text:
Tor security advisory: "relay early" traffic confirmation attack
This advisory was posted on the tor-announce mailing list.
On July 4 2014 we found a group of relays that we assume were trying to deanonymize users. They appear to have been targeting people who operate or access Tor hidden services. The attack involved modifying Tor protocol headers to do traffic confirmation attacks.
The attacking relays joined the network on January 30 2014, and we removed them from the network on July 4. While we don't know when they started doing the attack, users who operated or accessed hidden services from early February through July 4 should assume they were affected.
Unfortunately, it's still unclear what "affected" includes. We know the attack looked for users who fetched hidden service descriptors, but the attackers likely were not able to see any application-level traffic (e.g. what pages were loaded or even whether users visited the hidden service they looked up). The attack probably also tried to learn who published hidden service descriptors, which would allow the attackers to learn the location of that hidden service. In theory the attack could also be used to link users to their destinations on normal Tor circuits too, but we found no evidence that the attackers operated any exit relays, making this attack less likely. And finally, we don't know how much data the attackers kept, and due to the way the attack was deployed (more details below), their protocol header modifications might have aided other attackers in deanonymizing users too.
Relays should upgrade to a recent Tor release (0.2.4.23 or 0.2.5.6-alpha), to close the particular protocol vulnerability the attackers used — but remember that preventing traffic confirmation in general remains an open research problem. Clients that upgrade (once new Tor Browser releases are ready) will take another step towards limiting the number of entry guards that are in a position to see their traffic, thus reducing the damage from future attacks like this one. Hidden service operators should consider changing the location of their hidden service.
We believe they used a combination of two classes of attacks: a traffic confirmation attack and a Sybil attack.
A traffic confirmation attack is possible when the attacker controls or observes the relays on both ends of a Tor circuit and then compares traffic timing, volume, or other characteristics to conclude that the two relays are indeed on the same circuit. If the first relay in the circuit (called the "entry guard") knows the IP address of the user, and the last relay in the circuit knows the resource or destination she is accessing, then together they can deanonymize her. You can read more about traffic confirmation attacks, including pointers to many research papers, at this blog post from 2009:
The particular confirmation attack they used was an active attack where the relay on one end injects a signal into the Tor protocol headers, and then the relay on the other end reads the signal. These attacking relays were stable enough to get the HSDir ("suitable for hidden service directory") and Guard ("suitable for being an entry guard") consensus flags. Then they injected the signal whenever they were used as a hidden service directory, and looked for an injected signal whenever they were used as an entry guard.
The way they injected the signal was by sending sequences of "relay" vs "relay early" commands down the circuit, to encode the message they want to send. For background, Tor has two types of cells: link cells, which are intended for the adjacent relay in the circuit, and relay cells, which are passed to the other end of the circuit. In 2008 we added a new kind of relay cell, called a "relay early" cell, which is used to prevent people from building very long paths in the Tor network. (Very long paths can be used to induce congestion and aid in breaking anonymity). But the fix for infinite-length paths introduced a problem with accessing hidden services, and one of the side effects of our fix for bug 1038 was that while we limit the number of outbound (away from the client) "relay early" cells on a circuit, we don't limit the number of inbound (towards the client) relay early cells.
So in summary, when Tor clients contacted an attacking relay in its role as a Hidden Service Directory to publish or retrieve a hidden service descriptor (steps 2 and 3 on the hidden service protocol diagrams), that relay would send the hidden service name (encoded as a pattern of relay and relay-early cells) back down the circuit. Other attacking relays, when they get chosen for the first hop of a circuit, would look for inbound relay-early cells (since nobody else sends them) and would thus learn which clients requested information about a hidden service.
There are three important points about this attack:
A) The attacker encoded the name of the hidden service in the injected signal (as opposed to, say, sending a random number and keeping a local list mapping random number to hidden service name). The encoded signal is encrypted as it is sent over the TLS channel between relays. However, this signal would be easy to read and interpret by anybody who runs a relay and receives the encoded traffic. And we might also worry about a global adversary (e.g. a large intelligence agency) that records Internet traffic at the entry guards and then tries to break Tor's link encryption. The way this attack was performed weakens Tor's anonymity against these other potential attackers too — either while it was happening or after the fact if they have traffic logs. So if the attack was a research project (i.e. not intentionally malicious), it was deployed in an irresponsible way because it puts users at risk indefinitely into the future.
(This concern is in addition to the general issue that it's probably unwise from a legal perspective for researchers to attack real users by modifying their traffic on one end and wiretapping it on the other. Tools like Shadow are great for testing Tor research ideas out in the lab.)
B) This protocol header signal injection attack is actually pretty neat from a research perspective, in that it's a bit different from previous tagging attacks which targeted the application-level payload. Previous tagging attacks modified the payload at the entry guard, and then looked for a modified payload at the exit relay (which can see the decrypted payload). Those attacks don't work in the other direction (from the exit relay back towards the client), because the payload is still encrypted at the entry guard. But because this new approach modifies ("tags") the cell headers rather than the payload, every relay in the path can see the tag.
C) We should remind readers that while this particular variant of the traffic confirmation attack allows high-confidence and efficient correlation, the general class of passive (statistical) traffic confirmation attacks remains unsolved and would likely have worked just fine here. So the good news is traffic confirmation attacks aren't new or surprising, but the bad news is that they still work. See https://blog.torproject.org/blog/one-cell-enough for more discussion.
Then the second class of attack they used, in conjunction with their traffic confirmation attack, was a standard Sybil attack — they signed up around 115 fast non-exit relays, all running on 126.96.36.199/16 or 126.96.36.199/16. Together these relays summed to about 6.4% of the Guard capacity in the network. Then, in part because of our current guard rotation parameters, these relays became entry guards for a significant chunk of users over their five months of operation.
We actually noticed these relays when they joined the network, since the DocTor scanner reported them. We considered the set of new relays at the time, and made a decision that it wasn't that large a fraction of the network. It's clear there's room for improvement in terms of how to let the Tor network grow while also ensuring we maintain social connections with the operators of all large groups of relays. (In general having a widely diverse set of relay locations and relay operators, yet not allowing any bad relays in, seems like a hard problem; on the other hand our detection scripts did notice them in this case, so there's hope for a better solution here.)
In response, we've taken the following short-term steps:
1) Removed the attacking relays from the network.
2) Put out a software update for relays to prevent "relay early" cells from being used this way.
3) Put out a software update that will (once enough clients have upgraded) let us tell clients to move to using one entry guard rather than three, to reduce exposure to relays over time.
4) Clients can tell whether they've received a relay or relay-cell. For expert users, the new Tor version warns you in your logs if a relay on your path injects any relay-early cells: look for the phrase "Received an inbound RELAY_EARLY cell".
The following longer-term research areas remain:
5) Further growing the Tor network and diversity of relay operators, which will reduce the impact from an adversary of a given size.
6) Exploring better mechanisms, e.g. social connections, to limit the impact from a malicious set of relays. We've also formed a group to pay more attention to suspicious relays in the network:
7) Further reducing exposure to guards over time, perhaps by extending the guard rotation lifetime:
8) Better understanding statistical traffic correlation attacks and whether padding or other approaches can mitigate them.
9) Improving the hidden service design, including making it harder for relays serving as hidden service directory points to learn what hidden service address they're handling:
Q1) Was this the Black Hat 2014 talk that got canceled recently?
Q2) Did we find all the malicious relays?
Q3) Did the malicious relays inject the signal at any points besides the HSDir position?
Q4) What data did the attackers keep, and are they going to destroy it? How have they protected the data (if any) while storing it?
Great questions. We spent several months trying to extract information from the researchers who were going to give the Black Hat talk, and eventually we did get some hints from them about how "relay early" cells could be used for traffic confirmation attacks, which is how we started looking for the attacks in the wild. They haven't answered our emails lately, so we don't know for sure, but it seems likely that the answer to Q1 is "yes". In fact, we hope they *were* the ones doing the attacks, since otherwise it means somebody else was. We don't yet know the answers to Q2, Q3, or Q4.
A very irresponsible way to
A very irresponsible way to carry out research. Shame on them.
Yeah? and who is "them"?
Yeah? and who is "them"?
Research? That's just a guess. Tor guys don't know who and they don't know why.
