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Massachusetts lawmakers on Sunday passed a bill that would fix several minor crises stemming from the state’s tangled alcohol licensing system, while slightly loosening blue laws that restrict when consumers can buy beer, wine, and spirits. But during their mad dash to finish legislation before a midnight deadline, legislators side-stepped two opportunities to make broader changes to the industry, frustrating craft brewers and local officials who think the state’s byzantine alcohol laws need fundamental reform. “It’s a cobbled-together set of laws that’s been enacted over the past 83 years,” said Rob Martin, president of the Massachusetts Brewers Guild, referring to the end of Prohibition in 1933. “They result in continual problems, and then we get more cobbled-together fixes to those problems.” The first substantial measure left on the cutting-room floor would have pressured Massachusetts brewers and beer wholesalers to end their long-running fight over when and how a brewery should be permitted to fire its distributor and sign up with a competitor. Under the state’s current beer franchise law, a brewer can only switch to a new distributor if it can prove to state regulators that the wholesaler has met one of several conditions, such as disparaging the brewer’s beer or failing to “exercise best efforts” in selling it. Brewers want to weaken those restrictions so they have more flexibility; distributors say the current system incents them to sign up small breweries. An amendment cut out of an economic development bill on Sunday would have directed the two sides to come up with a compromise by the end of the year. The language was drastically watered down from an earlier version that would have eliminated franchise restrictions. Brewers blasted distributors for scuttling it. “They spend a lot of time and money on lobbying and fund-raising,” Martin said. “It’s unfortunate that there was work done to stymie efforts just to get together and talk.” The Beer Distributors of Massachusetts said in a statement that eliminating franchise protections would let large breweries “crush” them, and insisted they had met repeatedly with brewers on the issue. “Any statements made that the Beer Distributors of Massachusetts are unwilling to discuss compromise and work to achieve a reasonable resolution are disingenuous,” said the group’s president, Bill Kelley. A second proposed change to the state’s alcohol industry — giving municipalities, not state lawmakers, control over how many liquor license to issue in their communities — was also cut from the economic development bill Sunday, bitterly disappointing officials in Boston and other towns and cities. Also left out of the bill were measures from Governor Charlie Baker that would have allowed consumers to fill up used growlers at breweries and permitted the sale of locally made beer and spirits at farmers markets. Two alcohol reforms that did make it through to Baker’s desk were fixes to specific problems. One will allow the Nashoba Valley Winery in Bolton and other so-called farmer wineries to serve alcohol in restaurants at their farms. Controversy erupted earlier this year when state regulators told the company it couldn’t keep both its manufacturing licenses and its license for serving Nashoba beers, wines, and spirits at a restaurant on the farm grounds — even though the state had been renewing those licenses for years. Baker publicly supported Nashoba in the flap, and is likely to sign the fix. Still, said John Connell, an attorney for Nashoba, “the fact that such a vibrant existing operation had to fight for its life to survive shows that there is a lot of room to loosen up the liquor license laws and their interpretation in general.” Another measure approved by lawmakers Sunday would allow grocery stores that sell bottled take-home alcohol to also serve alcohol at in-store restaurants. The impetus for that change was the imminent opening at the Prudential Center of Eataly, a food emporium headlined by celebrity chef Mario Batali. The language could also benefit grocery chains such as Wegmans and Whole Foods by allowing them to open small restaurants that serve alcohol within some of their stores. Lawmakers also passed measures that would also prohibit the sale of powdered alcohol in Massachusetts — except for use as an ingredient in other products — and lift the state’s ban on selling alcohol on Memorial Day. Debate over alcohol issues will resume this fall when Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, whose office oversees the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, plans to convene a task force to review Massachusetts’ alcohol laws.

Legislators again struggled to pass deep reforms to the state’s alcohol regulations, opting instead for Band-Aid fixes.

