Donald Trump took a break from bashing fellow Republicans on Tuesday to praise the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs during a fundraiser in the team’s hometown.

“Wouldn’t it be great if the country were run like that?” the GOP presidential nominee asked, referring to the Spurs, according to Texas Tribune reporter Patrick Svitek.

The Spurs, indeed, have been an ideal NBA franchise over the last two decades, winning five NBA titles and making the playoffs every season since 1997.

But Trump must not be much of a basketball fan. If he paid any attention to the NBA, he’d know that on the court and off, the Spurs operate in a manner completely opposite of the way he wants to run the country. And that’s not just because head coach Gregg Popovich has built a consistent winner that avoids the type of craven media attention Trump so desperately seeks.

*The Spurs Are A Team Of Immigrants*The entire NBA has experienced a boom in foreign-born players in recent decades, but no franchise has capitalized on it like the Spurs. 

The team’s championship rosters have featured stars like Argentina’s Manu Ginobli and France’s Tony Parker, and role players like Tiago Splitter (Brazil), Boris Diaw (France) and Patty Mills, the second indigenous Australian to ever play in the NBA. Nazr Mohammed, an American-born Muslim whose parents were Ghanaian immigrants, played for the Spurs’ 2005 championship team. 

The Spurs set the record for most foreign-born NBA players on a single roster in 2012, but the title lasted just one year, because the Spurs broke it in 2013 (counting Tim Duncan, an American citizen born in the U.S. Virgin Islands).

In 2015, the Spurs used their second-round draft pick on Cady Lalanne, a Haitian who once lived in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant. The team has nine foreign-born players on its 2016 roster.

*The Spurs Have Stood Up To Anti-Immigrant Xenophobia*While Trump has stoked xenophobia and racism against immigrants ― especially those from Mexico ― the Spurs have pushed back against such outbursts. In 2013, the team invited Sebastien De La Cruz, an 11-year-old Mexican American, to sing the national anthem before Game 3 of the NBA Finals. 

De La Cruz took the court in a traditional mariachi suit and delivered a rousing version of the anthem. But his performance drew racist backlash on social media, where people made fun of him with insults like, “They prolly made this Mexican sing to stay in America.”

Popovich blasted the “idiots” who were “proud of their ignorance.” The franchise went further: it invited De La Cruz back to sing the anthem before Game 4.

*The Spurs Put A Woman In Charge*In August 2014, the Spurs made former WNBA player Becky Hammon the first woman to hold a full-time assistant coaching job in NBA history. The next summer, the Spurs made Hammon the head coach of their Las Vegas Summer League team. Hammon led them to the Summer League title, and in 2016, became the first woman to coach in the NBA All-Star Game.

Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly questioned whether Hillary Clinton ― the first woman to earn a major party’s presidential nomination ― has the energy or stamina to serve as president, and has lobbed repeated sexist attacks at his opponent (to say nothing of past lewd and sexist comments that are now plaguing his campaign).

*The Spurs Backed An LGBT Rights Ordinance In San Antonio*

Trump has repeatedly said that he would be pro-LGBT rights as president, but his record doesn’t quite back up that rhetoric. He opposes marriage equality, for instance, and selected Indiana Gov. Mike Pence ― an anti-LGBT Republican ― as his running mate.

The Spurs, by contrast, publicly supported a 2013 San Antonio ordinance that added sexual orientation and gender identity to city nondiscrimination laws. The ordinance passed.

*Gregg Popovich Supported Colin Kaepernick’s Protests *Popovich hasn’t shied away from politics during his time as the Spurs head coach, especially in the last few years. Before this season, a reporter asked his opinion of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel during the national anthem to protest police brutality.

“I absolutely understand why they’re doing what they’re doing, and I respect their courage for what they’ve done,” Popovich said. “It’s easier for white people because we haven’t lived that experience. It’s difficult for many white people to understand the day-to-day feeling that many black people have to deal with.”

Popovich said that Kaepernick had forced people “to face the issue,” and that he would support his players if they chose to protest.

Trump has told Kaepernick to “find a country that works better for him.” He has accused the Black Lives Matter movement of instigating police killings and suggested the movement should be under federal investigation.

Popovich, by the way, doesn’t seem to be a fan of Trump, if his mid-game reaction to learning that The Donald had won February’s New Hampshire primary is any indication:


Popovich gonna Popovich #SASatMIA https://t.co/rEb69k39s3

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 10, 2016

Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.

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What does the Vatican know about alien life? And is there a threat of a war in space?

These are among the issues that a former astronaut wanted to discuss with John Podesta, who worked in the Obama administration and is now Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, according to new emails published Friday by WikiLeaks.

The hacked emails have already drawn a great deal of attention because they contain excerpts of what appear to be Clinton’s paid speeches to Wall Street executives. But extraterrestrial enthusiasts are particularly interested in two documents that focus on UFOs, an alien presence around Earth and a belief that the Vatican has some knowledge about all of this.

The emails are from Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon during the Apollo 14 mission in 1971. He wrote to Podesta on Jan. 18, 2015, asking for a meeting “ASAP” to discuss government disclosure of extraterrestrial life forms and zero point energy, an alleged alien technology that Mitchell strongly believed could be used as an unlimited source of infinite free energy for our planet.

At the time, Podesta was serving as a top adviser to President Barack Obama. He left the administration soon after.

The email indicated that one of Mitchell’s colleagues would also attend the meeting “to bring us up to date on the Vatican’s awareness of ETI [Extra Terrestrial Intelligence].”After he left the space program, Mitchell founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences, dedicated to unlocking the secrets of the human mind. He was also very outspoken about his beliefs that Earth had been visited for many years by extraterrestrials, the UFO phenomenon was real and the truth about it all had been kept from the public.

Mitchell likely reached out to Podesta because of Podesta’s longtime interest in UFOs and criticism of the U.S. government for holding back information on the issue.

In the astronaut’s second email, sent on Aug. 18, 2015, he wrote that “non-violent ETI from the contiguous universe are helping us bring zero point energy to Earth. They will not tolerate any forms of military violence on Earth or in space.”

Mitchell expressed concern about a growing military presence in space and the threat of a space-based war between China, Russia and the U.S. involving anti-satellite weapons.When Podesta stepped down in 2015 from his post in the Obama administration, he tweeted that his biggest regret about leaving the administration was some unfinished UFO business: “My biggest failure of 2014: Once again not securing the disclosure of the UFO files.” 

Podesta then went on to become Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman. It’s not clear if he ever replied to the emails, and Yahoo reports that he never met with Mitchell. The astronaut died in February 2016.