"Together these relays summed to about 6.4% of the Guard capacity in the network. "
Does that sound like something like Joe Blow could afford? Because the presentation that never was, talked about doing this for 3k. But they didn't even have that. I don't think you run all these boxes for 6months for that little anyways. I don't think 'researchers' ie guys in their basement throw thousands of dollars at something so they can write a pdf.
Those network ranges
Those network ranges coincide with fdcservers. Looking at the prices, yes they could get 116 servers on fast connections for 3k. Whois says they're out of Chicago which sounds like a researcher might use (centralized, not hiding their tracks, etc)
$30/mo * 115 VPSs * 5 months
$30/mo * 115 VPSs * 5 months = $17k. Totally within the budget of some research group who decided that was a good use of their money.
The larger the Tor network gets (in terms of capacity), the more expensive it is to sign up a given fraction of it. Alas, bandwidth prices are very different depending on where the relay is, so getting good diversity is more expensive. I'm glad Hart Voor Internetvrijheid and other groups are working hard at the location diversity goal even though it's more expensive:
See "fix 4" on
for more discussions on the topic of growing the total network capacity as a defense against these sorts of attacks.
One offer from this ISP
One offer from this ISP is
VPS Special 3
1. 50Mbps unmetered
4. 5 IP Addresses
5. 2CPU Core
Note this are 5 IPs per ~ $30.
115 / 5 = 23
23 * $30 ~ $600
5 months ~ $3000
The number from the canceled BH talk.
50 megabits divided by 5
50 megabits divided by 5 isn't enough per relay to handle much capacity.
Also, 1 gigabyte of ram divided by 5 relays means you'll run out of memory right quick if you're trying to push a lot of bytes.
I assume that the $3k number was for a month, and they were planning to say something like "in the first month we ran 6% of the network and became the entry guard for 6% of the users, look it works".
In any case, we can speculate about how to make the numbers add up, or if they ever even did, but it's pretty much moot now -- and whether it's $3k or $27k doesn't really matter.
We know exactly who "them"
We know exactly who "them" is. Their names are Alexander Volynkin and Michael McCord (https://img.4plebs.org/boards/pol/image/1404/73/1404736805983.png) and they are researchers/students affiliated with Carnegie-Mellon University (http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/21/cybercrime-conference-talk-id… and http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/22/legal_wrecking_balls_break_budg…).
Now, could one or more of our US-based colleagues please kindly FOIA the hell out of CMU on behalf of the community, please? Thanks!
Not viable under US law.
Not viable under US law. CMU being non-governmental is not subject to FOIA. And any request directed to a government agency would be stiff-armed on a secrecy basis.
CERT is Federally Funded…
CERT is Federally Funded Research and Development Center.. Because they take federal funds, wouldnt they be subject to FOIA?
This is not "Joe Blow". CERT
This is not "Joe Blow". CERT is one of the most well-funded computer security research organizations in the country. 30K, let alone 3K, is easily within the budget of the powers that be, if they feel it's worth spending that much. It's also easily within the budget of external funding providers (I'm sure your conspiracy theory-oriented brain could come up with some plausible ones).
These are not "guys in their basement". They are researchers in their well-funded computer lab.
And for those who do not
And for those who do not follow general infosec issues closely, CMU/(US)CERT has a very close collaboration and funding association with US Homeland Security. Which means that it is nearly certain that all of the results of this research attack have been passed on to NSA.
Thank you for the
Thank you for the comprehensive write-up.
Is there anything that users can do to check they have been affected (e.g. have been using a bad guard?). For example by examining the Data/Tor/state file in their TBB directory?
Good thinking. Yes, this
Good thinking. Yes, this should work. It won't tell you if you used them in the past (and then discarded them), but it will tell you if they're in your recent set.
Grab a copy of e.g. https://collector.torproject.org/archive/relay-descriptors/server-descr… and then pull out the relays with nickname Unnamed running Tor 0.2.4.18-rc in the two /16 netblocks I described.
Once you've done that, maybe put the set of fingerprints on a paste bin or something so other people can use them too?
> maybe put the set of
> maybe put the set of fingerprints on a paste bin or something so other people can use them too?
fwiw, these seem to be the fingerprints in question: http://ravinesmp.com/volatile/tor_relay_early_nodes.csv (CSV file generated from http://paste.debian.net/112652/ )
Note that there are 116 (not 115) nodes in this list. (Obviously don't trust this information, etc.; ideally one would reproduce it from collector.torproject.org or elsewhere.)
Here's the full message to
Here's the full message to check for in the Tor log:
"Received an inbound RELAY_EARLY cell on circuit %u."
" Closing circuit. Please report this event,"
" along with the following message.",
followed by a list of the relays in your circuit.
Where can one find the
Where can one find the identity key fingerprints for the removed 22.214.171.124/16 and 184.108.40.206/16 relays?
I'd like to scan backups of my /var/lib/tor/data/state file and see if I had one of those relays for a guard. (Although the real question of course is, was one of them my last hop...)
Can Tor users check if
Can Tor users check if they've been using one of the guards in the ranges that were removed from the network, or would those guard entries have been immediately removed from the client's state file upon learning that they'd been declared invalid?
(Of course, knowing that one *wasn't* using one of these guards would *not* mean you weren't affected, but it would still be interesting to know.)
I wonder how many people
I wonder how many people have obtained the attacker's data! Locations of a lot of hidden services and their users would be quite interesting to many people - operators of hidden services are quite diverse and even include hardened criminals like the GCHQ's JTRIG hacking/trolling department: https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/07/14/manipulating-online-polls… (their catalog of capabilities include several that use, rather than attack, Tor hidden services).
If the attacker is the CMU researchers and law enforcement seizes their data to selectively prosecute certain hidden services, perhaps that data could also be used to investigate and litigate against JTRIG? Sadly though, we probably would not hear about it if such seizure happens since everything would be parallel constructed for the public case... unless the researchers decide to tell us (which would probably be violating an NSL or something).
"If the attacker is the CMU
"If the attacker is the CMU researchers and law enforcement seizes their data to selectively prosecute certain hidden services" - seems like that would be fruit of the poisonous tree, but I am not a lawyer
Sorry to ruin your day, but
Sorry to ruin your day, but Law & Order is fiction.
Quite often, even the prosecutors don't know that the actual investigatory tools used in their cases are not being disclosed.
Don't be silly! They don't
Don't be silly! They don't need the researchers for that.
The 'NSA' was using MIT (and others) to seed TOR for the SOD. Notice how the FOIA leaves the SOD out, they often masquerade behind the DEA title. Despite early news reports (circa 2009) it wasn't the DEA that busted Viktor Bout it was the SOD (I think it was a time article in 2011).
Mudrock also got the Hemisphere FOIA from LAPD or TacPD combine that with the telecom immunity act of 9/2007.
Should serve as an example
Should serve as an example for other researchers of how not to go about things. Thanks for the good work patching the vulnerability and writing it up - if I knew you IRL I would buy you a beer.
Is there a guide somewhere
Is there a guide somewhere on how to do research like this on Tor?
> Is there a guide somewhere
> Is there a guide somewhere on how to do research like this on Tor?
Start with RFC 1 and keep on going to the end. That'll get the basics started.
We have panels on the topic
We have panels on the topic periodically at the PETS conference, e.g.
But nobody has sat down to write a full guide. That would be very useful! Somebody want to start one? :)
The network IP blocks
The network IP blocks 188.8.131.52/16 and 220.127.116.11/16 are assigned to a U.S. provider.
Further on I relate to the hidden service explanation at
If U.S. IP blocks are excluded in the torrc via 'ExcludeNodes {US}'
can there be any point in the connection from client to hidden service (rendevouz point, introduction point) that could be on U.S. IP blocks notwithstanding?
Does the rendevouz point know it connects the anonymous client to a specific hidden service, does it know the servers .onion address?
Does 'DB' in the graphics on the explanation page stand for a Hidden Service Directory server? Why is 'DB' not drawn within the Tor cloud?
I ran WHOIS on a couple of
I ran WHOIS on a couple of addresses from both blocks, and they came back as https://fcsservers.net in different US and European locations. Which makes sense because they have a lot of datacenters: https://fdcservers.net/network.php
ExcludeNodes cannot be
ExcludeNodes cannot be applied to HSDir selection because clients need to be able to construct the same list of HSDirs as the publisher (service) so that they can find the place where the descriptor is published.