Autumn is Philip Roth season. Almost every year, at about this time, a new book appears. Roth may be 76 but this is nevertheless his sixth novel since The Human Stain in 2000, with a seventh, Nemesis, already written and due for publication next year. The overriding theme of these novels has been the indignities wrought by age. Roth’s characters watch their potencies – sexual, physical, mental – disintegrate and they take it badly. It is the theme of The Humbling, too. 'He’d lost his magic’, the novel’s opening line, describes the predicament of almost all his late male leads. Here the man being humbled is Simon Axler and the magic he has lost is the ability to act. Axler is in his mid-sixties, a successful classical actor and 'a man on the grand scale’ when he is brought up short by actor’s block. High-profile failures on stage have left him wounded and disoriented. His wife leaves him and past triumphs merely instil the suspicion that his success has all been a sham. In painting his past grey Axler blanks out the future, too. Indeed the only roles he feels he can now tackle are those of a madman – which leads to a spell in a psychiatric unit – and a would-be suicide. But even here he feels himself to be simply 'A sane man playing an insane man. A stable man playing a broken man.’ Into Axler’s circling despair steps Pegeen Mike; she is 25 years younger, the daughter of old friends and, if these weren’t complications enough, a lesbian turned straight by her lover seeking a sex change. This mismatched pair begin an affair, Pegeen reasoning that 'the reconstruction of a life had to begin somewhere’ – two broken lives in this instance. All this is recounted with a most un-Rothian gentleness until the very Rothian, ungentle sex starts. With it a familiar energy infuses the prose and the novel fires into life. Sex drives the narrative into a different direction, too, culminating in a casual encounter with a drunk woman in a bar, which has consequences that although unlikely are anything but casual. Unfortunately it is all too short-lived. The novel, or really novella, rushes to a close, its snap fading as soon as the characters leave their messed-up bed. They are tentatively drawn, too: Axler in particular is never flesh and blood enough to persuade the reader that he could be so easily unmanned and he is too actorly to dispel the notion that he is hamming his way through his life crisis. Rather than being the central player in his own drama, Axler is more a caricature in his own melodrama. While Philip Roth can never write badly, he can write better than this. Available from Telegraph Books 0844 871 1516

Michael Prodger is disappointed by The Humbling, Philip Roth's latest tale of the travails of age

It’s true that you can circumvent these charges through setting up a business. But this is a far from simple process, and there are several pitfalls that need to be avoided along the way. "Corporations are looking really attractive at the moment," said Simon Collins, of broker John Charcol. "But they only work for certain types of investors, and people have to be aware of the implications further down the line." Most landlords will need to set up special purpose vehicle in order to buy the property. This can be done online for as little as £20 but David Whittaker, of Mortgages for Business, recommends spending a little more - around £75 - to make sure you get all the right paperwork. Then select the appropriate SIC (Standard Industry Classification) code which relates to letting property. Alternatively an accountant can do it for a small charge. • Buy-to-let investors 'to sell 500,000 properties' as confidence plummets Buying a buy-to-let property through a company is a similar process to buying it as an individual. Be aware that the 3pc extra stamp duty levied on people buying second properties from April will also apply to people buying through a company. If you’re already a buy-to-let owner, transferring property into a company has its own tax implications. The property has to be sold at market value. This has capital gains tax implications as well as potential stamp duty costs when the property is bought through the company. If the property has increased in value since it was bought, capital gains tax may be payable on the sale, though after a landmark