Brilliant Wayde Van Niekerk smashes 400m world record

By Nick Mulvenney | RIO DE JANEIRO

 

 

South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk ran the fastest single lap in history to win the Olympic 400 meters gold medal in 43.03 seconds and break Michael Johnson's 17-year-old world record on Sunday.

Running an extraordinary race in lane eight, the 24-year-old world champion got off to a flier and was streaking clear on the back straight before upping his pace even further to better American Johnson's 1999 mark of 43.18 seconds.


"I believed I could get the world record," Van Niekerk told reporters. "I've dreamed of this medal since forever. I am blessed."


The South African flew across the line a good five meters ahead of 2012 champion Kirani James and held his hands to his head in disbelief before being embraced by the Grenadian, who took silver in 43.76.


"I'm happy to be part of a race that made history," James said. "We have put this sport on a pedestal."
LaShawn Merritt of the United States, the 2008 Olympic champion, claimed bronze in 43.85, the first time the top three had run under 44 seconds in the one-lap Olympic final.


"It was a crazy race, a great moment in history," said Merritt, who was unable to defend his title in London after suffering a hamstring injury in the heats.


"The world record was broken, the best man won."

American Johnson, who won back-to-back Olympic titles in the event in 1996 and 2000 and is considered one of the greatest sprinters of all time, was dumbfounded by the quality of Van Niekerk's finish.  

 "Oh my God! From lane eight, a world record," Johnson said on the BBC. "He took it out so quick. I have never seen anything from 200 to 400 like that."


Van Niekerk marked himself as the leading contender for Rio when he led home Merritt and James with an exceptional run to win gold at last year's world championships in Beijing, where the podium again all ran under 44 seconds.


This year, he became the first sprinter to run the 100 below 10 seconds, 200 under 20 seconds and 400 in less than 44 seconds before deciding to concentrate on the longest distance in Brazil.


(Editing by Ed Osmond)

Getting ready to go to Reha Klinikum Bad Rothenfelde.

Bremen | Korana X |

14.08.2016

Practices:

 

•  Pain Therapy
• Medical Training 
• Sport Therapy
• Diabetic Foot School
• Massage
• Swim-bath Movement
• and more

 The swimming-pool

 Bow shooting

The Reception

I  will be away from the Internet for some time and it is also good. I will however update you readers.

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South Africa questions candidates to replace corruption official who vexed Zuma

South Africa's parliament on Thursday began interviewing candidates to replace Thuli Madonsela, the head of a corruption watchdog whose findings undermined support for President Jacob Zuma and his administration and worried investors.


Appointed by Zuma in 2009 for a seven-year, non-renewable term, Madonsela investigated several scandals involving Zuma which contributed to a sharp loss in support for the ruling party African National Congress in local elections last week.


Among the 14 candidates shortlisted to replace Madonsela in the role of Public Protector are two judges, several lawyers, as well as the current deputy national director of public prosecutions. All would were due to be questioned by lawmakers on Thursday.


The Public Protector has a constitutional mandate to probe misconduct and abuse in state affairs. It was not clear when a new candidate to replace Madonsela would be named but her term ends in October.


The scandals investigated by Madonsela have worried investors in Africa's most industrialized country, who feared it could lead to instability.


In one of her most high-impact investigations in 2014, Madonsela found Zuma had included in a $16 million "security upgrade" to his rural Nkandla home a raft of non-security items including a swimming pool and amphitheatre.


She said Zuma should pay back the cost of those items, and her view was supported in March by South Africa's highest court, which said Zuma had broken the law by ignoring Madonsela's order.
Zuma, who survived an impeachment vote in April after the court ruling, has since said he will repay some of the money, as ordered by the court.




Madonsela has said she is investigating whether Zuma allowed a wealthy business family, the Gupta family, to decide on cabinet appointments. Both Zuma and the Guptas have denied the accusations made by the opposition.


South Africa ranked 61st out of 168 countries on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2015, which measures public sector corruption.


