next few months working part-time with his successor. +Dr Müller reopens the practice on 12 October after a period of renovation; by then he will have invested €310,000 in the premises at St.-Marcellusstrasse 6. +When the Felstehausens met Frank Müller and his wife Dr Silvia Müller-Gongoll, who at the time were finishing their residencies in Verden hospital and also wanted to take on a practice in the next few years, they liked each other immediately +"It was always in the back of our minds that the Müllers would fit into this practice well," says Dr Ursel Felstehausen and laughs. +"When we were ready, I simply called them up." +The Müller couple liked the idea of running their own practice in Asendorf in the future. +"The proximity and the continuous contact with the patients are attractive to us," says 39-year-old Müller. +"We want to get to know the families and support them over the years." +He also sees being his own boss as a benefit. +And so it was agreed that the Müllers would buy the house with the practice. +However in the meantime they are living in Bruchhausen-Vilsen. +Father of two Frank Müller also grew up there and after his medical studies in Hanover he worked in a number of medical practices as well as in hospitals in Sulingen, Nienburg und Rotenburg. +He is currently working as a consultant in Sulingen, furthermore he was appointed chief emergency doctor in the county of Diepholz in 2009 and was involved on a voluntary basis in the blood donation service in Bruchhausen-Vilsen. +From 19 September the practice will be preparing for the new boss. +While surgeon Dr Karl-Heinrich Felstehausen worked as a general practitioner, his wife Ursel (a specialist in internal medicine) specialised in gastroenterology. +The Müllers, both specialists in internal medicine, wanted to establish themselves as general practitioners. +"So it's out with the endoscopy," says 38-year-old Sylvia Müller-Gongoll. +After the conversion the rooms will look more modern. +We will offer more ultrasound examinations as well as long-term and stress EKGs and we need one more consulting room. +The IT system will also be completely renewed. +The Müllers are receiving a grant totalling €50,000 as part of a funding programme from the county (€2,500) as well as from the joint community (€12,500) and the local authority (€12,500). +"This shows how proud and happy we are that the practice will carry on," stressed the mayor of the joint community Bernd Bormann. +According to Sylvia Müller-Gongoll, some 2,000 patients visit the Felstehausen practice every quarter; in north Germany the average practice sees about 500. +There is another GP practice in Asendorf. +Frank Müller says that there is another side benefit of their taking over the practice: according to Ursel Felstehausen, the chemist will stay in Asendorf. +If they hadn't found any successor, it would have closed down. +Anyone visiting the Müllers' surgery will also first of all see familiar faces: they are taking over the seven medical assistants and the cleaner from the Felstehausens. +With their leaving, an era ends in Asendorf; after all the doctors have had their practice there for 30 years. +"We started with only two rooms," remembers Ursel Felstehausen with a grin. +After such a long time she feels a little wistful. +"But we'll still be living in Hohenmoor and I'm sure we will be seeing many of our patients often," says the internal medicine specialist. +Her husband adds with a smile, "We've got a 6000 m² garden." +"Up to now I haven't done much gardening, that might change now." +The couple also have two grandchildren and enjoy travelling. + +Croatia: "We are letting the refugees through" +"Border control is being brought in now on our southern border too," says Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner. +In parallel, checks on the Hungarian border remain in place. +It is still a priority that anyone wanting to claim asylum can "of course" do so. +The care and safety of people is paramount. +It is equally clear "that obvious signals are needed," says the minister. +People must know that we do not accept an unlimited flow of migration, and not over the Austrian-Slovenian border either. +A controlled procedure is required +Croatia is considering a "corridor" - Slovenia has refused. +The Croatian government had earlier announced that Slovenia also wanted to let incoming refugees travel through towards Austria and Germany, and also potentially establish corridors for the refugees. +However, Interior Minister Vesna Györkös Znidar in Laibach did not see it in quite the same light. +The idea of corridors is "absolutely unacceptable," Sloveina intends rather to step up its surveillance of the borders - especially the border to Hungary. +The border with Croatia, as the external border to the Schengen area, is however already heavily controlled. +But as the Minister stressed, Slovenia is not suggesting sealing its borders for refugees. +"Every member of the EU has to fulfill its obligations, otherwise the system cannot work," stressed Györkös Znidar. +According to the Croatian government, the first refugees attempted to enter Eastern Croatia on Monday night over the Tovarnik/Sid border crossing, in order to avoid registration. +The Croatian police were able to pick them up in the nearby maize field. +Since then, according to local media, police vehicles are constantly coming across new refugees in Croatian Tavarnik. +They are mostly Syrian and Afghans, among them many women and children. +The emergency sevices and the Red Cross are also already in place. +Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic says that his country is expecting around 4000 refugees in the next few days. +In addition it was reported by both Croatian and Serbian media on Wednesday that buses from Presevo on the Macedonian-Serbian border, which have up to now taken migrants to the Hungarian border, are being diverted to Croatia +The government in Belgrade denied, however, that it is the case that they are giving people instructions to take certain routes. "We neither can nor want to do that," they stated. +According to media reports, at least one bus with around 50 refugees arrived in the Serbian border town of Sid in the early hours, and in the course of the day more buses are expected. +Over Croatia, Slovenia and Austria to Germany +The detainees were travelling the entire night through Serbia from the Macedonian border, about 500 kilometres away. +"We heard that Hungary is closed, so the police said we should come here," said one of the refugees. +They wanted to go through Croatia, Slowenia and Austria to get to Germany. +This implies that a shift in the former Balkan route through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary to a route somewhat further to the west, which observers have already predicted, could actually now be happening. +Croatia: "Widespread options for border control" +Croatian Interior Minister Ostojic had previously stressed that his country has already prepared appropriate plans for potential exceptional situations in the event of a large influx of refugees. +He gave no details, but he indicated that Croatia, as a non-member of the Schengen Treaty, has "widespread options for border control." +Rigorous checks are carried out in order to qualify for membership in the Schegen area. +Slovenia has been a member since 2007, since when its EU partners have presented a consistently good report on the country as far as border controls are concerned. +There are also some 300 refugees stuck on the Serbian side behind the Hungarian border fence. +According to media reports from Belgrade, they spent the past night at the Horgos border crossing, which leads to Röszke. +The Hungarian authorities claim that both the Horgos and the Backi Breg border crossings also remain completely closed. +Whether the remaining refugees now want to travel on to the Croatian border is still not clear. +At a local appearance on Wednesday morning, the Serbian Interior Minister, Nebojsa Stefanovic, tried to reassure people: he considers the debate on the refugees' alternative routes after the closure of the Hungarian border to be premature. +At the moment there is not a large number of refugees involved. +It is not yet possible to say whether they will continue their journey over Hungary, Croatia or another country. +Aid workers advise migrants to take - dangerous - alternative routes. +But private Hungarian aid workers have already started to distribute maps marked with alternative routes through Croatia to refugees +The border crossing between Serbia and Croatia is however not without danger: in parts of the border region, even 20 years after the end of the Croatian war, there are still uncleared minefields. +On Wednesday afternoon the Croatian police announced that a team of minesweepers has been sent to the border region. + +Stock exchange hacker: Ukrainians pay $30 million +Supranonok belonged to a ring of cyber criminals who since 2010 have repeatedly been accused of providing inside views of as yet unpublished financial reports and press releases on websites such as Business Wire, Marketwired and PR Newswire. +The information provided enabled insider dealing on the financial markets. +By this means, according to investigators, a total of over $100 million was scammed. +"Current information indicates that even those outside our national borders have finally been caught," an SEC report states. +Proceedings against 32 other suspects in this case are continuing. +Most of the accused come from the Ukraine and Georgia. +The perpetrators were operating out of both the USA and Eastern Europe. + +Ecumenical Hospice Care celebrates 20 years in Mannheim +Business rules around the Paradeplatz in Mannheim +People carry out their errands, some of them walking briskly, some of them strolling along in a leisurely fashion. +They head for the two branches of the Mannheim car showroom. +Trams stop. +Pulsing, vibrant life in the brilliant autumn sunshine, and right in the middle are four big blackboards each bearing the words, "Before I die I want to…" +The Ecumenical Hospice Care organisation is carrying out this campaign to raise awareness of their 20th anniversary, and is encountering extremely mixed reactions. +"It's about life, which is why we are carrying out this campaign in the middle of the town, right among the people," says Josefine Lammer. +The head of Ecumenical Hospice Care is also available to answer questions from and have discussions with passers-by, as are voluntary workers. +While many passers-by impulsively grab the chalk and complete the sentence with "affirm my life", "be able to read", "drive through the USA in a camper van", "stop war" or "not suffer for long", others stop briefly, read, say things like "I'm not ready for that yet", and carry on. +Again and again little discussions develop in corners about the campaign itself, about life, about dealing with dying. +Peter Hübinger is also there now. +"It's only when I consider that some day the end of this world is going to come for me that I can live responsibly," says the Director of the Protestant social charity Diakonischen Werk in Mannheim, which is a responsible body along with the Caritas Association for Ecumenical Hospice Care. +Which is why these high visibility campaigns are good for the 20-year-old organisation. +Of course it's understandable that not everyone wants to share their message publicly on the blackboards; in the end it's a very personal matter. +The topics of life and death are still steeped in taboos, according to Josefine Lammer's experience, although the hospice movement even over the last few years has done much to help people to accept it. +A perception shared by Angelika Godefroid. +The volunteer worker, who helps people to deal with death and grief, has been with the organisation from the start. +Having been confronted with personal experiences of these issues she read a lot of literature and decided she wanted to get involved in helping people who are dying. +When the Ecumenical Hospice Care organisation appealed for volunteer helpers, she signed up immediately and was with them when they started up in 1995. +Godefroid belongs to a team of 45 volunteers - 43 women and two men - who help those people affected and their relatives in private households, hospitals, care homes and in the Sankt Vincent Hospice. +They are all carefully trained. +Angelika Godefroid is particularly well suited to handling this job and the experiences and everything it entails. +"I see life from a different point of view, I believe it is precious and I seize the moment," she says. +The outpatient services offered by the Ecumenical Hospice organisation are free of charge and denominationally independent. +Financial support from health insurance companies and donations by members enable education as well as training sessions, and training and supervision for palliative care providers and grief counsellors. +Training for new staff is offered every two years. +The blackboards, with the messages written on them on Saturday, are now on display in the Evangelical church (M1, 1a) and the Catholic church (F2, 6). +Anyone who wants to can also write their own personal wishes on postcards there. + +FedEx earnings mixed, lowers fiscal 2016 outlook +FedEx reported disappointing results for its latest quarter, and the delivery giant cut its full-year profit forecast on weaker demand for freight services and higher costs in its ground division. +The company also said it plans to hire about 55,000 seasonal workers for the holidays. +At this time last year, FedEx announced it would hire 50,000 seasonal workers for the holidays. +Its shares fell about 2.5 percent in premarket trading 45 minutes ahead of Wednesday's opening bell. +FedEx Corp. said that it expects to earn between $10.40 and $10.90 for the fiscal year that ends next May, down 20 cents from an earlier prediction. +Analysts expected $10.84, according to a survey by FactSet. +The reduced outlook comes despite rate hikes averaging 4.9 percent, which will take effect Jan. 4, and higher surcharges for ground shipment of heavy or large packages, which begin in November. +The company said it still expects earnings to grow over the previous year because of cost-cutting, higher revenue and growth in online commerce. +Chairman and CEO Fred Smith said the company was "performing solidly given weaker-than-expected economic conditions, especially in manufacturing and global trade." +The holiday-hiring plans were announced a day after rival UPS said that that it plans to hire 90,000 to 95,000 extra workers, about the same that it hired last year. +In the quarter that ended Aug. 31, FedEx earned $692 million, up 6 percent from a year earlier. +Earnings per share amounted to $2.42, short of the $2.44 per share average forecast of 12 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research. +Revenue rose 5 percent, to $12.3 billion. +Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $12.23 billion. +FedEx has been hit in recent years by a decline in priority international shipping, which has caused revenue in its Express unit to stagnate. +But the boom in online shopping has boosted results at FedEx Ground. +In the latest quarter, ground revenue rose 29 percent but operating income was basically flat on higher costs for larger packages and self-insurance. +The express unit saw higher income because of higher base rates, while income fell in the freight business on higher labor costs. +In premarket trading about an hour before the opening bell, FedEx shares were down $3.85, or 2.5 percent, to $150.15. +They closed Tuesday down 11 percent for the year and 17 percent below a record high on June 11. + +At their most anticipated meeting in years, Federal Reserve policymakers will spend two days this week seated around a 27-foot Honduran mahogany table deciding if it's time to raise a key interest rate for the first time in nearly a decade. +Looming over them at one end of the central bank's ornate, two-story boardroom will be a mural of the United States. +The map is a reminder that Fed Chairwoman Janet L. Yellen and her colleagues are supposed to put the nation's economic interests above all others. +The central bank has a dual charge from Congress: maximize U.S. employment and keep prices here stable. +But since the Great Recession, Fed leaders have acknowledged that there's an unwritten third mandate: financial stability. +And that third mandate could be the X-factor in a too-close-to-predict decision, to be announced Thursday, about whether the U.S. economy is ready to start being weaned from the unprecedented stimulus provided by the near-zero short-term interest rate in place since late 2008. +Even though most data show the economy growing solidly, the recent turmoil in global financial markets could make already-cautious Fed officials skittish about adding to the volatility by raising their benchmark federal funds rate - even by no more than a mere quarter of a percentage point. +"Obviously the labor market and inflation is going to be first and foremost the most important thing they watch," said Lindsey M. Piegza, chief economist at brokerage firm Stifel Nicolaus & Co. +"But I think if they were looking for an excuse not to raise the rate, the increased uncertainty surrounding the global marketplace is enough to provide them with justification to wait further," she said. +There's no consensus about what the Fed will do, which in itself is causing financial market jitters. +About half of economists surveyed recently by Bloomberg predicted a rate increase this week. +Financial markets, however, are expecting the Fed to hold off, with a key indicator showing only about a 30% chance of a boost. +That would point to a stock market drop if the Fed raises the rate, unless policymakers were to soften the blow by promising that another increase would be a ways off. +On Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 228.89 points, or 1.4%, to 16,599.85. +The rally was triggered by expectations that Fed policymakers will hold the rate steady this week, said John Lonski, chief economist at Moody's Capital Markets Research Group. +"It would be a surprise if the Fed hiked rates at this point in time," he said. +If Fed policymakers did, "they would have to go to great lengths in their policy statement to hold financial markets' hands so they don't panic." +Other experts argued that a rate increase would calm financial markets because it would remove uncertainty about when the Fed would act. +Just a month ago, the Fed seemed on track to raise the rate by 0.25 percentage point this month, the first small step in a slow tightening of monetary conditions that would validate the strength of the U.S. recovery. +Yellen had said through the spring and early summer that she expected a rate increase this year despite complaints from liberals that more economic progress was needed. +Although job creation slowed in August, labor market growth has been solid this year. +The unemployment rate dropped to 5.1% last month, the lowest in more than seven years and near the level the Fed considers to be full employment. +Wage gains have shown signs of picking up. +And although inflation continued to run below the central bank's annual 2% target, Fed policymakers said a key reason was the temporary effect of sharply lower oil prices. +The economy "can cope with higher rates, and needs them, given the tightness of the labor market," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. +But financial markets around the world started convulsing late last month after China devalued its currency. +The Dow Jones industrial average dropped as much as 16% below its record high in May as investors feared a slowing Chinese economy would drag down global growth. +The market has rebounded somewhat this month, with the Dow now down nearly 10% from the May high. +For Fed policymakers, the market turmoil adds to the complex calculus of when to raise the interest rate. +"Absent what happened in financial markets and the news about the weakness in the Chinese economy over the past couple weeks, they would be tightening at this meeting," said Stephen D. Oliner, a senior research fellow at the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate and a former Fed official. +Now, he predicts they'll wait at least a month to get a better handle on the effects. +"There's a lot of uncertainty about what the impacts on the U.S. economy are going to be, and they have almost no data to rely on that post-dates the developments in China," Oliner said. +The health of the global economy isn't one of the Fed's primary concerns, so technically it shouldn't be factored into its decision-making. +But, in effect, the Fed has become the monetary authority of the world. +The central bank's influence in recent years has been enormous. +The mere hint by then-Chairman Ben S. Bernanke in 2013 that the Fed might "taper" its monetary expansion triggered market convulsions around the globe. +In a world where markets and economies are increasingly intertwined, Fed officials can be expected not only to monitor the developments elsewhere but also to consult with other central bankers and experts to get a better read on the global economy. +Its decision-making process is "more art than science," said Zachary Karabell, head of global strategy for wealth-management firm Envestnet Inc. +Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Va., noted this month that "the Fed has a history of overreacting to financial market movements that seem unconnected to economic fundamentals." +Lacker, a voting member of the policymaking Federal Open Market Committee who has been pushing for a rate increase, cited decisions in 1998-99 as an example. +A financial crisis in Asia led the Fed to cut its benchmark rate by 0.75 percentage point over three meetings "despite limited identifiable implications for U.S. growth," Lacker said. +A year later, Fed officials reversed those cuts. +The Fed should put financial stability concerns first only during a major crisis, such as the 2008 market meltdown, said Adam S. Posen, a former member of the Bank of England's rate-setting committee. +The latest turmoil doesn't come close to that level, he said. +"You certainly don't want to be put in a situation of being scared of a rate hike because markets got upset," said Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. +The Federal Reserve Act still has the dual mandate and does not mention financial stability, and until that is changed, I don't think they should get ahead of the curve. + +Need a great Thai market? +Try LAX-C in Chinatown. +Yes, Chinatown +The market/warehouse opened in 1997 and is owned by LAX-C Inc. +Frequently referred to as the Thai Costco, LAX-C is a wholesale Thai market that also sells to the public. +Yes, it's in Chinatown and not Thai Town. +The market/warehouse is a one-stop shop, offering an dizzying array of fresh, frozen and dried goods, popular Thai and Asian snacks, and kitchenware, furniture, religious and holiday decorations. +There's even an automotive section if you need to pick up some motor oil. +The store is massive, and it will take over an hour to comb through all the aisles. +If all that shopping makes you hungry, grab a meal at the LAX-C BBQ Express. +The store's indoor food stall (good, inexpensive) is near the registers, and has various takeout options. +What it stocks: Need something - anything - Thai? +LAX-C probably has it. +Items are reasonably priced, and a number of items are sold in bulk. +Fresh produce includes specialty Asian and regional Thai herbs, fruits and more. +The meat counter is extensive, as is the fish - the staff behind the counter will clean and fillet fish, and even fry it for you if you'd like. +A good portion of the store is given over to the massive freezer section, where you'll find frozen curry leaves, bitter melon and galangal, whole ducks, fish, beef blood and bile, pork casings, fish balls, regional sausages, commercially-prepared foods and more. +Who shops there: Restaurant owners and chefs, also single families and individuals. +The wide aisles accommodate both shopping carts and forklifts. +The find: Fresh monthong durian next to the checkout stand. +Where is it: The store is in an industrial part of Los Angeles hugging the outskirts of Chinatown and Downtown - a few blocks away from Philippe The Original. +Parking: LAX-C has its