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Aunt suffocates toddler to death with baby wipe Associated Press / August 30, 2015 HASTINGS, Neb. — A 19-month-old is dead and her great-aunt has been arrested in her death after authorities say a baby wipe was found lodged in the toddler’s throat. An arrest affidavit says the toddler, Aliyana, was dropped off at the home of her 33-year-old aunt Azudany Serrano-Contreras on March 12. EMS responded to the home in Hastings to the report of a child who couldn’t breathe. The child was transported to the Children’s Hospital in Colorado where she died, KOLN reported. A baby wipe was found in her throat. Investigators said Contreras’ story kept changing about what she was doing when she claimed Aliyana swallowed the wipe. KOLN reported that testimony from Contreras’ own children said she would cover Aliyana’s mouth to stop her from crying. Eventually investigators said over the course of a few months it became clear Aliyana didn’t suffocate herself. “Officers from our agency continued to investigate the case look in to the death to see what was going on, and have referred that investigative packet to the Adams County Attorney’s Office,” said Sgt. Brian Hessler, with the Hastings Police Department A warrant was issued for Contreras on July 29, and a few weeks later she was arrested in Laredo, Texas. Contreras is being held on a $1 million bond and faces multiple charges, including intentionally committing child abuse resulting in death.

Georgia toddler dies after being left in car ABC News / September 7, 2015 The death of a northwest Georgia infant is under investigation after he was left in a vehicle. The 11-month-old boy's death occurred Saturday in Chickamauga, which is about 115 miles northwest of Atlanta, according to the Walker County Sheriff's Department. 11-month-old Jaxon Taylor died after his grandparents and aunt, Kyle and Meta Hendershot, left him in the car following a church service Saturday afternoon. The boy's mother, who works at night as a hospital emergency room nurse, was asleep. When the mother woke, she asked about the child. "At that point she runs toward the car finds the child strapped in the car seat and administers CPR. She brings the child back in the house the adults put him in cold water, trying to revive him, bring him back," said Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson. The child was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No charges have been filed, but the death is being investigated by the Walker County Sheriff's Office, the sheriff said. This is the 19th case of an infant dying in a hot car in the United States this year.

Infant left in hot car dies KRIS-TV / September 8, 2015 CORPUS CHRISTI - Medics rushed an infant to Spohn Memorial Hospital Tuesday afternoon after the 4-month old boy was found in a hot car outside a home on Presa Street. The baby did not survive. Corpus Christi police say the father of two small children left a 16-month old girl and a 4-month-old boy in the family car. He reportedly came back out later to find the children. The youngest infant was unconscious. Police detained both parents at the beginning of the investigation. No arrests have been announced.

Toddler dies after being left in 200 degree heat inside car KFOR / August 13, 2015 PECOS, Texas – A 17-month-old child is dead after being left inside a hot car in Texas. The mother admitted to investigators that she forgot to take the toddler out of the car in the heat of the day. “Her, the infant that passed away, two other kids, and the father left the residence so she could take the father to work. When she dropped the father off and came back to the residence, her and the two other children got out of the car,” said Chief Clay McKinney, with the Pecos Police Department. However, 17-month-old Avrian Villalobos was left inside the car. Police say the child’s mother, 21-year-old Annabelle Millan, realized her mistake about an hour later. When she found Avrian, he was unconscious and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. The police chief told KWES that when officers tested the car, it registered at 200 degrees. So far, no charges have been filed in the case.