(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by James Macharia and Raissa Kasolowsky)

Official: No formal Secret Service discussions with Trump camp on remark

WASHINGTON | By Alana Wise  

A federal official on Wednesday said the U.S. Secret Service had not formally spoken with Republican Donald Trump's presidential campaign regarding his suggestion a day earlier that gun rights activists could stop Democratic rival Hillary Clinton from curtailing their access to firearms.
Following Trump's comment at a rally on Tuesday in which he suggested that gun rights activists could stop Clinton from appointing liberal anti-gun justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal official familiar with the matter told Reuters that there had been no formal conversations between the Secret Service and the Trump campaign.

Earlier CNN had reported that there had been multiple conversations between the campaign and the agency.


"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks," Trump told a North Carolina campaign rally on Tuesday. "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know," he added, leading some critics to believe Trump was referring to gun violence against his rival.


The controversy came as the campaign tried to stay on message after a contentious previous week. Trump weathered criticism within his own party for delaying endorsements of fellow Republicans and for a prolonged clash with the family of a fallen Muslim American U.S. Army captain.


The campaign denied that inciting violence had been the intent of Tuesday's remark, and on Wednesday said there had been no conversations with the Secret Service about it.


"No such meeting or conversation ever happened," Trump wrote on Twitter, accusing CNN of having made up the report.


(Reporting by Alana Wise; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Sandra Maler)

Money laundering rule on prepaid cards stalled after industry pushback

NEW YORK/ST. LOUIS, AUGUST 10 | ByMica Rosenberg and Brett Wolf

 

 

 

 

Boxes containing U.S. currency seized during a raid in the Los Angeles Fashion District are seen in an undated handout photo released by the U.S. Department of Justice September 10, 2014.


In 2011, amid a crackdown on international money laundering, the U.S. Treasury Department tried to close a loophole that authorities said allows drug cartels to move bulk cash across borders on gift and other prepaid cards.


The department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) proposed that money stored on these cards count toward a U.S. requirement to report cross-border movement of cash of $10,000 or more.


But FinCEN later withdrew its proposed rule after pushback from the prepaid card industry, according to law enforcement sources. The move has not been previously reported.
In response to questions from Reuters, FinCEN spokesman Stephen Hudak said the rule was being reworked and would be resubmitted, possibly by 2017


"It's not dead," Hudak said.
The lack of a rule has stymied efforts to crack down on cross-border crime, including drug trafficking and money laundering, law enforcement officials said. The U.S. Department of Justice estimated in 2009 that up to $24 billion in cash is smuggled into Mexico each year, some of it on prepaid cards.
The use of the cards has grown steadily in recent years. More than $623 billion was loaded on gift cards and other types of prepaid cards in the United States in 2015, according to data from the Massachusetts-based Mercator Advisory Group.



The prepaid card industry opposed the rule, saying it would have discouraged people from using the cards.


"Implementing onerous requirements on reloadable prepaid cards could disproportionately harm vulnerable consumers, who rely on these products as their sole means of access to the financial services system,” said Brad Fauss, President and CEO of the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association.


In March 2013, two years after FinCEN proposed amending the Bank Secrecy Act with the new rule, industry representatives met with officials from FinCEN and the Department of Homeland Security at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which reviews regulations, according to a record of the meeting topic, date and attendees published on a White House website.


Visa Inc. (V.N), the world's largest payments network operator and a major brand on prepaid cards, was the most vocal opponent at the meeting, according to a person who attended. Any member of the public can request a meeting about a regulatory action under review, and the OMB views these meetings as listening sessions.


In November 2014, FinCEN withdrew its proposal.


FinCEN's Hudak declined to comment on the meeting. He said the agency withdrew the rule "for further consideration and analysis of the benefits and costs."
Meetings between OMB and parties with a stake in proposed regulations are common, and it often takes years for an agency to complete the review of proposed regulations. But it is unusual for agencies to withdraw rules once they are proposed. Over the past decade, less than 6 percent of draft regulations were withdrawn by the agency that proposed them, according to OMB statistics.
In exchanges with law enforcement officials, "FinCEN just regurgitated the same arguments that the industry put out there," said a law enforcement source who asked not to be quoted on relationships with regulators.