own lot, which it shares with other shops and restaurants. +While the store can get busy, parking is usually not hard to find. + +Hoyerswerda: a bit of help for refugees +These days more and more refugees are arriving in Germany. +To prepare a warm welcome for them is not just a matter of the commitment of countless voluntary helpers. +In Hoyerswerda there is also a whole range of people who unselfishly support asylum seekers in the town. +Among these are Petra und Klaus Heine. +Petra Heine is a dedicated teacher. +Even at 74 she still loves teaching. +Every Thursday she goes to the refugee centre on Dillinger Strasse. +There she helps refugees from Syria, Kurdistan, Kosovo and Pakistan to learn the German language. +Of course these lessons are very different from those at a proper school. + +Brazil's Pediatric Society of Rio Grande Promotes Healthy Breastfeeding Diets +Brazilian pediatric organization SPRS has come up with a shocking way to try and get women to understand the importance of good nutrition while breastfeeding, by featuring images of babies suckling from breasts painted with depictions of unhealthy food. +Human breast milk is composed of a variety of proteins, fats, vitamins, and carbohydrates, which give babies all the nutrients they need to grow a strong immune system. +Due to excess energy requirements, pregnant women and new moms are advised to increase their daily calorie intake by about 500 calories per day. +However, new research suggests that increasing calorie intake is not the only dietary adjustment mothers should make. +A recent study conducted by Robert Waterland, a professor at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas revealed that healthy diets of pregnant women actually affected the genetic expression of their babies and protected them from developing tumors. +Unfortunately, unhealthy diets were found to negatively affect the child's immune system. + +Exceptions for the new Bernried sports hall +Bernried district council has approved the planning application for the €2.3 million sports hall. +And it is making an exception. +The roof may be flatter to accommodate a solar energy system. +Planning for the long-awaited sports building on the Bernried sports ground are moving ahead step by step: in the latest council meeting the planning application was approved unanimously without any great discussion. +The committee had earlier agreed, among other things, to an "exception", or rather an "exemption" under building law to the applicable building plan. +The "exception" refers to permission for a special shape for the roof structure. +According to this a "gable roof with an off-centre ridge and roof overhang" will be constructed. +The background for the plan is the planned use of the roof surface for solar panels. "This means we will have a wonderfully large south-facing roof," explained mayor Josef Steigenberger at the meeting. +The "exemption" on the other hand refers to the roof pitch, which for energy reasons - contrary to the stipulations in the development plan - will be less than 10 degrees. +This will reduce the volume of the hall. +Therefore an "exemption" is necessary, since the development plan allows no "exceptions" with regard to roof pitch - while the Bernried council as a rule has a more restrictive approach to requests for exemptions. +The sports hall is however more of a recurring project. "We are not setting a precedent with this," says Steigenberger. +The hall at the sports centre is a joint project between the district and SV Bernried. +Costs have been calculated at around €2.3 million. +Contributions are expected through funding from schools and popular sports. +In the next step of the project, the planning application for the 18 x 36 metre hall will be presented to the district administration for review. + +Peissenberg Clinic moves to Schongau. +The Peissenberg Hospital is closing earlier than planned – in 2016. +At the same time Dr Wilhelm Fischer (66) will become the new medical director at the Schongau Hospital. +The wards and the majority of employees are moving to Schongau from Peissenberg. +This allows for the district's limited company hospital's surprising plans, confirms district administrator Andrea Jochner-Weiss. +The Board of Directors, however, will come to a decision about this and they meet next Wednesday, 23 September. +If these plans are implemented, then all the nearly 50 employees at the hospital in Peissenberg will remain in employment. +The vast majority will move with Fischer and the internal medicine ward that still continues to exist to Schongau. +The premises are available. +Those employees who are not able to go to Schongau will be offered positions in Weilheim, according to Jochner-Weiss. +Employees have been informed about the plans. +The changes were triggered by the resignation of Dr Andreas Eder, who has been clinical director of the Schongau clinic since the beginning of the year and is now moving to a private practice in the immediate vicinity of the hospital. +When the question of who his successor should be, according to Jochner-Weiss, the name of "Fischer", who had declared that he was prepared to take over leadership from 1 October and move with his team to Schongau, was raised. +For the Schongau hospital, these changes mean an "upgrade" and an expansion of the services offered in the field of internal medicine, says Jochner-Weiss. +Fisher is a specialist in cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators. +Schongau (180 beds) specialises in gastroenterological disorders in its internal medicine department. +In the transitionary period over the next two years Fischer and his team, if the Board of Management agrees to this, will run both establishments, and in the next year the former miners' hospital in Peissenberg, which still has over 35 beds, will finally be closed after almost 140 years. +Thus far the district has planned this for 2018, when the currently ongoing restoration of the Weilheim hospital is finished. +District administrator Jochner-Weiss, who is also Chairman of the Board of Management, contradicts rumours that the building, which is owned by the Federal Association for Miners, will in the future be used as accommodation for asylum seekers. +"I can rule that out." What will happen to the building, Jochner-Weiss cannot say; that needs more consideration. +At the moment a Caritas short-term care facility and a daytime psychiatric facility are housed there. +"It's the best thing that could have happened for us; we won't get this sort of opportunity again," says Fischer about the move to the Lech, which has been accepted "positively and with understanding" by employees. +Real prospects for the building where Fischer has worked for over 30 years as chief physician do not really exist. +He was asked by his colleagues at Schongau to take over the post of medical director. +The Piessenberg hospital, which once had 100 beds, has been constantly under threat of closure over the last decades. Departments have been closed, for example surgery and obstetrics. + +The handballers of Rhein-Neckar Löwen are being challenged this evening (8:15 p.m.) at Bergischer HC. +The leaders of the Bundesliga are the clear favourites in Wuppertal, however there are no grounds for arrogance. +In the past season the Baden team suffered a painful defeat at BHC and they have some ground to make up there. + +Two injured in hunting accident near Pratau +Two tractor drivers were seriously injured when they were shot during the maize harvest on Tuesday afternooon. +A number of huntsmen were in action on a corn field near Pratau (Wittenburg district) during the harvest, according to police. +After shots were fired, two men, one 63 and the other 22, suffered severe injuries and were taken to hospital. +The precise cause of the accident was initially unclear. +Criminal investigators are trying to determine the details. + +Missing 16-year-old from Rhineland-Palatine the victim of violent crime +A suspect has led the police to the body of a 16-year-old from Rhineland-Palatine who has been missing since Saturday. +When questioned the 20-year-old admitted to having killed the teenager and thrown her body into a canal in Rockenhausen. +Sixteen-year-old missing from Rhineland-Palatine since Saturday is the victim of a violent crime. +The body of a young woman was found on Tuesday evening in Rockenhausen near Kaiserslautern the public prosecutor's office and police reported on Wednesday. +A 20-year-old suspect, who confessed to the crime and led investigators to the site where the body was found, was arrested also on Tuesday evening. +The 16-year-old was reported as missing Sunday morning when she did not return home as agreed after attending an autumn party in Rockenhausen. +In their search for the young woman, investigators initially found personal items belonging to the victim. +Interviews with the missing girl's circle of friends and acquaintances ultimately resulted in 20-year-old becoming a suspect. +The presumed perpetrator then led the police to a canal in Rockenhausen, where the body was found. +Under interrogation the arrested man confessed the police that he had killed the 16-year-old and thrown her body in the canal. +The 20-year-old will be brought before the magistrate on Wednesday; investigators have reduced the charge to one of manslaughter. +Further investigation is being carried out regarding details of the exact circumstances of the crime + +Refugees need accommodation: study warns of housing gap +The situation in the German housing market is tense +And more and more refugees are seeking an affordable place to stay. +Pressure on the housing market is growing. +Social housing is facing a challenge. +The struggle for allocations in the German housing market began long ago. +With the arrival of refugees and job seekers from the EU, more and more people are crowding into a market which in many large towns is already overburdened. +They are competing with residents on low incomes for the last affordable homes. +To supply the demand for affordable homes, 400,000 new units must be built every year up to 2020. +This is the conclusion reached by a study commissioned by the "Social Housing" federation of associations. +In comparison, 260,000 units were completed in this year in Germany. +This amounts to a shortfall of 140,000 homes. +After the first three months of their stay, refugees are no longer obliged to live as asylum seekers in initial reception accommodation. +Many then push onto the housing market and stand in long queues in front of rental flats. +According to the German Federal Statistical Office, however, in the last year fewer than half of all asylum seekers have lived as tenants. +The negative development in the housing market, however, is not just due to the increasing numbers of refugees. +The study points to significant failings in housing policy over the last year. +Germany has a housing deficit which increases every year. +There is a current shortfall in urban areas of around 770,000 living units laments Matthias Günther, author of the study. +This is why many professionals in large towns are forced to live in flat shares. +Due to the slump in the housing market, young adults of necessity live longer in "Hotel Mama". +In large towns over the last few years, the number of square metres per head has decreased for the first time. +In order to solve the problem, the "Social Housing" alliance suggests a fresh start. +New incentives should revive social housing. +For example land transfer tax could be waived and the land tax for sponsored housing temporarily suspended. +In addition, according to the association, attractive tax depreciation possibilities are necessary. +The KfW state bank's refugee funding programme has already been well received in towns and local authorities. +On Monday evening, a good week after start of the programme, €184 million – more than half of the around €300 million which had been made available – had already been requested. +The project may now even be stepped up. + +Refugees have safe conduct: Croatia and Slovenia put corridor in place +Since Hungary has virtually stopped letting them through, the choice of more and more refugees is the route over Croatia. +Zagreb has announced that they will allow passage over Slovenia towards the north without obstacles. +However the route is dangerous. +Croatia wants to come to an agreement with neighbouring Slovenia about the establishment of a corridor for refugees. +"I have spoken to the Slovenian Minister for the Interior, and if necessary we will organise a corridor," said Croatian Minister for the Interior Ranko Ostojic. +Slovenia lies between Croatia and Austria and already belongs to the Schengen zone. +EU member Croatia is not yet a Schengen country. +After the sealing off of the Serbian Hungarian border, hundreds of refugees set out for Croatia in order to reach West Europe from there. +Five hundred people came over the border at Tovarnik, reports Croatian television station RTL. +Hungary had cordoned off its borders for refugees the previous day. +Moreover, new laws which came into force on the same day make fair asylum proceedings in Hungary practically redundant. +Croatia wants to let the refugees pass through. +The Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic explains, "They may pass through and we are preparing ourselves for this possibility". +These people are there, they are women children and men who want to live and to achieve something. +They are however people who do not want to live in Croatia. +The Croatian police picked up the first refugees on the Serbian border to EU neighbour Croatia in the morning. +According to media reports most come from Syria, Iran and Afghanistan. +They arrived at the Serbian border town of Sid both by bus and in taxis. +Immediately after their arrival they tried to reach the green border to Croatia on foot. +At the Croatian-Serbian border the refugees did not come across border fences. +The border strips hold other dangers: there are still active mines there from the Yugoslavian civil war in the 90s. +It is now planned for minesweepers to quickly create a safe passage. +Meanwhile after the closure of the border hardly any more refugees come to Hungary. +On Tuesday police counted 366 people that they had picked up. +Shortly before the closing of the gate on Monday the number was 9,380. +The new Hungarian laws classify climbing and damaging the border fences as criminal offences. +This has led to 35 criminal proceedings being initiated in the South Hungarian border town of Szeged. +Those convicted are threatened with sentences of up to five years and extradition from the country. +According to the immigration authorities, a total of 94 asylum applications was accepted in the new "transition zone" set up at the border, almost all – 93 – at the biggest crossing at Röszke. +Among the applicants were 13 families with small children and two older people. +On Wednesday morning another 40 refugees were stopped there. +In practice, however, nobody else has a chance of being granted asylum in Hungary. +According to opinion in Hungary, Serbia is "a safe third country". +The rejected asylum seekers will be deported there. +Only a few hundred refugees now are gathering by "the transition zone" in Röszke. +Workers have begun to clean up in Röszke. +They are collecting the rubbish that tens of thousands of people have left lying at the sides of the roads over the last weeks. +Crowd barriers are being dismantled and one of the reception centres in the border town is being rebuilt. +No one wants to talk about the goal of this rebuilding. +After the closure of the border between Serbia and Hungary, Austria is getting only a few refugees. +Furthermore the country has strengthened its border controls. +According to the goverment, around 20,000 migrants are still in the country. +In Salzburg, some 1,400 people are waiting to travel on to Germany. +The train service from there to Germany was stopped in the morning on the instructions of the German authorities. +In Freilassing one regularly meets small groups of refugees on foot. + +Mayor drives "stranded people" over the border +"We were busy cleaning up after the Bridge Festival on Sunday, when suddenly there were ten people standing at the entrance to the tent with suitcases," says Mayor of Wernstein Alois Stadler. +Tourists who wanted to get to Passau by train. +Because Germany had unexpectedly stopped train services to Austria on Sunday due to the influx of refugees, their journey had come to a halt in Wernstein," says Stadler, who immediately offered his help and together with two other helpers and their cars chauffeured the stranded people over the border to Passau. +Before that we entertained our surprise guests with snacks and drinks. +We said at once that we would take them to Passau by car. +"It was a matter of course for us," says Stadler, talking to OÖN. +They were very grateful. +One man insisted on handing over a generous donation - €100 for the fire brigade. +"We were very pleased about that," says Stadler. +The stranded train passengers had changed trains in Wels on Sunday evening from an ICE train to a regional train to Passau after the surprise announcement that train services to Germany had been suspended, in an attempt to cross the border anyway. +But the regional train was stopped before the border in Wernstein am Inn. +In Wernstein, excursions over the border are generally very popular. +The Bridge Festival is a joint effort between Wernstein and Bavarians from Neukirchen; the Bridge Festival Association organises the social event on Sunday and an athletic two bridge walk the day before with their Bavarian neighbours. + +The fact that Viktor Orbán is sending us tens of thousands more is a logical result of his hypocritical policies: +Instead of providing immediate help to the Röszke camp by constructing structures which ensure a level of humanity, our Chancellor has officially and publicly moved the Hungarian government's stance closer to an atmosphere of national socialism. +It is not only those Austrians who are now confronted with chaotic conditions in the border areas who are victims of the policy. +Those who have fled, too, must notice that the "promised land" which had invited and welcomed them is not considered another refugee camp. +It will be a huge challenge, in the light of the continuing flow of refugees and the approaching winter, to create humane conditions for asylum seekers. +There is a still greater one - maintaining peace, security and stability in Austria. + +Konrad is looking for winter-proof accommodation for 35,000 +Konrad has his hands full with the hosting of refugees. +Christian Konrad is used to the fact that his word carries weight. +The government has engaged the former powerful Raiffeisen banker to establish accommodation for thousands of refugees. +Konrad has already got to grips with the chaos in the Traiskirchen reception centre. +"We no longer have any homeless people in Traiskirchen," he reported on his first achievement. +And the accommodation of the 20,000 refugees who arrived in Austria on Monday happened without any great fuss, said Konrad, praising the organisational "masterpiece". +The Minister of the Interior, however, talked of a "critical situation". +In total, Konrad estimates that accommodation for 85,000 will be required in the current year. +In order to meet this figure, accommodation for another 35,000 must be found in the next weeks - 20,000 to be provided for by the states and 15,000 by the federal government. +If there are more refugees, we can manage. +"But it is not a bottomless pit," says Konrad. +He has already carried out talks with the State Governors. +They have assured him that accommodation will also be found for the next refugees to arrive. +"It is going well in Austria," says Ferry Maier. +The former VP mandatary is assisting Konrad. +Tomorrow there will be a meeting with Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, in which it will be confirmed how the Church will help. +The asylum coordinator has also got high expectations of the ORF "Help the way we are" campaign. +Private individuals can offer simple accommodation over this platform. +It is also hoped that this will include hotels, which are often empty in winter. +Konrad and Maier yesterday critisised the specifications for accommodation as "too high". +In times of need it should not be necessary for those providing accommodation to have to comply with certain heights for towel rails or sizes of skylights. +"Emergency standards" should apply for a limited period. +Konrad uses his experience as justification for why he, in contrast to the Ministry for the Interior, should be successful with the accommodation. +I am an older man, and nobody readily tells untruths to my face +His most important weapon is the power of persuasion. +Konrad and Maier are not costing the Republic anything, as they themselves explain. +The want to raise the number of their staff from three to four. +Their own search for accommodation has not yet been successful. +Konrad wanted to set up a container on Stephansplatz as an office. +But apparently there are problems with obtaining approval. +Linz demanding a better allocation +For the time being the city of Linz is not planning to open new sports halls and other buildings such as the Tips Arena or the Design Centre as accommodation for refugees. +At the moment this should not be necesssary, as the people in question can currently be accommodated without these measures, says Mayor Klaus Luger (SP). +But in case of emergency further locations need to be checked for their suitability. +The town chief is criticising the allocation of refugees within the federal states. +Other districts should also make their own contributions. + +Seehofer: "Borders will not be cordoned off" +In a long telephone call with Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU), State Governor Josef Pühringer(VP) on Monday agreed to further action on the issue of refugees. +Seehofer has assured me that the German borders will not be cordoned off. +The onward journey of refugees into the Federal Republic continues to be possible. +However appropriate border controls do now exist. +There will now no longer be any special trains with refugees travelling to Germany. +Those seeking protection will however be brought to Germany with regular trains. +Pühringer once more called for increased solidarity in the refugee issue from the other EU member states. +The fact that Austria is also now reintroducing controls at its borders is for Pühringer "a logical consequence" of Germany's approach. + +The next Runtastic is only a matter of time +The general renovation of the "Neuen Werft" in the Lintz industrial area is officially finished. +The publicly listed IT group S&T has moved into four of the six floors of the office and manufacturing building. It is planned that the rest (2700 m²) will be rented to young, innovative businesses in the technology sector. +"In IT clever heads are our raw material – and we must try to get them to work for us," says S&T boss Hannes Niederhauser. +He can imagine investing in start-up businesses in Neuen Werft, and also later acquiring these. +S&T wants to collaborate with the new neighbours from the start – and Niederhauser promises: "The next Runtastic is only a matter of time". +SMT is investing €1.7 million in the location and €3.3 million is coming from Techcentre, a third of which belongs to each of the town of Lintz, the state of Upper Austria and the federal government (FFG). +The building is leased by Linz AG to S&T and Techcentre for 60 years. +Thirty percent of the remaining 2700 m² in the building is already rented out and there have been enquiries about the other 40 percent. + +Owner of Lia Peroni opens second business in the arcade. +In the new shop the focus is on Furla handbags. +Jutta Breit actually wanted to get a dog. +The 49-year-old proprietor of Lia Peroni in the Taubenmarkt arcade had to unceremoniously postpone this plan: now she has finally expanded by taking on new premises +In the Furla shop opposite the business where she sells among other things bags, cases, shoes and garments from different manufacturers, everything now revolves around Furla women's handbags; purses can be obtained starting at €75. +Larger bags and accessories cost up to €500. +The new shop opened yesterday. +It has been