Woman chained mentally disabled adults to basement boiler to collect social security checks New York Daily News / September 9, 2015 A woman who chained mentally disabled adults to a boiler in her squalid basement so she could steal $212,000 in social security checks has pleaded guilty to avoid a death sentence. Linda Weston, 55, admitted to 196 counts including murder, kidnapping, hate crimes and sex trafficking over 10 years, with two of her victims dying. In exchange for pleading guilty, prosecutors will recommend Weston - a convicted killer in the 1980s - is handed a life jail term plus 80 years when she is sentenced in November. Weston is accused of using 'cunning, trickery, force and coercion' to persuade mentally disabled men and women to choose her as her caretaker. This allowed her to illegally claim around $212,000 in disability checks while her victims were kept locked in her basement in Philadelphia. Weston was arrested in 2011 after her landlord found four suffering adults locked in the accused's boiler room, with the authorities saying Weston, her daughter and three others of treating the victims like 'zoo animals'. From 2001 until 2011, six disabled adults and four children were kept in the dark basement, often given drugs in their food and drink to sedate them and made to use a bucket for a toilet. Two of the women were allowed outside, but only to bring in more money for the family as prostitutes. Prosecutors claimed the victims were punished 'by slapping, punching, kicking, stabbing, burning and hitting them with closed hands, belts, sticks, bats and hammers or other objects, including the butt of a pistol'. Prosecutors initially planned to seek the death penalty but scaled back after Weston agreed to admit to all of the charges. The case came to light in October 2011 after a landlord discovered four malnourished victims locked in the 13-by-7ft pitch-black room in the basement of a Philadelphia apartment building. One of them was chained to a boiler. Authorities soon began untangling a complicated web of relationships among victims and their alleged captors in an investigation that spanned several states, including Texas and Florida. A 150-page grand jury indictment describes Weston as the ringleader of a 'family' that included her daughter and three men who prosecutors say helped control and subjugate the victims. The victims' diminished mental capacity, coupled with the fact that Weston continually moved the family to elude law enforcement, meant that 'escape for these individuals seemed impossible,' U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said. Weston forced two female victims into prostitution, including her niece, to earn more money for the family when they lived in Texas and Florida, authorities said. Two other women died while living with Weston, leading to murder charges that make her eligible for the death penalty. Memeger said prosecutors are weighing whether to pursue it. Maxine Lee, a disabled Philadelphia woman, died of meningitis and starvation while living with Weston in Virginia in 2008, authorities said. Another woman identified in court papers as D.S. died in Philadelphia in 2005 after prosecutors said Weston fed her drug-laced food while keeping her captive in a laundry room. Weston staged the death to look like an overdose, authorities said. Weston has already served time after a man she locked in her Philadelphia apartment died of starvation in 1981. Others charged in the indictment Weston's daughter, Jean McIntosh, 33, of Philadelphia; Thomas Gregory Sr., 49, of Philadelphia; Eddie Wright, 52, of Killeen, Texas; and Nicklaus Woodard, 26, of West Palm Beach, Florida. .

Newborn baby given formula mixed with vodka instead of water WISN / September 9, 2015 A baby was raced to hospital after her mother accidentally mixed her formula with vodka instead of water. The one-month-old girl had a blood alcohol level of almost 0.294 - almost four times the 0.08 driving limit - when she was admitted to the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. Her mother, from Kenosha, Wisconsin, said after she gave the girl her bottle on Monday night, her hands and toes became red and her legs started shaking. The 20-year-old mother told police that a man staying with her had emptied out a bottle of water on the kitchen counter and replaced it with the strong liquor without telling her. After she realized what had happened, the man is alleged to have pushed, choked and hit her with the bottle. Police were called and man - later identified as Brian Jones, 22 - was arrested. He was charged with strangulation and battery, disorderly conduct and resisting an officer and could face ten years in jail if convicted. The baby was placed in intensive care. According to the police report, she drank around two ounces of vodka mixed with baby formula. Her mom told officers she and Jones were at home when he asked if the child had been fed. He then became furious when the mom told him she had used the bottle that unbeknownst to her was filled with vodka. Jones is said to have yelled at the woman, telling her he had planned to take the alcohol out with him, before throwing the bottle at her and grabbing her by the neck. When officers arrived, Jones swore at them and came towards them with clenched fists.

Girl, 2, dies after being raped by mother's boyfriend' KFOR / September 8, 2015 A two-year-old girl in Oklahoma City has died after she was allegedly raped by her mother's 22-year-old boyfriend. Shaleah Cudjo was pronounced dead shortly after she was taken to the hospital following a welfare check at about 10.13am on September 3, when police received a call saying the girl was not breathing. EMSA officials immediately rendered aid to two-year-old Shaleah Cudjo and transported her to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. Medical staff found that the toddler had lost a large amount of blood after sustaining internal injuries and other injuries that displayed evidence of sexual assault. Justin Lawson, 22, was arrested on complaints of first-degree murder and rape shortly after the incident. Investigators later learned the suspect, Justin Lawson, 22, had been home with Shaleah and left the home shortly after police were called. Shaleah's mother, Keah Cudjo, told police that her boyfriend, Lawson, told her that the girl was sick and not doing well. 'They told me by the time I got here, she was already dead and there was nothing I could do. She had lost too much blood.' .