If you had ExcludeNodes {US} and the two blocks listed are indeed identified as US by tor's geoip data source (I haven't checked about that), then at least you won't have one of them as a guard. But any other guard could also potentially be passively decoding the signals sent by the malicious HSDirs.
It is, for me, not really
It is, for me, not really clear what data the attacker actually got from users.
Suppose someone used a clean install of tails and visited a hidden service site. What do "they" know about the user?
You wrote: "but the attackers likely were not able to see any application-level traffic (e.g. what pages were loaded or even whether users visited the hidden service they looked up)"
Does this mean, the have the ip address of the user but not the page he has actually visited?
I'm pretty curious right now.
Thanks for answer!
The attacks observed were
The attacks observed were coming from HSDirs, which know the address of the hidden service they're serving a descriptor for. The message transmitted was the hidden service address. This message can be decoded by the guard, which knows the IP of the client (which is accessing or publishing the descriptor).
So, when the attacker is a hidden service's HSDir (which will probably happen eventually, as the position in the DHT rotates at some interval - it would be good to know how long it takes to cycle through 50% of the HSDirs) the guards for the hidden service can deanonymize it - meaning, they can link its IP address with its onion address. Clients using a malicious guard can also be deanonymized (their IP can be identified as one which accessed the service).
It is entirely possible that other guards which are not in the set of nodes mentioned above (and/or not controlled by the attacker running the nodes caught doing the active part of the attack) are or were also decoding these messages.
The same attack could also deanonymize non-hidden-service traffic if these messages were sent from exit nodes. There have not (yet) been exit nodes observed sending relay_early cells backwards.
Thank you for
Thank you for explanation,
you wrote: "their (the clients) IP can be identified as one which accessed the service".
Do you mean they know what specific hidden site the client has visited (worst case one can imagine!!), or do they only know that the client accessed the hidden service generally?
Just asking because they said in the article: "but the attackers likely were not able to see any application-level traffic (e.g. what pages were loaded or even whether users visited the hidden service they looked up)"
Thanks again!
The attacker, if his relays
The attacker, if his relays are in the right place, could learn that you (that is, your IP address) did a lookup for the hidden service address (e.g. duskgytldkxiuqc6.onion). But he won't learn whether you actually loaded the page in your browser. He also won't learn whether you visited http://duskgytldkxiuqc6.onion/comsense.html or http://duskgytldkxiuqc6.onion/fedpapers/federa00.htm or what.
Hope that helps.
That is he wont know
That is he wont know directly. Since he is also your entry gaurd, he can watch the traffic over the circuit and get a good idea of how much traffic is passing, combined with knowing the site, could very well let him figure out some of those details.
Even if he didn't, it would likely be enough information over time to seperate casual observers who find a site and check it out, from serious users who may be more interesting targets.
Unless this is pure research, then I would assume this is not the end game but simply helping troll for targets.
Good point. The result of
Good point. The result of the attack in this advisory is that he knows which hidden service you looked up or published about. It's totally possible that he would then go on to do some other attack, like the website fingerprinting one you hint about, or just general "gosh she's using Tor a lot" observations.
Speaking of website fingerprinting, first read
and then read "I Know Why You Went to the Clinic" from
and finally, I hear there will be another website fingerprinting research paper at CCS this year (showing that false positive rates on realistic data are indeed higher than originally suspected).
@arma: I think I see a
@arma: I think I see a technical limitation to this attack, can you confirm or deny: if you are running a relay as well as a client, will you be protected at all?
"The attacker, if his relays
"The attacker, if his relays are in the right place, could learn that you (that is, your IP address) did a lookup for the hidden service address (e.g. duskgytldkxiuqc6.onion)."
It's funny to think that some FBI ip could appear among the one they de-anonymize.
Duh, the FBI regulary infiltrate cp, drugs hidden service. (Think Silk Road, the FBI had several accounts on it from the beginning).
I know, it doesn't change anything but it makes me smile.
Anonymity cannot be
Anonymity cannot be free.
Setup a exit relay on your dedicated server and use StrictNodes. This will make you invulnerable from this attack.
At the cost of making you
At the cost of making you obviously and trivially fingerprintable. Horrible idea.
No, because hidden service
No, because hidden service traffic does not go through exit nodes.
Correct, running your own
Correct, running your own exit relay won't really impact this attack.
(Also, the StrictNodes torrc directive does not apply to ExitNodes. It only applies to ExcludeNodes.)
Thank you for an informative
Thank you for an informative post and for releasing a timely fix!
I have a quick release coordination question. Why wasn't the version of tor in TBB also bumped up, especially given how recently TBB 3.6.3 was released? Doesn't the current release cycle gap between TBB and tor potentially increase the likelihood that .22 (mostly TBB client) users will be distinguished from .23 (mostly relay) users?
I know it's not necessarily preferred/ideal practice, but some people run relays from TBB instances. I certainly have in the past...so if you agree with the sentiment, it might even be a good idea to append a notice to the most recent TBB blog post discouraging people from configuring TBB's tor as a relay until it gets bumped up to .23.
Perhaps I'm making too big a deal of this, and TBB 3.6.4 is already on its way...
Yeah, the coordination
Yeah, the coordination didn't go as smoothly as it could have.
The new Firefox in TBB 3.6.3 was urgent to get out, since it includes the usual raft of fixes for Firefox vulnerabilities:
Whereas the new Tor release isn't urgent for clients, since it only 1) adds a log entry (and the interface letting TBB users read their log lines sure isn't easy to use) and 2) prepares them to move from 3 guards to 1, but only once we set the consensus parameter to instruct them to switch (which I plan to do after the next TBB has been out for a while).
Hopefully it won't be too long until there's a TBB with the next Tor stable in it. But the TBB team have been working hard on a TBB 4.0 alpha, which will include the Tor 0.2.5.x tree, and I sure want to see that too. So much to do, and not enough people working on it all!
I would love to help on this
I would love to help on this sort of front as a volunteer, but this type of issue--as minor as I hope it will turn out to be--seems pretty staff-driven in terms of progress. So in terms of inviting volunteers to help, it unfortunately seems like one of the few areas where volunteers working mostly in *other* areas would be the precondition to open up staff bandwidth to address this type of issue.
they signed up around 115
they signed up around 115 fast non-exit relays, all running on 220.127.116.11/16 or 18.104.22.168/16. Together these relays summed to about 6.4% of the Guard capacity in the network.
Do they sign these relays at once or were the number growing gradually? If at once wouldn't that be an alert signal?
They signed up in two main
They signed up in two main clumps. And yes, it was (could have been) an alert signal -- see the paragraph in the advisory about the DocTor scanner.
You mentioned in your
You mentioned in your write-up that while their signing up all those relays triggered warnings in DocTor, they were left in the consensus since it was felt that they weren't too significant a portion of the network.
Hypothetically, what would be enough to make the authority operators say "Hey, these guys are bad news, let's get them out of the consensus ASAP"? Maybe this is a dumb question, and it depends on specific circumstances I don't know enough about.
Thanks for your tireless efforts as always!
Yeah. That's still not
Yeah. That's still not entirely resolved. I hope the answer is "it will take a lot less the next time we see it!" :)
But really, I worry about more subtle attacks, where the adversary signs up a few relays at a time over the course of months. Also, there are events (like the blocking in Egypt) where many people decide to run relays at once. If the adversary signs up a pile of relays on that day, will we say "oh good, people care about security and safety"?
The attack was possible to notice this time because the relays all came from the same netblocks at around the same time and running the same (kind of old by now) Tor version. Detecting this sort of attack in the general case seems like a really hard research problem.


text:
Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) is hosting the first Supply Chain Forum dedicated to the region's petrochemicals and chemicals industry in Bahrain on October 13 and 14. The Forum will be preceded by a workshop on October 12 that will focus on supply chain issues facing the industry in the Gulf region.
With the overriding theme of "Current Trends and Preparing for Future Growth", the GPCA Supply Chain Forum will be a platform for the regional industry to share its experiences and weigh opportunities to achieve significant improvements in the supply chain management.