converted over the last few weeks. +"I have been considering for a long time whether I should open another shop," says Breit. +Crucial for this decision was among other things that the Furla manufacturers, who are based in Bologna, were impressed with the idea of their own location where only their handbags are sold. +"We are the only people in the greater Lintz area who sell this brand," said the mother of two daughters, who herself has Italian roots. +Breit got her interest in fashion from her mother, when she was still in the cradle. +It suits me best if something emerges and I can show new trends at affordable prices. +The expert can with absolute certainty give me the answer to the question of why so many women go into raptures at the sight of a beautiful handbag. +Perhaps it's because a beautiful handbag can enhance any outfit. + +The braggart from Kallstadt +The Palatine ancestors of Donald Trump came from a place whose inhabitants are known as braggarts. +This characteristic also connects many with the billionaire who wants to become US president. +Donald Trump (69) is always the source of controversy. +Whether he is expressing xenophobic opinions, being rude to journalists or revealing gaps in knowledge on crisis politics, the US presidential candidate creates a stir in the election campaign. +And comes out of it well. +This is also something that happens in the Palatine town of Kallstadt, from where the property billionaire's grandparents originate. +The New Yorker with the blow-dry hairstyle is a concept to many in the winemaking village on the wine route. +Many in the village of 1,200 inhabitants are related to him. +His grandfather came from Kallstadt in the Palatine: Donald Trump, here in election campaign mode. +Simone Wendel, a resident of Kallstadt, has made a film about Trump. +And what do the inhabitants of the village think about his ambition to become the most powerful man in the world? +"I think they find it rather exciting, but also in the way of Kallstadt people they are not deeply impressed. +The native of Kallstadt has made an amusing documentary film about the place and its famous offshoots, included in whom besides Trump are also the Heinz ketchup family. +Trump, who is not known for his modesty, also gets a chance to speak in "Kings of Kallstadt" (2014) - with a statement that he would have been successful anyway, even had he lived in Kallstadt. +He has not won over the people there. +There is indeed a certain respect for his family's achievements, but there also tends to be a view that Trump "is a bit of a bigmouth," says Wendel. +Coincidentally, Kallstadt's nickname in the region is, "Die Brulljesmacher", a dialect term which translates as "The Braggart", she says. +Trump comes from the village of the braggarts. +The story of the Trumps' success began in 1885 when the man who would become Donald Trump's grandfather emigrated and opened a saloon for gold prospectors in the USA. +The foundation stone for his property business was his first purchase of land in New York. +But his grandparents' lives were not free of tragedy: their wish to return permanently to their home country collapsed in the Bavarian state to which the Palatine then belonged. +They would not let Trump enter as he had originally left without authorisation, the Director of the Institute for Palatinate History and Cultural Anthropology, Roland Paul, explains at the beginning of the film. +Trump is the grandson of "illegal emigrants". +This is at odds with the sometimes pithy statements of his descendant. +He has repeatedly spoken in derogatory terms about Mexican immigrants in the US, and demanded the building of a border wall in order to deter illegal immigrants. +"The fuss he makes about it is not very nice," says Hans-Joachim Bender, a distant relative of Trump ("My grandmother was born a Trump, my grandfather was born a Heinz"). +The retired winemaker sees the American as rather aloof, "he always has a short fuse". +Does he think Trump will come? +"I can't imagine it," says the 72-year-old. +"He has never had any interest in Kallstadt." +Guest house landlady Veronika Schramm, like many of Kallstadt's inhabitants, mentions that descendants of the Heinz family made a donation towards the church organ when they visited, which was very well received. +"I can't imagine Donald doing that," says the 68-year-old. +She would prefer it if he doesn't win the election as "he has such radical opinions, I don't know whether it would be a good thing". +If anyone like him had been in charge in his grandfather's time, "he would never have gone there". +"There are more interesting topics than him," says winemaker's daughter Sarah Bühler. +And as president? +"He's certainly not my president," she says. +And, "the grapes will ripen without President Trump". +Wendel's film, for which Trump gave a lengthy interview, has been seen by 12,000 cinema-goers, and interest is also growing in the USA. + +The Upper Bavarian district of Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden is Germany's first "Mountaineers' Village". +The village of 1,800 inhabitants in the Berchtesgaden National Park received the award for "Gentle Tourism" from the hand of the Vice President of the German Alpine Association, Ludwig Wucherpfenning, on Wednesday. +There are already 20 "Mountaineers' Villages" in Austria. +In our neighbouring country, the local Alpine Association is responsible for awarding the distinction. +A "Mountaineers' Village" is permitted to have a maximum of 2,500 residents. +At least one fifth of its area must be designated as a protected area. + +Seven's Sunrise dominates ratings, despite Nine's attempts to cover the leadership spill on Today Show +Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson's dash to Canberra to cover the aftermath of the Liberal leadership spill has failed to generate much of a ratings boost for Today. +Nine's breakfast show screened from the national capital after Malcolm Turnbull's overthrow of Tony Abbott. +Rival Sunrise, hosted by David Koch and Samantha Armytage, was stuck in London as part of a week-long series of international telecasts which also include Dubai, New York, Niagara Falls and Cancun. +That tyranny of distance didn't seem to matter much to Aussie TV viewers with Sunrise averaging 397,000 viewers across the five capital cities to Today's 339,000. +Today scored a slight uptick compared to its ratings for Monday (317,000) and last Tuesday (283,000) but its figure was behind last Thursday's (343,000). +Today has been closing the gap on Sunrise in recent months. +In August, Today averaged 318,000 to Sunrise's 330,000. +At the start of the year the gap was running at between 40,000 and 50,000. +So far in September, Sunrise is averaging 349,000 viewers to Today's 314,000. +This is the most interesting thing that's happened all morning. +The winds of change are affecting more than Parliament this morning folks! +Karl and Lisa are fine, thanks for checking! +Posted by TODAY on Monday, September 14, 2015 +The big news for Seven was the stunning debut of 800 Words with former Packed to the Rafters star Erik Thomson. +The new drama, about a recently widowed father who decides to relocate to seaside New Zealand with his two children, averaged a very impressive 1.219 million viewers. +Critics had wondered whether Thomson could carry a hit show solo without Rafters star Rebecca Gibney. +Last night's result answered that with a resounding "yes." +Seven's The X Factor stayed strong with 1.136 million viewers, easily beating The Block (838,000) and TBL Families (726,000). +Seven had mixed fortunes on night two of The Chase Australia. +The first half-hour (5pm to 5.30pm) of the new quiz show hosted by Andrew O'Keefe averaged 446,000 viewers. +The second half-hour (5.30pm to 6pm) jumped to 623,000 viewers - enough for a small win over Eddie McGuire's Hot Seat (613,000). +On Monday night, the first half-hour of The Chase Australia averaged 520,000 viewers and the second half-hour a whopping 720,000. +Hot Seat averaged 620,000. +The Chase Australia's second night ratings drop will have Nine quietly confident that Hot Seat will ultimately prevail at 5.30. +The Chase Australia is a replacement for Million Dollar Minute which failed to dent McGuire's show. +Originally published as Sunrise dominates as Today stays local + +The final three agree Bachelor Sam Wood is the perfect guy - but who will he choose? +Secret revealed? ... +Lana Jeavons-Fellows, Sarah Mackay and Snezana Markoski may have unwittingly revealed who wins The Bachelor. +The woman who Sam Wood ends up with on The Bachelor has been swathed in utmost secrecy. +And the three girls left standing certainly aren't letting slip whether they are the one who received his final rose. +But when we checked in with Sarah Mackay, Snezana Markoski and Lana Jeavons-Fellows the day before three become two, they may have inadvertently given away a clue as to who the winner will be. +Sam Wood is keeping his lips firmly sealed until Thursday's finale +All three women waxed lyrical over why Wood is the perfect man, citing his sense of humour, ambition, family values and positivity as reasons they would each love to be his partner. +However when asked the question, "If not you, who should get Wood's final rose?," their answers could have provided a spoiler as to who won the Bachelors heart. +Both Jeavons-Fellows and Markoski were quick to name Mackay as, apart from themselves, the best match for Wood. +Sarah Mackay and Sam Wood have shared an easy rapport since day one. +"From the moment I walked into the house, reading (Sarah's) energy and Sam's energy I felt like they were quite compatible and I kept thinking that throughout the course of the show," said Jeavons-Fellows. +"Sarah is really down to earth, she's so much fun to be around," added Markoski. +I've seen them together and they do have that chemistry there. +They do feel nice and comfortable with each other. +Sarah Mackay believes she and Sam Wood would be well suited as a couple. +For her part, Mackay said last week's home visit dates made her realise Wood could be "the one." +"Once I saw him with my friends and family I realised this obviously isn't just a game - I'm wholeheartedly invested in him now," she said. +And asked who Wood should choose if not her, she was enigmatic. +"I don't know if I can say," she said. +I love the remaining girls equally - it's a tie between Snezana and Lana. +The Bachelor airs Wednesday, 7.30pm on Ten. +Originally published as Sarah top choice for Sam Wood? + +Jarryd Hayne had several options of where to begin his NFL career. +Detroit and Seattle showed plenty of interest after his move to the US - and there were plenty of other teams making inquiries after his impressive open training day late last year. +But Hayne chose the San Francisco 49ers and coach Jim Tomsula and it's looking like a wise decision. +Some coaches would have benched Hayne for the rest of the game for losing a fumble like the Aussie rugby league convert did on his first punt return in Tuesday's 20-3 win against Minnesota. +But Tomsula showed faith in his man, giving Hayne the next opportunity to return a punt and including him in the running game after an injury to Reggie Bush. +Tomsula continued to show his true colours in the locker room after the game. +Instead of chewing out his rookies in front of the rest of the team, he encouraged them. +Tomsula also backed Hayne publicly in his post-match press conference. +49ers beat reporter Cam Inman reported that Hayne also received encouragement from special teams co-ordinator Thomas McGaughey, who advised him to forget about his dropped catch and worry about the next play. +Jarryd Hayne fumbles a punt that was recovered by the Minnesota Vikings during the first quarter +It was certainly not the start Hayne and his massive Australian following had been hoping for in his NFL debut. +Hayne was seen cursing as he made his way from the field after the fumble and later told Australian radio duo Hamish & Andy on 2DayFM 104.1 he couldn't have imagined a worse start to his NFL career. +"It was just one of those things, you just worry about the next play and that's it," said Hayne. +Hayne likened the blunder to his Origin debut back in 2007 when a pass in his own in-goal led to a Queensland try. +Overall it was still an amazing experience for the 27-year-old. +Hayne posed for a photo with fans holding an Australian flag after the game and posted it to his Instagram. + +Elton John and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet to discuss gay rights +In 2003, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russia's wealthiest man, was arrested at gunpoint on a Siberian runway. +Having openly challenged President Vladimir Putin, Khodorkovsky was convicted, his oil company, Yukos, seized and his pro democracy efforts curtailed. + +Because of the large number of refugees, the Freie Wähler are calling for 1000 new teachers in Bavaria. +At the start of the FW autumn conclave, party and faction leader Hubert Aiwanger issued a warning about a severe crisis in Bavaria's schools if there are not sufficient new teachers for the many new schoolchildren: "We need at least 1000 additional teachers to stop the schools from collapsing," said Aiwanger. +"Otherwise we will have upheavals in the Bavarian education system." +The Freie Wähler faction is in session in the Lower Franconian community until Friday. +Very different main topics were originally planned. +But the record number of refugees is dominating the Freie Wähler meeting too. +"Of course the subject of asylum is the main issue at the conclave," says Aiwanger. +Aiwanger is demanding the establishment of a UN safety zone in Syria, similar to the one during the Yugoslavian war in the nineties. +"It can't go on like this, we have to get to the causes," says the Freie Wähler head. +The Freie Wähler want to deport failed asylum seekers as quickly as possible. +For this reason, Aiwanger also wants more personnel for the adminstrative courts, which are responsible for asylum cases: "We need at least 50 new asylum judges as well," says Aiwanger. +The FW head criticised the lack of consistency between several federal states: "We need unified standards in the Federal states nationwide." +"Bavaria deports; others don't." +"We must be more efficient." +However, regional politics in Grosswahlstadt should not be allowed to suffer. +An issue that has been running for many years remains on the agenda: educational policy. +In the new school year the Education Minister, Ludwig Spaenle (CDU), started a "middle school plus" pilot project, in which an extension of the middle level in grammars schools from three to four years is being tested - this will result in a return to taking nine years up to the university entry qualification exam. +But that is not enough for Aiwanger. +"The G9 issue must be speeded up," says the FW head. +We demand freedom of choice for all grammar schools that want it. +A free move to G9 everywhere it is wanted. + +Stronger Wall Street gives Dax a helping hand +After an over-long stretch of aimless and edgy trading, the German stock market has closed with gains. +It was only in the afternoon that a stronger rally on the US stock market provided a clearer direction which ultimately lifted the Dax by 0.56 percent to 10,188.13 points. +The value of MDax medium size companies gained 0.54 percent to 19,552.88 points. +The technology-heavy TecDax rose by 1.03 percent to 1,736.69 points. +The EuroStoxx 50, the benchmark index in the Eurozone, moved ahead by 1.01 percent to 3,207.60 points. +The markets in London and Paris also registered solid gains. +In the USA the Dow Jones index closed at about 1 percent up. +Many brokers reckon that markets will remain static until after the interest rate decision in the USA and also the major maturity of the futures exchanges this Friday. +Discussion about the impact due to the phasing out of nuclear energy has meanwhile pushed RWE stocks to an all time low and also left a significant mark on Eon. +According to the "Spiegel", the German energy companies potentially lack €30 billion in reserves. +The German Federal Government denied the figures quoted in the press. +Stocks in the two largest German energy businesses have subsequently recovered somewhat, although ultimately RWE lost 3.31 percent and Eon 6.15 percent. +Infineon shares climbed to the top of the Dax by a further 3.22 percent. +In the view of one trader, a positive report by US investment magazine "Barron's" at the weekend continues to have an effect. +According to him investors in the German chip manufacturer are currently paying too little attention +Thus investment in the promising wafer technology and a focus on the automotive market should pay off. +Car stocks were in demand: even in the traditionally week summer month of August, again more cars were sold than in the previous year period, as the manufacturers' association Acea disclosed at the start of the International Aotomobile Exhibition IAA in Frankfurt. +Stocks for car manufacturers Daimler and BMW, Opel and Fiat gained by 1.34 percent and 2.21 percent respectively. +Stocks on Volkswagen increased in price by 1.26 percent. +On the German bond market, the current yield of listed Federal Government securities fell by 0.48 percent (on Friday 0.50 percent). +The Rex bond index rose by 0.12 percent to 139.55 points. +Government futures lost 0.71 percent, going down to 154.11 points. +The rate of the Euro sank in the afternoon, ending at $1.1262. +At around midday the European Central Bank had set the reference price at US $1.1305 (1.1268). +This means that the dollar cost €0.8846 (0.8875). + +4 Killed After Police Fire Rubber Bullets at Protesters in Nepal +Four people, including a 4-year-old boy, were killed in southern Nepal after the police fired rubber bullets into a crowd demonstrating against the country's proposed new constitution, an official said on Wednesday. +The violence occurred Tuesday evening in the district of Rupandehi, about 175 miles west of Kathmandu, the capital. +Bishnu Prasad Dhakal, the chief district officer, said more than 1,000 protesters had gathered outside a police station, some of them throwing stones and firebombs. +Mr. Dhakal said the police used tear gas and then fired into the air before resorting to rubber bullets. +Twenty police officers and five civilians were wounded, he said. +It was not immediately clear why rubber bullets, which are known to kill but are traditionally used as a less-lethal alternative, apparently produced such a high death toll. +The clash was the latest in weeks of violent protests across Nepal's southern plains, where members of the Madhesi ethnic group say new provinces established under the proposed new constitution would dilute their political influence. +There have also been protests in western Nepal from ethnic Tharus who want their own state. +At least 40 people, including 11 police officials, have been killed in violent clashes since Aug. +10, when four major political parties signed an agreement to divide the country into provinces - a major step toward a new constitution but a highly contentious issue in Nepal, which has been centrally governed for centuries. +Work on a new constitution has been underway since 2008, but lawmakers accelerated the process after the devastating earthquake that killed thousands of people in April. +Lawmakers have been voting on clauses in the draft constitution in Kathmandu this week, and officials have said that the new charter could be enacted by Sunday. + +Contruction area planned in the town +The plot of land at the Alte Post youth centre in Emden is going to be built on again. +The town is currently making preparations to market the 4000 square metre area. +A mixture of trade, commerce and housing is planned - although there are no firm offers so far. +Emden - The town of Emden wants to sell a plot of land of around 4000 square metres directly adjacent to the Alte Post youth centre. +Preparations are currently underway. +It is planned to use the land for a mixture of trade, commerce and housing. +A spokesperson for the town states that it is awaiting suitable offers. +The identities of possible investors are not yet clear. +Consequently, no contract has yet been concluded. +The town of Emden sold a part of the site, situated on the Ringstrasse/corner of Grosse Strasse a few months ago and the building which previously stood there was demolished. + +Hieve project: facts are in the open +Plans for the holiday home development at the Kleines Meer near Emden are taking shape. +Investors have presented their plans for the project to the public. +A number of residents are again concerned – they are worried about the sale of their leisure refuge. +Plans have been negotiated, mulled over, debated, and plotted behind closed doors for months. +Now the plans for a new holiday home development on the Kleines Meer near Emden are in the open. +The interested party, the Emden company "System-Bau", presented their plans to the Emden Council development committee for the first time on Monday evening. +Originally this point was scheduled as a part of the agenda not open to the public. +Under pressure from critics of the project and from the FDP faction, who had accused investors and the administration of secretiveness, Ralf Behrends of the System-Bau management went on the offensive. "We don't yet have an answer for all the questions," he said in front of the council members and more than 50 spectators. +But it is good to be able to counter all the rumours now. +The €10 - 12 million project has been under discussion for months. +Pictures and new details of the proposed hotel building provoked strong reactions among owners of properties at the lake who attended the meeting, +Roberto Schulz, property owner and member of the board of the residents' lobby group, Pro Hieve, claims: "It's going to be a huge development which looms over all the other buildings". +Furthermore, like a number of other critics of the project, he is afraid that traffic will increase enormously due to the proposed size of the facility. "We have to reckon with whole busloads arriving," said Schulz. +However it is not yet clear what exactly is going to happen on the hectare sized area of the former restaurant. +No operator has yet been identified. +"First of all we have to present a coherent concept," says Ralf Behrends. +Since this does not yet exist, construction plans are still subject to variation. + +Twin gorillas born in Frankfurt Zoo +Frankfurt Zoo is celebrating the birth of two gorillas. +Twenty-six year old Dian brought twins into the world yesterday. +Twin births are rare for gorillas. +The last time it happened in a German zoo was almost 50 years ago in 1967, also in Frankfurt, according to the zoo. +The sex of the new-born gorilla twins is not yet certain as so far mother Dian has kept a close hold on them. +First reported in the "Bild". + +NHC says 60 percent chance of cyclone south of Cape Verde Islands +A broad low-pressure system about 350 miles (560 km) south of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands has a 60 percent chance of developing into a tropical cyclone in the next 48 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Tuesday. +Another well-defined low-pressure system about midway between the Cape Verde Islands and the Lesser Antilles also has a 60 percent chance of tropical cyclone formation in the next two days, the Miami-based weather forecaster added. + +Google launches donation-matching campaign to raise $11 million for refugees +Google Inc (GOOGL.O) announced a donation-matching campaign that aims to raise $11 million for humanitarian organizations aiding the thousands of refugees that have overwhelmed European nations as they flee war-torn and impoverished countries. +Google took an uncharacteristically personal approach in announcing the donation drive on its blog. +Rather than having an executive make the announcement, Rita Masoud, a Google employee who fled Kabul with her family when she was seven years old, wrote about her personal experience. +"Our journey involved many dark train and bus rides, as well as hunger, thirst, cold and fear," she wrote. +I was lucky. +But as the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe has grown, many people like my family are desperate for help. +The donations will go toward four nonprofit organizations that are providing