Father stabs three sons to death Reuters / September 9, 2015 A father repeatedly stabbed his three young sons to death with a knife in the back seat of their car outside a South Los Angeles elementary school Wednesday before turning the blade on himself, police say. The father, in his 30s, was found in his car bleeding from stab wounds to the chest, his dead sons in the back and a knife in the passenger seat. The boys, ages 8 to 12, were pronounced dead at the scene. The father is the only suspect in the killings, police said. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition and will be arrested if he survives his wounds, Los Angeles Police Officer Matthew Ludwig said. "These are horrific incidents," police Chief Charlie Beck said. "These are incidents that have scarred not only a community but the first responders that have to handle them. It is a sad day in LA." John Sorrentino, whose furniture store is next to the crime scene, said he was the one who first spotted the bloody scene and called 911. "I saw this man behind the steering wheel covered in blood," he said. "I got a little bit closer, and I saw a young child in the back seat and his eyes were half open and he was covered in blood. Sorrentino said he then saw another motionless boy bent over a seat, and in the back, a leg of the third boy lying upright. That's when he ran inside his store and called 911. Beck said the boys' mother is deceased and that their stepmother was safe and being interviewed by detectives. It was unclear whether the boys lived with their father. The deaths come as homicides are on the rise in Los Angeles. In August, 39 killings drove a year-to-date uptick in murders in the nation's second-largest city. The 39 killings in August are compared with 22 the previous month and 19 last August. .

Four former EPA administrators appointed by Republican presidents who testified in favor of the agency’s proposed power plant regulations at a Senate subcommittee hearing last week did not respond when asked if they agreed with President Obama that global warming was accelerating. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) asked former EPA heads William Ruckelshaus, Christine Todd Whitman, William Reilly and Lee Thomas whether they agreed with Obama’s previous statements that the Earth is warming faster than previous predictions. “The president, on Nov. 14, 2012, said, ‘The temperature around the globe is increasing faster than was predicted even 10 years ago’,” Sessions said at a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee’s “Climate Change: The Need to Act Now” hearing held on Capitol Hill last Wednesday. “And then on May 29th last year, he said, ‘We also know that the climate is warming faster than anybody anticipated five or ten years ago’,” Sessions said. “So I would ask each of our former administrators if any of you agree that that’s an accurate statement on the climate. So if you do, raise your hand.” None of the former EPA heads did so. “Well, thank you,” Sessions said. “The record will reflect no one raised their hands.” Video - http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-hollingsworth/former-epa-heads-mum-when-asked-if-global-warming-accelerating

Administrator Start End Gina McCarthy 07/19/13 present Bob Perciasepe (Acting) 02/15/13 07/18/13 Lisa P. Jackson 01/26/09 02/14/13 Stephen L. Johnson 05/02/05 01/25/09 Stephen L. Johnson (Acting) 01/26/05 05/01/05 Michael O. Leavitt 11/06/03 01/25/05 Marianne L. Horinko (Acting) 07/12/03 11/05/03 Linda J. Fisher (Acting) 06/28/03 07/11/03 Christine Todd Whitman 01/31/01 06/27/03 W. Michael McCabe (Acting) 01/20/01 01/30/01 Carol M. Browner 01/22/93 01/19/01 William K. Reilly 02/06/89 01/20/93 John Moore (Acting) 01/21/89 02/05/89 Lee M. Thomas 02/08/85 01/20/89 Lee M. Thomas (Acting) 01/04/85 02/07/85 William D. Ruckelshaus 05/18/83 01/04/85 Lee Verstandig (Acting) 03/10/83 05/17/83 Anne M. Gorsuch [burford] 05/20/81 03/09/83 Walter Barber, Jr. (Acting) 01/26/81 05/19/81 Steve Jellinek (Acting) 01/21/81 01/25/81 Douglas M. Costle 03/07/77 01/20/81 John Quarles, Jr. (Acting) 01/21/77 03/06/77 Russell E. Train 09/13/73 01/20/77 Robert Fri (Acting) 04/30/73 09/12/73 William D. Ruckelshaus 12/04/70 04/30/73 If one takes the time to review the appointed heads of the EPA over the years, and management of this agency, any ordinarily prudent individual should be shocked. The previous head for example, Lisa Jackson, was just was unqualified as McCarthy. As in any professionally run business, becoming head of the EPA should be based on qualifications and experience. However, it is in fact a political circus...........and the negative results clearly reflect that. The rapid tightening of commercial truck exhaust emissions regulations over the 2000 thru 2010 period was reckless and irresponsible, forcing the truck manufacturing industry to produce vehicles so unreliable that they were little more than advanced science experiments in mass production. During this time frame, truck operators of all types and size lost millions of dollars because the EPA demanded tighter emissions before viable, reliable technology existed for its smooth implementation. Another point, if the EPA had qualified leadership, it would have moved for the United States to adopt the Euro emissions regulations from year 2000, putting the US on the same page as the rest of the world, and saving vehicle manufacturers millions of dollars by no longer forcing them to design and produce two separate engine line-ups.