case in 2013 landlords may be exempt from this if they can show that the property is a "business" as opposed to an "investment". This depends on the amount of work the landlord does on the property, including day-to-day maintenance and direct management of tenants. If they have another job or employ a letting agent to do the work, it’s likely to be categorised as an investment as opposed to a business. Chris Springett, a director at Smith Williamson, said that for landlords who do not meet the latter criteria "it's probably a sign that incorporating is not worth it". Specialist lenders offer buy-to-let mortgages for companies, and it’s easier to get a mortgage with a special purpose vehicle, which only holds properties, than a trading company, which can carry out other business. This is because special purpose vehicles are regarded as less complicated and easier to underwrite. Ying Tan, managing director of the Buy to Let Business, said: "When you set up a company to buy a company, there's lots more options open for landlords in a SPV. If you already have a business, that's fine, except that most banks won't lend to a trading company. You have access to better funding and better rates." Mortgages for incorporated companies used to be significantly more expensive because the underwriting costs are higher due to the more expensive process of checking out the company and the individuals involved. If you run an office, the properties are more likely to be regarded as a business for tax purposes (Bloomberg) However, David Whittaker of Mortgages for Business said that costs have dropped in the past year, partly due to demand. “Increasingly lenders are not charging much more for limited companies than they are for individuals." Average rates are still 0.7pc higher, though. Once you’re incorporated, you have some responsibilities that you did not previously have as an individual buy-to-let investor. Instead of simply doing self-assessment, businesses have to complete annual returns and accounts, so a limited company may have to factor in the cost of an accountant. However, Mr Springett said it's perfectly possible to do this yourself. "Plenty of people run their own businesses on their own and this is no different." This should be where the real benefit of incorporating kicks in, as investors pay less tax on their rental income, and the removal of higher-rate interest relief does not apply. Corporations currently pay a flat rate of 20pc, which will drop to 19pc in April 2017 and 18pc by 2020. Doing this is really only useful for higher and additional-rate taxpayers, as the changes to tax relief are only likely to affect them. It might also be relevant to basic rate taxpayers who when the new rules come in will have combined rental and other income over the £40,000 threshold for higher-rate tax. What the profits from buy-to-let will be used for is also important. Consider whether the money is needed now or to use as a pension or extra income at a later date. Removing profits from a company as a dividend will get more expensive in April for most people as dividend tax rates change. Basic-rate taxpayers will have to pay 7.5pc tax, higher-rate taxpayers will pay 32.5pc and additional taxpayers will pay 38.1pc. This represents an increase for all three bands. There will be £5,000 dividend tax relief, but any amount above that will be taxed at these levels. Therefore incorporating is a better option if you’re planning to “roll up” your income, and leave it to accrue without withdrawing it, for example to use as a pension later. When you do come to dissolve the business and close the company, you could take a double tax hit. Your profits will be taxable within the company, at 20pc, and then when you take the money out you will have to pay tax at either your dividend rate or as capital gains tax, depending on how you extract the money. Mr Springett said it's important for investors to be aware of this. "If it's only a short-term plan you have got to remember that those two levels of tax are payable. It's about what they are looking to acheive with their property portfolio. If it is long term or they are looking to grow, then a corporation could make more sense." Are you thinking about incorporating your buy-to-let? Let us know: olivia.rudgard@telegraph.co.uk