aid to refugees and migrants: Doctors Without Borders, International Rescue Committee, Save the Children and UN High Commissioner for Refugees. +Google said it will match the first $5.5 million worth of donations globally at google.com/refugeerelief until it raises $11 million. +Europe is facing its worst refugee crisis since World War II, largely driven by the four-year-old civil war in Syria, which has displaced more than 4 million people this year. +Many are also fleeing war-torn Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq and Libya. +Reporting By Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by Christian Plumb + +For mildly obese diabetics, weight loss surgery may be helpful +The benefits of weight loss surgery for mildly obese people with type 2 diabetes can last at least five years, according to a new study. +It's still to early to say whether mildly obese people with diabetes live longer after weight loss surgery than those who receive non-surgical treatments, however. +"The mortality data take a long time to show up," said Dr. Robin Blackstone, a weight loss surgery expert who wrote an editorial on the new study in JAMA Surgery. +Weight loss operations, or bariatric surgery, use various methods to shrink the size of the stomach. +They reduce hunger and limit the body's ability to absorb food. +Over the years, bariatric surgeries have proved effective for treating type 2 diabetes, but most studies were done in people who are morbidly obese, with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or above. +BMI, a measure of weight in relation to height, is considered normal between 18.5 and 24.9. +A BMI of 25 or higher indicates that someone is overweight, and people with a BMI over 30 are considered obese. +You can calculate your BMI here: 1.usa.gov/1D0ZqDv. +For the new study, researchers from Taiwan's Min-Sheng General Hospital used data collected since 2007 in a trial comparing two kinds of bariatric surgery - gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy - to medical treatments for type 2 diabetes in people who were mildly obese. +The average BMI among those who had surgery fell from 31 to 24.5 by the end of their fifth year in the study. +Meanwhile, the BMI among those receiving non-surgical diabetes treatments stayed about the same at 29. +Among those who had surgery, diabetes resolved completely in 36 percent and partially in 28 percent. +In the medically-treated group, by comparison, diabetes resolved completely in only 1 percent and partially in only about 2 percent. +In addition, control of blood pressure, triglycerides, and "bad" LDL cholesterol "was generally better in the surgical group," the authors found. +The researchers also monitored patients' blood levels of hemoglobin A1c, which reflect blood sugar levels over time. +Hemoglobin A1c is best kept below 7 percent, the researchers write. +After surgery, the average hemoglobin A1c level fell from about 9 percent to about 6 percent. +In the medical therapy group, however, it remained steady at about 8 percent. +But this better "glycemic control" - as reflected by the improved hemoglobin A1c levels - did not reduce the mortality rate at five years, according to lead researcher Dr. Chih-Cheng Hsu and colleagues. +The research team also compared average outcomes with the two types of surgery. +At the fifth year, compared to the sleeve gastrectomy group, the bypass surgery group had lost more weight (18.7 vs 14.2 kg), achieved larger drops in BMI (7.4 vs 5.1) and in hemoglobin A1c (3.1 percent vs 2.1 percent) and were more likely to have complete diabetes remission (46.9 percent vs 16.7 percent). +While the new study does not show a survival benefit or surgery after five years, there is evidence from a study of heavier people in Sweden that surgery does lead to a longer life, says Blackstone, of the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix. +In the Swedish study, obese people who had bariatric surgery were about 29 percent less likely to die over 15 years, compared to a group who tried more conventional methods. +Though the new study didn't show a benefit in survival among surgery patients, Blackstone said it's reassuring for people with a BMI under 35 interested in the procedure. +"This is where this paper is critical, because it says this surgery is safe in that lower BMI group," with no increased risk of death or renal disease, she said. +Blackstone added that people and their doctors should start taking weight seriously once the patient's BMI falls between 27 and 30. +"I think we wait too long to get people to be serious about this," she said. +I think that once they've accumulated these genetic changes that hardwired their bodies into obesity and diabetes, reversing that is really hard. + +Love story set in Hunsrück +It is a theme being used increasingly in fiction nowadays: a young woman, plain and unpopular when she was at school, meets her teenage crush years later and he falls in love with her. +This is what happens in the recently published novel "We're not really like that" by Luisa Binder. +Beyond the love story itself, the novel may be of interest to every reader in Hunsrück as it is set in Langweiler and the surrounding location. +The full-time author grew up in Langweiler and is happy to have been able to create a literary monument to her native area. + +"It is impossible for everyone to come to Europe" - Dalai Lama - RT News +Europe could not host all refugees, the Dalai Lama has said, adding that the real solution to the current refugee crisis lies in the Middle East. +The Tibetan Buddhist leader has called for the ending violence in the refugees" home countries. +The Dalai Lama addressed the issue of the ongoing refugee crisis in his speech at the opening of the Dalai Lama Centre for Compassion in Oxford, which is dedicated to ethics studies, at the beginning of his 10-day visit to the UK. +He claimed that, under current circumstances, the interests of humanity should be put before the interests of single nations or even continents. +He also stressed that, however admirable, the West-European countries" response to the refugee crisis is inadequate to the situation. +"It it's impossible for everyone to come to Europe," he said in his speech. +Although the Dalai Lama praised Germany's and Austria's efforts in dealing with the crisis, he stressed that it was only a temporary solution. +"So taking care of several thousand refugees is wonderful, but in the mean time you have to think about long-term solutions, how to bring genuine peace and genuine development, mainly through education, for these Muslim countries," he emphasized. +Ultimately we have to think about how to reduce the killing in their countries. +We have to reduce the use of force. +The use of force has never solved these problems," he added. +Addressing the issue of violence, the Dalai Lama also commented on George Bush's actions following 9/11 terrorist attacks, claiming that the US" violent response engendered a chain of uncontrollable events. +After 9/11 I expressed my condolences in a letter to President Bush and told him the way to solve this problem was through non-violence. +I know his motives were good but he used force and it created unexpected consequences," the Dalai Lama said. + +Fourfold increase in children ingesting hand sanitizer in last 4 years +Poison control centers around the United States have reported a nearly 400-percent uptick since 2010 in the number of children under the age of 12 swallowing highly-alcoholic hand sanitizer, according to the Georgia Poison Center. +According to Dr. Gaylord Lopez, director of the Georgia Poison Center, hand sanitizer ingestion cases in children under 12 that were reported to poison control centers went up from 3,266 in 2010 to 16,117 in 2014. +"Kids are getting into these products more frequently, and unfortunately, there's a percentage of them going to the emergency room," Lopez told CNN. +He said some kids are drinking sanitizer intentionally, while some do it to impress their friends or on a social-media dare. +Videos on YouTube show teenagers drinking sanitizer for a cheap buzz. +Teens have reportedly mixed sanitizer with alcohol-containing mouthwash for a stiffer drink. +Younger children can be drawn to attractive sanitizer scents. +"A kid is not thinking this is bad for them," Lopez said. +A lot of the more attractive (hand sanitizers) are the ones that are scented. +There are strawberry, grape, orange-flavored hand sanitizers that are very appealing to kids. +Hand sanitizer contains anywhere between 45 and 95 percent alcohol. +In young children, especially, only a few squirts can cause alcohol poisoning. +"It's highly concentrated alcohol," Dr. Stephen Thornton, medical director of the poison control center at University of Kansas Hospital, told Fox 4 in Kansas City. +So you wouldn't leave a shot of whiskey sitting around, but people will have these hand sanitizers out and if kids get into it, it's a quick way to consume a lot of alcohol. +Nhaijah Russell, a six-year-old girl who recently ingested as many as four squirts of strawberry-scented hand sanitizer at school, was taken to an emergency room for treatment. +Her blood-alcohol level was .179, twice the threshold considered legally drunk in an adult, according to Dr. Chris Ritchey, an emergency room doctor who treated her at Gwinnett Medical Center outside of Atlanta. +Nhaijah was slurring her words and was unable to walk when she arrived at the emergency room. +Doctors monitored her overnight at a separate children's hospital for any signs of brain trauma, as the alcohol caused the girl to fall and hit her head, Ritchey said. +"That was very scary," Ortoria Scott, Nhaijah's mother, told CNN. +It could have been very lethal for my child. +Lopez has recommended parents and teachers use nonalcoholic products or sanitizing wipes short of moving hand sanitizer out of a child's reach. +Beyond alcohol poisoning, some sanitizers have been linked to deaths. +In 2013, two Ontario women died after swallowing hand sanitizer that contained a toxic, undeclared ingredient. +Health officials surmised that the product contained methanol, a deadly agent, rather than ethyl alcohol, which was listed as the active ingredient. +In January, three fourth-grade students in upstate New York plotted to poison their "mean" teacher "by putting antibacterial products around the classroom," according to a police report. +The teacher is highly allergic to hand sanitizer and banned it from her room. +Police considered the foiled plan to be "idle chatter," referring discipline to the school district. + +Villingen-Schwenningen: three vehicles damaged +A 33-year-old driver received minor injuries in a collision on the cross-over between Nordring and Auf Herdenen. +A 60-year-old lorry driver drove onto the cross-over in the direction of the industrial estate roundabout and realised too late that two vehicles in front had stopped at the roundabout. +As a result he ran into the rear of an Audi and pushed this vehicle into the Ford Fiesta stopped in front of it. +Damage amounting to around €10,000 was suffered by the vehicles involved, according to the police. +The Audi belonging to the 33-year-old could no longer be driven and had to be towed away. + +Rumour Mill: No Celtic disharmony +Griffiths plays down talk of disharmony at Celtic as Deila admits Hoops are in a bad place but he'll turn it around. +Hearts to fight SFA over Neilson charge and Warburton wary of January signings disrupting squad unity +Dons stretch lead over Celtic to five points +ADAM Rooney's first-half penalty gave Aberdeen a narrow victory over Hamilton at Pittodrie, allowing the Dons to open up a five-point gap between themselves and Celtic. +Griffiths plays down disharmony talk +It has sparked rumours of disharmony at Celtic, which was dismissed out of hand by Griffiths, who insisted he and his team-mates are not labouring under any sense of increased scrutiny as they prepare to face the Dutch League leaders. +I don't think we feel under pressure, I think the players are looking forward to it. +Lack of Scots title race bores Dutch - de Boer +Former Rangers midfielder and ex-Netherlands international Ronald de Boer has said that Dutch football fans have lost interest in Celtic - because there's no title rivalry with Rangers. +De Boer, currently an ambassador for Ajax, said: "In Holland, they don't show highlights of the Celtic games any more and why?" +It is because Rangers aren't there. +People here don't only talk about Rangers coming back. +They talk about the Old Firm. +They talk about both teams together and that's what they are interested in. +There is a lot of tension in the Old Firm games and it is not just people in Scotland who want to see those games. +I'll turn things around, vows Deila +RONNY Deila has accepted Celtic are struggling, but the Norwegian boss vowed to turn things around. +Defeat to Malmo and subsequent Champions League exit was swiftly followed by losing to 10-man Aberdeen, who now sit five points clear at the top of the table. +But Deila said: "Celtic have had bad periods before and we will come again." +Now we want to come out of it as quickly as possible. +I know it is very frustrating and a lot of people are very, very angry or sad about what is happening. +That is the same as we are - but we have to go on. +We really, really need the support of Celtic because that makes the players much better. +To stay together now is so important. +Warburton wary of January transfers +Despite comments just a couple of weeks ago suggesting that he had identified some January transfer targets, Rangers boss Mark Warburton is wary of a signing spree, insisting he doesn't want to disrupt the Ibrox squad's unity. +The ex-Brentford gaffer said: "The January transfer window is very different from the summer window." +In terms of players coming in the summer, you have that pre-season period to bed them in, which you've seen with our own group this season. +The squad is doing really well. +Sometimes more harm is done by adding unnecessary players to what you really need. +Celtic target Michu in retirement hint +Swansea striker Michu, linked with Celtic during the transfer window, has dropped hints that he could retire when his contract with the Swans is up. +The 29-year-old has been plagued with a troublesome ankle for two years, and failed to find a move away from Wales in the summer. +Hearts set for SFA battle over Neilson comments +Hearts were leading 2-1 when Paterson was dismissed and went on to lose 3-2, but the defender's red card was later overturned - the third Collum red card in eight months to be rescinded. +Neilson is sticking with what he said, insisting: "I didn't question any integrity, I didn't comment on a performance." +Griffiths vows to avoid Tynecastle +The diehard Hibee was carpeted after admitting singing a song with offensive lyrics about ex-Hearts player Rudi Skacel. +The incident happened in a pub in the Roseburn area of Edinburgh before an Edinburgh derby at Tynecastle in March 2014. +"It was a derby and it was heat of the moment," the striker said, adding: "Safe to say I won't be going back to Tynecastle unless it is playing for Celtic." +Tannadice board has faith in Dundee United management - Donnelly +Simon Donnelly insists Dundee United's board still has faith in the management team to turn things round - but concedes the on-field decline must end. +I think Stephen Thompson has faith in us. +We'll get the boys ready to go again," said Donnelly. +McInnes glad to "win ugly" against Hamilton +Derek McInnes admits his Aberdeen side had to cling on desperately against Hamilton Accies to see out a seventh successive league win that moved them five points clear of Celtic at the top of the table thanks to Adam Rooney's first-half penalty. +McInnes said: "There's not a team out there who has won anything, whether it's cups or leagues, who haven't won games like that." + +Scots unemployment remains unchanged as UK total rises +UNEMPLOYMENT in Scotland remained unchanged at 164,000 during the period May to July while the number out of work for the UK as a whole increased by 10,000 to 1.82 million during the same period. +Scotland's unemployment rate of 5.9 per cent was above the UK's rate of 5.5 per cent, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showed. +Meanwhile, employment in Scotland fell by 12,000 during the three month period, with the number of those in work now standing at 2,612,000. +The employment rate for Scotland fell over the quarter at 74.0 per cent - a figure above the UK average of 73.5 per cent. +Secretary of State for Scotland David Mundell, commenting on the latest figures, said: "The government's long term plan has laid the foundations for a stronger economy." +It is almost exactly a year since Scotland made the historic decision to remain part of the UK. +In those 12 months we have seen further improvements in the Scottish Labour market with employment increasing and unemployment falling. + +Drunks create a disturbance +Since security personnel could not appease the situation, employees called the police. +Officers were only able to take the troublemakers into custody after using pepper spray. +A breath test showed that a 16-year-old had a blood alcohol level of 0.89. +The teenager was picked up by his mother. +A 28-year-old with a blood alcohol level of 2.15 was initially detained in custody. + +Why I'm A Witness At An Execution In Oklahoma +Later today, barring a late legal intervention, I will watch a man being put to death. +If it happens, and I hope it won't, I will sit in a viewing gallery in the death chamber at Oklahoma State Penitentiary as Richard Glossip is executed by lethal injection. +He has asked me to be one of four official witnesses to his death. +The invitation was first made back in January, via his best friend, and though I was shocked, I agreed. +As the day approaches, I've come to dread it. +So why do it? +I agreed because I thought it was a good way of telling the full story about the death penalty. +It would offer a unique perspective. +True, journalists are permitted to watch executions in America and because there are often more applications than seats available, a macabre lottery takes place to decide who will be chosen. +Oklahoma has reduced the number of media seats from 12 to five. +Whoever is picked will watch it dispassionately. +I cannot do that. +I will be sitting alongside Richard Glossip's closest friends, and I have developed my own relationship with him through months of phone calls, and one visit lasting two-and-a-half hours. +I like the guy. +We often laugh a lot when we talk. +The prison authorities say I cannot be both a witness and a journalist, so I won't be allowed a notebook and pen to record what I see. +I will just have to try to remember all the details. +One Oklahoma journalist accused me on Twitter of compromising my impartiality. +Here's the lesson. +Tell the inmate's story the way he likes it, get access. +I complained to her. +She admitted that she "could have phrased it better," but still thinks I'm wrong to do what I'm doing. +Richard Glossip has taken issue with some of the things I've said and written. +He doesn't tell me what to write, and I wouldn't do it even if he did. +I've told him he can remove me from his list of witnesses at any time. +But he wants an international reporter to be there to write about it. +If he dies, he thinks the publicity will help the anti-death penalty movement. +Kim Bellware, a reporter from the Huffington Post, will be alongside me. +If you want to know more about the case, please listen to the series of podcasts I've made. +I won't go over all the details again here. +I cannot say with certainty that Richard Glossip is innocent. +His actions after the murder of Barry Van Treese would make him guilty of being an accessory after the fact. +But I believe there is a strong probability that he is not guilty of murder. +I certainly believe there was not enough evidence to justify a death sentence. +I believe his execution is wrong. +And it's from this perspective that I will watch him die. +I cannot claim to be truly objective. +There will be other reporters you can turn to for that. +What you will get from me is what it's like to watch a man I like die an unnecessary death. + +Man coaxed from Canning River after soggy police chase +The Canning Vale constable remained dry as he coaxed the man from the Canning River. +A Perth man's bid to lose a police tail came undone after he found himself in shallow, muddy water just metres from a police officer trying to "coax him gently back to shore." +Canning Vale police were called to a trespassing incident in Beckenham on Tuesday. +When they spotted the suspect he tried to ditch them by heading into the Canning River. +But he didn't get too far. +"He was standing in the water saying 'I'm not getting out, 'come and get me'," Senior Sergeant Shandell Castledine said. +Constable Lachlan Perhavec wasn't too keen on getting his uniform wet, so he employed a safer tactic - "good police negotiation." +"Sometimes people do funny things to try and escape," Senior Sergeant Castledine said. +Champion footballer Ben Cousins provides a memorable example. +In 2006, Cousins ditched his car to avoid a booze bus and attempted to swim across the Swan River. +His efforts were unsuccessful, but did inspire locals to begin planning a tongue-in-cheek Ben Cousins biathlon. + +Peter Moody alleges stewards tried to spy on him and threatens to quit racing +Peter Moody has alleged Racing Victoria stewards attempted to plant a spy in his stables last year and threatened to quit racing immediately. +He took aim at stewards and Racing Victoria's integrity department, alleging they have a personal campaign against him with the late scratching of Lady Tatai because of a race day treatment the final straw on Wednesday. +Moody told Fairfax Media he had always tried to do what is best for racing and has found himself in difficult circumstances when it comes to Lidari's positive swab to cobalt, which he can not explain. +He had bitten his tongue about the spy allegations for 18 months and didn't want it "to look like sour grapes." +"I wasn't going to say anything about that and I have sat on it for a long time but sometimes you get so frustrated it all comes out at once," Moody said. +They know it went on. +Sometimes you react and have to live the consequences and I will have to live with what I said. +I will go home tonight and sleep well. +I want to walk around with my head held high and want my owners to think that I am trying my best for them. +When they start to think I'm not that's when I shouldn't be a trainer. +I would then have to consider what I do with my licence. +Earlier, Moody had dropped the bombshell in a racing.com interview that the integrity department had tried to spy on his stable. +"Eighteen months ago Terry Bailey, Dayle Brown and Dr Brian Stewart sat in a room with a man - who I will name if asked - and offered him employment to work in my stables to offer information on what I was doing within my stables," Moody said on Racing.com. +They obviously believe I'm a cheat. +If that's the case surely they should all hand in their briefs because they've been incompetent in trying to catch me. +Robert Roulston, former chairman of RVL, David Moodie, current chairman of RVL, and Bernard Saundry, current CEO of RVL, were aware of that at the time and are aware of that today. +Should that make me think it's becoming personal? +Has RVL got a grow a set of balls and maybe make people outside of trainers responsible for what it is going on the industry? +Am I bad for the industry? +Am I that bad for the industry? +Maybe people out there think I am. +Maybe they need to take my licence off me and push me away and I've got no doubt what I'm saying now might make them think about that. +But I've got to the point now where I don't care and that saddens me. +That really saddens me. +I will put the pressure on them and onus on them to make a decision. +I've got the support of my family and I can walk away. +The trainer's frustration levels have built with the long-running cobalt inquiry involving Lidari and the late scratching had him saying that he could "throw my licence across the table." +Moody, best known for preparing unbeaten champion Black Caviar, labelled the race-day treatment rule "ridiculous" after a mud or clay poultice had been