CDB project on climate resilient road transport sector expanded to include Dominica
Tiger Woods likely playing in first three FedEx Cup events
Tiger Wood's golf schedule promises to be busy over the coming weeks, as he has committed to play the first two FedEx Cup playoff events and is virtually assured of qualifying for the third.
The PGA Tour announced Tuesday that Woods has entered the Northern Trust (Aug. 23-26) and Dell Technologies Championship (Aug. 31-Sept 3). Woods has not qualified for the season-ending playoff series since 2013.
At 47th in the Fed Ex Cup standings, he has easily qualified for the first two events, which take the top 125 and then the top 100 players. The BMW Championship, which is Sept. 6-9, is for the top 70.
If he were to play all three events, it would be the first time since returning in 2018 from his fourth back surgery that Woods, 42, plays three consecutive weeks.
With the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone this week, followed by the PGA Championship at Bellerive in St. Louis, Woods is looking at perhaps playing five of the next six tournaments. The PGA Tour takes a week off following the BMW Championship before the Tour Championship in Atlanta, which is for the top 30 players.
The Ryder Cup follows a week later in France, and Woods is expected to be one of captain Jim Furyk's at-large picks.
LeBron James opens school for underprivileged children
NBA superstar LeBron James has proved he's a role model both on and off the basketball court by opening a school for underprivileged children. The I Promise School will house 240 at-risk third and fourth-grade students in James' hometown Akron, Ohio.
The school is a joint venture between the LeBron James Family Foundation and Akron Public Schools. "We just want everything for them," he said. James will serve as primary donor to help form the extra-curricular goals of the school. The school's board will oversee the curriculum development.
Mr. James hopes the school will help kids who are falling behind in education and struggling at home. The former Cavs star missed 83 days of school in the fourth grade because his family did not have a car. Several other families offered care and support, and the following year he started playing basketball.
"School didn't mean anything to me," he said. "There were just a lot of empty days, empty nights and just kind of a no-future thought process. "It was mentally challenging. No kid at eight, nine should have that stress... so I know exactly what a lot of these kids are going through."
Students will also be provided with meals during the day, as well as services to help them deal with stress, or parents who are struggling to make ends meet.
The school will also provide services to families, which include job placement assistance for parents and an on-site food bank from which parents can take food to prepare at home.
Haitian pastor wants shanty residents up first for land purchases in Bahamian Shanty Towns
President of the League of Haitian Pastors Pastor Jean Paul Charles said he has asked the government to give shantytown residents first preference to purchase land in those communities.
Shantytown residents have until August 10 to leave those communities. Once the deadline passes, those communities are expected to be demolished. Pastor Charles said the league has visited the 11 shantytowns on New Providence identified by the government on a weekly basis to meet with residents and hear their concerns.
Asked about those residents who intend to take the government to court, Charles said, “I know people said they would take the government to court but I don’t think that will make any difference. I think the government would do what it is willing to do.”
Charles said he hopes the “the government gives the Haitians who live in those places the first preference if they want to buy that piece of land and to rebuild it, up to code, properly”.
“We asked the government and they said they would look into that and get back to us,” he said. Haitian Embassy First Assistant Secretary Karl Henri Chatelier reportedly made a similar suggestion on ZNS.
He said that leasing the land is another option the Bahamian government can undertake instead of evicting those residents.
But the Ministry of Foreign Affair said his comments were out of line and that he had interfered in the domestic affairs of The Bahamas.
North Korea working on new missiles, US officials say
North Korea appears to be building new ballistic missiles despite recent warming ties with the Trump administration and pledges to denuclearise, reports say.
Unnamed US officials told the Washington Post that spy satellites had spotted continuing activity at a site that has produced ballistic missiles.
Reuters quotes an official as saying it is unclear how far the work has gone.
Donald Trump met North Korea's Kim Jong-un in Singapore in June.
After the first meeting between sitting leaders from the two countries, the two men pledged to work towards denuclearisation. Mr Trump later said North Korea was "no longer a nuclear threat".
But Mr Trump was criticised at home for making concessions without securing any firm commitment from Mr Kim to end the nuclear and missile programmes.
These are not the first reports that North Korea may be continuing its weapons programme, casting doubt on the real impact of the summit in Singapore.
Trump repeats Giuliani defense: 'Collusion is not a crime'
President Donald Trump on Tuesday embraced a line of defense offered by his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, that "collusion is not a crime," even though he continued to deny any alleged ties between his campaign and Moscow during the 2016 election.
"Collusion is not a crime, but that doesn't matter because there was No Collusion (except by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats)!" Trump tweeted.
For months, Trump has insisted that there was "no collusion," but his Tuesday morning tweet hints at a potential expansion of his defense amid the ongoing special counsel investigation. Speaking to CNN's "New Day" on Monday, Giuliani said he wasn't sure if collusion was a crime.