Thousands of landlords are considering setting up companies through which to own property - here are expert verdicts

American cities rushed to provide police departments with body cameras, spurred by public outcry over shooting incidents in Ferguson, Mo., and elsewhere. Having moved fast, however, cities are now running into friction, often from within their own ranks. Opponents of the contract arrangements say officials may have cut corners by signing no-bid deals, by not testing options thoroughly or by becoming too cozy with vendors. Other...

Some American cities, rushing to outfit police with video body cameras after the outcry over officer-involved shootings, face friction for taking the fast track.

When Dr. David Spiegel emerged from a three-hour shoulder surgery in 1972, he didn’t use any pain meds to recover. Instead, he hypnotized himself. It worked—to the surprise of everyone but Dr. Spiegel, who has studied hypnosis, a state of highly focused attention and intense concentration, for 45 years. Patient using very little pain medication, he remembers reading from his chart when he snuck a peek. We mustn’t have cut many nerves. “There’s an incision from the top to the bottom of my shoulder, so they cut plenty of nerves,” Spiegel says now. “I was just handling the pain myself.” Being hypnotized feels like what happens when you become so absorbed in a movie that you forget you’re watching one at all, like you have entered an imagined world, Spiegel says. This trance-like state, in which you’re more open and suggestible than usual, can be an effective tool to control pain, ease anxiety, quit smoking and deal with stress, trauma and even hot flashes, research shows. How it does that is what Spiegel, professor and associate chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and his colleagues wanted to find out in their new study published in the journal Cerebral Cortex. “This isn’t just some weird parlor trick,” he says. “It’s a way we use our brains that’s different.” In the study, Spiegel and his colleagues screened about 500 people in search of the most hypnotizable. The ability to be hypnotized is a highly stable trait—like IQ, Spiegel says—that can be tested by a hypnosis practitioner in a five-minute mini-hypnosis session. Not everyone can be hypnotized, but two thirds of adults can, and people who are easily hypnotized tend to be more trusting of others, more intuitive and more likely to get so caught up in a good movie or play that they forget they’re watching one, Spiegel explains. “They tend to be less insistent on logic and order and more experiential—they like using their imaginations. They find it fun.” The team chose 36 people who were highly hypnotizable, and 21 people with low hypnotizability served as the controls. Everyone was then given a series of fMRI scans during several different conditions: at rest, while recalling a memory and during two bouts of hypnotism. Three interesting things happened in the brain—but only in the highly hypnotizable group, while they were being hypnotized. The researchers saw a drop in activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate, part of the salience network of the brain. “It’s a context decoder: a part that alerts you to what you should attend to and what you can ignore,” Spiegel says. This part of the brain, which fires up when there’s something to worry about, actually simmers down during hypnosis. The second change was that certain parts of the brain began syncing up in their connectivity. “They fire together, basically,” Spigel says. This was true of the part of the brain where you plan things and carry out routines—the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex—and the insula, a part of the brain that helps regulate body functions, like increasing blood pressure and heart rate. This suggests that “your brain in hypnosis is intensifying its connection to your body,” Spiegel says. Meanwhile, other brain areas became less connected. The researchers saw more of a disconnect between that same region of planning and routines, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and a part of the brain characterized by self-reflection. “One thing you see in hypnosis is that people tend to do things but not reflect on their doing it,” Spiegel says. “That’s why sometimes people will do embarrassing or silly things in staged hypnosis shows—they’re not thinking about themselves doing it, they’re just doing it.” Taken together, these changes help explain how hypnosis can have powerful effects, including tamping down stress, anxiety, pain and self-consciousness. Spiegel believes that the practice can—and should—be used instead of painkillers in many cases. His own previous research has shown that when people in pain are taught self-hypnosis, they use half the pain medication and had half the pain than those who were just given access to opioids. “Now that we realize the addiction potential of opiates is very high, it’s potentially a very valuable alternative, and it’s a shame that we’re not making better use of it,” he says. More needs to be learned about hypnosis in order to harness its potential effects—and for that, researchers need to take it seriously, Spiegel says. “If opiates affect certain regions of the brain like the dorsal anterior cingulate and some other brain regions, there’s no reason why we can’t use a different approach to produce similar effects in the brain that are real effects that reduce pain and anxiety and help people stop smoking,” he says. “It’s a real-deal treatment that should be given the same respect that a lot of other treatments we use that are sometimes less efficacious and more dangerous.”

And it does work—for most people.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticised unnamed Western countries for what he said was support for the July 15 attempted coup, which left more than 270 people dead and nearly 70,000 others suspended from their jobs. "The West is supporting terrorism and taking sides with coups," Erdogan said, speaking at an event for foreign investors in the capital, Ankara, on Tuesday. READ MORE - Erdogan to West: 'Mind your own business' He repeated a complaint that no foreign leader had visited Turkey after the failed coup, while France and Belgium received visits in solidarity after attacks there. "Those we considered friends are siding with coup plotters and terrorists," he said. During his speech, Erdogan also singled out Germany for criticism, after a German court ruled against allowing him to appear on a video link to address a crowd of about 30,000 supporters and anti-coup demonstrators in Cologne over the weekend. Turkey had sent Germany more than 4,000 files on wanted "terrorists", but Germany did nothing, Erdogan added. The Turkish government says the coup was instigated by US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally who has been living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania. Turkey has demanded his extradition, but Washington has asked for evidence of the cleric's involvement, saying the extradition process must take its course. Erdogan complained about the request for evidence, saying: "We did not request documents for terrorists that you wanted returned." Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag sent a second document to the US on Tuesday seeking Gulen's arrest, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency. The minister said the second letter explained why there was an urgent need for the arrest. TIMELINE: Here's how the coup attempt unfolded The government has launched a sweeping crackdown on Gulen's movement, which it characterises as a "terrorist" organisation and which runs schools, charities and businesses internationally. "They requested certain information following our first letter; we provided answers to the question 'why is it urgent'," Anadolu quoted Bozdag as telling reporters in parliament, adding that Turkey had intelligence indicating Gulen might leave for a third country. "I hope that the United States decides in Turkey's favour, in line with democracy and the rule of law, and returns this leader of a terror organisation to Turkey," he said. The minister said that if Gulen left the US, it would be with the full knowledge of US authorities.