Mitchell’s concerns about UFOs, ETs and zero point energy raise several questions. What was he talking about when he suggested the Vatican knew something about ETI? (In recent years, several Vatican officials have suggested that the idea of actual aliens would most likely expand, rather than diminish, religion.) And did he really think there was a threat of a war in space?

Other WikiLeaks emails may contain more information from individuals who were trying to meet with Podesta to discuss various aspects of the UFO-ET connection. There are still thousands to pore through.

Perhaps one of them will be the real smoking gun. 

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WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to decide whether to block a lawsuit against former Attorney General John Ashcroft and others by non-U.S. citizens, mainly Muslims, swept up after the Sept. 11 attacks who said they were abused in detention.

The senior officials under former President George W. Bush, also including former FBI Director Robert Mueller and Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner James Ziglar, have asked the justices to reverse a 2015 lower court ruling allowing the long-running suit to proceed.

The civil rights lawsuit seeks to hold the former officials responsible for racial and religious profiling and abuse in detention that the plaintiffs said they endured after being detained following the 2001 attacks by al Qaeda Islamic militants on the United States.

The brief order said two justices, liberals Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, will not participate, meaning only six justices will hear the case. The court remains one justice short following Antonin Scalia’s February death.

The suit was filed by a group of Muslim, Arab and South Asian non-U.S. citizens who, their lawyers said, were held as terrorism suspects based on their race, religion, ethnicity and immigration status and abused in detention before being deported.

They were charged only with civil immigration violations. But the plaintiffs said they were subjected at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center to 23-hours-a-day solitary confinement, strip searches, sleep deprivation, beatings and other abuses and denied the ability to practice their religion.

They said their rights under the U.S. Constitution to due process and equal protection under the law were violated.

The plaintiffs include Benamar Benatta, an Algerian Muslim who was seeking refugee status in Canada, and Ahmed Khalifa, an Egyptian Muslim who said he was on vacation.

During the U.S. Justice Department’s massive investigation after the 2001 attacks, certain immigrants in the country illegally were detained until being cleared of Sept. 11 involvement.

The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Ashcroft, Mueller and Ziglar could be sued, based on a 1971 Supreme Court ruling. In 2013, a judge had dismissed the claims against them but allowed some against detention facility wardens.

Ashcroft and Mueller are represented by the Justice Department, which asked the justices to hear the appeal. Government lawyers say there is no proof Ashcroft or Mueller personally condoned any potential unconstitutional actions.

The court will hear arguments and rule by the end of June.

In a similar previous case, the Supreme Court in 2009 backed Ashcroft, saying a lawsuit by detainees failed to contain specific details on Ashcroft’s involvement.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)

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WASHINGTON ― A middleman the State Department relied on to hire unarmed guards at the U.S. facility in Benghazi, Libya, previously worked with a company that’s now at the center of a massive international bribery scandal.

The FBI and law enforcement agencies in at least four other countries are investigating allegations ― first published by The Huffington Post and Fairfax Media ― that a Monaco-based company called Unaoil bribed public officials to secure contracts for major corporations in corruption-prone regions. In Libya, Unaoil partnered with a Tripoli-based businessman named Muhannad Alamir. A former Unaoil employee who served as a confidential source for the FBI told investigators that Unaoil and Alamir bribed Libyan officials. Unaoil and Alamir deny they bribed anyone.

Alamir started working with the State Department in early 2012, less than three years after cutting ties with Unaoil. He provided Blue Mountain Group, the small British security firm that won the Benghazi guard contract, with the license it needed to legally operate in Libya.

The State Department hired Alamir and Blue Mountain to recruit the local unarmed guards who were supposed to secure the perimeter of the Benghazi compound on the night of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack.

The State Department’s Accountability Review Board concluded that Blue Mountain’s performance was “inadequate” and contributed to the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans ― but made no mention of Alamir or his companies, Eclipse and Xpand. The ARB acknowledged that unarmed guards couldn’t be expected to repel an attack, but nonetheless faulted them for failing to warn U.S. personnel.

“No [Blue Mountain] guards were present outside the compound immediately before the attack ensued, although perimeter security was one of their responsibilities, and there is conflicting information as to whether they sounded any alarms prior to fleeing,” the ARB found.None of the myriad Republican-led investigations into the Benghazi attack ― and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s role in the aftermath ― have exposed who Blue Mountain’s local partners were or how they got the job.

Here’s what HuffPost and Fairfax Media found when we investigated: It’s not clear that the State Department knew — or cared — exactly whom Blue Mountain was working with in-country.

Clinton, who’s now the Democratic nominee for president, convinced President Barack Obama to intervene in Libya. The operation was supposed to be a low-cost triumph of what Clinton called “smart power,” in which U.S. airstrikes, diplomacy, and Libyan rebel groups would win a swift victory without the need to involve U.S. ground troops. An invasion wasn’t on the table. Instead, the U.S. led “from behind,” one of Obama’s aides told The New Yorker.

But the problems that beset the State Department’s Benghazi guard contract — and contributed to the deaths of the four Americans at the mission there — highlight the limited options the U.S has when it tries to intervene in an unstable country, such as post-Gaddafi Libya, without committing many of its own personnel. They show just how little due diligence the State Department did before hiring a key element of the security force for the Benghazi facility. And they point to the flaws in a 1990 law that required the department to choose the lowest-cost guards “technically acceptable” — even in dangerous regions.


No [Blue Mountain] guards were present outside the compound immediately before the attack ensued, although perimeter security was one of their responsibilities.
State Department's Accountability Review Board
This story comes out of a broader HuffPost investigation of international bribery. In March, HuffPost and Fairfax Media, drawing on over 100,000 of Unaoil’s internal emails, revealed the company’s habit of bribing foreign officials to secure contracts for its clients.

Unaoil has denied the allegations but declined to answer specific questions for this story. Alamir wasn’t aware of Unaoil’s “alleged bribery business model” when he worked with the company, he said in a phone interview. “I never took part in any such schemes,” he added.

Unaoil and Alamir started working together in 2008, when Unaoil entered into a joint venture with Eclipse. Unaoil executives were initially attracted to Alamir because they believed he had ties to the regime of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

“The key strength of Muhannad is that he has Aisa [Basher] working for him (who takes 50% of the gross profit of all business generated) whose uncle is Abdul Rahman Kafar, a close confidant of Saif’s,” a Unaoil employee wrote in the minutes for an internal December 2008 meeting. “Saif” referred to Saif Gaddafi, the dictator’s son and heir apparent, who exercised enormous power over the disposition of Libyan oil contracts.
But Alamir downplays any ties to the ousted regime. “Mr. Basher acted as a consultant from time to time in conducting business in Libya, but he was never on my payroll,” he told HuffPost. “If Unaoil thought they were going to get big contracts because of him, they were going to be disappointed.”