The removal of the incompetent and ignorant EPA head Gina McCarthy would be in the best interest of America............and therefore I assume it won't happen.

Fleet Owner / September 9, 2015 When master photographer Roger Snider gets together with Carl Carstens of Rockwood Products to put together their annual show truck calendar dubbed Chrome & Elegance, the results are often stunning – and their impending 2016 edition looks to be just as eye-popping as their previous three efforts. Snider gave Fleet Owner a behind-the-scenes look at some of the rigs and location shoots displayed in the 2016 Chrome & Elegance calendar, the theme of which is "California Dreaming." Photo gallery - http://fleetowner.com/equipment/chrome-elegance-2016#slide-0-field_images-170811

Today's Trucking / September 9, 2015 The linking of tractor and trailer doesn't get a lot of attention, and maybe that's no surprise. It's a simple operation, after all, and the mechanical bits are themselves something less than complex. Fifth-wheel makers have refined the technology over the years and development is more or less continuous, but most truck buyers don't think too much about it. They don't really have to. And I'd guess they think not at all about the other key part of this equation: the kingpin. What's to improve? Well, if you ask a small but successful company in Quebec, you'll find out that there really is a better mousetrap. Rotavan is that company and its product is the new RG-3 swiveling coupling system, which replaces a standard kingpin affair. As the name suggests, this is a third-generation product, with different configurations for specific applications. And how does it work? Its key feature is a rotating swivel base or turntable, unique in the trucking world, which greatly reduces friction between parts, thereby improving control of the vehicle. It sports a patented, internally lubricated system that allows for smooth rotation. By all accounts drivers love it for the way it improves handling and delivers both more flexibility and better control, not to mention a new precision. Company chief Jacques Marquis, one of the nicest guys you'll meet anywhere, says the swiveling system provides "unmatched maneuverabilty" and "unprecedented driving control". And that translates into improved safety, he adds, because friction between a conventional fifth-wheel-and-kingpin setup can cause a loss of control, skids, and accidents. The Rotavan RG-3 swivel-based system eliminates friction almost entirely and can prevent jackknifing. It also eliminates lateral wear on steer tires, says Marquis, and extends the life of coupling and steering parts. Steer-tire expenses can be cut in half over a 6-year period, he says. Video - http://rotavan.com/en/produits/fonctionnement.html

Ryder Systems Inc. Press Release / September 9, 2015 (A real shame to scratch a Volvo that way)