Turkish president accuses Western countries of failing to support Ankara in the wake of July 15 failed coup attempt.

Before you go, we thought you'd like these... Summer Fridays: Our Favorite Carnival & Fair Foods These foods bring back memories and traditions of visiting state fairs during the summer. The corn dog is an iconic American snack found at carnivals, food fairs, boardwalks, and most other institutions where they put food on a stick. Get the Recipe: Corn Dogs Recipe from On a Stick! by Matt Armendariz/Quirk Books, 2011. We couldn’t get enough of these crunchy onion rings in the EatingWell Test Kitchen. Try any seasoning blend that you have on hand to add flavor to the breading or substitute 1 teaspoon salt instead. Seasoned whole-wheat breadcrumbs are available in some supermarkets and natural-foods stores. If you can find them, try them in place of the plain breadcrumbs and seasoning blend. Get the Recipe: Onion Rings Grilled Corn with Chili-Lime Butter Make a large batch of this zesty, spicy butter, freeze it in small portions and use while corn is in season. Get the Recipe: Grilled Corn with Chili-Lime Butter Traditional Carolina barbecue begins with a whole hog smoked over coals; here, Sean Brock cooks pork shoulder for 12 hours in a 275° oven before smoking it for about 1 hour in a backyard grill. Get the Recipe: Carolina Pulled Pork Habanero Bacon Cheddar Stuffed Sliders Check out this slider recipe! These burgers are stuffed with habanero cheese and bacon. It's easy, tasty and spicy! Get the Recipe: Habanero Bacon Cheddar Stuffed Sliders Fried Pickles with Ranch Dressing What's better than pickles? Pickles dipped in batter and deep fried! Get the Recipe: Fried Pickles with Ranch Dressing Recipe from On a Stick! by Matt Armendariz/Quirk Books, 2011. Freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper dress up air-popped popcorn. Get the Recipe: Cheesy Popcorn Summer brings, among other things, the opportunity to attend state fairs and carnivals. There is no questioning the fact that fair foods take the spotlight at these events, despite the other activities offered. Fried fair foods, such as corn dogs and burgers, are some of our favorites. But there are plenty more, and we love finding ways to spice up traditional fair foods. Get ready to eat up! Check out the slideshow above to find out some of the tastiest fair and carnival foods that have our mouths watering, and get recipes so you can make them at home. Then head over to StyleList to see what you should wear to the fair in Summer Fridays: A Day at the Fair! More from Kitchen Daily: Krispy Kreme Sloppy Joes and 12 Other Wacky Fair Foods 20 Things You Didn't Know You Could Grill 9 Amazing, Frozen Boozy Desserts

Carnivals and state fairs give us a reason to eat fried, grilled and buttered foods all

There are more than 40,000 current official records, so there are plenty of ways to get your name in the Guinness World Record book. To celebrate Guinness World Record day on 13th November, the world's tallest and shortest men are expected to meet for the first time while hundreds will attempt to break official records. US basketball star Thunder Law will try to beat the farthest basketball shot backwards (record to beat: 22 metres), while Australian martial artist Anthony Kelly will attempt the most spears caught from a spear gun underwater in one minute (record to beat is 7). Other records are more accessible for record-breaking amateurs. In the UK, BBC Gloucestershire is leading an attempt to create the longest line of cakes (record to beat: 606.6 metres) in aid of Children in Need, while more than 300 people are expected to meet in Tower Bridge as the largest gathering of people dressed as penguins (record to beat: 325 participants). World Records Day, which commemorates the day when the Guinness World Records became the best-selling copyright book in 2004, encourages people to take part in record-breaking. But there’s no rule that says when records must be broken, and if you’re hoping to become a record-breaker, there are plenty of options available. We’ve compiled an authoritative quiz, that will determine the best record to attempt, depending on your skills. As editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records Craig Glenday said on last year's GWRD, “It’s one thing to be amazing, but are you Officially Amazing?”