Bribery facilitated by local operators was commonplace under Gaddafi’s regime. “Most of these companies are run by families or militia groups,” said David Mack, a former U.S. ambassador to Libya who was based in Benghazi in the 1970s. “They are basically general purpose companies that trade on the degree of their relationship with the government or its contact rather than on any great track record in terms of providing a specific kind of industrial service.”

At least some of Unaoil’s clients seemed to think that the role of Unaoil and Eclipse in Libya was to pay bribes on their behalf.

“What we are curious about is to what type of Baksheesh is needed to present to these men in order to get work started,” Kelsey Kalinski, then-president of Canadian fracking firm Canuck Completions, wrote to Alamir in a December 2008 email. “I believe this is common practice in Libya, but we are not sure how to handle this. Is this something that needs to be done after work hours one on one? A added value amount to the ticket for them, or a flat fee a month, we are not sure. What are your thoughts on this?”

“I dont know what [he] means by bakhsheesh,” Saman Ahsani, Unaoil’s chief operating officer and allegedly a key figure in its bribery efforts in other countries, wrote to Alamir and two Unaoil employees the next day after seeing the email. “May I remind everybody of our Group’s code of conduct and zero tolerance of any facilitation activities. He needs a talking to.”


What we are curious about is to what type of Baksheesh is needed to present to these men in order to get work started.
Business executive Kelsey Kalinski in an email to Muhannad Alamir
It’s not clear whether Ahsani ever responded to Kalinski directly, and Kalinski did not return a request for comment. But Alamir said he never responded to Kalinski’s email. “I completely ignored his baksheesh comment, because that is not the way we do business,” he said.

Unaoil ended its partnership with Eclipse in 2009. “I am pure fed up with these deceiving guys,” Ata Ahsani, Unaoil’s founder, wrote in an October 2009 email to two of his sons, who are executives at the company. “Let us get the best deal possible, noting our expenses ... and say goodbye.”

“I sincerely have no idea what deception they are referring to,” Alamir told HuffPost, adding that he returned Unaoil’s initial investment money when they split up. “I don’t think business developed fast enough for them. Maybe we’re just too small for them.”

Less than three years after that split, the State Department needed local guards in Benghazi. Department officials didn’t seem bothered by — or even necessarily interested in — the history of Blue Mountain’s partners in Libya. Presented with detailed questions for this story, the department wouldn’t say whether it knew about Eclipse’s work with Unaoil or its supposed connections to Gaddafi. Nor would it say whether the contracting process included any vetting of Blue Mountain’s local partners.


You either didn’t have any people there at all, or you invade and occupy Libya against their will and set yourself up for the kind of thing that happened in Iraq.
Former Ambassador David Mack
Part of the problem was that the State Department had very few options. U.S. troops weren’t welcome in Libya, and America’s role in that country was designed to be low-profile and low-cost. Without the option of U.S. Marines guarding the Benghazi compound ― as is the case in some conflict zones ― the department relied on local unarmed guards to patrol the building’s perimeter and serve as a first-warning system.

“The same people providing security were the ones who import refrigerators for other clients,” said Mack, the former ambassador, describing the options for locally hired security firms.

“All the discussion that’s taken place about why didn’t we have more security there ― it’s really beside the point,” Mack said. “You either didn’t have any people there at all, or you invade and occupy Libya against their will and set yourself up for the kind of thing that happened in Iraq.”State officials also didn’t have much time.

“This was a contract that was slapped together in a hurry,” Jan Visintainer, the State Department contracting officer who oversaw the security contract after it was awarded, testified last year to the House Select Committee on Benghazi. “So it was not in the best of shape.”

She said the full contracting process usually takes 18 months, but “this was solicited in January … and contract performance started on March 1st.” (The publicly released transcript did not include the name of the person testifying, but multiple congressional sources confirmed it was Visintainer. She did not return a request for comment.)

Although Eclipse was Alamir’s main company, he created a new entity, which he called Blue Mountain Libya, to partner with Blue Mountain Group on the Benghazi contract, he told HuffPost. He said he started another company, Xpand, with investors he knew in Jordan and used it to fund Blue Mountain Libya. There’s no publicly available evidence that the State Department ever vetted Alamir or his companies.

U.S. officials didn’t have to pick Blue Mountain Group and Alamir. The State Department’s effort to hire local guards started in January 2012, according to documents obtained by HuffPost, and initially yielded only one bidder: Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions, a Virginia firm owned and operated by Jerry Torres, a Special Forces veteran. The Torres firm had its own local partner, a Libyan group called Atlas.

In an effort to create a competitive process, State asked for more bids. Torres applied again. But this time, Blue Mountain — which had partnered with Alamir and Eclipse in late 2011 to seek contracts guarding Libyan oil fields — jumped in.

Torres had recruited, trained and managed thousands of armed and unarmed local guards worldwide, including in conflict zones like Iraq and Afghanistan. When it bid on the Benghazi contract, it was also providing local guard services to U.S. embassies in Slovakia, Burundi, Paraguay and Zambia, according to its technical proposal.

Blue Mountain, headed by former Special Forces member and Tough Mudder enthusiast Nigel Thomas, was comparatively unknown. “Prior to taking over that contract, I had not heard of Blue Mountain Group,” Visintainer testified.

“Nobody had ever heard of them. It was headquartered in Wales. It was tiny,” said Charles Tiefer, a law professor at the University of Baltimore who served on the U.S. Commission on Wartime Contracting, which investigated government procurement practices in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As part of the bidding process, Blue Mountain, Torres and Atlas were scheduled to visit the Benghazi mission on Feb. 1, 2012. The State Department pushed the visit back half an hour to accommodate one participant’s flight delay, an internal department email shows. Blue Mountain never showed up, said Brad Owens, who oversaw Torres’ work in Libya.

A State Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the site visit. Blue Mountain did not respond to a list of questions, including one about the site visit.

But Blue Mountain’s inability to show up didn’t appear to hurt its pitch. What mattered ― apparently far more than Blue Mountain’s credentials or connections — was that the company was the lowest bidder.

At the time, a 1990 law required the State Department to award the contract to the bidder with the “lowest-priced technically acceptable” proposal. Blue Mountain bid around $30,000 less than Torres — about 4.5 percent ― according to contracting documents obtained by HuffPost. So Blue Mountain got the contract. (There’s no evidence that State’s contracting officials at the time thought Torres would do better work.)