Fleet Owner / September 9, 2015 John Hart knows hotels. A former Marriot executive, Hart left the hotel business in 2012 to develop an online hotel booking platform called StaySmarter. And over the past year, he has taken his expertise in hotels to the trucking community. StaySmarter for Truckers allows truck drivers to find hotels that are pet friendly and have parking for their trucks, to search all hotel brands, and take advantage of special rates, such as AAA and AARP. When Hart created StaySmarter, his initial focus was predominantly on frequent travelers, not necessarily truckers, he told Fleet Owner. But over time, he said he began to recognize truckers as frequent travelers and realized they needed a designated hotel-booking tool. “We thought, ‘Wow, this is a big market,’” Hart explained. “And when we looked at existing services out there for truckers, we thought, ‘This is embarrassing.’ We felt truckers were ignored. Clearly they’re not getting the attention they need for the role they play in the economy.” According to StaySmarter’s data, about 10,000 hotels in the U.S. and Canada have trucker-friendly parking. Hart mentioned that his platform for truckers shows all hotel chains that accommodate drivers and their trucks. He also explained that rates, available discounts, and any other information truck drivers would need to know about booking a room are all on the one interface. The key benefits for truckers, according to Hart, are: Cost. Hart says the StaySmarter platform is free and ad free, offers the same prices as the hotels, allows truckers to pay after their stay, and earn points every hotel rewards program – something he says no one else offers. Efficiency. Hart points out the app works on every device (PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone) on every operating system (Windows, Android, Apple). Booking is done directly through the site, and allows user to comparison shop, he added. It’s ‘smarter.’ Hart noted that users can get a hotel confirmation number, cancel with one click (no phone call or email required), and call the hotel or StaySmarter directly if needed. “We’re hotel experts, not truck experts,” Hart told Fleet Owner. “We were surprised by how bad the experience was for truckers to book hotels. We looked at all of the websites and tools. Many don’t provide access to hotel data, and if they do, it’s simply location data. When booking services exist, they are slow, cost money, offer questionable deals, and lack features, data, and even clear user interfaces. It is a mess. Yet truckers are an important segment of travelers. They need to book hotel rooms fast.” For Hart, the overall impetus behind StaySmarter is that he believes companies like Priceline and Expedia are hurting hotels and the consumer. And, as a hotel expert, he thought he could do better. In the future, Hart said, the folks at StaySmarter expect to add data sets for truck stops and rest stops to the trucking platform. As developments to the platform pick up, Hart encourages feedback from the industry. The company, he added, is also in the process of setting up incentives for fleet owners and independent owner-operators.

Update: It turns out that Hillary isn't sorry after all for throwing U.S. State Dept. policy to the curb and keeping classfied information on her personal server at home. She's only sorry for creating "confusion". Yesterday she elaborated "I am sorry for all the confusion that has ensued". http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-emails-33641286

The Australian truck operating requirement is unforgiving, nothing at all like the US. And furthermore, we're talking Australian long-haul versus US market vocational. If you've never been, you owe it to yourself to get down to Oz and NZ for a time. http://www.cattrucks.com.au/ http://www.cat.com/en_US/products/new/by-industry/on-highway-truck.html

Please realize that the CAT long-haul trucks product sold in Australia are night and day different from the US market CAT vocational trucks.

With the passing of both time and people, our trucking history can very easily disappear. Like you, I have a natural passion for America's truck industry. It's an indescribable pleasure for me to revive some of the history, before it's lost, and present it once more in the present. I'm confident there are younger generations of people with interest, and older generations who take pleasure in refreshing their memory.

MAN Press Release / September 8, 2015 MAN Truck & Bus has begun the construction of a € 80 million (US$89.3 million) new cab paint shop at its main truck assembly location in Munich, Germany. A new modern and efficient base coat line will be built adjacent to the current paint building with a total floor area of approximately 18,000 m² over five main levels. The new base coat line will begin operations at the end of 2017. The investment is part of the future programme of MAN Truck & Bus AG. The highly efficient painting process in the new facility consists of pretreatment, cathodic dip coating by rotation, seam sealing and filler application. The rotation process in the dip painting enables a significant reduction in the use of consumables and chemicals through the application of the latest systems engineering. In addition, very effective cleaning means that the level of particulates in the exhaust air is reduced by 90 percent and water consumption is cut by 80 percent. Furthermore, the use of innovative and resource-saving technologies enables MAN to reduce emissions in the processes concerned by half, to lower paint use by 15 percent and to cut energy consumption by 25 percent. “The investment in the new paint shop represents a key milestone for the Munich site. The new facility will allow us to significantly increase efficiency in the cab paint shop and also achieve further improvements in paint quality. The new systems are equipped with the latest environmental technologies and are thus another significant contribution towards our strategic objective of a “Green Factory”. Overall, the new system allows us to create an essential and sustainable basis from which we can create innovative processes and attain low environmental impact and maximum efficiency for both current and future premium truck generations”, Dr. Carsten Intra, Executive Board Member for Production & Logistics at MAN Truck & Bus AG pointed out. Saki Stimoniaris, Chairman of the works council, also highlighted the importance for the future of the Munich site: “The investment in the paint shop plays an integral part in our securing of both the site and employment. This means we are securing jobs in our cab production of which the paint shop is a part, and much more besides.” .