The President has repeatedly denied that there was any collusion between his campaign and Moscow, and he told the New York Times in December that "collusion is not a crime."
Legal experts, however, have repeatedly said that anyone found collaborating with Russia on the 2016 election could be charged with other crimes, such as conspiracy, and special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation has not concluded.
Final hikers rescued from Indonesian volcano, after devastating earthquake
More than 600 stranded hikers have been successfully rescued from Mount Rinjani on Indonesia's Lombok Island, two days after a powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck the popular tourist destination.
The final six hikers were brought down from the mountain Tuesday morning, confirmed National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, following a massive combined rescue effort involving almost 200 Indonesian police, military and medical personnel.
The hikers had become trapped on the mountain's numerous hiking routes after the earthquake, which struck early Sunday, unleashed a series of landslides blocking their path back down to safety.
The toll of the earthquake, which killed 16 people and left hundreds of others homeless, is still being counted across the rest of the popular tourist spot.
During a visit to the island Monday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced each damaged property would receive 50 million rupiah ($3468) in aid to help them rebuild, according to state news agency Antera.
"The provincial governor will announce the total amount of everything (damages), and the aid will be allocated in the form of cash to let the residents build their damaged houses on their own," the Indonesian president said.
Early estimates indicated more than 1,000 homes had been damaged or destroyed by the earthquake.
Warren, Sanders introduce debt relief bill to benefit Puerto Rico
A number of potential 2020 Democratic presidential contenders are behind a bill that would allow Puerto Rico to terminate its $73 billion in debt.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, introduced a bill Wednesday that would give the US territory a way out of its crushing debt crisis exacerbated by the damage from Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-New York -- the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the House -- plans to introduce companion legislation in the House.
The relief act aims to allow US territories to "terminate their public, unsecured debt" if they meet two of the following criteria: population decrease of 5% over 10 years, received major federal disaster assistance and per capita debt going beyond $15,000. Puerto Rico qualifies under these criteria.
The senators propose that Puerto Rico's governor and Legislature approve the debt relief, since Puerto Rico is a self-governing territory. The bill would then designate a "special master" to allocate $15 billion to creditors Puerto Rico owed. The bill would not extend to bond insurers, large financial firms and hedge fund investors.
Under the bill, eligible US territories would be allowed the option to terminate their debt only once every seven years. The Caribbean island has been in an economic recession for over a decade and in May 2017 it filed for bankruptcy the biggest municipal bankruptcy filing ever in the US.
Four months after filing for bankruptcy, Puerto Rico was hit by the strongest storm the island has seen in 85 years: Hurricane Maria.
When he was a candidate, Donald Trump said he would not "bail out" Puerto Rico, but as President and following Hurricane Maria, Trump floated the prospect of wiping out Puerto Rico's debt burden.
Nissan's new audible warning reminds parents not to leave kids in hot cars
So far this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 29 children have died of heatstroke after being left in a hot car. That number will only climb — on average, 1 child dies every 10 days due to in-car heatstroke. And it doesn't always have to be stifling hot outside for tragedy to strike. NHTSA says the interior of a car can soar to 110 degrees even with an exterior temperature of only 60 degrees.
To combat this very real problem, Nissan introduced Rear Door Alert technology in its 2018 Pathfinder that reminds owners to check the rear seat upon exiting their vehicle. Instead of a simple warning text on the dash, Nissan's system includes "a series of distinctive honks as the driver walks away from the vehicle." RDA monitors use of a car's rear door, and if it's opened at the beginning of a trip but remains closed at the end, the warning system activates.
RDA was developed by two engineers at Nissan who are also mothers. For 2019, Nissan has spread RDA across much of its lineup, including the Altima and Rogue. And by 2022, RDA will be standard across all four-door Nissan vehicles, including pickup trucks.
A homeless man handing out resumes in Silicon Valley gets more than 200 offers
After standing on a street corner and asking strangers for employment, one homeless man in Silicon Valley has been overwhelmed by job offers.
David Casarez, a college graduate in his 20s, was spotted holding a sign that read, "Homeless hungry 4 success take a resume." He was handing out his resume to motorists in Mountain View, California.
Casarez moved to California several months ago, seeking a job in the tech industry. He recently ran out of money and said he had to get creative to get noticed.
"I wanted to be in the Bay Area with all of the other tech companies. If you want to compete and play with the big dogs, you'd better come out here," he told KRON. "I was like, 'Let me try something to stand out.'"
The sign and perseverance paid off. After a woman shared a photo of Casarez with his sign, as well as his resume, on social media, he has been inundated with people trying to help.
When asked how many job offers he's received, Casarez said he's lost track.
"I would say it's way more than 200 at this point. Lost track as my inbox has been flooded," Casarez said.