Two weeks after the bungled site visit, the department began finalizing a yearlong contract with Blue Mountain to provide unarmed guards, whose main responsibility was to limit access to the Benghazi facility and provide early warning of an attack. (The State Department relied on diplomatic security agents and a small contingent of the February 17 Martyrs Brigade, a poorly trained Libyan militia, for armed protection.) Taxpayers ended up shelling out nearly $800,000 to Blue Mountain for some 50,000 guard hours.


Nobody had ever heard of them. It was headquartered in Wales. It was tiny.
Professor Charles Tiefer, speaking of Blue Mountain Group
All the while, Blue Mountain was partnered with Alamir, the same man with whom the now-notorious Unaoil had cut ties two years earlier. Alamir was “not the type” to get a contract like the Benghazi arrangement, one former business associate told HuffPost. “I was shocked.”

Several months after the State Department awarded the contract to Blue Mountain, a U.S. official raised his own concerns about the firm. “The company has lost several security contracts here in Tripoli, including the Corinthian Hotel and Palm City Complex,” Tripoli Acting Regional Security Officer Jairo Saravia wrote to colleagues in June 2012. (Saravia declined to comment.)

The relationship between Alamir and Blue Mountain deteriorated rapidly. By the end of June, Xpand informed the State Department that it wanted to cut Blue Mountain out of the contract and replace it with a Washington-based firm called Cohort International. State officials responded that Blue Mountain and Xpand should resolve the conflict on their own.

On Aug. 20, Blue Mountain told the department it had dissolved the relationship with Xpand. A lawyer claiming to represent Alamir’s firm informed the State Department on Sept. 9 ― two days before the Benghazi attack ― that Blue Mountain was prohibited from using Xpand’s Libyan license going forward.

“We kindly inform you that any use of such license by [Blue Mountain] in Libya shall be illegal and a clear violation of Libyan laws,” wrote the lawyer, whose name was redacted from the State Department email. “We therefore request that the U.S. mission ceases any dealings with [Blue Mountain] if such dealings are based on any form of reliance on such security license.”

Despite the lawyer’s claims, the dissolution agreement between the two firms allowed Blue Mountain to continue relying on Xpand’s license, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told HuffPost.

Nonetheless, it appears that State officials were considering other options. On Aug. 31, Visintainer, the contracting officer, pulled a Torres employee out of an unrelated meeting and asked if his company was prepared to work in Libya.

“She would not state the reason,” the Torres employee told co-workers in an email obtained by HuffPost. He suspected that either there were problems with the Benghazi contract or a new opportunity had arisen in Tripoli. “I said we could and I would ensure that our arrangements with Atlas remain in effect,” the email continued.


Had we won that bid, Ambassador Stevens would be alive today.
Brad Owens of Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions
On the day of the Benghazi attack, State officials wrote in internal emails that they felt they had to terminate Blue Mountain’s contract. They planned to hire approximately 20 guards as mission employees “in case [Blue Mountain] was unable to perform the contract services,” Trudeau said.

Before they could act, more than 100 gunmen armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades breached the wall surrounding the Benghazi compound and set fire to the facility. Ambassador Stevens, U.S. Foreign Service officer Sean Smith and CIA contractors Tyrone S. Woods and Glen Doherty were ultimately killed in the attack.

Blue Mountain was “the wrong contractor in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Tiefer said.

Owens, the Torres employee who oversaw its Libya work, is convinced events would have turned out differently if his company had been in charge of security that day. “Had we won that bid, Ambassador Stevens would be alive today,” he said.

It’s impossible to know whether Owens’ assessment is true.

But Blue Mountain’s poor performance and the small price margin by which it won the job exposes the fatal flaw in “lowest-priced technically acceptable” contracting. “The truth of the matter is you get what you pay for. We’ve seen this over and over again,” said Dov Zakheim, a former undersecretary of defense who served with Tiefer on the U.S. Commission on Wartime Contracting.

“When life and limb are at risk, such as when buying body armor for our troops overseas or barriers for our embassies, I don’t know that ‘lowest-priced technically acceptable’ is the right vehicle,” said Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) during an 11-hour congressional hearing on Benghazi last October.

Former Secretary of State Clinton, the hearing’s star witness, suggested that a working group, including members of key congressional committees, could *“*look to see whether we couldn’t get a little more flexibility into this decision making.”So far, for all the congressional outrage over the security situation in Benghazi, the 1990 law remains on the books.

Partially in response to the 2012 attack, Congress included language in the past two annual spending bills that temporarily authorized the State Department to award local-guard contracts based on “best value” rather than lowest price. Duckworth supports permanently lifting the lowest-price requirement for such contracts.

But the spending deal with the temporary language expires at the end of December, and there’s no guarantee the exception will make it into next year’s bill. The latest State Department authorization bill includes a permanent lifting of the lowest-price requirement ― but the department can operate without a new authorization and Congress often neglects to pass one.

State Department officials declined to comment on how much the department had known about Eclipse and Xpand. But if staffers had been aware of Alamir’s past ties to Unaoil, a company that relied on bribery to get work, it’s unlikely that Blue Mountain would have received the contract.

There is now widespread agreement, including at the State Department, that security arrangements at the Benghazi facility were insufficient. The department’s reliance on unarmed Blue Mountain guards and “poorly skilled” February 17 Martyrs Brigade members for protection “was misplaced,” the Accountability Review Board found.

Despite the damning internal review and seven prior congressional probes, House Republicans voted overwhelmingly in 2014 to establish a special committee to further investigate the 2012 attack. Two years and $7 million later, the committee released an 800-page report. Democrats dismissed it as a partisan attack on Clinton, by then their expected presidential nominee.

The report echoed earlier criticisms of security lapses, but revealed little substantive information about the contracting process that contributed to the problem. The Benghazi committee report mentioned Blue Mountain 12 times. Alamir, Eclipse and Xpand weren’t mentioned once.

Laura Barron-Lopez contributed reporting. 

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TOKYO, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited (hereafter, Daiichi Sankyo) announced on October 12 details of the application for its "Take a New Challenge for Drug Discovery (TaNeDS) Europe 2017," a collaborative drug discovery initiative for universities and research institutes in Europe.

The TaNeDS programme was launched in Japan in 2011 to help discover new lines of research through open innovation. From 2013, it has expanded outside of Japan, opening up to researchers in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and became known as TaNeDS Global Programme. Since 2014, it has expanded further across Europe to include all EU member states and was renamed "TaNeDS Europe" in 2015. The aim of this programme is increasing collaborative opportunities with researchers in Europe.