We've scoured the record book for the ultimate list of records you can break on Guinness World Record day

Their strategy includes more investment in the nation’s buckling infrastructure and expanding unemployment and health insurance. It calls for paid sick leave, parental leave and wage insurance for workers who suffer a pay cut when changing jobs. And they argue for more resources for poor families with children and for universal early childhood education. This agenda won’t come cheap. They propose raising government spending by 10 percentage points of the nation’s gross domestic product ($1.8 trillion in today’s dollars), to bring it to some 48 percent of G.D.P. by 2065. That might sound like a lot of money. But it is roughly where Germany, Norway and Britain are today. And it is well below government spending in countries like France, Sweden and Denmark. This agenda, of course, is more popular among liberals than conservatives. Economists on the right insist that higher taxes and bigger governments reduce incentives to work and invest, harming economic growth. In one study, the Nobel laureate Edward Prescott argued that the higher taxes needed to fund a bigger government discouraged Europeans from working. The conservative argument is hardly watertight, though. Another analysis found the decline in working hours in Europe was mostly because of tight labor market regulations, not taxes. Yet another suggests Europeans value free time more. Americans took the fruits of their rising productivity in money. Europeans took it in free time. Here are some other things Europeans got from their trade-off: lower poverty rates, lower income inequality, longer life spans, lower infant mortality rates, lower teenage pregnancy rates and lower rates of preventable death. And the coolest part, according to Mr. Lindert — one of the authors of the case for big government — is that they achieved this “without any clear loss in G.D.P.” Even assuming that higher taxes might distort incentives, the authors concluded, negative effects are offset by positive effects that flow from productive government investments in things like health, education, infrastructure and support for mothers to join the labor force. Europe’s reliance on consumption taxes — which are easier to collect and have fewer negative incentives on work — allowed them to collect more money without generating the kind of economic drag of the United States’ tax structure, which relies more on income taxes. Americans have long been more suspicious of a big, centralized government than Europeans have been, of course. But in recent decades, the nation’s difficult racial divide has played a crucial role in checking the growth of public services. It is much easier to build support for the welfare state when taxpayers identify with beneficiaries. In multifarious America, race and other ethnic barriers stood in the way. The American government pretty much stopped growing when the civil rights movement forced whites to share public space with blacks. Tax revenue as a share of the nation’s economic output hit a peak in 1969 that it would not attain again until 1996, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. But for all the racial subtext to the election this year, times seem to be changing in unexpected ways. No, Hillary Clinton has not suddenly become a radical. And Mr. Trump’s grab bag of economic proposals is too self-contradictory to provide a sense of where he would land. Yet the popular dissatisfaction that has brought us to this pass, across one of the most unusual presidential primary seasons in memory, could open new space to rethink the role of government in society. Mr. Trump’s supporters may not champion welfare. But they mistrust it less than your orthodox Republican. More of his supporters think the government should do more to help American families. More think corporate profits are too large. More think the economy is rigged to help the powerful. Fewer want to cut Social Security. The ground is shifting under Democrats, too. In 1994, when President Bill Clinton was under siege from a Republican revolution about to take over Congress, 59 percent of Democrats said government was almost always wasteful. Last year, only 40 percent did. Then, 44 percent of Democrats said the poor had it too easy. Only 25 percent do today. This does not mean, of course, that Big Government will get its day. For starters, small government Republican orthodoxy is likely to prevail in the House for years to come. Still, a sense of opportunity is in the air. In “Wealth and Welfare States,” published during the depths of the Great Recession, Irwin Garfinkel of Columbia University, Lee Rainwater of Harvard and Timothy Smeeding of the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggested the United States was ultimately likely to fall into line with the rest of the advanced industrial world — for the simple reason that they all face similar challenges. “Long-term common problems and trends in rich nations are the fundamental driving forces in the development of welfare state institutions,” they concluded. The United States’ swing to the right since the 1970s might have moved it in the opposite direction for a while, but “all rich nations have large welfare states.” An earlier version of this article misstated the name of the college where Timothy Smeeding works. It is the University of Wisconsin-Madison, not the University of Madison Wisconsin.

The most promising way to improve the nation’s standard of living, some academics argue, is to expand the work of government.