"The Forum will offer invaluable insights for industry professionals because supply chain leaders representing both the industry as well as leading consultants and service providers are presenting papers and case studies," Dr. Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun, GPCA Secretary General, said in a statement.
Speakers at the Forum include representatives of regional leaders such as SABIC and Tasnee, and other regional players including Al Majdouie Group, Kanoo and United Arab Shipping Company. International speakers include representatives of A.T. Kearny, Antwerp Port Authority, Vopak and Maersk. The delegates will be welcomed by Dr. Abdulaziz S. Al Bati, Chairman of GPCA's Supply Chain Committee.
The Forum will address diverse topics such as: "Impact of current crisis on supply chain worldwide", "Supply Chain optimization", "Developing a petrochemical cluster: the supply chain perspective", "Challenges of Containers shippers in the Gulf region", "Trucking in Gulf region, practices and trends", "Building a world-class petrochemical supply chain in a globally competitive and dynamic marketplace", and "Gas logistics". There will be several sessions and papers dedicated to polymer and liquid handling.
GPCA conceived the Supply Chain Forum as a meeting point for industry professionals, in line with its objective of facilitating events to pool and share regional and international knowledge and experience. The Forum will benefit a wide range of organizations including petrochemical and chemical companies, supply chain service providers, storage and packaging companies, and government authorities such as ministries, ports, free zones and terminal operators.
The workshop associated with the Forum on October 12 is titled "Land transportation in the Gulf region: difficulties and opportunities". The highlight of the workshop will be a presentation that is designed to share the best practices in land transportation in Europe. Both the workshop and the Forum will be held at the Gulf Hotel in Manama.
© 2000 - 2019 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Woman wearing earphones hit by train
A Truckee woman was wearing earphones playing loud music when was she was struck and killed by a moving train during an afternoon jog.
Janaki Rose Hayes, 27, was westbound on the rails heading for Truckee Legacy Trail when she was struck. Police received the report at 1:40 p.m.
Hayes was living in Truckee after recently relocating from Oregon.
"The victim was wearing headphones that fully covered her ears while listening to loud music," police said. "The train operators saw the victim in their path, sounded the horn extensively, slowed the train, and did what they could to avoid striking the victim."
The train — a Union Pacific cargo double-decker — was traveling from Sparks to Roseville, Calif. There were no passengers aboard other than the operators.
"The Truckee Police Department would like to remind everyone that not only is it illegal to walk on or cross railroad tracks — it is dangerous," officials said. "Additionally, whether near tracks or not, wearing headphones in or over both ears while walking or running is dangerous as it denies you one of the most valuable human senses of danger — your hearing."
Anyone who may have witnessed this collision is asked to contact TPD Detective Arnie Lopez at 530-550-2336.


text:
Tag Archives: Gwen Benaway
International Festival of Authors' Lit On Tour Returns to Communities across Ontario This Fall
Posted on August 17, 2017 by ifoadmin
For the eleventh year, Lit On Tour, an initiative of Toronto's International Festival of Authors (IFOA), partners with libraries, bookstores, universities and community organizations across the province to present the world's best writers of contemporary literature. Events include readings, interviews, round table discussions and public book signings.
Posted in News | Tagged #IFOA2017, B. Denham Jolly, Bianca Marais, Catherine Chidgey, Chantel Acevedo, Devon Code, Diane Schoemperlen, Farzana Doctor, Francis Itani, Gary Barwin, Grace O'Connell, Gwen Benaway, Helen Humphreys, Hugh Brewster, IFOA Authors, IFOA Ontario, Janie Chang, Jean E. Pendizwol, Kathleen Winter, Kean Soo, Kia Corthron, Liona Boyd, Lit On Tour, Mark Billingham, Michael DeForge, Peter Robinson, Rachel Manley, Roddy Doyle, Shawn Hitchins, Siân Northey, Steve Burrows, Sylvain Prudhomme, Ted Barris, Terry Fallis, Vivek Shraya | Comments Off on International Festival of Authors' Lit On Tour Returns to Communities across Ontario This Fall


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Most rowers are thrilled to emerge from a major regatta like the Stotesbury Cup with a medal of any kind. However, for most of its relatively brief history in the sport, the highly-successful Mount St. Joseph Academy crew has held itself to a gold standard.
At "Stotes" last weekend, an undersized Mount senior eight bested a number of larger rivals to capture a silver medal, and the junior eight and lightweight eight left the awards dock with bronze medals. Still, there's no getting around the fact that it was at least a little bit disappointing for MSJ athletes and fans to see no gold at all among the Stotesbury booty.
It's the first time that's happened since 2003, three years after the crew program was launched at the school. In 2004 the lightweight eight and junior (JV) eight won the Magic's first Stotesbury gold medals, and the senior (or varsity) eight triumphed for the first time the following year.
Since then, at least one Mountie boat has had the Midas touch at the annual event, until now. Just as when the Magic began to knock off once-dominant crews half-a-dozen years ago, its an indication of the ever-increasing popularity and competitiveness of women's rowing.
One thing that doesn't seem to change much at the Stotesbury Regatta is the weather; perpetually cool and damp on Friday, sunny and warmer on Saturday. On Friday, the three four-oared shells entered by the Mount faced large numbers of competitors, and each missed qualifying for the semifinals by just a few places. The boats raced for time in this initial stage of the regatta, and in most fours categories the top 18 moved on.
In a field of 54 crews, the junior four (Alyssa Pagliaro (cox), Geneva Russell (stroke), Jacqueline James, Gwyn Kieffer, Maura O'Donnell) ranked 20th, and the senior four (Annie Tenzinger (cox), Hannah Keller (stroke), Rebecca McCool, Kate Jones, Carly Scullin) was 20th out of the 50 boats in that class. The Magic's lightweight four (Beth Weinrich (cox), Abigail Shreero (stroke), Emily McHugh, Bridget Fitzpatrick, Lexi Meister) was 21st in its qualifier, falling short of the semifinals by three spots.
The Mount freshman eight (Madi Kist (cox), Natalie Simms (stroke), Elizabeth McKernan, Michela Karrash, Lauren Matchett, Maddie Lawn, Jocelyn Ziemniak, Sarah Curcio, Leah Ramos) qualified easily early on Friday morning, timed seventh out of 41 crews that signed up.
In their category, only the top two, instead of the top three semifinalists earned a spot in the final race, and the MSJ frosh finished third in their semi contest.
Also ending up one spot away from a trip to the medal race was the Mount second eight (Mary Raggazino (cox), Steph Henrich (stroke), Cathleen Keene, Lauren Hamilton, Maddie Wescott, Sarah Krmpotich, Anna DelRicci, Katelyn Keane, Bobbie Sutton).
This group qualified sixth among the 12 that advanced to the semifinals. Racing in a semifinal that included the eventual silver and bronze medalists, the Magic came in fourth, and only three could move on.
The other three MSJ eights all went through to the finals and came away with medals, and each of them started out with second place in the qualifying section of the regatta.
The junior eight (Alex Kist (cox), Kiera McCloy (stroke), Meg O'Brien, Rachel Heller, Emma Thompson, Brianna Sylvester, Fiona Kelly, Emily Ruddy, Maureen Flynn) faced the greatest number of competitors, a full 50 entries. They proceeded to win the second of three semifinals with a time of 4:53.32.
New Jersey's Montclair High School had been slightly faster both in the qualifying round and in the semifinals, winning its semi in 4:51.26. Two weekends earlier in the Philadelphia City Championships, the Mount junior vessel had run into the Montclair eight, earning a disqualification but also knocking the Jersey girls out of contention.
With this as part of its motivation, Montclair stormed to a gold medal in the Stotesbury finals in 4:45.39. Florida's Lake Brantley High was second in 4:46.60, and the Magic took the bronze medal in 4:50.95, almost five seconds ahead of fourth-place Episcopal Academy.
The MSJ lightweight eight (Erin McElroy (cox), Molly Tenzinger, Kait Loftus, Paige Flynn, Leah McGlynn, Meg Bresnahan, Katie McCormick, Kate Mirabella, Colette McNeela) earned a bronze medal at the City Championships and duplicated that result last weekend. Holy Spirit, from the environs of Atlantic City, won the gold medal at both regattas. Winter Park, from Florida, had the fastest qualifying time at Stotesbury, but was second in its semifinal race to Spirit, which won in 4:44.43. Mount St. Joe was first in the other semi, at 4:46.79.