About TaNeDS Europe 2017 Collaborative Drug Discovery Programme

1. Eligible Countries:
All EU member states plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Israel

2. Candidate Research for Application
New drug-target discovery, drug-target validation, and innovative technological research that could result in novel drug discovery and development.

3. Research Themes

(1) Cancer
New mechanisms and drug-target validation study for small-molecule and biologic treatments (antibody drugs, etc.)

(2) Pain and Sensory Neuron Disorder
New mechanisms and drug treatments for pain and sensory neuronal systems in vision/hearing loss

(3) End-Organ Diseases
New targets and mechanisms of end-organ diseases from heart, kidney, liver and vascular diseases 

(4) Other Internal Diseases
New mechanisms and drug treatments for rare diseases, gastrointestinal disorder and anaemia

(5) Cell Therapy
Research on novel somatic stem/progenitor cells, adoptive T-cell therapy and new technology on cell/gene modification

(6) Revolutionary Drug Discovery Technology
Novel technology on oncology, nucleic acid therapeutics, gene therapy and drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics

For more details, please visit TaNeDS Europe webpage at:
http://www.daiichisankyo.com/rd/taneds/index.html

4. Budget and Period of Research
Depending on the project type, up to maximum of 80,000 (Type A) or 150,000 (Type B) euros (plus overhead) per year for collaborative research projects for 2 years

5. Eligibility
Researchers of any nationality employed by universities, research institutes and start-up companies within the EU as well as Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Israel, who can conduct research in those countries

6. Selection criteria
By matching Daiichi Sankyo's research interests as well as demonstrating originality, potentiality and possibility of drug discovery

7. Schedule
Application period: January 10 to February 20, 2017
First shortlist selection period: Late February to late Mid-March, 2017
Second shortlist selection period: April, 2017
On-site visit interview: Mid-May, 2017 
Notification of final decision: Early June, 2017
Start of research programme: August 2017 and onward

About Selection Results for TaNeDS Europe 2015/2016 Collaborative Drug Discovery Programme:

The selection for 2015/2016 resulted in four projects, and the three collaborations are currently underway having one under negotiation.
(1) Applications: 191
(2) Selected: 4

The themes of four selected proposals are Cancer Biologics (Switzerland), Sensory Neuron (the Netherlands), Rare Diseases (Ireland), and Anaemia (Sweden).

About Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited
Representative: Joji Nakayama, Representative Director, President and CEO
(Code no.: 4568, First Section, Tokyo Stock Exchange)
http://www.daiichisankyo.com Reported by PR Newswire Asia 4 hours ago.

By Deborah Kearns

Ah, fall. The return of all things pumpkin-spiced, cooler weather and the new school year (which this mom is thrilled about). It's also an opportune time to buy a home and possibly snag a great deal in the process.

Buyer demand begins to wane this time of the year, which means motivated home sellers are more likely to play ball with you in negotiations. If you didn't find the right home during the busy summer season, or if you're just starting the process as a first-time homebuyer, here are four reasons why buying a home after school is back in session might be the best move you'll make this year.

*1. Less competition*
Once school starts, there are fewer buyers to compete with on your offer. Most families prefer to move before their darlings head back to school. Also, cooler weather drives down demand. In fact, from now until February, buyers have more leverage than during the rest of the year because there's still a large amount of inventory relative to the time of year, says Jonathan Smoke, Realtor.com's chief economist.

In 2015, sales of existing single-family homes nationwide declined 3.7%, from 4.86 million in July to 4.68 million in October, according to the National Association of Realtors. Granted, if you live in a market with a tight inventory and brisk sales (such as San Francisco and Seattle), you still might face stiff competition. But in markets like Indianapolis or St. Louis, you'll see a lot less gladiator-style jostling and more chances to negotiate with sellers when you buy a home.

*2. Prices match market value*
If homes listed during the busy summer months didn't sell, chances are that they were overpriced. That means homebuyers will see prices fall more in line with market value, says Mark Goldman, a real estate instructor at San Diego State University and a loan officer with C2 Financial Corp.

For example, in 2015, the U.S. median sale price dropped 5.5%, from $233,400 in July to $220,600 in October, according to NAR.

Working with a real estate agent who can assess asking prices can help you avoid overpaying, Goldman says. If you want to buy a home that's priced higher than what your agent estimates to be appropriate, submit an offer that's in line with market value and with comparable sales data attached to back it up.

*3. Time on market*
Another issue that works against sellers (but favors buyers) is the length of time a home has been on the market. The longer a home sits unsold, the more bargaining power a buyer has, Smoke says. Also, inventory tends to increase from summer to fall because homes aren't selling as quickly. Active listings on Realtor.com remained for a median of 65 days in May and June. But in August, that number was projected to increase to 72 days. That shouldn't dissuade potential buyers from considering a home, Smoke says.

"If the home and location seem to fit, don't cross it off your list just because of the time of the year or the time on market," Smoke says. "There will always be sellers who need to put their home on the market." Also, the services related to buying -- moving, buying furniture, signing up for cable -- tend to be discounted toward the end of the year and during winter, Smoke notes.

*4. More flexibility on terms*
In a typical seller's market, where bidding wars and multiple offers abound, buyers have little room to ask for concessions. But in a slower selling season, the tables are turned and buyers have the upper hand, Goldman says. In a slower market, you'll find more flexibility on terms such as:
· Closing costs.· Repairs/cash credits toward repairs.· Buyer concession to sell home first.· Closing timeline.
Likewise, if you are willing to give a seller more time to close, he or she might sweeten the deal by leaving behind a hot tub or offering a repair credit. If you want to ask for reasonable concessions when you buy a home, this is the time to do it.

Deborah Kearns is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: dkearns@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @debbie_kearns.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 4 hours ago.

As against the convention of presenting the budget on February last day every year over the decades, the central government wants to present it earlier to ensure the passage of the finance bill in Parliament

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By Rodney Reynolds

As a belated response to North Korea’s fifth nuclear test in September, the United States is in the process of negotiating a new Security Council resolution introducing additional economic sanctions while tightening existing ones.

But the final text of the resolution will depend on compromises demanded by China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, which has remained a strong political supporter of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told reporters, during a visit to South Korea October 10: “There are a set of political questions at the heart of any sanctions negotiation, but also a set of very, very technical issues, looking at the sources of hard currency for a regime that uses that currency in only one way, and that is to advance its destructive capabilities.”