applied to the horses legs, which is against the rules. +It's against the rules of racing. +I've got to accept full responsibility for that," he said. +One of my staff mistakenly laced mud on its leg. +It could have had it last night. +It could have had it yesterday, which it did have. +It had it on race day. +Moody could be faced with a three-month disqualification for the race day treatment using the poultice, which stewards have opened an inquiry into. +It is a joke. +People making these rules know nothing about the horse. +"We all understand that we need for rules but it has gone too far," Moody said. + +Cobram hit-and-run driver arrested +Police have arrested a man over a hit-and-run collision with a cyclist in Cobram at the weekend. +The cyclist was airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with serious injuries after being struck by a car on the Murray Valley Highway on Saturday morning. +Police said the motorist drove away without stopping to help the injured rider. +On Monday a 50-year-old Nathalia man handed himself in to police at Shepparton. +He is expected to be charged with failing to stop at an accident, failing to render assistance, and other traffic offences. +The cyclist, a 40-year-old Cobram man, remains in hospital in a stable condition. + +Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy hits back at rivals over wrestling claims +Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy has called criticism of his side's tackling as "agenda setting" by the NRL's two premiership favourites. +Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson said the referees allowed the Storm to "wrestle" his side during the Storm's upset win in the qualifying final in Sydney on Friday night. +Brisbane Broncos coach Wayne Bennett made a thinly veiled reference to the Storm after his side's qualifying final win over North Queensland Cowboys on Saturday night when he called that game a "showcase" of the rugby league and said the two Queensland weren't "too big" into wrestling. +Bellamy defended his side's tackling and said they just focused on their "contact" when tackling. +Bellamy added he took confidence from having two leading coaches criticise his side as it meant they were concerned about the Storm beating them. +"That keeps coming up - I didn't hear Trent Robinson bring up wrestling when they beat us 24-2," Bellamy said on Wednesday. +I can guarantee we haven't changed nothing all year with our defensive systems or techniques, it's just that the last six weeks we have made a real emphasis with our contact in tackles and that has been the turn around for us. +Trent has been there three years and he obviously has a great side to coach so he is probably not used to losing so it was a bit of a shock to him. +It's funny how this always comes up at this time of year. +Bellamy challenged Bennett's idea of "exciting football" reminding his mentor that Bennett's St George-Illawarra Dragons won the premiership in 2010 by playing "boring" football. +Wayne is talking about exciting footy. +He made a point of comparing his game on Saturday night with our one on Friday night and how exciting their game was," Bellamy said. +I remember in 2010 St George was criticised a lot for being a boring team and Wayne said he didn't give a rat's arse. +But now he has a team which can play what we would see as exciting footy, especially his young halves with their speed. +That's the footy you would want to play when you have those sort of players. +He made that point in 2010, now he wants everyone to play his style of footy - not every team has two halves like Anthony Milford and Ben Hunt so they can play like that. +To me it builds more confidence because they are saying these things because they are a little bit concerned about playing us. +Six weeks ago they probably weren't thinking of us when they get to the big games. +Bellamy also pointed out the Storm and Roosters game was a higher scoring contest than the Broncos and Cowboys game. +The Broncos game was probably a good game, I haven't watched it yet but what was the score? 16-12? +Our game it was 20-18, there was two more tries in our game but is that exciting footy? +Or is it making breaks and not scoring tries that is exciting? +To me it's agendas. +If they are mentioning us it means that at some stage we might meet them there. +The Storm have this weekend off as they have won the right to host either North Queensland Cowboys or Cronulla Sharks in next Saturday night's preliminary final at AAMI Park with tickets on sale from next Tuesday morning. + +Serbian man gets $200k bail on drug charge +A man facing a possible life sentence for attempting to possess 40 kilograms of cocaine that was smuggled into Queensland has been granted bail on a $200,000 surety. +Marko Maksimovic, 29, was one of five men arrested last month after federal police tracked 100 kilograms of the drug from the yacht Solay, which came from South America via Vanuatu and docked at Coomera in August. +Maksimovic was observed meeting with his co-accused at the marina throughout the morning and later met them at the Coomera Roadhouse cafe, where police found 40 kilograms of the drug in a Toyota Echo. +Despite facing a potential life sentence for attempting to possess a commercial quantity of cocaine, Maksimovic's lawyer argued there was no evidence that he was attempting to possess all of it and that he might have been at the cafe for an innocent purpose. +Supreme Court Judge Peter Flanagan was concerned Maksimovic was a flight risk. +He has clear connections to Serbia. +He travels to Serbia often," he told the court on Wednesday. +On the crown case he lied to police about where he was staying. +Maksimovic's mother and stepfather had jointly offered a surety of $200,000 to secure his release. +"Having read the affidavits of both those persons, it is clear that the imposition of a surety of $200,000 constitutes a real financial burden on them," Judge Flanagan said. +But that alone was insufficient to deter him from failing to appear, he warned. +Maksimovic was granted bail on the conditions that he surrender both his Australian and Serbian passports, report to police on a daily basis and adheres to a 6pm-6am curfew. + +Accident on the A5 near Karlsruhe: driver's cab torn apart +A lorry driver was seriously injured in a collision between three lorries on the A5 motorway near Karlsruhe on Tuesday evening. +Two of the three lorries involved had braked approaching long-term roadworks in the direction of Basel. +The third driver noticed too late and tried unsuccessfully to swerve left at the last moment, according to police. +The cab of the driver responsible for the accident was completely torn apart. +The driver was taken to hospital with serious injuries. +The A5 between Bruchsal and Karlsruhe North was completely closed for over six hours until 2 a.m. +Damages amounted to €122,000. + +Stevan Hogg used girls phone to lure paedophiles to send images +A paedophile used an 11-year-old girl's phone to solicit child abuse images. +Stevan Hogg took the girl's phone as she slept then logged into an online messaging service where he had a succession of indecent images of children sent to him by another user. +The girl later woke up and discovered the phone was missing and found it in sleeping Hogg's hand. +She looked through it and found the disturbing messages before immediately alerting her mother. +Police attended and saw the five pictures, then analysed computers found at the address and discovered "concerning" web searches using terms for finding indecent image of children. +Hogg then claimed to officers he had done it as it would "lead paedophiles" on the internet before "pretending he was a police officer to scare them." +Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told Dundee Sheriff Court: "He said it was an addiction - that he was addicted to scaring people. +He accepted the searches were made by him on the computer but said it was because he wanted to pretend to be a police officer to scare paedophiles. +He was asked about his conversations with the unknown person who sent him the images and him asking them to send more photos. +He said he was doing it to lure them in. +He said he was sick in the head when he was drinking and said he wants to view rape and murder images. +Ms Robertson added: "When the girl found the messages on the phone she shouted her mother and was shaking and crying. +She saw the indecent images on the phone and the accused was then confronted. +The girl was interviewed and spoke of the accused using the computer and Playstation to talk to girls who looked way younger than him. +Hogg, 23, of Ward Road, Dundee, pleaded guilty on indictment to charges of taking or making indecent images of children on June 14 last year, breaching bail on January 25 this year and failing to attend at court for a hearing on March 24 this year. +Defence solicitor Gregor Sim asked that Hogg not be placed on the sex offenders register as it may be argued there was "no significant sexual element" to his crime. +Sheriff Alistair Carmichael deferred sentence until October for social work background reports. +Hogg was granted bail in this case but was held in custody ahead of hearings on other outstanding cases. +He was placed on the sex offenders register ahead of his sentencing date. + +Traffickers move towards Germany over minor border crossings. +More and more refugees are being picked up away from major control points on the German-Austrian border. +Due to fear of discovery and people being arrested, many traffickers are leaving +through minor borders on the Austrian side, says a spokesperson for the Federal police. +More than 1,000 refugees have been picked up along the border river of Inn in the districts of Passau and Rottal-Inn since Tuesday. +They had arrived on foot over bridges and weirs on the German side. +They are received there by Federal police and passed on for registration. +According to reports from the Federal police, significantly more refugees arrived at the main railway station in Munich on Wednesday compared to the beginning of the week. +By 8 a.m. about 700 people had arrived in the capital city of the state, said a spokesperson in the morning. +Following the reintroduction of controls on the German-Austrian borders, 1,759 refugees reached the city on Tuesday. + +Stuttgart: tail end of tropical storm "Henry" expected in the south west +Meteorologists are warning of squalls in the south west from Wednesday evening onwards. +Due to a depression over western Europe at the moment, warm sea air is flowing into the country, the German Meteorological service (DWD) has advised. +The powerful trough is the tail end of tropical storm "Henry", which has moved over the Atlantic from the Bermuda Islands in the last few days. +Violent storms and thunderstorms are anticipated, particularly in Baden. +According to DWD, gusts of between 60 and 90 kilometres per hour can be anticipated on the Swabian Mountains and in Bodenseekreis. +On Friday the sun is forecasted to put in a longer appearance once again + +The chassis makes the difference: every two years car manufacturers present their new models at the IAA +In 2015 movement can be noticed in particular in compact cars, which are selling especially well at the moment. +Compact class cars are currently very much in demand: according to the Federal Office for Motor Transport (KBA) about 28.1 percent of new registrations in August alone belonged to this segment. +This is also reflected at the IAA (public days 17 to 27 September). +In among all the futuristic concept vehicles and the new high-end and luxury models, this year above all it is new compact models which are being introduced. +One of the biggest premieres for the German car sector here is the Opel Astra, which hits the car dealerships in the autumn. +"The Astra is an extremely important model for us," said Opel boss Karl-Thomas Neumann at the show. +It is at the heart of the brand. +To ensure that it sells well, the price of the new Astra is not increasing significantly. +Opel proposes an entry point below that of its main competitor, the VW Golf, which starts at €17,650. +The latest Astra costs from €16,990. +With a new 1.4 litre engine, the Astra has an output of 74 kw/100 hp. +The Hessian manufacturer also offers diesel and petrol engines from 70 kw/95 hp to 147 kw/200 hp, including the first three cylinder petrol model. +Unlike its most important competitors, VW Golf and Ford Focus, for the first time the Opel Astra is only available as a five door. +In spring the estate car, already seen at the IAA, will follow as the second option +And what other compact cars are being introduced alongside the Astra at the IAA? +Renault Mégane: Renault introduces the fourth generation of its competitor to the Astra, the Mégane, into the race. +The Mégane can be seen at the show exclusively as a five-door, in a conventional and a distinctly sporty version. +It will be available in dealerships at the beginning of next year, then also as an estate model. +Infiniti: the Infiniti Q30 is brand new in this segment. +The Nissan offshoot is looking to find its place in the rapidly growing segment with the new model. +The compact Infiniti, with its curved lines, fits right into the design line of the brand. +The basic model will have a petrol engine with a performance of at least 90 kw/122 hp. +A diesel with 80 kw/109 hp or 125 kw/170 hp is also on offer. +Suzuki Baleno: also new in the segment is the Suzuki Baleno, which celebrates its world premiere in Frankfurt. +On offer is the petrol engine model, including a newly developed 1.0 litre turbo engine and a performance of 82 kw/111 hp. +According to the manfacturer's specifications, the maximum torque is 170 Newton metres (Nm). +The Baleno is launched in Europe in early 2016. +DS4: not totally new, but completely redesigned, is the DS 4 compact car model, which can be seen at the IAA. +The designers at the classy Citroën offshoot have turned their hand primarily to the front end: here the radiator grille has been newly designed and the modified headlights have been equipped with LED technology. +In the interior the infotainment system in particular has been modernised, the number of buttons on the touch screen has been reduced and for the first time Apple's CarPlay has been incorporated. +In the compact class the IAA also features a string of revised and new versions such as the updated Mercedes A Class or the Peugeot 308. + +JVA Berlin Tegel: five-square-metre cells are unfit for human beings +The Federal Constitutional Court has upheld a complaint by a former inmate of Tegel prison that he had been housed for months in too small a cell. +In principle, prisoners have a right to financial compensation for violation to their human dignity if they are kept in cells which are too small. +The Federal Constitutional Court reached this decision in a public ruling on Wednesday. +According to the judge, those affected can actually hope for money if they have been shut in too small a room for only a few days (ref: 1 BvR 1127/14). +For this reason a former prisoner was successful with his constitutional complaint in Karlsruhe. He was detained in Berlin Tegel prison between June and November 2009 in a single cell with a floor area of around five square metres: the toilet was not in a separate room. +Afterwards the man, who according to a statement by his lawyer has since been released, was transferred to a larger cell. +His liability claim against the state of Berlin by reason of unsuitable prison conditions however, failed. +But the constitutional judges set aside the judgement of the Supreme Court in Berlin and resubmitted the case there for renewed assessment. +In their view the human dignity of the man had been violated. +The Supreme Court is now deciding the amount of the damages. +Even if for legal reasons only a few days of the period in custody are significant for compensation, entitlement to a claim for compensation exists. +Otherwise there would be "fears of deterioration of a person's right to protection". +The Supreme Court must now settle the amount of pecuniary compensation. +Constitutional judges have often strengthened the rights of prisoners in the past. +As recently as April they awarded damages to a prisoner because he had been locked in his cell naked. +A cell with multiple functions and without a separate toilet is also inhumane, according to a decision from 2011. +Furthermore Karlsruhe confirmed on Wednesday that in addition, according to the Berlin Constitutional Court, a prisoner in a parallel case in November 2009 had attested to inhumane accommodation +The prisoner at that time was kept in a similar cell to that in the Karlsruhe case daily between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. for over three months +Berlin prisons have also hit the headlines in the last few weeks due to lack of staff. +Because of this, prisoners are time and again locked up for 23 hours, aggressiveness rises and it has even led to brawls due to the tense situation. +According to information from the press office of the public prosecutor, 21 positions in Tegel have not been filled due to a lack of young people, and 19 will cease to exist in 2016. + +Angela Merkel and the refugee policy: "We can handle it" +The influx of refugees is an enormous challenge – the German Chancellor is determined to accept it. +What changes will we see in Germany? +According to the predictions of the Federal Minister of the Interior, around 800,000 asylum seekers will arrive in Germany this year, and according to a statement by Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel (SPD), Germany is actually in a position to take in a million refugees. +German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has demonstrated determination in the face of this unusual challenge. "I say again and again: we can handle it, and we will handle it". +The following is a summary of what is coming to Germany. +According to various forecasts between 350,000 (estimation by the Ministry of buildings) and 400,000 (estimation by the Pestel Institute) homes will be needed annually – and in fact for the next five years. +That is twice as many as are being built at the moment (250,000 homes). +The lack of living space is dramatic but above all for affordable rental properties: between 60,000 and 80,000 social dwellings per year are excluded from rent control and refugees will also compete for these particularly cheap homes. +Federal building minister Barbara Hendricks (SPD) thus wants to double funding from the current €518 million to €1 billion. +In the view of the Pestel Institute this is far too little: 80,000 social dwellings must be developed annually and for this the government must invest a sum of €6.4 billion per year. +Academics and the Federal Building Ministry agree that as well as this more tax benefits must be provided for investment in the building of housing. +According to estimates by the Institute for Employment Research, it could be expected that in the long term 55 percent of the refugees in Germany should be able to work. +However the refugees in Germany are not being systematically asked about their qualifications so as to be able to help them get started, criticised Claudia Walter, project manager for integration and training in the Bertelsmann Foundation. +But it is crucial for the integration of refugees whether they find work in Germany. +Work is the key to social contact and to appreciation of the host society, and also to the self-esteem of the immigrant says migration researcher Dietrich Thränhardt. +According to Thränhardt, a political shift has taken place in Germany: from a ban on employment for refugees to an appreciation of work. +While in the past asylum seekers were forbidden to work for up to five years, this was reduced in November 2014 to three months, as with the residence obligation which limits asylum seekers to one place of domicile. +As far as the majority of society is now concerned, particularly in view of skills shortage, refugees should be allowed to gain faster access to the job market. +One big obstacle to access to the jobs market is the lack of knowledge of the German language. +To date there is still no adequate supply of general and work-related language courses. +Studies also show that jobs are most often found through personal contact. +Thus, in Thränhardt's view, the building of networks is the ideal solution to work integration. +The Berlin school administration has noticed that only a few refugee parents have placed their children in kindergarten; an estimated one to 15 percent. "For the uprooted parents their first priority is to keep the family together," says Ilja Koschembar, spokesman for youth and family affairs in the Berlin Senate administration. +To be able to convince families of the benefits of kindergartens, the administration is issuing leaflets in a number of languages. +If the need for teachers increases sharply because of the large number of refugees the Berlin Senate would try to raise the training capacity, for example by allowing for more technical colleges. +In the states, pupils with no knowledge of German will be prepared for lessons in welcoming classes. +However they will not always be taught by fully qualified teachers but, as in Berlin, also by teachers who only have a qualification in German as a second language. +There is no shortage of these, says Beate Stoffers from the Berlin school administration. +The German student services estimate that around 20 percent of refugees want to study in Germany. +In principle no federal state prohibits asylum seekers or those with long-term refugee status from studying – the only exception up to now was Berlin: Senator for the Interior Frank Henkel (CDU) has however now abandoned his stance. +Refugees who want to study may have their entrance to university facilitated. +Refugees with a residence permit or protection against deportation no longer receive benefits according to the asylum seekers benefits act if they begin a course of study. +In principle the latter receive no grant, as they do not fall into the category of persons entitled to a grant. +Tolerated refugees up to now must have lived for years in Germany in order to be entitled to a grant; from 1 January 2016 this period is reduced to 15 months. +But this financing gap must also be closed, claim Steffen Krach, Berlin's State Secretary for Science, and the German student services. +The students should receive a grant immediately. +Islam will play an important role in the future as the refugees are Muslims and for many religion is an important part of their identity. +The state should gradually grant Islam the same rights as the churches have and the existing state-church law should be developed into a state-religion relationship. +The founding of an Islamic welfare organisation, which looks after new arrivals in a professional manner, is also important. +Rights also involve responsibilities. +Thus the representatives of Islam must agree to clear points of contact and be ready to cooperate with the state in many areas and to concede certain control options. +This also requires the readiness to act courageously against religious fundamentalism. +The chairman of the Central Council of Muslims, Aiman Mazyek, expressed the fear on Thursday that religious conflict could also be brought to Germany. +Those who want to wage such conflict in Germany "have immediately forfeited their right to stay here in Germany," he said on Bavarian radio. +He suggested translating this basic law into Arabic. +In the future integration will be a topic for the whole of society even more than it is today. +This means too that mainstream society will have to change and the removal of discrimination and racism is becoming more urgent. +For nearly 10 years, as a result of European rulings, Germany has had an anti-discrimination agency and a general equality act. +But it is learning very slowly, as the NSU murder series shows, that racist motives are systematically ignored in the police and the authorities. +Equal opportunities for all: what migrant organisations and non-white German pressure groups have demanded for a long time, and to which international treaties such as the anti racism convention in Germany are committed, must become reality in the next 10 years if the country wants to remain at peace and to exploit the opportunities of its