There was a false start in the finals, and the boats were recalled to the line.
"We started well the first time," MSJ varsity coach Mike McKenna recalled, "but at the restart I think the girls were a little over-amped. They started rowing really high [in terms of strokes-per-minute], and they were just spinning their wheels. We were languishing back in fourth or fifth place for a while."
The Magic lights rallied from there, but fell just a little short at the end. There was literally a photo-finish, with eight-tenths of a second separating Holy Spirit (4:49.12), silver medalist Winter Park (4:49.20), and Mount St. Joe (4:49.92).
"Obviously they were disappointed with their place," McKenna said, "but I think they realized that after a bad start they rowed very well later in the race, so they're looking forward to Nationals next weekend."
The members Mount's 2011 senior eight (Maggie Rush (cox), Dana Lerro (stroke), Meredith Bracken, Katie O'Connell, Darian DiCianno, Rose Ehrlich, Julie McGlynn, Katie Casebeer, Emily Carbone) are not the senior-dominated, physically-imposing group that populated last year's boat. Only the coxswain and two rowers are 12th graders, and four of the rowers competed in the lightweight category earlier in their careers.
It's routine practice for some schools, when the major regattas approach, to dismantle such a crew and try to assemble either a loaded lightweight boat or an über eight in the junior category. Over the long run, though, this practice discourages rowers who aren't chosen for special duty, and Mount St. Joe doesn't operate that way. In years like this, it means that a relatively young and small crew will have to row a near-perfect race to succeed.
The Magic did that to win gold at the City Championships, but last weekend a larger, stronger, and very determined Radnor High School crew was not to be denied.
"Radnor's the real deal, and we knew that from the start of the season," McKenna said. "We were happy to be able to beat them the times that we did."
The Red Raiders had the best qualifying time and the fastest time in the semifinal round, and they pushed ahead of the field in the finals in a convincing manner. With a few hundred meters to go, Radnor led comfortably and it looked like the Mount might be in a three-way battle for the silver medal. The Magic asserted themselves at the finish to take second in 4:44.03, behind Radnor (4:38.43) but ahead of Winter Park (4:45.42) and fourth-place James Madison High School of Virginia (4:48.12).
"When a crew gets away from you, sometimes you could find yourself slipping from second back to third or fourth place," McKenna commented. "I was happy with the way that we finished and I thought we rowed very well overall. The girls weren't happy about not winning, but that's the nature of the competitive athlete."


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Israel's defense minister said in comments published Thursday that the Middle East is not ready for nuclear arms ban, claiming that the Islamic world must first "behave like Western Europe." According to the AP, Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak added Iran's nuclear program is a threat to world peace.
Barak hinted Israel would not agree to a nuclear weapons ban in the current climate. "Until the Muslim world from Marakesh to Bangladesh behaves like Western Europe, there can be no debate on nuclear disarmament," Barak told the Yediot Ahronot daily.
Barak also called for the international community to step up efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions, saying that "now is the time for diplomacy and intensifying sanctions."
Israel considers Iran a strategic threat, but Yediot Ahronot quoted Barak as saying that that while Tehran poses a "challenge" to Israel and the world it cannot destroy Israel. "Iran does not pose an existential threat to the state of Israel," he said. "Israel is strong."


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Eva Notty is a Porn Star from United States. She was born in Tucson on July 7, 1982. She is listed on FreeOnes since 2009 and is currently ranked 217th place. She currently has 616 gallery links and 81 videos in her own FreeOnes section.
Our records show that Eva Notty is currently active which means she is still making movies, doing live shows and/or doing photo shoots.
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Eva Notty.com does obviously have one noticeable black mark against its name but everything else here is pretty much spot on. Eva is, of course, one of the best and most exciting performers around and her content is just great. The huge bonus network and just the sheer quality of the videos and galleries here makes this a fine site even without the updates. I don't get to say that very often! Visit Eva Notty


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Discover! Simulations
How Living Things Function
1. Get Set to Explore
- backbone: The series of bones that runs down the back of animals called vertebrates.
- lungs: Organs inside the body of certain animals, including mammals, that aid with breathing and getting oxygen into the blood.
- mammal: An animal that has hair or fur and produces milk to feed its young.
- warm-blooded: Having a body temperature that does not change when the temperature of the surroundings changes; mammals are warm-blooded.
Building Background
- Show students still or moving pictures of dolphins and have students identify these animals. Let students describe what they observe about these animals, including where they live, what they look like, and how they behave. Record their ideas on the board.
- Go over definitions of the vocabulary words, referring to students' observations of the dolphins. Refer to Student Edition pages A36-A37 for additional context for discussing vocabulary terms.
- Explain that in the simulation, students will be comparing traits people have with traits that dolphins have. Pose the Discover! question. Refer students to the list they made earlier of characteristics of dolphins. Make that the first column of a chart on the board. The second column of the chart will be used for listing traits of humans. Read or ask a volunteer to read the dolphin trait listed at the top of the chart. Encourage volunteers to identify a related trait of humans and write the trait on the board. Continue down the list and then let students add traits to either column.
- Direct students to make a two-column chart to record traits of dolphins and traits of humans, or hand out copies of a chart for students to use during the simulation.
2. Guide the Exploration
- Show students how to launch the Discover! Simulation. Encourage students to begin filling out their chart even during the introduction of the activity.
- As students begin Step 2, point out the list of labels down the center of the screen. These labels include all of the characteristics that these animals share. Note that when they click the feature labels, the characteristics of the dolphin and corresponding features of the human will be highlighted. Students should compare the highlighted features. The simulation compares seven pairs of features.
- After students have finished the exploration, return to the class chart on the board. Let students add traits of humans and dolphins that they compared during the simulation. Also, encourage them to revise or correct any information from the earlier discussion that they think needs to be changed, referring to their own charts.
3. Review/Assess
- Continue referring to the chart and ask a volunteer to read the first two sentences of Step 3's Wrap-up text aloud. After the student reads each element listed in the second sentence, let the class check for similar information in the chart on the board. Students should think back to features highlighted in the simulation that support each trait listed. Note, however, that the trait of producing milk is not listed in the simulation; go over the definition of mammal and explain that milk production is implied by this definition.
- Assign another volunteer to read the third through the sixth sentence of the Wrap-up text. Let students continue making additions to the class chart. Summarize the simulation by reading the last sentence of the Wrap-up text aloud to the class. Then, read the Extension aloud and have students return to the simulation. Encourage them to add to their charts to organize information related to the answer. Through class discussion, encourage students to note the following adaptations:
- flexible backbone to aid in motions necessary for swimming
- blowhole on top of head for air intake; sealed when dolphin goes underwater
- hairlessness and smooth skin for ease of movement in water
- flippers and flukes to aid swimming
- ability of babies to swim at birth
If time permits, present students with the following question:
- Critical Thinking: Apply Dolphins and humans both use lungs to breathe air. Neither can breathe underwater. What would happen if a dolphin did not have a seal to cover its blowhole when it went underwater? Answer: The dolphin could get water in its lungs, which would cause it to drown.
4. Reaching All Learners
English Language Learners
Print a copy of each of the diagrams of the humans and the dolphins from the simulation. Let students label any body parts that they already know. Then go over the names or the organs and body parts that students are less familiar with. Discuss the function of each of the labeled parts. Let students refer to their diagrams as they do the simulation.


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Kevin Spacey snubbed Toronto Mayor Rob Ford backstage at "Jimmy Kimmel Live" last week, and the mayor and his brother are giving YouTube an earful.
The mayor and his brother, Doug Ford, who is on the Toronto City Council, co-host their very own YouTube show, "Ford Nation," which has been in production since February after a short-lived (one episode) life on local TV last year. The series, which boasts cable-access production value, features the Brothers Ford discussing topics of interest to the voters of Toronto. In their latest episode, they talk at length about their trip to Hollywood to appear on "Jimmy Kimmel Live."
Though Ford wasn't officially a guest on Kimmel's show until March 3, he actually made a cameo appearance on the much-hyped post-Oscars edition of Kimmel's show on March 2, which had Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey as a guest.