“We are working around the clock to secure the passage of this resolution as quickly as possible,” she said. But she did not lay out a time frame.

“And even while I’ve been here (in South Korea), I have been in constant contact with my technical experts and lawyers and others who are working through the draft text with our Council colleagues back in New York.”

But Tariq Rauf, Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) Disarmament & Non-Proliferation Programme, challenged the U.S. decision to impose additional sanctions even as existing sanctions have not deterred North Korea from advancing its nuclear programme in defiance of Security Council resolutions.

“It seems that all efforts are being devoted to imposing ever harsher sanctions but diplomacy and negotiations with the DPRK are not being given equal priority.”

He told IDN there is no credible evidence of sanctions successfully resolving any nuclear non-proliferation crisis – nor have sanctions prevented the emergence of new nuclear-weapon possessing States.

The DPRK, India, Israel and Pakistan are vivid examples, he pointed out.

And the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran was achieved not solely on the basis of sanctions but also because of facts created on the ground by Iran (nearly 20,000 operating centrifuges and some 2,000 kg of enriched uranium), said Rauf, the former Head of Verification & Security Policy at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who dealt with issues relating to DPRK, Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Syria at the Vienna-based UN agency.

Unfortunately, due to a lack and failure of diplomacy, Rauf argued, DPRK has created facts on the ground with six nuclear detonations over a decade (2006-2016) and multiple launches of ballistic missiles.

“In the waning days of the Obama administration, it is urgent that a new behind-the-scene diplomatic initiative is launched to focus on preliminary elements of a solution that could be carried forward by a new administration in Washington next year,” he declared.

According to the Washington-based Arms Control Association (ACA), the Security Council has adopted five major resolutions since 2006 that impose and strengthen sanctions on North Korea for continuing to develop its nuclear weapons program and called on Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear program “in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner” and refrain from ballistic missile tests.

The first two resolutions were passed shortly after North Korean nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. The third came a month after North Korea successfully launched a satellite in December 2012.

North Korea is prohibited from such launches under previous UN Security Council Resolutions because the technology in a satellite launch vehicle has potential dual use applications to ballistic missile development.

The fourth was passed after North Korea’s most recent nuclear test in February 2013. The most recent was adopted in March 2016 after a nuclear test and satellite launch early in the year.

The resolutions since 2009 furnished UN member states with interdiction authority, calling upon states to inspect North Korean cargo within their territory, and subsequently seize and dispose of goods prohibited by UNSC Resolutions, according to the ACA.

U.S. Ambassador Power told reporters in Seoul: “We are again very united – not for any old resolution. But for a resolution that makes a substantive difference and changes the calculus over time of the North Korean leadership.”

“So we are not going to sacrifice or short change our ambition to rush this out. We want this resolution to be practically impactful on the ground,” she cautioned.

And finally on China and Russia, Power said: “We have engaged at the highest level with the Chinese government.” She said U.S. President Barack Obama has spoken with President Xi about the importance of this resolution.

President Obama also spoke to Premier Li just a couple weeks earlier at the UN General Assembly, and “we will maintain and deepen our high-level contacts as we get to the end game of this negotiation”.

With regard to Russia or any country, she said: “We will exert all the political influence that we can on behalf of the strongest possible resolution, and just as I and my team have been working around the clock on this issue since the nuclear test itself, so too we will work around the clock to try and shore up support from all Council members.” Reported by Eurasia Review 54 minutes ago.

Following pressure from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and his colleagues, the Federal Communication Commission’s Enforcement Bureau on Tuesday announced that Comcast will pay a $2.3 million fine to resolve an investigation into whether the company wrongfully charged cable TV customers for services and equipment that those customers never authorized.

Under the terms of today’s settlement, Comcast will pay the largest civil penalty assessed from a cable operator by the FCC and implement a five-year compliance plan.

“I asked the FCC to act after hearing from Oregon consumers who have been overcharged with cable and internet fees that they never personally authorized. Oregonians shared their stories about modem rental fees continuing even after they returned the rented equipment to Comcast, or were being charged a rental fee having never even rented a modem in the first place.”

“The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau is right to hold cable and internet service providers accountable for unnecessary and erroneous charges for both equipment rental fees and service fees that Americans didn’t consent to. Consumers should not be held captive by Big Cable’s price gouging, so I am happy to see the FCC is holding Comcast accountable for unfair billing practices.”

In February, Senator Wyden and several Senate colleagues asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler about the unfair payment practice of charging consumers equipment fees they do not owe and asked what the FCC is doing to protect consumers.

“Given the power big corporations have over American consumers, the need to stop unfair billing practices and ensure affordable cable and internet services for all Americans is all the more important,” the senators wrote.

Under the terms of the settlement, Comcast will adopt processes and procedures designed to obtain affirmative informed consent from customers prior to charging them for any new services or equipment. Reported by Eurasia Review 33 minutes ago.

The epic patent clash between Apple and Samsung went before the Supreme Court Tuesday, as the smartphone giants debated the value of design in a case that could set an important legal precedent. The highest US court began hearing arguments over damages the South Korean smartphone giant owes Apple for copying key design features of the iPhone.

The case, coming with Samsung facing a fresh but unrelated crisis as it halted production of a flagship handset for safety reasons. revolves around a US $400 million award Samsung was ordered to pay. But more critical to industry observers is whether the justices uphold a legal standard which requires the forfeiture of all profits for violating a patent on a single component or feature.

"A smartphone is smart because it contains hundreds of thousands of the technologies that make it work," Samsung attorney Kathleen Sullivan argued before the eight justices. "A single design patent on the portion of the appearance of a phone should not entitle the design-patent holder to all the profit on the entire phone." Apple lawyer Seth Waxman fired back that Samsung made a conscious decision to revive its fortunes by copying the iPhone. "A design is not a component, a design is applied to a thing," Waxman said.

Waxman contended that Samsung's own documents showed that the South Korean giant acted to deal with "a crisis of design". "And the crisis of design was reflected, the documents show, in the telephone company saying, you have to create something like the iPhone, and a directive came out to create something like the iPhone so we can stop ... losing sales," he argued.

-*Beetle example*-

The court debate moved from smartphones to automobiles, and the importance of design to the Volkswagen Beetle, for example.  Justice Sonia Sotomayor commented: "It may be that the (Beetle) body accounts for only 10 percent of the cost of the car, but 90 percent of the profits are attributable to the shape of the car."