new citizens – for the good of everyone. +Germany is in a position generally to provide medical care for the refugees expected up to now, is the opinion of the president of the Doctors' Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery. +"As far as manpower and capacity are concerned, we can cope," he told the Tagesspiegel. +However extra money must be added to the system for this. +In order to avoid bottlenecks, Montgomery asked for all new arrivals to be issued with healthcare cards when they register. +Services provided can be accounted for with the Federal states later. +And in the long term it is highly doubtful that so many people can be fobbed off with the limited catalogue of services for which the Benefits for Asylum Seekers Act provides. +Apart from this, doctors are making it their priority to deal with the language barrier. +Up to now, as Berlin health researcher Thea Borde has established, migrants have received poorer information about their illnesses than other patients. +Interpreters must be taken on not only in hospitals but also in doctors' practices, she demands. +But many refugees would also already be helped with more general medicine drop-in centres in emergency rooms. +And with a different diagnostic view. +Refugee children for example clearly suffer from more untreated disabilities, and with young people it is more a case of information about HIV. +German doctors though are able to use their training to deal with the partly different disease patterns, said Montgomery +"Parasite infections or tuberculosis are not that difficult to recognise." And because of the refugees there is possibly relief in sight for the shortage of doctors. +Syria has a highly developed educational system and a number of refugees are expected to be doctors. +To be allowed to practice, however, they must prove their qualifications and possibly take more exams. +In the estimation of the Federal Psychotherapeutic Association (BPtK), at least half of the refugees arriving in Germany are mentally ill: most of them are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or depression. +Refugee children are particularly vulnerable, explains Dietrich Munz, president of the BPtK. +A soon-to-be published study by the TU in Munich documents that every fifth Syrian refugee child arrives traumatised in Germany. +Those who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder suffer among other things from so-called flashbacks, difficulties in breathing, dizziness, palpitations and fear of death. +Further symptoms are sleep and concentration disorders, nervousness and emotional numbness. +In order to prevent the symptoms becoming chronic, early treatment is necessary, explained Munz. +Up to now, however, only four percent of mentally ill refugees have received psychotherapy. +Mentally ill asylum seekers are permitted to make an application with the social security services for psychotherapy, but processing usually takes several months. +In addition, it is mostly officials or doctors in the social services who are not trained in psychological illnesses who decide whether therapy is necessary or not. +This frequently leads to false assessments, says Munz. + +The ring invites you to dream +With their new "Passion" production, Circus Probst is returning to the traditions of the art of the circus. +The aim is to draw every age group under the spell of mesmerising acrobatics, animal dressage and unique entertainment. +Now Circus Probst is issuing an invitation to dream in the ring at the Ziegelwasen. +"Our passion is our circus." +"I couldn't imagine living without my circus family," says Stephanie Probst, animal trainer and junior manager. +"Passion" - this is the motto for the current production in the ring. +The circus has been owned by the Probst family for over 33 years. +The family has the gift of enthralling people in their blood. +"It's important for us to take people away from their daily lives and to take them with us into another world for two hours," stresses the 27-year-old junior manager. +Director Reinhard Probst calls his concept a "Cocktail in the ring with a cosmopolitan flair". +Fifty towns have the chance to experience this flair on the almost 3000 kilometre-long tour. +The circus programme wins people over with talented artists from all over the world. +Distinguished at the international circus festival in Monte Carlo, the Russian Stoliarov clown family captivate the public with wit and charm. +The Castillo brothers, too, know their craft. +The Cuban duo are ready to compete with the heroes of silent films. +Lightness and agility - these words sum them up. +Their humorous artistry on the pole will win the women's hearts. +Apart from causing numerous bursts of laughter, the Circus Prost's acrobats are also mesmerising with their finesse and suppleness. +Balancing on a ball with a unicycle? +No problem for He Yuan. +Contortionists enthrall and terrify at the same time. +Wang Lin, from China, is better acquainted with the oldest form of acrobatics than most and thrills with his flexibility. +Sixty entertainers from 12 nations offer diversity in every respect. +"The animals belong to our family," insists Staphanie's mother, Brigitte Probst. +Different animal welfare organisations all too often complain about mistreatment of circus animals. +Stephanie Probst has her own answer to this: "If our animals aren't happy, then nor are we". +About 80 animals from five different continents enjoy every bit of attention. +The "four-legged artistes" as they are affectionately known, have their every wish fulfilled as far as possible. +We want to work together with the animals and have fun with them. +If the animal doesn't feel well, it doesn't want to go in the ring either. +So the top priority is to look after the animals well. +The Probst family are especially proud of their zebroid, Jumbo - the offspring of a Shetland pony stallion and a zebra mare. +The two animals lived together in one enclosure for eight years and nothing happened. +"Then suddenly there was our little Jumbo," says Brigitte Probst. +But the zebroid is not yet ready for the ring, instead he is a unique little mascot for the Circus Probst. +There is something for every visitor. +"One thing is for certain," says Stephanie Probst, "regardless of whether there are five or 1,200 people in the audience, we give them our best and do it with all of our hearts. +Circus Probst invites you to come and see their show every day from 17 to 20 September at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. +The programme begins at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Sunday. +Thursday is family day; there is a discount on the price of the show. +And the animal show is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. + +Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe delivers wrong speech in parliament +Mr Mugabe, Africa's oldest leader, earlier this year fell down the steps leading from a podium. +He was unhurt, but video of the fall went viral on social media. +The opening of parliament was also tarnished by claims by opposition legislators that they had received anonymous death threats warning them against booing Mr Mugabe during his address. +Last month, they booed and heckled him during his state of the nation address in parliament - which is the speech he repeated on Tuesday. +Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) chief whip Innocent Gonese said seven opposition politicians received text messages on their mobile phones warning them not to disrupt Nr Mugabe's address. +"The message is coming from a number which is not reflecting but it's titled 'death'," he told journalists after Mr Mugabe's speech. +It warns the members concerned to know that immunity ends at parliament and once they step out of parliament that parliamentary immunity does not operate. +The chief whip said the party, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, is "worried" about the threats to its politicians. + +Hewlett-Packard to cut up to 30,000 jobs +Hewlett-Packard expects to cut 25,000 to 30,000 jobs as part of its restructuring and cost-saving efforts at it enterprise services business. +HP is splitting into two listed companies later this year, separating its computer and printer businesses from its faster-growing corporate hardware and services operations. +The expected job cuts will result in a charge of about $2.7bn, beginning in the fourth quarter, HP said in a statement. +"These restructuring activities will enable a more competitive, sustainable cost structure for the new Hewlett Packard Enterprise," said Meg Whitman, the HP chairman and chief executive who will head the unit after the split. +"Hewlett Packard Enterprise will be smaller and more focused than HP is today, and we will have a broad and deep portfolio of businesses that will help enterprises transition to the new style of business," said Whitman. +As a separate company, we are better positioned than ever to meet the evolving needs of our customers around the world. +Hewlett Packard Enterprise will have more than $50bn in annual revenue and "will be focused on delivering unrivaled integrated technology solutions" to companies, according to a company statement. +It breaks up a company formed in the 1930s by Stanford University graduates Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard to make electric equipment, and whose Palo Alto garage has been dubbed "the birthplace of Silicon Valley." +HP has been undergoing a massive reorganisation to cope with the move away from traditional personal computers to mobile devices. +The move by HP, the world's second-largest PC maker and one of the biggest US tech firms, is the latest in the sector based on the belief that tightly focused firms perform better. + +Arsenal captain Mikel Arteta says team-mates must get behind injured Jack Wilshere ahead of Dinamo Zagreb tie +Wenger has also stressed to Wilshere that it is still only September and, providing his rehabilitation goes to plan, there is no reason why he cannot be back playing by Christmas. +That best-case scenario already means that Wilshere is certain to miss at least the next four England games and, given his history, his involvement in next summer's European Championship is clearly uncertain. +The great shame of this latest problem is that Wilshere had finished last season strongly after a separate ankle injury and then looked back to his old sharpness during pre-season. +"This kind of injury is not career-threatening," said Wenger. +It is a bone that did not heal well. +It is nothing major. +This was just an accident. +It was not linked with his ankles or with the injuries he had before. +That might be true from a purely medical perspective but, as Wenger also acknowledged, there is the related danger of further injuries whenever any player tries to return midseason. +There is also an uncomfortable pattern developing. +Research by Premier Injuries Ltd records 23 different Wilshere ailments since he made his debut six years ago. +He has also played in only 65 of Arsenal's 157 league games during the last five seasons. +The wider picture for Arsenal is that in six out of eight seasons since 2007-08, they have been one of the two Premier League clubs to lose most days through injury. +Wenger accepts the potential of a vicious circle but Arsenal believe that an improvement in their injury record during last season will continue. +"Sometimes, when you are coming back from an injury, you have a vulnerable period, a time when you need to strengthen your body and gain competition," said Wenger. +Jack is young enough to get over that. +I hope his body stabilises, I am confident it will and he will make a career of the kind he deserves. +With Arsenal beginning their Champions League campaign on Wednesday night against Dinamo Zagreb ahead of matches with Chelsea on Saturday and Tottenham Hotspur next Wednesday, Wenger is preparing to rotate his team. +Héctor Bellerín and Aaron Ramsey have not travelled to Croatia, meaning Mathieu Debuchy and Arteta are likely to start. +Wenger may also begin with Kieran Gibbs and Olivier Giroud in place of Nacho Monreal and Theo Walcott. +"I try to keep the balance and give a little breather to players who need it," said Wenger. +Although Arsenal are clear favourites to progress through Group F, the Maksimir stadium in Zagreb is among Europe's most intimidating. +Dinamo are also unbeaten in 41 matches after producing their own "Invincible" campaign last season. +The stadium was shaken on Tuesday night by an earth tremor that measured 3.2 on the Richter. +It was the 10th in Zagreb this year. +Wenger believes that Arsenal have learnt the lesson of last season's Champions League capitulation against Monaco and remains driven by the distant hope of managing the club to a first European Cup triumph. +"This drive is immense," said Wenger. +It has never been done at Arsenal. +We were very close in 2006 but, on the other hand, I am long enough to be realistic. +We are ambitious but we are not dreamers. + +FriendsFest: the comedy show that taught us serious lessons about male friendship +The absence of similar portrayals in shows is glaring, particularly given how the need for men to open up is more desperate now than ever, with suicide rates amongst young males at 15 year high. +In 2013, it was the single biggest cause of death in men aged 20-45 in the UK, and remains three times more common in males than females. +In a bid to address the problem, the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) announced 2015 as the Year of the Male, aiming to challenge the culture that prevents men from seeking help when they need it. +Friendship lies at the heart of the battle to meet this challenge. +A recent study of more than 2,000 high-school students displaying depressive symptoms found that if the sufferer had a high enough percentage of "healthy mood" friends, their chances of recovering doubled. +Equally, for those not depressed, a circle of mentally healthy friends halved the chances of mental challenges arising. +But of course, for friendship to work, it needs to be accessible in the first place. +In this age of social-media led communication, with its focus on style over substance, immediacy of response is often prioritised over meaningful contact. +Our digital lives have doubled the need to appear strong, fun-loving and successful, even if in reality isolation is king. +This superficial success is dominated by what psychologists term extrinsic values; money, image, social status, all at the expense of intrinsic values - our inner yearning for personal growth and friendship - that more deeply impacts our mental health. +And as a billionaire video-game creator explained recently, money really doesn't buy greater happiness. +The beauty of Friends was that it turned this focus on its head. +Each of the characters were not defined by their work, but rather their personalities, which shone through the interaction as friends. +The humour of Joey and Chandler's frequent hugs, moments watching football on the comfy chairs, and Ross's pining for Rachel, came from the knowledge that yes, men can all relate to this, even if they often hold back from fully exploring their feelings. +As a Samaritan worker explained to me: ...."my listening role to people feeling depressed and suicidal has really highlighted how even the smallest interactions from friends can make a difference." +Often the men who contact us feel unable to speak to friends. +The old adage of "getting on with it" is strong, as is the sense that it will be perceived as weak to open up about problems." +Friends is one of the shows that comes to mind when I try and offer more long-term coping mechanisms. +It highlighted the little moments of male friendship. +As much as my objective, outsider status over the phone helps people in moments of desperation, the long-term support comes from a close, personal family and friend network. +And so, if you attend Comedy Central's FriendsFest this weekend, with the sets fully redesigned in celebration, why not take your friends for a drink at Central Perk. +Or, better still, if in Starbucks you see someone alone, give a smile and say hello. +You never know what difference your friendship could make. +Friends is broadcasting on Comedy Central from start to finish - the full 236 episodes - for #FriendsFest + +Di Maria scores to help PSG swat aside Malmo +Angel Di Maria celebrates with Blaise Matuidi and Edinson Cavani after scoring against Malmo. +Angel Di Maria scored on his Champions League debut to help PSG ease past Swedish side Malmo on Tuesday. +Here's the match report and reaction to the game. +Angel Di Maria and Edinson Cavani were on target as Paris Saint-Germain began their Champions League campaign with an ultimately comfortable 2-0 win against Malmo at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday. +Di Maria scored less than four minutes into his Champions League debut as a PSG player to set the French champions on their way, but they missed a succession of opportunities before finally extending their advantage when Cavani headed home in the 61st minute. +With Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk also in Group A, Paris needed a strong start against the Swedish champions as they target not just qualification for the knockout rounds but an improvement on their runs to the quarter-finals in each of the last three campaigns. +But while they got the points, it was not a vintage display by Laurent Blanc's side with Zlatan Ibrahimovic wasteful in front of goal and later being substituted against his hometown team and the club with whom he started his illustrious career back in 1999. +"It's not easy to win at home or away in the Champions League, so to win 2-0, cause our opponents problems and look comfortable at the back is a good start even if there are certain things we will need to perfect as the season goes on," said Blanc. +It augurs well. +We wanted to win and we did, although I regret that we did not score one or two goals more. +Ibrahimovic returned after injury in one of three changes to the Paris team that had been held to a 2-2 draw at home by Bordeaux in Ligue 1 at the weekend, but he was upstaged in the fourth minute by Di Maria. +The Argentina winger was labelled as the man to take PSG to the next level in Europe when he was signed from Manchester United last month, and he indicated why as he ran onto Marco Verratti's pass in behind the Malmo defence before angling a beautiful finish past Johan Wiland and into the far corner of the net. +However, if anyone then expected PSG to romp to a big victory, they were to be disappointed. +Malmo, who beat Celtic in a play-off to reach this stage, lined up with nine full internationals on the field at kick-off and, with a five-man defence and two deep in midfield, were stuffy opponents. +But, save for a Nikola Djurdjic shot that slid just wide of Kevin Trapp's far post in the 34th minute, they offered little in attack. +Instead, PSG let themselves down at times with some wasteful passing and poor finishing, not least from Ibrahimovic, who failed to convert no fewer than five attempts in the first half alone and was then let down by his touch having been put in by Cavani just after the restart. +Nevertheless, he proved much more adept when it came to setting up his colleagues, and it was from an Ibrahimovic pass that Di Maria sent in a curling shot which was tipped around the post by Wiland on 52 minutes. +The second goal finally arrived just after the hour mark thanks to Cavani, the Uruguayan heading home his sixth of the season after Ibrahimovic had flicked on a left-wing cross from Maxwell. +That ended any ideas that Malmo had of coming back into the game, and only a superb stop by Wiland from point-blank range to deny David Luiz kept the final score down before substitute Ezequiel Lavezzi had a goal disallowed right at the death. +Malmo coach Age Hareide later admitted PSG were a class above his side, the Norwegian saying: "Our last Champions League game was in December last year." +Since then we have only played in the Swedish league which is not the same level. +The qualifiers are not enough. +Hats off to Paris. +It was a magnificent match from them. + +Glencore raises $2.5 billion in share sales +Swiss-based mining giant Glencore, hit by collapsing commodities prices, on Wednesday raised $2.5 billion via a shares sale as part of its vast debt-slashing plan. +London-listed Glencore said in a statement that it had sold new shares worth about £1.6 billion to pay down debt. +The company, which has lost 57 percent of its market value this year, is grappling with tumbling commodity prices as China's economic slowdown weighs on demand and sparks havoc across markets. +The rights issue sent Glencore's share price soaring to the top of the London stock market in early morning deals on Wednesday. +Shares jumped 2.77 percent to 131.60 pence on the FTSE 100 index, which opened 0.69 percent higher. +Glencore had last week revealed the $2.5-billion shares sale as part of broader plans to slash its $30 billion debt pile by about a third. +The company sold the new stock at 125 pence per share, which marked a 2.4-percent discount to the closing price on Tuesday. +It offloaded 1.3 billion shares worth up to 9.99 percent of the group. +Concerns over prolonged stalled Chinese growth have slashed iron ore prices by roughly a half, as coal, copper and other commodities have fallen by 20 to 40 percent. + +Refugees arrive in Weimar +On Tuesday afternoon 49 people reach the municipality of Weimar after a mostly long flight. +The refugees come from Syria, Albania, Afghanistan, Macedonia and Somalia. +The youngest arrival is a six month old girl from Syria. + +White House Confirms Xi Jinping's Washington Visit +Chinese President Xi Jinping will make a state visit to the U.S. at the end of the month, the White House confirmed in a statement on Tuesday. +The visit, Xi's first official one to Washington, will take place on Sept. 25 and reciprocates President Barack Obama's trip to Beijing last November, the statement said. +The U.S. President and First Lady Michelle Obama will also host Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan at a state dinner that evening, after the two leaders have engaged in bilateral talks. +"President Xi's visit will present an opportunity to expand U.S.