BEST TV OF 2013 Lloyd | McNamara
Spacey, who knows a thing or two about playing politicians from his role on the Netflix series "House of Cards," apparently did not want to take pictures or mingle with people backstage. That was something that rubbed the Fords, especially Doug, the wrong way.
Doug started off praising Spacey as a great actor, an opinion the non-movie-watching Rob couldn't back up. "I wouldn't know him if I ran him over," Rob said.
"In my opinion, he's an arrogant SOB," Doug continued. "Any actor that makes a living off the people that watch his shows.... He wouldn't take a picture with anyone? We were told you can't take a picture and you can't speak to him. Who does this character think he is? Does he think he's God? That he's up there? That no common folk can take a picture with him?"
"I don't even know him," Rob added.
"Then, you know what's amazing?" Doug added. "He goes on the show and he changes on a dime.... Unbelievable."
Doug closed the segment with a direct message to Kevin Spacey: "You know, Kevin, why don't you get off your high horse and be real and take pictures with people and uh ... that's my opinion of someone like that."
PHOTOS: Behind the scenes of movies and TV
By contrast, Doug had high praise for their host, Kimmel, who David said would take pictures with anyone.
But not even Doug and Rob could agree on exactly how the mayor's much mocked appearance on the show went over.
Though both seemed mostly content, Rob said, "They didn't let me promote Toronto enough, that's all. That's the only thing."
However, Doug's assessment of Kimmel was, "He's a man of his word because he did a whole segment on Toronto."
Enough Toronto or not enough Toronto? Not even the Ford brothers can agree.
But lest you think "Ford Nation" will return to being a sleepy forum for civic issues, think again! Doug also informed viewers that Kimmel would be appearing on "Ford Nation" soon. (Something Kimmel had agreed to when Ford was on "JKL").
"Jimmy, you're coming to our town, now. Our turf. So the rules are going to change a little bit," Doug warned.
[For the Record, March 14, 2:48 p.m.: An earlier version of this post misidentified Doug Ford as David.]
Jimmy Fallon spoofs 'First Kiss' viral video with 'First Lick'
Oklahoma Fox station accidentally cuts evolution scene from 'Cosmos'
'Veronica Mars' creator Rob Thomas: I'm less nervous than a week ago
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Martin's course record gives him Zurich lead
AVONDALE, La. (AP) Ben Martin made his way through most of the TPC Louisiana course with the type of sparse gallery one would expect for a player who had missed seven cuts in his previous nine starts on the PGA Tour.
The few who followed him, including his mother, father and wife, were treated to a round never before seen at the current home of the Zurich Classic.
Martin's 10-under 62 in Thursday's opening round broke the course record by two strokes, highlighted by a chip-in from 55 feet and two birdie putts of 20 feet or more.
"It was one of those days you dream about," Martin said. "I started the round with two birdies in a row and they just kept rolling in."
Martin birdied 10 holes and made pars on the rest. His final birdie came on his chip with a 54-degree sand wedge on the par-3 17th hole, which hugs a water hazard and was made more difficult by afternoon winds.
Martin said the challenges that hole posed led him to take a conservative tee shot with a 5-iron rather than a longer club, and the way the 26-year-old South Carolina native executed his plan exemplified the type of day he had.
"That was just managing my game. I knew that hole was into the wind with water left," Martin said. "I felt like short of the green was a pretty easy chip."
He certainly made it look that way.
"Really, everything was working well," Martin said. "It was just one of those days, just like you draw it up."
The previous record at TPC Louisiana was a 64, accomplished many times, including on Thursday, when Andrew Svoboda did it to take a lead that held up until Martin surged past late in the day.
Peter Hanson and Sueng-Yul Noh were tied for third at 65.
Last weekend, Martin matched his career best with a third-place tie in the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head, S.C. He also finished third in early March in the Puerto Rico Open, but missed four cuts after that.
Martin opened the Zurich with a 10-foot birdie putt, the first of six birdies on the front nine, most set up by approach shots within 10 feet. One exception was his 26-foot birdie putt on No. 5. He opened the back nine with a 14-foot birdie putt, made a 10-footer on 11 and a 20-footer on 13.
Svoboda birdied six of his last nine holes.
Like Martin, the 34-year-old Svoboda has never won on the PGA Tour. While much can change with three rounds left, New Orleans has seen its share of maiden tour triumphs. It has happened in six of the past nine years, and 10 of the past 16.
"I'll take that stat," Svoboda said.
Svoboda's best career finish on the PGA Tour is a tie for 15th at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas in October.
Hanson's round was highlighted by an eagle on the par-4 sixth hole, accomplished with a 6-iron from 183 yards.
Erik Compton, Chad Collins and Michael Thompson were tied for fifth at 66, and Jeff Overton, Stuart Appleby and Robert Streb followed at 67.
Compton, a two-time heart transplant recipient, spent the early part of the week meeting with children at a New Orleans-area hospital and participated in a junior golf clinic. Although that limited his practice time, he thought it helped his mindset.
"It seems to really relax me and really puts things in perspective," Compton said. "I seem to play better during the weeks where I have hospital visits."
On the par-5 seventh, his 297-yard drive sailed right of the fairway, crossing a cart path. But he belted a 227-yard shot out of the rough to the foot of the green and two-putted for birdie. He ended his round with a 22-foot birdie putt on nine to briefly put him atop the leaderboard.
Compton, also winless on the PGA Tour, said he feels "very comfortable" on New Orleans' Pete Dye-designed course.
"You have to hit a lot of long iron shots and drive it well here, and those are some of the strengths of my game," he said.


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QVC and I are good friends. We hang out together every Saturday night and I spend way too much of my hard earned money with them. To say I went a little nutso a few weeks ago when everything was on Easy Pay is a bit of an understatement. 😉
Tonight at 10pm EST, CEW President Carlotta Jacobson will be joining QVC host Patty Reilly (my favorite host!) for 2 hours of beauty goodness… get your DVRs ready! They will be featuring this year's winners from the CEW Beauty Insider's Choice Awards. I'll be watching, will you?


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1. Are all your funds are large caps and multicaps..why?
2. Don't u believe in core and satellite approach which many magazines, papers are advocating these days
3. you are an aggressive investor and your mutual portfolio doesn't reflect that?
4. u have invested in growth style funds only..not in any value fund why? don't u think diversification in investment style is also necessary


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I recently returned to the US after spending about two weeks in Istanbul, Turkey, photographing the uprising and resistance of the citizens there. What began with about 20 activists occupying Gezi Park in an attempt to stop the demolition of the park in order to replace it with a shopping mall turned into a countrywide uprising against the oppressive, authoritarian government after police attacked the peaceful protestors with tear gas and water cannons. Below you can find my first-hand experiences and photographs from my time on the ground:
After making a last-second decision to travel to Turkey in order to photograph and report on what is happening there, I arrived in Istanbul on the morning of June 5th, camera in-hand. I had been following what had happened in Istanbul up until I arrived there, and had seen the situation change significantly, so I was unsure of what to expect. The police had viciously attacked the protestors in Gezi Park and Taksim Square the first few days of resistance, but had since pulled out of the area, leaving the protestors to govern themselves.
After arriving at the Ataturk airport in Istanbul, I caught a cab and told the driver to drop me off as close to Taksim Square as possible, as I was aware the protestors had built make-shift barricades on the streets leading towards the square. He ended up dropping me off directly in front of one of the barricades, telling me I would have to walk the rest of the way. So, I grabbed my gear, and headed towards the square. Below is a photo of where the cab driver dropped me off:
The first few days I spent in Istanbul, there were no police officers to be seen near Taksim Square. It was quite amazing to see how well people behaved themselves without law enforcement in the area. During this time, the mood in Gezi Park and Taksim Square felt extremely free and festive. People were playing instruments, lighting off fireworks, sending Chinese lanterns into the sky, waving flags, and singing songs. Below are several photos that were taken between June 5th and June 10th:
While Taksim Square was void of a police presence, protestors used that time to build make-shift barricades on the streets leading into the square in hopes of making it more difficult for police to enter the area when they came back. Some barricades were made with city busses, while others were made with police barricades and other materials that the protestors found:
On June 8th, I traveled to Gazi Mahallesi, Istanbul, which was about a 30 minute cab ride from Taksim Square. People there had been taking to the streets for several nights (as well as in many other cities and neighborhoods around Turkey), and police were responding to the protestors with water cannons and tear gas. Local activists said it was unsafe for me to go by myself, so they ended up connecting me to an activist who had been on the ground in Gazi for the past few nights. He didn't speak any English, and I don't speak any Turkish, so communication was a bit difficult. But, he watched my back, and helped keep me safe the entire night.