The case is among several in courts around the world between the two smartphone giants, but this case is likely to set an important precedent on design patents. Observers are watching to see how the court -- which has not taken up a design patent case in more than a century -- tips the balance between technological innovation and protecting intellectual property. A ruling is expected in several months.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a US $548 million verdict -- part of a nearly billion-dollar award in Apple's favour later reduced to US $400 million -- that found Samsung had copied the iPhone, including its distinctive front screen and graphical touchscreen interface. The award -- in accordance with a statute first adopted in 1887 and later affirmed by Congress in 1952 -- requires patent violators to hand over their total profits even if the violation covers only one element of a product.

Matt Levy of the Computer & Communications Industry Association said the debate suggested the justices were open to lowering the jury award. "The damages statute for design patents was written to protect products like rugs, where the design was essentially the entire thing being sold," Levy said in a blog post. "Congress certainly didn't intend to treat complex products as if only the outer appearance is what matters.... Based on what I heard, I think it's very likely that the (justices) will modify the lower court's decision."

-*Silicon Valley vs designers*-

Samsung has won the backing of major Silicon Valley and other IT sector giants, including Google, Facebook, Dell and Hewlett-Packard, as well as a group of law professors.  Apple, for its part, got backing from big names in fashion and manufacturing, such as Calvin Klein and Adidas, and the American Intellectual Property Law Association, whose members -- largely lawyers -- represent owners and users of intellectual property. An amicus brief filed on behalf of design professionals, researchers and academics said they have no financial interest in the case but argue on the basis of "fundamental principles of visual design." They cite precedents like the Coca-Cola bottle, which is an integral part of the value of the product, according to the brief

Tuesday's hearing was held before a short-handed panel of eight justices, with a ninth still missing since Antonin Scalia's death in February. The hearing takes place at a difficult time for Samsung, as it is struggling to contain a snowballing safety crisis that threatens to derail the powerhouse global brand.  It told customers worldwide on Monday to stop using Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, calling a halt to global sales and exchanges following complaints that its lithium-ion battery explodes while charging.

 

ReportSci/TechAFP

· Patent Infringement
· patent lawsuit
· Apple
· Samsung
· US Supreme Court

Wed, 12 Oct 2016-08:20pm
Date updated: 
Wednesday, 12 October 2016 - 8:20pm
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From Print Edition:  Reported by DNA 14 hours ago.

*Revenues for the first nine months of 2016 up 12%*

· *Order book of 103 units at September 30, 2016*
· *Confirmation of targets for 2016*

*Paris, 12 October 2016 -* GTT (Gaztransport & Technigaz), an engineering company specialised in the design of membrane containment systems for the maritime transportation and storage of liquefied gas, announces its first nine months' revenues for 2016.

*Key figures*

(in thousands of euros) *9M 2015* *9M 2016* *Change*
*Revenues from operating activities* *158,352* *176,713* *+11.6%*
       
*From Royalties* *146,658* *167,737* *+14.4%*
LNG carrier / Ethane carrier 128,226 151,266 +18.0%
FSRU ^[1] 11,970 14,312 +19.6%
FLNG ^[2] 5,721 1,605 -71.9%
Onshore storage 465 216 -53.6%
Barge 276 337 +22.2%
*From services* *11,694* *8,977* *-23.2%*

Philippe Berterottière, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GTT, commented: "In an environment where the LNG market is still troubled, we are observing some wait-and-see attitude on the part of charterers and operators, restricting the number of new orders for LNG carriers. However, although it has yet to be confirmed, some market indicators have improved:  the charter rates for vessels have recently picked-up and current LNG price should favour the development of this energy source towards coal. On the other hand, it appears that our latest technology, Mark V, generates a strong interest in the market, as illustrated by the latest order from SHI for a LNGC that should be equipped with it. With 103 units at end-September 2016, our order book remains at a high level. The current pace of vessel construction and our services' activity unable us to confirm our revenue and net margin targets for 2016."

*Change in revenues*

Revenues for the first nine months of 2016 were up 11.6% on the same period in 2015.

· Revenues related to royalties came out at €167.7 million, sharply up (+14.4%) on the first nine months of 2015. Royalties from LNG / ethane carriers increased by 18.0% to €151.3 million, and royalties from FSRU were up 19.6% to €14.3 million. Other royalties, totalling €2.2 million, stemmed from FLNGs, offshore tanks, and one barge.
· Revenues related to services amounted to €9.0 million, mainly generated by maintenance contracts for ships in service, engineering studies and supplier approvals. The 23.2% decrease compared to the first nine months of 2015 is notably due to the fact that the studies activity was particularly dynamic last year.

*Order book*

Since January 1, 2016, the GTT order book, which then comprised 118 units, has changed, with:

· 2 new LNG carriers orders
· 17 deliveries: 15 LNG carriers, 1 FSRU, and 1 FLNG

At September 30, 2016, the order book stood at 103 units:

· 91 LNGCs and ethane carriers ^[3]
· 7 FSRUs ^4
· 2 FLNGs
· 2 onshore storage tanks
· 1 LNG bunker barge

*2016 outlook*

The Company confirms its targets ^[4] , namely: 

· 2016 revenues at around 240 million euros,
· A 2016 net margin above 50%,
· A dividend amount ^[5] , for 2016 and 2017, at least equivalent to that paid with respect to 2015.

*Financial calendar*

· Release of 2016 full-year results on February 23, 2017 (after market close)
· Shareholders' Meeting: May 18, 2017

*Investor Relations Contacts*

information-financiere@gtt.fr / + 33 1 30 23 42 26 / + 33 1 30 23 20 87

*Media Relations Contacts*

press@gtt.fr / +33 1 30 23 42 24 / + 33 1 30 23 20 41

*For further information, please see www.gtt.fr.*

*About GTT*
GTT (Gaztransport & Technigaz) operates in the market of cryogenic membrane containment systems used for the transport and storage of liquefied gas, in particular LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas). For over 50 years, GTT has designed and offered to its customers technologies which allow them to optimise storage space and reduce the construction and operating costs of ships or tanks equipped with these systems. The liquefied gas market includes several types of vessels: LNG carriers, FSRUs (Floating Storage Regasification Units), FLNGs (Floating Liquefied Natural Gas vessels) and multi-gas carriers (in particular for ethane and LPG). The Company also provides solutions dedicated to onshore storage and to the use of LNG as fuel for vessel propulsion (and associated bunkering), as well as a broad range of high added value services for all stakeholders throughout the liquefied gas chain.

GTT is listed on Euronext Paris, Compartment A (ISIN FR0011726835 Euronext Paris: GTT) and is notably included in SBF 120 and MSCI Small Cap indices.