A Visa spokeswoman declined to comment on the meeting. She said Visa's prepaid cards "are in full compliance with the law and are designed to deter illegal activities such as money laundering."
LIMITED DATA


Prepaid cards come in a variety of forms. So-called "open loop" cards carry credit card company logos and are re-loadable. Gift cards that can be used at specific outlets are known as "closed loop" cards.


Fauss, president of the prepaid card association, said that, unlike cash, open loop cards can not be used anonymously because they require vendors to collect purchasers' identification.
Law enforcement officials said they have little information about how often the cards are used for illicit transfers, and the rule would have shed light on how often the cards are crossing borders.
During the routine 60-day public comment period on the rule in 2011, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement submitted one comment supporting the rule. Industry groups and card companies submitted a dozen opposing it.


The industry said it would be difficult to implement because, in order to check balances, border agents would need card scanners, which are expensive and invade customer privacy. It said cross-border tracking was unnecessary because card companies already have implemented load limits and other controls.


The industry also argued the rule could unfairly affect the poor. Prepaid cards can be used for U.S. government benefits and payrolls for workers without bank accounts.


This type of argument has been raised more broadly by financial institutions claiming overzealous money-laundering regulation has led to "de-risking," where banks pull out of certain lines of business and even parts of the world, leaving few options for some customers. [L1N19X1DD]


"The proposed rule could result in bank-issued prepaid cards being stigmatized as second-class financial products in comparison to debit cards and credit cards," wrote Alex Miller, Visa's then-associate General Counsel in one of the 2011 comment letters.


The industry also opposed bipartisan Congressional legislation in 2010 calling for controls on prepaid cards. The bills died after the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association lobbied against them, according to records compiled by the nonprofit organization Center for Responsive Politics.


Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, co-chaired a 2011 Senate Caucus hearing on money laundering that aired concerns about prepaid cards. He did not know FinCEN had withdrawn its proposed regulation until he and Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, sent letters last year to the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of the OMB asking about it, a Grassley spokeswoman said.


"The long delays in finalizing regulations to crack down on this practice are frustrating to those of us who want to stop this way of laundering criminal proceeds," Grassley said in an emailed statement.
In 2011, Kumar Kibble, then Deputy Director at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement testified in Congress that authorities had found hundreds of the cards hidden "in a compartment similar to those used to conceal cash, drugs and other contraband."


John Tobon, deputy special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Miami, said the cards can be used to pay couriers smuggling money, drugs or other merchandise as large cash transactions come under greater scrutiny


He said the European Union has become concerned about the use of the cards in recent terror plots. The EU recently published a proposal that would increase regulation of the cards in member states.
"The regulations are absolutely still necessary," Tobon said.


(Reporting by Mica Rosenberg in New York and Brett Wolf of Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence; Editing by Amy Stevens and Lisa Girion)

The underdogs of our society.

In the game of chest, the pawn out number all other pieces. They have real value when strategy is call upon.

Is it not how so many people in the Western Cape view themselves?

Politically invisible but key in reality of whom will take the reigns in the province.

We have seen it happen again with a remarkable surprise in the West and Eastern Cape Provinces.

Some people may still ask, who is the Johnny-come-late's and what strength and power do they hold? Do not allow other people to dictate who and what you are. You are unique and should stay that way.

You have shown and illustrated that you are King makers in the landscape of Western Cape and Eastern Cape. Stay the way you are.

Spread the good news!!!

Truth are coming!!!
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Email: saccmilvet@gmail.com

SACCMVA UNITY MARCH
Friday at 9 AM - 12 PM
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Cape Town, South Africa

Elke oud lid se pond vleis tel. Wenner sê: "Die saak is reg." Ek sê: "Die saak bly reg." Dis tyd om te spook-loop manne, Kontak Kaptein Cupido Philander, vir meer inligting. Ek het net die saak opgetel op sosiale media. Ek vertrou en glo dis geen hoax, maar dat die manne in posisies beweeg. Die tyd is ryp, die oes groot en die arbeiders min.

Agenda punte:

* Geen sosiale ondersteuning aan lede
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"Wie kom saam .... wie kom saam ... " *singing*


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