It was almost midnight by the time I arrived in Gazi that night, and many of the thousands of people who had been in the streets earlier had already gone home. A few hundred remained, and continued to face down water cannon trucks, tear gas, and flash bangs that were being used in an attempt to disperse them:
Three days after my trip to Gazi, on the morning of June 11th, police broke through the barricades that protestors had made and entered Taksim Square. As I had been awake all night, I was about to go to bed when I got word of what was happening. I quickly packed up my gear and headed towards the square. On my way, I passed many people who were frantically fleeing the area, coughing as their eyes watered from tear gas that had been deployed as the police entered the area. Many people were yelling at me in Turkish, clearly telling me to go back, but they didn't realize that I had traveled many miles just to photograph this.
As I entered the square, my eyes stung from lingering tear gas. The police were announcing over loudspeakers that they only planned to remove banners and tents from the square, but did not plan to enter Gezi Park. Not long after, a small group of people began throwing molotov cocktails and rocks at police vehicles from behind a set of barricades. I spoke to many Turkish activists who said they believed this was staged in order to "justify" the actions of the police that day. The protestors found it odd that the police responded with less use of force on this small group of people than they had used during earlier protests. The police ended up using tear gas, water cannons, and plastic bullets on thousands of protestors in both Taksim Square and Gezi Park during clashes that went all day and into the night, lasting for over 20 hours:
Several hours after the attack on Taksim Square began, I was hit with a water cannon and was completely engulfed in tear gas so thick that I was unable to see. After making my way into Gezi Park to receive help from the medics for the effects from the tear gas, I decided it was best for me to head back to the apartment I was staying at in order to change into dry clothes and get a few photos posted. On my way back, I was hassled by a group of police officers who were several blocks away from the clashes. They saw my cameras and stopped me, then started grabbing at my arm as if they were trying to detain me. After I told them several times that I was leaving the area, they finally allowed me to walk down the closest street that led away from Taksim Square.
Later that night, I went back out with a couple of friends and we tried to get back to Taksim Square. We soon realized that police officers were keeping others from getting near the square, and were pushing protestors further and further down the streets away from the area. We ended up joining thousands of others on Istiklal Street, several blocks from the square where the police were launching tear gas into the crowd.
Once the situation calmed down, police remained in Taksim Square, along with several water cannon trucks and other armored vehicles. The next few days were filled with tension as protestors expected an attack on Gezi Park at any point. Make-shift barricades were erected at the entrance to the park:
In an attempt to ease the tension, Davide Martello, a pianist who was on an international tour at the time, decided to stop by Taksim Square. He set up his piano in the square two days in a row, and played for the large crowds that gathered, creating a calming effect on anybody who listened. Even the police officers seemed to become more calm while listening to his music. On his second night in the square, Davide played for 12 hours straight:
The calm didn't last long, though, and on the night of June 15th, police attacked Gezi Park. They used tear gas and water cannons to clear protestors out of the park, and then continued to push them further away from the area. I had been taking a nap when the police first entered the park, but soon woke up and headed directly to the park. As I walked along the street next to the park with two other photographers from the US, police inside the park began yelling at us. Although we were the only three people in the area, they then shot tear gas directly at us:
As we walked towards Taksim Square, I saw the tents and other items that had been in the park being thrown into large trucks. Police guarded the entrances to the park, keeping protestors from re-entering it:
We then headed towards a large group of protestors who had been pushed onto one of the streets leading away from Gezi Park, and were waiting for police to advance with a water cannon truck. The clashes continued late into the night, with police officers pushing protestors further and further away from the park:
The following morning, police blocked the entrances to Taksim Square and Gezi Park. Turkey's European Union minister, Egemen Bağış, had said that anybody who tried to enter the square would be treated as a terrorist.
At this point, I had been in Istanbul for almost two weeks, and my flight back to the US was scheduled for the following afternoon. Although a part of me wanted to stay and continue documenting, another part of me realized I had already documented a lot, and I felt that I needed to go home so I could reflect on my experiences and share them with others through speaking and writing about it.
As I sit here now, writing this blog post from the safety of a coffee shop in my neighborhood in New York City, even through the images of tear gas, water cannons, and riot police that threaten to cloud up my memory, I am clearly remembering the faces of the courageous, inspiring citizens of Istanbul that I met and photographed while I was there. I will soon recover from the physical and emotional effects of what I witnessed and experienced, but the people I met, and the positive experiences I had, will forever remain with me.
Her yer Taksim, her yer direniş.
Everywhere is Taksim, everywhere is resistance.
If you would like to help me continue my work, please click here to make a donation.


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Do The PawSox Have Their Third Baseman?
It looks like the PawSox may have found their third baseman for 2010.
After Jorge Jimenez was selected by the Astros from the Red Sox organization in the Rule 5 Draft (and subsequently traded to Florida), there was no obvious candidate to be the opening day third baseman in Pawtucket.
Now there is, and his name is Nate Spears.
According to Baseball America, the Red Sox have signed the 24-year-old infielder to a minor league contract.
Spears was the primary third baseball for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs last year, and batted .253 with 2 HR and 37 RBI. His career batting average in seven professional seasons is .276.
Of course, plenty can happen between now and April, but Spears would certainly appear to be in the mix to start at the hot corner for the PawSox.
Baseball America also reports that Boston has signed RHP Stephen Fox out of the Independent Can-Am League.
The 24-year-old pitcher attended Hofstra but didn't play college baseball. Fox doesn't have enough experience to start the year with Pawtucket, but he is an intriguing addition to the organization based on this description on BaseballAmerica.com:
As you would expect for a pitcher with no college experience and little coaching, Fox was not a refined product when he arrived in Sussex. A month into the season he had a 9.72 ERA. But Skyhawks pitching coach Brooks Carey worked at getting Fox to stop opening up so early in his delivery (which caused him to leave the ball up) and to stop falling off to first base on his follow-through. Once he got his delivery closed up and started striding towards home plate, Fox didn't allow an earned run in his final nine innings of work (while striking out nine) and he had a 1.90 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 24 innings over the final two months of the season.
Some recent PawSox have reached deals with new organizations:
Sean Danielson – minor league deal with Cincinnati.
David Pauley – minor league deal with Seattle.
Matt Ginter, Jon Switzer – minor league deals with Houston.
Marcus McBeth – minor league deal with Oakland.
John Otness – minor league deal with Texas.
Joey Gathright – minor league deal with Toronto.


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Two prescription drug rings, allegedly responsible for the distribution of $2.1 million worth of Oxycodone in the Poconos, New Jersey and New York, have been broken up by agents from the Attorney General's Bureau of Narcotics Investigation, federal officials and local police.
Two prescription drug rings, allegedly responsible for the distribution of $2.1 million worth of Oxycodone in the Poconos, New Jersey and New York, have been broken up by agents from the Attorney General's Bureau of Narcotics Investigation, federal officials and local police.
In addition to the two rings operating in Pennsylvania, authorities in New York have dismantled the New York City arm of the operation.
The entire oxycodone smuggling ring trafficked $10 million worth of drugs across several states.
Dr. Hector Castro of Manhattan was arrested on Tuesday and charged with 39 counts of criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance. Authorities say Castro and his assistant illegally distributed more than 500,000 pills in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Known in Pennsylvania as "Operation Script King," Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane said the investigation began in April 2012 and revealed two competing drug trafficking operations throughout Monroe County, led by Bryn Stevenson of Tannersville and John Romagnolo of Cresco.
Almost people were arrested, the majority from Monroe County and a handful from Northampton and Luzerne counties.
The investigation revealed that pharmacies in Monroe County were being inundated with Oxycodone prescriptions from the Itzamna Medical Center of New York, N.Y.
Dr. Hector Castro was identified by New York authorities as the founder, medical director and practitioner of internal medicine at the Itzamna Medical Center. Castro is facing charges in New York for illegally selling Oxycodone prescriptions.