*Important notice*
The French language version of this press release shall prevail. The figures presented here are those customarily used and communicated to the markets by GTT. This message includes forward-looking information and statements. Such statements include financial projections and estimates, the assumptions on which they are based, as well as statements about projects, objectives and expectations regarding future operations, profits, or services, or future performance. Although GTT management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors and GTT shareholders should be aware that such forward-looking information and statements are subject to many risks and uncertainties that are generally difficult to predict and beyond the control of GTT, and may cause results and developments to differ significantly from those expressed, implied or predicted in the forward-looking statements or information. Such risks include those explained or identified in the public documents filed by GTT with the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF), including those listed in the "Risk Factors" section of the GTT base document (in French) registered with the AMF on April 27, 2016 under number R.16-028, and the half-yearly financial report released on July 21, 2016. Investors and GTT shareholders should note that if some or all of these risks are realised they may have a significant unfavourable impact on GTT.
--------------------

^[1] Floating Storage and Regasification Unit

^[2] Floating Liquefied Natural Gas vessel

^[3] Includes the conversion of an order for an LNG carrier into one for an FSRU

^[4] In the absence of any significant delays or cancellations in orders

^[5] Subject to approval of Shareholders' meeting 

PDF version
--------------------This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: GTT via GlobeNewswire

HUG#2048527 Reported by GlobeNewswire 14 hours ago.

Intel Corp. has reversed a decision it made earlier this year to cancel its employee air shuttle service between Sacramento and the Bay Area. It turns out that Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) will keep operating its regular air shuttle service between Mather Airport and the Intel terminal at the San Jose Jet Center at Mineta San Jose International Airport, which is a mile from Intel’s headquarters in Santa Clara. The tech giant in February told employees at its Folsom operation that it would stop flying… Reported by bizjournals 13 hours ago.

Apple has one of the strongest brands in the world, with surveys frequently ranking it as the most valuable global brand.

So it's no surprise that Hillary Clinton's campaign for president might want to "think different" and take a little bit of inspiration from the iPhone maker. 

Wendy Clark, a marketing executive who is currently CEO of DDB, compared Clinton's "window logo" in development at the time to Apple's famous rainbow logo in an email included in the John Podesta emails leaked by Wikileaks. 

Clark had been rumored to be working on Clinton's campaign.

In her self-described "branding diatribe," she explains that although Apple's logo has nothing to do with computers, it has become associated with its products — the same way Clark hoped that Hillary's logo would become associated with her campaign and policy positions. 

"Similarly, Apple, the world’s most valuable brand, launched with their rainbow apple mark in 1976. It simply stood for creativity, thinking differently," Clark wrote.

(The rainbow Apple logo was actually introduced in 1977, and was retired in 1998.)

"Their repeated, consistent use of the mark along with some of the world’s most creative advertising has imbued that bitten apple logo with meaning but no one would look at that mark standalone and say it means Apple is the leader in human-centered designed, electronic devices with a vision for the future," she concluded. 

When the email was sent, in February 2015, it was still months before Clinton officially announced her bid, and the logo had yet to be finalized. In fact, the leaked messages discuss potential changes. 

"We want to create a visual representation for Secretary Clinton that is equally as compelling, interesting, exciting and inviting as Obama’s mark was eight years ago. And to use techniques that some of the best brands have done and continue to do around the world," Clark concludes, also comparing the logo to Target's. 

The "window logo" they are discussing sounds a lot like the campaign's official logo, which was revealed in April to high praise.

*SEE ALSO: McDonald's is paying its new ad agency in an unusual way*

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The story of Lisa Brennan-Jobs, the daughter Steve Jobs claimed wasn't his Reported by Business Insider 13 hours ago.

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Ever since 2010 Commonwealth Games, not a single world class archery tournament has been hosted by India.

And when World Archery (WA) finally chose India to as host for the prestigious Asia Cup in February 2018, the bad results at the recent Rio Olympic Games is coming in the way of Archery Association of India's (AAI) way to find sponsors.

AAI is now in a fix over hosting Asia Cup as no one from either states or corporates have responded to its request for the sponsorship. And with AAI being suspended by the sports ministry for not adhering to its guidelines of 'age and tenure', there is no way that it can approach government for financial help to host this tournament.

It has been learnt that a total of Rs 2.5 crore may be needed to host the event.

AAI treasurer Virender Sachdeva said, "Federation is finding it hard to find any sponsor for the event." However, he has not given up hope, at least not as yet.

Archery in India used to get huge help from corporate giant Tata till 2015. It was this corporate giant's three-year deal of Rs 2.5 crore a year that kept the Indian archery afloat following the de-recognition by the government.

"We've written to different states and corporates for sponsorship but there has been no response so far. We're trying our best and hopefully, should be able to host this world class event," said Sachdeva.

One relief is that the WA has not set any deadline. It is likely to wait for India's response before taking a final call.

-*Tokyo qualifiers*-

AAI has also been awarded the qualifying event in 2019 for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. And Sachdeva has assured that come what may, India would definitely host the event, which will decide the Olympic quota for Asia.

There is growing chorus within the AAI that they should abide by the National Sports Code.

This more so after ever exit of AAI president VK Malhotra, who at 84 years was clearly abouve the 70-year limit set by the code.

Malhotra has been named as the head of the All India Council of Sports by the government in October last year.

Though, Indian archers were getting all the aid from the Sports Authority of India to prepare for Rio Games, the AAI was not invited by ministry for any of the meetings.

Now that Malhotra's age and tenure is not an issue, the chances of AAI agreeing to the terms and conditions of the code are brighter than ever.

ReportSportChander Shekhar LuthradnaNew Delhi

· Commonwealth Games
· World Archery
· Asia Cup
· Archery Association of India (AAI)
· All India Council of Sports (AICS)
· Virender Sachdeva

Thu, 13 Oct 2016-07:40am
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Thursday, 13 October 2016 - 7:40am
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From Print Edition:  Reported by DNA 3 hours ago.

Shock Machine is the project of former Klaxons member James Righton. After releasing an EP this past spring, Righton has announced his forthcoming eponymous debut album. Shock Machine is out February 17 via Marathon Artists. Check out the tracklist and album artwork below. Righton has also shared the Nova Dando-directed video for the song “Lost in the Mystery;” find that below as well.

*Shock Machine:*

01 Open Up the Sky
02 Unlimited Love
03 Shock Machine
04 Lost in the Mystery
05 Let Her Love In
06 First of May
07 Fire Up My Heart
08 Strange Waves
09 Get You
10 Something More Reported by Pitchfork 12 hours ago.