Wearing a tiara, Bernardita Middleton, Middleton, a presenter with Chilean breakfast TV show Bienvenidos - Welcome - shouted out that she wanted to be the Prince's wife. But when their paths crossed in Plaza de la Ciudadania - the People's Square - in the capital where Harry honoured Chile's found father Bernardo O'Higgins by laying a wreath, she called out to him again. After going on a brief walkabout he crossed over to Ms Middleton and told her: "I recognise your voice from last night." He added: "I like your tiara, very smart. Who do you work for?" She madly waved her self-made press accreditation card and said: "I'm a Middleton my name is Middleton, like Princess Kate, I be your next wife Harry." The prince giggled at the proposal from the roving reporter, who like Kate had long dark hair, but quickly moved on. Source: APTN / PA, YouTube clip courtesy of Pablo Figueroa

The Prince meets a TV reporter with a familiar surname as he begins a three-day tour of Chile

Meanwhile, Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho’s hopes of a swift return after being cleared of doping allegations have been scuppered by an Achilles injury. Sakho will miss the start of the season having sought to resolve a long-standing problem during his recent absence. Rather than make his first appearance of the campaign in a pre-season friendly against Fleetwood on Wednesday, Sakho will be continuing his rehabilitation. “Mama is injured. He had a little issue with his Achilles when he was playing, one day on, one off, this kind of thing. When he had his little ‘break’ he used the time to have a little bit of treatment and that now means another three or four weeks before he can train again,” explained Klopp.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed striker Mario Balotelli is not part of his Anfield plans and says the 'solution' for the Italian is a fresh start at a new club.

With no warning, I thought that I was about to die. Half a million other people also have their tale to tell about a normal day’s business in the vibrant city of Christchurch which came to a dead halt at lunchtime on February 22, 2011. That day will be forever marked on my calendar as the Anniversary of National Mourning in New Zealand. To quote our Prime Minister, John Key, it was "New Zealand’s darkest day”. Twelve minutes before a massive aftershock smashed into the heart of Christchurch, my husband and I were deciding whether to return books to the library or to rush to the supermarket. The decision to do the shopping saved our lives. Had we gone to the library we would have been crossing Cathedral Square at the very moment that the stone spire from the cathedral came crashing down. Many others were less fortunate. Piped supermarket music hummed soullessly in the background and my trolley misbehaved when catastrophe struck at 12.51 pm on Tuesday. A huge explosion from beneath the earth’s surface caused the supermarket building to lift and slide violently. The lights went out. In the gloom, the tall steel shelves on each side of me leered towards and away from me in unison. They vomited their contents in all directions. Dozens of huge lampshades swung above me. The advice in an earthquake is to “Drop, cover and hold”, but there was nothing to hold on to and nothing to protect us from danger. Instead I began to run but my shoes felt as though they were covered in treacle. I seemed to be running on the spot. Seismic waves beneath me behaved like white horses rolling towards the shore in a storm, moving from left to right across the aisle. Potentially lethal debris was landing in my path as I stumbled forward, over them and to the side of them. An eternity felt like it had passed and I had covered just three yards towards the checkout. A Tannoy broke the spell: “Evacuate the building immediately!” A tableau of huddled bodies stood up, including my husband. Thank God there were only walking wounded here. Outside in the eerie silence of the car park people hugged each other. The ground continued to vibrate or was it our bodies imagining the quake’s fierce motion? My heart was still pumping in its "fight-and-flight” mode. Then the aftershocks began to roll. Suddenly the city sounds switched on again and the sirens began to blare. Streets became jammed with cars travelling to or from danger. Who knew which? We dived for questionable safety into the car but queued in grid lock for hours to exit the city. We drove on roads grey with slurry bursting up through gardens, tarmacked pavements and concrete driveways. This was liquefaction - the new buzzword in the geoscience language we were all learning word for word. Roads cracked like broken biscuits. Onlookers stood outside their homes mute in their collective shock. They looked for comfort but could find none. The radio tried to make sense of the disparate events, but it was not until much later in the afternoon that it was confirmed that Christchurch had been reduced to a bloody battlefield. The death toll was rising and there were people trapped in the rubble of structures which moments earlier had been high-rise buildings but now resembled pancakes. We had already sustained serious damage to our property in Akaroa 50 miles away following the first earthquake of September 4 last year. That 7.1 magnitude shake had triggered this enormous aftershock of 6.3 on the Richter scale. Our 100ft retaining wall had already moved many inches downhill five months ago. The front door had dropped and windows had cracked. Our floorboards bounced with excitement whenever anyone walked anywhere in the house. On our way home we didn’t know whether our wooden Edwardian villa would have stood the strain. Luckily it had. We still love the Land of the Long White Cloud but broken lives are being lived; untold grief is surfacing and people are still in deep shock. The death toll and destruction are incomprehensible. They are horrific. But we are so grateful that the world is responding. Thank you. Do you have an expat tale to share? Email submissions of no more than 1,000 words to weeklyt@telegraph.co.uk