-China cooperation on a range of global, regional, and bilateral issues of mutual interest, while also enabling President Obama and President Xi to address areas of disagreement constructively," the statement added. +Xi, whose visit was first announced in February, is expected to stop in Seattle to meet several U.S. tech leaders on his way to Washington, before going on to New York City for the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. +Obama and Xi are expected to broach a range of contentious issues, including Washington's concerns over China's alleged cyberespionage and its increasing assertiveness in the disputed waters of the South China Sea. + +440 hp sports car rented and written off +A 29-year-old wanted to fulfil a dream and rented a Ford Mustang. +He got a rude awakening on the wet motorway. +A company in the district of Gotha allows you to fulfil your dream by renting out and driving an American V8 Ford Mustang Boss 302 440 hp sports car. +So the 29-year-old from the Gotha district did just that. +The end of his dream came on the A 71 motorway near Arnstadt. +The 29-year-old lost control of the sports car, got into a skid on the wet road and drove into the crash barrier. +The sports car was a write-off but no one was injured. +Damage is estimated at €40,000. + +Xavi: Pep Guardiola prevented switch to FC Bayern in 2008 +World and European champion Xavi has played for the al-Sadd Sport Club in Qatar since summer 2015. +A few years ago, FC Bayern was apparently close to committing to Spain's superstar Xavi, who at the time was playing for FC Barcelona. +Eight times Spanish champion, three times cup winner, four times Champions League winner, twice club world champion, twice European champion, one time world champion - Xavi's list of titles is breath-taking. +In the summer the then 35-year-old left FC Barcelona after 24 years and transferred to Qatar and the al-Sadd Sport Club. +But in an interview with Marca, Xavi reveals now that just before the 2008 European Championship he was ready to leave Barcelona. +"I was told that Barça wanted to sell me." +"At the time Madrid were winning everything and we weren't," he says. +And FC Bayern noticed that too. +Xavi: "There was an offer from Bayern." +"Rummenigge wanted to have me." +A quick reminder: in the summer of 2008, Jürgen Klinsmann took over at FC Bayern. +Guardiola was the reason that Xavi did not transfer. +The transfer never happened. +And instead the crucial man now works for the German record champion: Pep Guardiola. +Xavi explains why. "Barça had signed on Guardiola and I played a brilliant European Championship." +"Pepe told me that I shouldn't transfer, that he couldn't imagine the team without me." +"He got me with that." +Who knows how Bayern's 2008/2009 season would have turned out if Xavi had left. +Xavi covered the entire distance on the turf for Barça in the quarter final of the Champions League against Bayern, knocked the Reds out (4:0, 1:1) and at the end celebrated the premiere class triumph. + +Matt Damon downplays diversity in filmmaking +Matt Damon confronted African-American filmmaker Effie Brown during a discussion on diversity saying it wasn't needed behind the scenes. +During Sunday night's episode of HBO's Project Greenlight, the seasoned actor cut Brown off while she was emphasizing the need for alternative perspectives regarding a black protagonist in the project's chosen screenplay. +"When we're talking about diversity you do it in the casting of the film not in the casting of the show," Damon asserted. +Shocked, Brown reacted with offended disbelief, letting out "Hoo! Wow. Okay," as The Martian actor's comments settled in the air. +Damon and Brown were joined by fellow producers Ben Affleck and the Farrelly brothers to discuss the show's finalists. +"I would urge people to think about -- whoever the director is, how they're going to treat the character of Harmony," Brown initially said. +The only black character who's a hooker who gets hit by her white pimp. +The Dear White People producer pushed for finalists Leo Angelos and Kristen Brancaccio for the rights to direct the film; Damon retorted their directing could "end up giving us something we don't want." +After the discussion aired, social media exploded in disapproval over Damon's comments. +Twitter user MrPooni expressed anger toward the clip writing, "Matt Damon speaking over the only black person in the room so he can explain diversity to her is SO WHITE it hurts." +The tweet earned more than 5,000 retweets and 4,000 likes since being posted. +Damon's comments come at a time where accurate racial representation in media is at the forefront of social discussion. +After teen Michael Brown was killed by a white police officer in 2014, the Black Lives Matter movement took nationwide effect, urging lawmakers and authorities to halt discriminatory practices against people of color. +In February, singer Prince alluded to the movement while introducing the nominees of Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards. +"Albums still matter," he said. +Like books and black lives, albums still matter. +More recently, leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement released a statement in response to Fox News personality Elisabeth Hasselbeck's question of whether the group should be considered a hate group. +"The Black Lives Matter Network is a love group," leaders said. +Damon was recently announced as one of a list of entertainers, producers and media moguls invited to visit the Pope to discuss the Catholic Church's portrayal in the West. +Whether he accepted the invitation or has already met with the Pope is unclear. + +'American Ninja Warrior' crowns first champion +Pro-rock climber and busboy Isaac Caldiero became the first athlete to win American Ninja Warrior Monday night taking home the $1 million grand prize. +The competition show, which just wrapped up its 7th season, has never seen any competitor complete all stages of its obstacle course. +During the season finale, two men, Caldiero and cameraman Geoff Britten, made it to the final round. +The final task involved climbing a 75-foot rope in 30 seconds. +Britten went first completing the challenge on time, making him the first-ever athlete to complete American Ninja Warrior's grueling stage 4, however, Caldiero finished the challenge a full three seconds faster making him the winner. +Caldiero spoke with E!News after the hard-fought victory, still in shock about winning the $1 million grand prize. +"I mean it's amazing to think about, like I've never made or lived off more than $10,000 a year," Isaac told E! of his serious pay-bump. +So to all of a sudden...like I can't even imagine what it's going to be like...the future is unknown. +Executive producer Kent Weed sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss the finale and why, despite Britten being the first ever competitor to finish the course, won't be awarded any prize money. +By the rules, the money goes to the fastest person. +"If there's more than one finisher, the one with the fastest time gets it," said Weed. +As much as the money is a wonderful prize and life changing, he does get the great gratification. +I don't think he harbors any ill will about it. +He's just so happy to have done what he's done. +He's received tons of accolades from fans. +He's such a great guy, and a family man. +He's a hero to his kids and his wife. +Geoff said to me, "If I was going to be beat by someone, I'm glad it's Isaac." +And I think Isaac would have felt the same way if they roles were reversed. +America Ninja Warrior was renewed for an eighth season, which will begin filming in Spring 2016. + +Detroit Tigers tiptoe past Minnesota Twins +MINNEAPOLIS -- The second half the season hasn't been a lot of fun for the Detroit Tigers. +Once one of the best teams in baseball, the Tigers are now in last place in the American League Central. +Reducing to being a spoiler, the Tigers played the part perfectly Tuesday, beating the Minnesota Twins 5-4 at Target Field. +The Twins squandered a chance to climb to within one-half game of the Houston Astros for the second American League wild-card spot. +For Detroit, if only for one night, it was a return of the three-letter F-word that has been so elusive over much of the season's second half. +"All wins are fun, no matter how it happens," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. +Tigers pitcher Alfredo Simon made his early offensive support hold up, as Detroit scored three times in the first two innings, then tacked one in the sixth and one more in the ninth. +Simon (13-9) pitched 6 1/3 innings and allowed three runs. +It was only his third quality start in his past nine outings. +"I just want to finish strong this year," Simon said. +It's hard for the bullpen to throw every game, and that's why I want to go deep into the game. +Tigers designated hitter Victor Martinez had three hits and drove in two runs, his first RBIs since mid-August. +It was Martinez's first three-hit night since he had four hits against the Seattle Mariners on July 6. +"He swung the bat well," Ausmus said. +He looked good in (batting practice), looked noticeably better in BP, and he carried it right into the game. +Trailing by three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Twins had their best chance to get back into the game. +Center fielder Byron Buxton led off the inning with a double down the left field line. +Right fielder Aaron Hicks reached on a bunt single, and Simon got second baseman Brian Dozier to strike out swinging before being lifted for left-hander Blaine Hardy. +Hardy walked Mauer, the only man he faced, ahead of rookie designated hitter Miguel Sano, who ripped a two-run single to left off right-hander Drew VerHagen. +With a pair of runners on and the tying run at second, VerHagen got third baseman Trevor Plouffe to ground into a double play. +It was the major-league-leading 27th time this season that Plouffe hit into a DP. +After Detroit tacked on an insurance run in the top of the ninth, Mauer ripped an RBI double to the gap against Tigers closer Bruce Rondon to make it 5-4. +However, the right-hander struck out Sano on three pitches for his fifth save. +Detroit took advantage of a rusty Phil Hughes in the early going. +The Tigers posted three runs in the first two innings against the veteran right-hander, who came off the disabled list before the game after missing more than a month because of lower back inflammation. +"Obviously not the start I'd like to have," Hughes said, "but I felt more comfortable as I went along and felt I was able to execute some pretty good pitches there in the third inning." +After getting the leadoff batter in the first, Hushes gave up a single to second baseman Ian Kinsler. +A two-out walk to right fielder J.D. Martinez brought up Victor Martinez, who singled up the middle for the first run of the game. +Victor Martinez snapped his 0-for-21 streak with runners in scoring position. +Third baseman Nick Castellanos followed with a single to right, scoring another run, but Victor Martinez was thrown out trying to advance to third, ending the threat. +The Tigers added on in the second, getting a one-out double from catcher James McCann and a two-out single by center fielder Anthony Gose to make it 3-0. +"That was a big hit," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. +He didn't hit it particularly well, but he got it in the right spot. +Hughes, who was on a pitch count, pitched a scoreless third inning before being replaced by right-handed reliever A.J. Achter. +Hughes was charged with three runs on six hits and a walk with four strikeouts. +NOTES: Tigers RHP Anibal Sanchez was shut down with a strain in his throwing shoulder. +He will be examined by Dr. James Andrews, who performed surgery on Sanchez's shoulder back in 2007. +Sanchez, on the disabled list with a shoulder strain since mid-August, was scheduled to be activated for a Wednesday start. +With Sanchez out, LHP Daniel Norris will come off the DL to start against the Twins. +Norris is 1-1 in four starts with the Tigers since being acquired in a trade for LHP David Price on July 30. +He has been out since Aug. 20 with a strained right oblique. +The Tigers and Twins will wrap up their three-game series at Target Field on Wednesday. +Norris (2-2, 4.43 ERA) will oppose Minnesota RHP Ervin Santana (5-4, 4.73 ERA). + +Hundreds of refugees to be given accommodation in Wiesbaden +A train carrying hundreds of refugees is on the way to Hesse. +They are expected to arrive by Wednesday night. +The people who have travelled there will then be housed in emergency shelters in Wiesbaden, according to a statement made by the city of Wiesbaden on Tuesday evening. +They estimate that between 450 and 750 refugees will arrive. +A number of sports halls in the Hessian capital have been prepared for this eventuality over the last few days. +Up to 1000 refugees can be provided with temporary accommodation in these. +After this they should be redistributed to other communities. +According to a statement by the regional council of Giessen, responsible for their initial reception, 7500 people have arrived in Hesse in the past ten days alone +Due to the large number of refugees, emergency shelter has also been set up in sports halls in Frankfurt and Hanau. + +Ischinger: German military action in Syria an option +The head of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, believes that military action in Syria with participation from Germany is a possibility. +"I believe that determined consideration about military courses of action should not take place without Germany," he said. +He accused the European nations of "collectively looking the other way". +Four years ago one would have been happy for the chalice of military involvement to pass Germany by. +"Now the conflict has come crashing down at our front door," he said on the German World Service. +The former German Ambassador to Washington also called for a massive increase in international aid locally for the refugees. + +Austria running checks on southern and eastern borders +According to Germany, Austria has once more introduced checks to its southern and eastern borders. +The Austrian Interior Minister, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, stated on the Austrian television channel ORF on Tuesday evening that currently nobody is being sent back to Hungary. +Nor has Germany sent any refugees back to Austria. +"No, that is the agreement," she confirmed. +On the question of an agreement about whether a specific number of refugees per day can be taken to go to Germany from Austria, Mikl-Leitner said that discussions on this matter have already been held between the general director for public security and representatives of Germany. +She gave no specific figures and referred to talks in Berlin on Wednesday. +Over the last few days tens of thousands of refugees have arrived in Austria from Hungary over the so-called Balkan route. +Most of them are heading to Germany. +German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and her Austrian colleague, Werner Faymann, together with a number of other EU states and heads of government, are proposing a special summit for next week. +On Sunday Germany started to impose temporary border controls. +To date the EU states have not been able to agree to a common approach to the crisis. +At a special meeting next Tuesday (22 September) the EU interior ministers want to make a new attempt at a mandatory redistribution of a further 120,000 refugees. +In view of the heavy influx of refugees into Germany, the Federal government wants to provide more support to the states with initial reception and distribution of people. +The Federal government will manage this jointly with the states, announced Merkel late on Tuesday evening after a discussion lasting almost four hours with the Prime Minister in the Chancellor's office in Berlin. +Merkel stressed that those people who need protection will get it. +But those who have no prospects of permanent residency will not be able to stay in Germany. +This opinion is also clearly generally shared. +The Chancellor stressed that the country as a whole must now make a "huge effort". +Thousands of desperate refugees are currently stuck on the Balkan route. +On Monday night Hungary closed its 175 km long border with Serbia. +A few hours later the government in Budapest announced that it was also going to seal off the border with Romania with a fence. +Unlike Serbia these neighbouring countries belong to the EU. +Hungary wants to prevent people smugglers finding alternative routes through Romania, said Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto about the planned new border fences. +The Romanian government immediately condemned the plan. +The first arrests of people who had breached the fence have taken place. +In Turkey meanwhile, according to eyewitness reports, thousands more migrants are heading for the Greek borders. + +"Cassini" space probe finds ocean on Saturn's moon Enceladus +Under the icy crust of Saturn's moon Enceladus splashes a global ocean. +Scientists have deduced this from observing the "Cassini" space probe +This is the reason the moon wobbles slightly in its orbit of the ringed planet. +This wobbling is only minor, but nevertheless too much for a solid celestial body, it was stated on Tuesday in a communication from Cornell University in Ithica in the US state of New York. +The scientists have published their findings in the "Icarus" scientific journal. +It has long been known that there must be liquid water under Enceladus's crust of ice. +"Cassini" had already discovered ice volcanoes, which spew water vapour and ice particles that feed the so-called E ring of Saturn, at the south pole of this moon in 2006. +Astonomers concluded at the time that there had to be a subsurface sea at least at the south pole. +The extent of the hidden ocean was however not clear. + +Rama absent from 1860 Munich for several weeks +1860 Munich must do without attacking midfielder Valdet Rama for about a month. +An examination revealed that the 27-year-old has suffered an adductor injury, the club revealed. +Rama had complained of pain at the beginning of the week. +According to the Munich Lions, the diagnosis means "probably a four week compulsory break". +"It's hit us hard. Rama is a bitter loss." +"We have to think about it of course," Sports Director Necat Aygün told the "Bild" newspaper, regarding the possible engagement of a professional who is not attached to a club. +However the next training guest the sexagenarian is due to present is a defender. +Thirty-year-old Hrvoje Cale last played in Belgium and was formerly under contract to VfL Wolfsburg. +At the moment the Croatian has "the opportunity to prove himself". +Following his concussion, goal scorer Rubin Okotie is returning to training with the team in the coming week. +The Austrian international should be getting back to training runs on Thursday. +Okotie sustained a head injury in a violent collision in the match with Fortuna Dusseldorf (0:3). +Contrary to initial fears, however, the wound was not serious. + +Not a diet fruit – mangoes contain a lot of sugar +Mangoes are exotic, juicy and sweet. +But anybody watching their waistline should avoid them. +Because mangoes have a relatively high sugar content – primarily sucrose. +The exotic fruit is nevertheless healthy: they contain B vitamins as well as vitamins E and C. But most of all mangoes are full of vitamin A and its precursor, beta-carotene. +Eating the fruit boosts the sight, immune system and the body's metabolic processes. +When buying mangoes they should not be too soft or too firm and they should have a pleasant aroma. +It is not possible to tell from the colour of the skin how ripe the fruit is – even green mangoes can taste delicious. +They should be kept at room temperature and consumed within a few days. +They are delicious on their own or in sweet dishes. +A mango also gives a special touch even to savoury dishes. +They mitigate the slightly bitter taste of some leaf salads such as chicory and radicchio. +And a mango chutney goes well with fish, poultry, lamb and game. + +US parcel service UPS is again taking on up to 9,500 temporary staff for its Christmas service in the USA. +The company has already started to recruit seasonal workers, UPS reported on Tuesday. +We are loooking for drivers in particular. +In the past few years, UPS increased its workforce by 9,500 for the four day season. +In light of booming online business, UPS and its competitor FedEx have for several years been making provisions earlier in order to be prepared for Christmas business. +In 2013 there was harsh criticism of late deliveries by the parcel service. + +First a foehn storm, then a pronounced cold front +The foehn will break through in the valleys on the northen side of the Alps in the coming night, Meteoschweiz announced on Tuesday. +The foehn will blow through the Foehn Valleys on Wednesday, continuing through the night, sometimes at gale force. +Once the foehn has died away on Thursday morning a prominent cold front will cut across our region, bringing heavy rainfall, gusty winds and a drop in temperature. +According to MeteoNews, Switzerland is currently facing an extensive area of low pressure being brought from the British Isles in a strong southwestern flow. +The foehn will break through the valleys on the northern sides of the Alps during Tuesday night. +The foehn will then blow through the Foehn Valleys until Thursday morning with gusts of 60 to 100 km/h; occasionally, and particularly in the canton of Uri, increasing at times to over 100 km/h. +In places the foehn may advance into the adjacent midland, and on the mountains gale force winds of over 120 km/h are even possible. +While in the north stormy foehns on Wednesday will bring summery temperatures of 23 to 27 degrees, moisture will begin to build up on the southern slopes of the Alps. +Here it will start to rain and this will continue until Thursday evening. +Over the next 48 hours the south of the Alps can expect over 100 litres of rain per square metre in places, following on from a large volume of rain which has fallen over the last few days. +On Thursday morning the foehn will die down, resulting in a cold front with heavy, sometimes thundery rain rolling from west to east over Switzerland. +In conjunction with the cold front, the wind will get stronger increasing to stormy, and temperatures will decrease sharply. +The following days will be autumnal in the north with temperatures of 15 to 20 degrees, whereas in the south it will be sunnier and warmer at the weekend with temperatures up to 25 degrees. + +Rome now has a Martin Luther Square +Some 500 years after the Reformation, Rome now has a Martin Luther Square. +In the presence of the Mayor of the City, Ignazio Marino, a hitherto unnamed square in the park on the Oppio Hill was on Wednesday bestowed with the name of the German reformer. +On the "Piazza Martin Lutreo" he is now recognised as the "German theologian of the Reformation". +The park is in the centre of Rome right next to the Colosseum +The consortium of Evangelical churches in Rome proposed the choice of name. +Jens-Martin Kruse, minister of the Evangelical Lutheran community in Rome, recalled on Wednesday that for centuries Protestants in the Pope's city often had to hide their faith. +The square is a visual symbol that their tradition of the Christian faith is welcome in Rome. +As a young Augustinian monk, Martin Luther (1483-1546) stayed in Rome for a few months at the turn of the year between 1510 and 1511. +At the time he considered the city to be a degenerate hotbed of vice. +According to historians, his negative impressions may have been reinforced in his later fight against Rome. +Luther heralded the beginning of the Western Church with his theses against the selling of indulgences. + +Talented artist invests three years in his personal interpretation of the Bible. +Jesus with the (gilded) crown of thorns is one of the major works that Otmar Alt has painted for his Bible. +Klaus Altepost has written an introduction and updated the text of the Bible. +In the beginning was the word? +No, not in the Otmar Alt Bible, which has now been issued with magnificent pictures. +For Otmar Alt, who has devised his own personal interpretation of biblical stories in 150 motifs on paper and canvas, in the beginning was the picture. +The 75-year-old conceived his "language" with bright colours and imaginative forms - which are however by no means synonymous with "funny" pictures. +On the contrary: depending on the respective themes, they can appear to be thoroughly gloomy. +Otmar Alt worked on his Bible project for around three years and for this project he made a subjective choice from an artistic perspective from the many subject areas in the "Book of books". +Cycles evolved, dedicated to topics such as the Way of the Cross, plagues, the Commandments or the Lord's Prayer. +Without even approaching them, he immediately attacted multiple partners: this applies to the Luther Verlag, a publisher specialising in theological works as well as the Kettler Verlag, who focus on publishing art books. +And in particular author Klaus Altepost, who has grappled with the particular Bible passages based on the paintings. +He has interpreted the Bible texts selected by Otmar Alt and "translated" them to the current day, in a topical context. +These texts are like verbal mirrors of Alt's paintings. +They are embedded between the original Bible quotations of Martin Luther and each composition by the artist, who has here formulated his own personal concepts for the respective situations. +The decorated cover of the book is lettered in gold. +The 75-year-old allows at the same time a twofold insight, deep into both his soul and his emotions. +This is particularly intimate. +Ultimately, his emotions were the key trigger for the Bible project: Otmar Alt, who was born in Wernigerode in 1940 and grew up in Berlin, comes from a family belonging to the strict Protestant Herrnhut order. +"Education there took place under the shadow of the cane", remembers Otmar Alt. +"I have tried to process this, so that perhaps I can come to terms with the Lord again. +His second point is that he wants to help art once more to take a more significant place in this fast moving age: "The perception of the visual world today is shaped by advertising, which is loud. +Symbolism