According to New York authorities, between September 2011 and February 2013, New Jersey pharmacies dispensed more than 500,000 Oxycodone pills based on more than 4,500 prescriptions that originated at Dr. Castro's Manhattan office.
Agents from the Attorney General's Office along with authorities in New York identified Patricia Valera-Rodriguez, the office manager at Itzamna Medical Center, as Stevenson and Romagnolo's main supplier of Oxycodone prescriptions.
Castro and Valera allegedly carried out two separate prescription-related criminal schemes. Together these schemes diverted hundreds of thousands of narcotic pills worth millions of dollars onto the black market.
As the investigation unfolded, court-authorized wiretaps were approved in November 2012, which revealed the scope of the organizations and identified additional suppliers.
Intercepted conversations showed that Romagnolo and Stevenson both sent names and personal information of individuals to Valera-Rodriguez, who then wrote out prescriptions for Oxycodone in those names. The hard copy prescriptions were then allegedly sold for $500 apiece.
Agents said that Romagnolo, who was known as the "Script King," traveled to New York and met Valera Rodriguez at least three times a week in order to obtain prescriptions.
Between March 2011 and December 2012, Romagnolo allegedly paid Valera-Rodriguez more than $30,000 for illegal prescriptions.
According to the criminal complaint, Stevenson preferred to have his prescriptions delivered to Stroudsburg by Valera-Rodriguez's husband, Hector Rodriguez.
Kane said that Romagnolo and Stevenson, with the help of Valera-Rodriguez, allegedly kept careful track of when and where each prescription was filled, so they would not draw the attention of pharmacies or law enforcement.
The two recruited fillers to go to pharmacies and get the prescriptions filled, according to court records.
The organization's "fillers" allegedly paid cash, used private insurance, or medical assistance in order to pay for the prescriptions In exchange Ramagnolo and Stevenson paid fillers with pills or cash.
From February 2011 to December 2012, the Romagnolo and Stevenson groups of recruited fillers obtained more than 500 prescriptions, using 100 different names and fraudulently obtaining over 70,000 Oxycodone 30 mg tablets.
The street price for a 30-mg. Oxycodone tablet was between $20 and $30 per tablet.
According to agents, the demand for Oxycodone in Northeastern Pennsylvania was so high that many pharmacies ran out of the drug or refused to fill prescriptions.
Over the past two days agents executed a series of search warrants at the defendants' homes, seizing more than two dozen hand guns and rifles, five ATVs, a dirt bike, digital scales, numerous pill bottles, several prescriptions, and several thousand dollars in cash.
"Many of the guns seized during our searches were loaded and strategically placed, suggesting that the defendants were ready to resort to violence at a moment's notice," Kane said.
The Attorney General's Office was assisted with the investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration New York Field Division, the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York, the New York City Police Department, Monroe County District Attorney E. David Christine, Pocono Mountain Regional Police, Barrett Township Police, Pocono Township Police Department, Stroud Area Regional Police, the Monroe County Probation Department, the Union County Police Department, and the Woodbridge Township Police Department.
The cases will be prosecuted in Monroe County by Deputy Attorney General Michael Dugan of the Attorney General's Drug Strike Force Section.


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A Brazilian judge gave a heartbroken New Jersey father custody of his son six days a week, but the caveat is a big one: He can only see the boy in the South American country he's lived in ever since his late mom abducted him.
David Goldman has been fighting for his boy, now 9, ever since the kid's mother took him out of the country in 2004 and married a Brazilian lawyer. Last year, the mother died during childbirth, leaving Sean living with his stepfather and David Goldman fighting an international custody battle.
The new arrangement, ordered this week, will remain in effect until a ruling on Sean's permanent custody is given, according to The Associated Press. The Brazilian family wants to retain custody and plans to appeal. Goldman is worried that could scuttle the arrangement, and given the uncertainty, he isn't rushing down to Brazil.
"We don't put him on an airplane until we're actually sure it's going to happen," Goldman's lawyer Patricia Apy told The AP.
The battle got a little messier this week when a transcript of a Brazilian psychologist interviewing young Sean was released quoting the boy saying he wants to stay in Brazil. If he is sent back to live with his father Tinton Falls, N.J., the boy told the psychologist, he will "break down totally."
Apy told the Associated Press the decision was not Sean's to make, saying that at just 9 years old, he is not mature enough to choose where he should live. Apy also said she was concerned the interview could cause lasting psychological damage.
Meanwhile,Goldman remains hopeful that this Father's Day will be his last without his son.


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Jewish World Review July 8, 2014 / 10 Tammuz, 5774
Does the arrogance of this imperial presidency know no bounds?
By Dana Milbank
On the north side, across from the White House, stands St. John's Episcopal Church, "the Church of the Presidents," where every president since James Madison has worshiped. But there was no sanctuary for President Obama at St. John's on Monday; it was hosting a protest against him.
More than 100 Latinos a constituency that has been a reliable part of Obama's political base stood on the church steps as speakers denounced Obama's pledge to hasten deportations of children illegally crossing the southern border. Addressing the participants, many of whom held signs saying "President Obama: STOP!!," immigration advocate Gustavo Torres charged that "the president has failed to act with the urgency and competence that is required."
At that very moment on the other side of the square, the White House was acting with urgency on Obama's latest executive action, the "Excellent Educators for All" initiative. Eight hundred feet from the church protest, Education Secretary Arne Duncan was in the White House briefing room, talking about "differential compensation," "systemic inequities" and the administration's plans to spend $4.2 million on a new "educator equity support network."
Duncan said the administration would prefer to act with Congress rather than use executive authority, "but we just can't continue to wait."
Certainly, the matter of teacher quality for poor kids is important, but Duncan and his administration colleagues are in for a semester at the school of hard knocks if they think a $4.2 million initiative (that's about 0.0001 percent of the federal budget) will get attention when there's a crisis on the border, a crisis in Iraq and Syria, and other fires to be extinguished at home and abroad.
Indeed, the first question for Duncan on Monday wasn't about his new initiative but about the National Education Association's call over the weekend for Duncan's resignation after several policy disagreements. Duncan said he doesn't get involved in "local union politics."
Local? The NEA is the nation's largest teachers union and a key component of Obama's political base just like the Latino activists protesting across the square.
This is why the oft-leveled accusation that Obama is running an "imperial presidency" is a bit silly. As imperial rulers go, this president has about as much oppressive might and raw dictatorial clout as Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein. Republicans have never respected Obama's authority. And now, as his popularity slips, he seems to be losing his ability to influence foreign allies, congressional Democrats and some of his previously loyal supporters.
Both the puny executive action and the criticism from erstwhile allies on Monday showed why the Obama presidency these days is falling a good bit short of imperial on the Alexander the Great scale. Education was the White House's message du jour lunch with teachers on the South Lawn was the only item on Obama's publicly released schedule other than his intelligence briefing but it didn't have a chance of wresting the national narrative away from less pleasant affairs.
On Tuesday, Obama plans to ask Congress for additional funds to process child immigrants. But then he's going on a fundraising trip to Colorado and Texas that, his spokesman confirmed Monday, doesn't include a stop at the border. This could put Obama further on the defensive by inviting the sort of criticism that followed George W. Bush's Hurricane Katrina flyover.
In recent days, Obama has spoken in scattershot fashion about education, jobs, the Highway Trust Fund, immigration legislation and Republicans' threat to sue him for his supposedly monarchical behavior. But his success in shaping the agenda has been negligible. He has been at the mercy of events, reacting to matters not of his choosing and taking executive actions that, for all the criticism, don't have the permanence or reach of legislation.
Following Duncan's visit to the briefing room, new White House press secretary Josh Earnest had the unpleasant task of responding to all the other problems generated by supposed friends.
Ed Henry of Fox News inquired about Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.), who on Sunday called the administration "one step behind" on the border crisis. The Associated Press's Julie Pace asked about Germany's complaint that one of its intelligence operatives was allegedly a U.S. double agent. And Mark Landler of the New York Times asked why Iraqi leaders seem to be "brushing aside" the administration's pleas to form a new government.
To that last question, Earnest said he had "been pretty candid, I think, over the last couple of weeks, in articulating our disappointment."
Articulating disappointment! Does the arrogance of this imperial presidency know no bounds?Send us feedback
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