Scania Press Release / September 8, 2015 Alone at night, a Scania distribution trucks makes deliveries to downtown Stockholm restaurants and hotels. In a pilot project, the City of Stockholm wishes to determine the advantages of night time deliveries, avoiding peak hour traffic, queues and delays. The project, which is part financed by VINNOVA, Sweden’s innovation agency, will examine the feasibility of lifting the ban on inner-city truck traffic presently in force between 22.00 and 06.00. The project will particularly focus on noise levels and the working environment for drivers.

Al Qaeda-linked ISIS executes three truckers (ISIS produced this propaganda fear video in 2013) This video shows the execution style murder of three Syrian truck drivers who did nothing more than belong to a minority faith the local Al Qaeda affiliate does not like. In the video, a small band of Islamist radicals with the Al Qaeda-linked ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) group is seen waving the tractor trailers off the side of an Iraqi road and then proceeds to interrogate the unsuspecting drivers about their prayer habits, trying to discover if they are Sunnis or members of the Alawite minority in Syria. The men first claim to be Sunni Muslims, and the gunman asks them various questions relating to Sunni religious practice. They are unable to answer the questions and in the end admit that they are Alawites. Having failed the Sunni jihadis’ questioning, the truck drivers are seated in a line in the median of the road and shot in the back of their heads firing squad style by the self-appointed law enforcers, jury, judge and executioner. The three truck drivers are shot in the back repeatedly, as chants of Allahu Akbar (Allah is the greatest) are audible in the background. More than a dozen shots are fired into the men’s bodies, even after it appears they are already dead. The incident likely took place near Ramadi in Iraq’s Anbar Province. The perpetrators wear military-type uniforms and black scarves over their heads, holding machine guns, while at least one is fully masked with a large ammunition belt hanging around his neck. The incident may have been pre-planned for public relations purposes, as the scene shown in the YouTube video was filmed from two separate angles. ISIS has emerged as a scourge in rebel controlled areas, carrying out kidnappings and sectarian killings. While Christians are at risk daily in countries like Egypt, Syria and Iraq, the video outlines the dangers facing other other religious minorities in the crosshairs of Sunni radicals, including practitioners of the Alawite faith, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam of which Syrian President Bashar Assad is a member and protector. The jihadi uses the insulting term ‘nusayri’ to describe the Alawites. The jihadis are referred to as the ‘lions of Anbar’ and the incident appears to be taking place in Anbar province, Iraq, probably close to the border with Syria. The men are referred to as ‘nusayri (alawi) spies’ in the title.. At the end of the video, one of the ISIS members is seen throwing a burning object at one of the trucks, which begins to burn and smoke. Video - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1099961/Abu-Wahib-sentences-three-truck-drivers-death-2013.html