has been driven out. +Artists have a different passion and joy in presenting things. +Pictures always have something mysterious about them; they are not decoration. +"In this respect, I am a dinosaur." +Otmar Alt wants his viewers to let themselves "fall into" the pictures, to let them leave their impression, to discover and experience the power they have: "The picture is looking for its counterpart". +At the launch of the Otmar Alt Bible on Tuesday, Klaus Altepost confessed to having "always" been a lover of Otmar Alt's art: "I like the way he sees life with his pictures". +Alt was not interested in recording the whole of the Bible, selecting only the the themes which were for him the most significant and also the most mysterious. +"This wasn't a collaboration between partners," says Altepost, "it was about the pictures; the text is merely an explanation." The result is a picture Bible. +For Hans Möhler of the Luther Verlag this work is an invitation "to add depth to his life and to find freedom". +Otmar Alt's pictures speak, for Möhler, the (biblical) language of love as well as that of responsibility. +Some of the originals - paper and canvas - will be shown for the first time in an exhibition which opens on 15th November in the Otmar Alt Foundation. + +Start of construction draws closer for BMX track +Plans made, site found, company commissioned, mound for a circuit modelled: one year later, everything was nearly finished - but even before the official opening of the BMX track it was closed again. +Political and administrative failings caused anger, particularly with residents who did not want to put up with the track. +So the mound was demolished and the search began for a new site - now with a formal application for planning permission. +Approval will be received in October, chief local councillor Sabine Mosebach-Boch has now been able to inform the children's and young people's committee. +"I hope that this year something will be seen to happen," she said. +The work should then be started without any "further pause for thought" at the site of the former indoor swimming pool. + +DFB steps up its commitment to refugees +The German football league gave clear indications at the weekend that the DFB is extending its commitment to refugees to 2019. +Football has reacted to the deteriorating situation in Germany and promised politicians its help with the current problems. +"I consider this to be the biggest challenge in our country since reunification." +"Basically nobody knows, it's no concern of mine, it's not my doing." +"It is in the interests of everybody to get to grip with this issue," says DFB chief Wolfgang Niersbach. +He wants to debate the subject of the refugee situation in Germany intensively at the annual meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on 23 September in Berlin. +I'm going to be in the Chancellor's office next Wednesday and I'm meeting there with State Minister Ms Özoğuz and the Chancellor." +"I'm sure the topic will play a central role there," he announces. +Football can and will help. +But the politicians must set the deciding guidelines. +The German Football Association has therefore extended its refugee initiative "1:0 for a welcome" to four years. +"Through the Egidius-Braun foundation we have ensured that this program will continue until 2019," declared Niersbach on the brink of the UEFA meeting in St Julian's, Malta +Several teams are also supporting the programme. +This very weekend the 36 professional clubs will be sending out a clear message when they wear the words "We are helping – #refugeeswelcome" on the left sleeve of their strip instead of the usual sponsor's logo (Hermes). +"We are doing this to make it clear that everyone should help where and in any way they can," Leverkusen's sport boss Rudi Völler told the "Bild" newspaper on Tuesday, and describes the scheme as "a matter of course". +"The refugee drama concerns everyone, nobody can look away." +"We football teams can, no, we must use our charisma, our influence, and our opportunities to help the many refugees who have already suffered tremendously," says Hertha manager Michael Preetz. +Hoffenheim's Managing Director Peter Rettig spoke of a prominent signal by the league. +The women's national team is inviting 100 refugees to Halle (Saale) for the World Cup qualifying match against Hungary. +Niersbach describes supporting the refugees as "a grand joint effort by German football." +It is amazing that all 36 licensed clubs have started their own projects in their own locations. +It is just as amazing that both small and large clubs are doing this. +The message "1:0 for a welcome," that we have sent out is being lived in football. +"That is of enormous significance," he said. +In both this year and next year the association together with the DFB team and the Federal government are making €300,000 available for the integration of refugees. +"The clubs have already already released the entire sum for 2015," reports Niersbach. + +Reports: SAP chief executive loses an eye in accident +According to several reports, the chief executive of Europe's largest software group, Bill McDermott, lost his left eye through a fall at the beginning of July. +In an accident on the stairs in his brother's house in the USA after midnight, he fell on a water glass he was carrying in his left hand, reported the "Wirtschaftswoche" on Wednesday. +"He almost bled to death, he was unconscious, then he dragged himself out onto the road - so he told us last week," the "WiWo" quoted SAP co-founder Hasso Plattner. +McDermott will however be able to return to work. +"We are meeting up at the board meeting in Walldorf at the beginning of October," said Plattner. +The 54-year-old manager will be at the meeting and "fully fit for work". +McDermott announced in an interview with the "Süddeutschen Zeitung" (Thursday's edition) that he will come back to Germany in October and take over the lead at the software group again. +"I am definitely there for SAP, completely involved in my job." +"I have of course been in regular contact with the board and its chairman, Hasso Plattner, the whole time," McDermott told the "SZ". +McDermott normally commutes between Germany and the USA, but since the summer he has no longer been in the SAP German headquarters in Walldorf. +Ii is important to him to go public with such a personal story, the manager told the "SZ": "It could happen to anyone". +"The important thing is to get up again if you fall down." + +McLaren reserve driver Magnussen out of action… +Magnussen twittered a photo of the damage and explained that he received the injury falling from a bike. +This means that his chances of being reserve driver to the two main drivers, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, for the night race in Singapore at the weekend are as slim as those for the Grand Prix in Japan a week later. + +Football: BVB v Krasnodar without Reus: Weidenfeller in goal +All hopes have been crushed for Borussia Dortmund that Marco Reus might make a comeback in the first group match of the European league. +The international player will also be missing from the German Bundesliga leader's match in its dual with FK Krasnodar on Thursday (7 p.m. on Sky). +"Unfortunately he isn't in the running," said Thomas Tuchel on Wednesday. +The BVB coach is leaving it open as to whether Reus will be there on Sunday in the Bundesliga top match against Leverkusen: "We are expecting him to return to training on Friday". +In light of the heavy burden on his professionals, Tuchel does not want to change his first choice 11 just because of Reus's position. +So he has announced a change of goalkeeper. +Thus Roman Weidenfeller is taking the place of regular keeper Roman Bürki. +"He's training at absolute top level," praised the world champion's football coach. +Tuchel is leaving it open as to whether Weidenfelder will be used in all European league matches in the future. +It is highly likely that he will also play the second game. +Midfielder Julian Weigl considers team mate Reus's brisk statement that the final of the European league must be BVB's objective quite understandable: "Marco isn't so far off the mark with that". +"I think we've got a good chance of picking up the title." + +Robot cars: Government wants Germany to take a leading role +The Federal Government wants Germany to be technological leaders in changes to cars. +On Wednesday the German cabinet resolved on a policy document introduced by the Minister of Transport Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) which provides, among other things, for investment in development of digital infrastructure. +Dobrindt spoke in Frankfurt on Wednesday, on the brink of the IAA motor show, about a "new era of mobility". +Automated and networked driving will increase traffic safety and ensure fewer traffic jams, said Dobrindt. +He wants to discuss the topic with his counterparts from the G7 countries, who are also meeting with representatives of industry at the IAA. +The Transport Ministry policy document stressed among other things the importance of the development of mobile broadband and a rapid switch to digital radio. +There is currently a test area on the A9 motorway to try out the new technology. +In order that "no extra liability risk will be imposed" on drivers, the government wants to "examine and, where necessary, adapt" legal parameters to the new developments. +Germany wants to agree on international provisions for the speed limit for driverless cars to be raised from 10 to 130 kilometers per hour. +The German government also wants to reach an agreement on changes to the Vienna Convention, which to date only provides for human beings as drivers. +With automatic driving the car increasingly takes control and the driver becomes more and more the passenger. +The technology is primarily based on sensors and cameras which capture the environment and process data in seconds. +According to a study submitted by the Ministry of the Environment, highly automated driving will be technically possible on motorways by 2020. +However driverless vehicles "are not anticipated until 2020" on public roads. +The authors of the study estimate the added value in the field of driver assistance systems and highly automated driving functions in Germany will be around €8.4 billion for 2025. +"Digital networking of cars can lead to greater safety and efficiency in road traffic," says SPD transport politician Sören Bartol. +However the issue of liability for accidents and the security of drivers' personal data must be conclusively clarified. +And Germans still view driverless cars sceptically – much more than the French or Americans. +A survey by the Forsa Institute commissioned by the testing organisation Dekra, presented to the IAA on Wednesday, concludes that only eight percent of Germans believe that autonomously driven vehicles will catch on in the coming 10 years, 32 percent estimate it will take 20 years and 31 percent do not believe it will happen at all. +In France 21 percent of those asked expect to see autonomously driven cars by 2025 and in the USA 33 percent. +Anyway drivers in Germany are not yet ready to rely on a completely self driven car. +According to a survey by the digital association Bitkom, only seven percent agree that control should be handed over to the car during the entire journey on all roads. +Nevertheless, 15 percent could imagine this happening on motorways in free-flowing traffic and 45 percent in traffic jams. +Approximately one in four would never give control to the car under any circumstances. + +Boll not to play in team and doubles in European Championship +As things stand, the Dusseldorf player plans to play only in the singles in the competition, running from 25 September to 4 October. +The final decision will be made on 22 September. +"It is a major loss for our team." +"The lads heard about it this morning." +"But we are strong enough to pick up the title without Timo," said national coach Jörg Rosskopf during European Championship training in Dusseldorf. +At this time Boll was on a flight to a long arranged appointment with sponsors in China. +The 34-year-old German champion is expected back on Friday. +"Without Timo we have the disadvantage of no longer being the clear favourites," declared individual European champion Dimitrij Ovcharov. +But the Hamelin player, who is the top seed in Ekaterinburg, also remembers the European Championship in Schwechat in 2013. +"We didn't have Timo then either, and we still became European Champions." +"That is what we need to focus on," declared the world number five. + +The English football national player Luke Shaw, of Manchester, United has sustained a severe injury to his right leg. +In the course of the tackle in the Champions League game with PSV Eindhoven, the defender was hit by Héctor Moreno and after a long bout of treatment was replaced. +Initial diagnosis indicates that the 20-year-old who used to play with Bastian Schweinsteiger has broken his tibia. + +Gaultier feels too old to be an enfant terrible +It is a mixture of a huge fashion show and a waxworks chamber of horrors: designer Jean Paul Gaultier (63) presented an exhibition of his work in Munich on Wednesday. +The highlights: mannequins which look alarmingly human thanks to video projection. +They wear the French designer's spectacular creations, which among other things became the big star of the fashion scene with Madonna's stage outfits - and also put men in skirts. +"These days I can't say I'm the enfant terrible of haute couture any longer, because I have white hair." +“It used to be bleached, nowadays it's real,” says Gaultier. +For visitors to the exhibition, "From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk", which can be seen in the Kunsthalle at the Hypo Culture Foundation from 1 September, it is fortunate that the fashion designer has changed his initially reluctant attitude to a show about his own character. +Originally he was against it because, "For me an exhibition sounded a bit like death," he said. +When you die, you get put into a museum. +This remarkable collection has already been staged in Montreal, Canada, and in Paris. +It's about a lot more than beautiful clothes," says the director of the Kunsthalle, Roger Diederen. +It is about tolerance, acceptance and the vision of an open society. +The exhibits provide an insight into the hard to overlook work of the man who wrote the history of fashion without ever having finished his education. +The show is not constructed chronologically, but it is a brilliantly choreographed complete work of art which has involved a great deal of effort: for example a stylist has been engaged especially to look after the mannequins' hair. +According to curator Thierry-Maxime Loriot, the creators carted 14 tonnes of material to Munich. +Shortly before the start of Oktoberfest there was also a special treat in store: a Lederhosen outfit with a corset. +Heidi meets Madonna +He has always been interested in strong women ("Women are cleverer than men") and in people who are a little different, says Gaultier. +Even Gaultier's old teddy is on show in the exhibition. +He represents the designer's first, tentative steps at fashion. +As a child (he was not a good pupil and he was bad at football), he dressed his teddy in bras and dresses. +His parents did not allow him to play with dolls. +Later he taught himself fashion design. +He stole fashion magazines and scrutinised other designers' creations, Gaultier told us in Munich. +Of course, later I bought them. +He was not able to pay the models for his first fashion show. +They got nothing, but they were allowed to keep the clothes. + +Decoration instead of curtains – Plauen lace as a fashion niche +There used to be long embroidery machines in and around Plauen making many metres +of embroidered fabrics and laces in vast quantities for customers who made, for example, table cloths and curtains. +This is no longer the case today, explains Andreas Reinhardt, managing director of Modespitze Plauen. +Instead, fashion is once more important. +In the early days of Plauen lace, fashion played a large role, then it was replaced by the home textile industry – and now it is being rediscovered as a niche. +Reinhardt gave a few examples: lace in decoration, for accessories such as bags and for traditional costumes. +Generally, so-called vintage fashion, based on style eras from the past, is producing an increasing potential for orders. +Anyone in the textile industry in Germany who cannot serve a niche is no longer in the market. +We are already getting half of all our contracts this way. +Modespitze Plauen, together with nine other businesses, is a member of the Plauener Spitze und Stickereien trade association. +Only they are allowed to bear the protected label. +Sales have fallen by around 80 percent over the last 15 years. +There are now hardly any private speciality shops or wholesalers. +Our products hardly reach the customers over these channels. +Nowadays mass produced goods are manufactured much more cheaply in the Asian region and sold almost exclusively through chains. +Furthermore exports to Russia and the USA are currently weakening slightly. +This is enough reason for new directions. +The trade association is also trying to score with environmental consciousness, as Cordelia Bauer of Stickperle in Falkenstein explains. "As of this year we have implemented a seal of quality which shows that our production is ecologically and socially compatible. +Reinhardt added, "This also applies to the materials we use". +Qualified designer Ute Schmidt teaches in the faculty for applied arts at the Schneeberg branch of the West Saxony University of Zwickau and specialises in embroidery and lace. +In order to face the competition from the Asian regions one has to find high-quality and innovative products. +That takes time and courage. +There is a field of tension between the designers' newest ideas and businesses, who must think primarily in commercial terms," says Schmidt. +This is why existing designs are often only slightly varied in order to keep core customers. +A few years ago textile designer Kati Reuter revitalised the historic snowball lace. +The machines embroider small beads in selected places. +Plauen master goldsmith Bianca Hallebach-Krauße was inspired by this. "In the past I had no use for traditional Plauen lace". +Now she uses the snowball lace for her jewellery. +Using an elaborate process she embosses the pattern in silver. +"Many people in the region identify themselves with Plauen lace – young and old," says Reuter. +She also delivers to the USA, Australia and Finland – primarily to customers whose forefathers lived in Plauen and the surrounding area and who want to have a memento. +So with my jewellery I see myself as a modern ambassador for Plauen lace. + +Disney plans new "Mary Poppins" film +You shouldn't interfere with legends, but Disney is daring to make a new film of the classic "Mary Poppins" anyway. +But according to "Entertainment Weekly" it is not going to be a remake but a sort of sequel, set 20 years after the first film with the magical nanny. +It is about the nanny's experiences with the Banks family in the time of the Great Depression in England. +Who is going to take the role of Mary Poppins, played 50 years ago by Julie Andrews, is not yet certain. +But the director has been decided: Rob Marshall, whose most recent film was "Into the Woods". + +Xi urges to open economy wider to world +The economy must open wider to the outside world to fuel growth, President Xi Jinping told a group tasked with steering reform on Tuesday. +"China should be committed to attracting foreign investment and expertise, and improve opening-up policies," he said, addressing the 16th Meeting of the Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform. +Promoting opening up while pushing forward reforms will add new impetus and vitality, and provide new room for economic growth, Xi said. +The leading group adopted a series of guidelines including a negative list regulating market access, relaxation of border-control policies, encouraging state-owned enterprises (SOE) to absorb private capital and overhauling the resident registration system. +According to the statement, a negative list, identifying sectors and businesses that are off-limits for investment, will be drawn up. +The system will be gradually tested and improved through trial programs. +The move is significant as it will give the market a bigger role in allocating resources, ensuring a law-based business environment and making the market more open, the statement said. +The government will also loosen controls on the powers it delegates to companies, making sure that companies decide how to run their businesses. +The statement also said China will allow border areas to explore new models of cross-border economic cooperation and new mechanisms for promoting regional growth. +In a bid to open up state-controlled sectors, more areas will be open to private investment. +"The government will not change its policy toward foreign investment, and will protect the lawful interests of foreign-funded companies and provide better services for them," said the statement. +In addition, it will be made easier for foreigners to apply for permanent residence permits, or "green card," by optimizing requirements and streamlining the application process. +Guaranteeing lawyers' right to practice and nurturing professional judges and prosecutors were also discussed at a meeting. +The meeting was also attended by Premier Li Keqiang, and senior leaders Liu Yunshan and Zhang Gaoli, according to a statement released after the meeting. + +EU wants to double the mercury limit in predatory fish +The EU commission wants to double the limits for mercury in large predatory fish and consumers therefore can expect a significantly higher dose of this neurotoxin. +The consumer organisation Foodwatch, to which an EU working paper on the subject was made available, is heavily critical of the plans. "Risks and side effects of inappropriate industry and environmental politics will be passed on with full force to pregnant women and small children," declared Matthias Wolfschmidt of Foodwatch. +According to Wolfschmidt, the limits for the neurotoxin for large fish at the end of the food chain such as for example shark or swordfish are going to be raised from 1 to 2 mg of mercury per kilogram of fish for "economic reasons". +Large predatory fish however are today so heavily contaminated with mercury that based on the still current limits some 50 percent of catches may not be sold. +Once the limit has been doubled, however, only 14.5 percent would be unsaleable. +In return for this relaxation the EU, according to Foodwatch, wants to tighten the limits for other fish from the current 0.5 mg to 0.1 mg of mercury per kilogram. +But Foodwatch describes this as a "trick", because smaller prey fish, such as for example carp, generally have so little contamination that these planned maximum levels are already complied with today. +The reduction for small fish therefore is "a perfidious diversionary tactic which helps only the economy," declares Wolfschmidt. +Mercury is for human beings a highly toxic heavy metal which accumulates largely in the food chain, above all in predatory fish. +For this reason the German government has issued a warning that "even low levels, particularly in unborn children, can lead to damage to the nervous system". +The German Environment Minister, however, declared on his home page with regard to the current maximum levels that a "health risk to the general population" is not anticipated. +Mercury is released into the environment primarily through the burning of coal. +German coal plants, according to written information from the German Ministry of the Environment to Green Bundestag member Annalena Baerbock, discharge more than six tonnes of mercury per year, two thirds of the total amount emitted in Germany. +The concentration of mercury in fish, for example in the Elbe, Rhine and Danube, is "extensively exceeded on a long-term basis," the "Spiegel" newspaper quoted from the paper in March. +In the past year, Europe-wide alerts on mercury in fish rated among the most frequently reported health risks in the EU warning system RASFF. +Foodwatch is calling for consumers to protest against the EU plans under: www.quecksilber-aktion.foodwatch.de