AL-Monitor / September 4, 2015 Syrian truck drivers are the only ones who maintain good relations with commanders of the regime, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Islamic State (IS) and Democratic Union Party (PYD) forces, all while constantly monitoring the clashes. In the four-year Syrian civil war, 250,000 people have been killed and 4 million of them have become refugees in neighboring countries. Millions of them are struggling to survive in a country divided four ways between the Bashar al-Assad regime, the opposition, ISIS and the PYD. Wherever they live, these Syrians meet their daily needs of flour, medicine, baby food, fuel and clothing through merchants and truck drivers who are the only ones who can cross the internal borders. It is lethal trade for the drivers. They navigate essential, fine points of survival: Without distinction, they maintain good relations with the entire gamut of factions and religiously keep track of daily clashes and events on the ground. Their biggest advantage is the constant need of all fighting parties. This is their story. Salim is one of millions of Syrians who is a victim of civil war. His family lives in Aleppo. He doesn’t have a permanent living place because he makes his living trucking through a country whose economy has collapsed. Like many of his colleagues, he has faced death many times. Salim’s story is the story of how people remaining in Syria obtain their survival needs like food, fuel and other basics and the trade relations between enemy groups. Syrians who have decided to stay obtain their flour, medicine and fuel thanks to truckers like Salim who can enter any zone, no matter who controls it. Syrian truckers are probably the only group who can cross the internal borders of different groups. Truckers are not very talkative. They don’t want to attract attention. Only Salim and a businessman who goes by MU shared the details of the “lethal commerce” on condition we don’t use their full names. Their biggest advantage is that all fighters, wherever they operate, have one thing in common: They have to take bread home. MU explained, “Trade routes are never closed fully in any area. At the end, we carry flour, pasta and oil. When we take goods to one area, families of people fighting there also benefit.” There are other fine points to keep in mind when shuttling through internal borders controlled by enemy groups. For example, truckers constantly monitor the safety of their routes through people they know. To find goods and to carry them, they have to maintain good relations with commanders in every zone. MU said, “They inform us when they seize commercial commodities. That way, they make money and we get goods to sell.” A security guard in a Mercedes escorts trucks that carry valuable goods from Esselame to the Kurdish Afrin region. This Mercedes is the ticket that allows the trucks to pass unhindered through areas controlled by various groups. When fighting groups see the Mercedes, they know that the trucks carry goods that won’t be touched and let them pass. Although production has slowed down enormously because of the civil war, it hasn’t fully come to a standstill in main cities like Aleppo and Damascus. Still, there is no electricity in most parts of the country. Small workshops produce goods, from textiles to car generators. As they can’t be exported to Turkey, Iraq or other countries, they are sold inside the country. Telephone networks are not working. Merchants and truckers learn what is produced through word of mouth from local commanders. MU said, “This is commerce with the conditions of 100 years ago.” The regime supporters, ISIS and the PYD have set up their own taxation systems in the areas they control. This tax is a kind of life insurance for merchants and truckers. For example, in the PYD area, if you are carrying tea and sugar, you pay $200 for each truck. Truckers say the system is different in the IS area: “If you are transiting through [iS] area, you pay small amounts. But if you are delivering to their area, they determine a tax based on the type of good, its value and identity of the merchant. Assad, ISIS and PYD have established systems, but not the FSA. The FSA has too many factions, and there is no established taxation system there.” When explaining how they can move in and out of all areas, MU told the latest situation in the country, in the following excerpt of the interview. Al-Monitor: Almost every corner of Syria is a war zone. The country is divided in four, everyone fighting each other, but you are moving around and cross internal borders. How is that? MU: Truckers know the safe routes. We constantly monitor where clashes are, like we follow weather reports. Coalition airplanes attack certain locations in coordination with PYD. The Assad regime informs its units of where they are going to hit. Merchants are always in touch with these parties. That is how we decide which route to take. Anyhow, whether it’s Assad, PYD or ISIS zone, there is not much interference with merchants. [The armed forces] want the trade to continue because they all benefit from it. Sometimes clashing groups declare temporary truces, say for four hours, to allow commercial vehicles to move freely. The latest was at Al Rai between Haseke and Raqqa where the PYD and IS halted clashes at certain times to allow the trade to go on. Al-Monitor: You mean they suddenly declare a cease-fire for business to go on? MU: Yes, there are severe clashes. You always see corpses all over. But when they see us, they say, ‘Let these people pass and we will resume fighting.’ They continue to kill each other after our vehicles pass through. Al-Monitor: What are favorite routes of truckers? MU: In general, we use a 400-km (249-mile) route between Idlib and Haseke. We prefer night travels. They have snipers at certain locations. Drivers know well where to turn off their headlights. If their vehicles are hit by snipers, then they have the danger of being robbed by Bedouins. Fighting groups are not the sole danger. Al-Monitor: Are any drivers killed? MU: Yes. PKK and ISIS regions are dangerous. Militants who stand at the entrance of their checkpoints are usually very unfriendly. But this is business. We take to roads knowing the dangers. For example, most of our drivers are from the FSA and they are wanted people. But they are a courageous lot. They never leave without saying their final farewells especially when they head to an Assad zone. Al-Monitor: What about money? How are payments made? MU: You don’t pay the drivers. There are money changers in every area who transfer up to $5 million a day. Some build secret compartments in their trucks and cars. Al-Monitor: A kind of hawale [bank money order] … MU: Better than hawale. No bank can transfer that much money in such a short time. Of course you have to pay 1-2% service commissions.