A chance decision to go to the supermarket just before the Christchurch earthquake struck may have saved expat Jacqueline Monkman's life.

The man — who gave his name as “Mike” and said “hell, yeah,” he’s a Trump supporter — told NBC News he shoved the man because he was “yelling in my face.” Video of the incident captured by several people shows the two men shouting at each other in the middle of a loud crowd. “Mike” lunges and shoves his right palm into the other man’s face, backs up, lunges and makes contact a second time before other people in the crowd wrestle the two men away from each other. One of those on the scene was a camera operator for The Albany Times-Union,which posted high-definition video of the encounter. “Hey, I’ll snatch anybody up if they yell in my face over anything,” “Mike” said afterward. “I have my personal rights and my personal space. They’re gonna start yelling about some [expletive], I’ll snatch your [expletive] up. That’s all.” The man who was attacked was not immediately identified. It was unclear if any charges would be filed, and police on scene told NBC News that no arrests were made. RELATED: Escalating aggression marks Trump rally rhetoric Trump has been accused of inciting his crowds, and earlier this month, three people who claim they were attacked or subjected to racial slurs in Kentucky sued Trump and his campaign. And Trump’s speech in Albany’s Times Union Center on Monday night was geared to stir up the loud, enthusiastic crowd, with the front-runner continuing on his tirade against the “crooked” GOP nominating process — with focus on his loss in Colorado on Saturday. “Because we thought we were having an election, and a number of months ago they decided to do it by you know what, right?” Trump asked. “Right? They said we’ll do it by delegate. They said we’re going to do it by delegate. Oh. Isn’t that nice.” Standing up against Donald Trump At Trump rallies, people of all ages and creeds, even some outside the continent, have continued to make their voices heard. Trump continued: “And the delegates were all there all waiting and the head guy, in fact one of them tweeting out today or said today by mistake and then they withdrew it something to the effect ‘see never Trump look what we did never Trump.’ Because if I go to the voters of Colorado, we win Colorado. So it’s a crooked, crooked system.” In fact, Colorado’s decision was not decided “a number of months ago” as Trump said, but was voted on by the Colorado GOP in August. The debate was sparked after Ron Paul supporters finagled a sizable chunk of the delegates in 2012 despite coming in far behind Romney and Santorum in the state’s caucuses that year, and after the RNC changed its rules to eliminate nonbinding straw polls. Trump later circled back to his criticism of the process by citing Louisiana, where he says he got less delegates ”than this guy that got his a– kicked” — otherwise known as Sen. Ted Cruz. Trump also took the time to remind the Albany audience of Cruz’s comments about “New York values,” telling them that the Texas senator made the comments with “disdain” and “hatred.” “We have the greatest values,” Trump soothed. “Nobody has values like us.” This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com.

The intensity of Trump's rallies was vividly captured Monday when a supporter was recorded shoving another man in the face.

The government has concluded in an official report that Britain would be “weaker, less safe and worse off” if it left the European Union. The document, which has been compiled under the terms of the act of parliament authorising the EU referendum, examines a series of alternatives to EU membership that would all lead to the loss of trade deals and police cooperation. The alternatives to EU membership rejected by the government are: The government believes that the report highlights the central flaw in the leave campaign. It cannot agree on what model Britain should follow outside the EU or offer a guarantee on which would be the best model were it to reach agreement. The government has pointed out that under the exit clause in the Lisbon treaty known as article 50, the UK loses its seat on the European council and has no vote over the final deal, which has to be concluded within two years. The report shows the influence of Mats Persson, one of the prime minister’s EU advisers. Persson was previously director of the Open Europe thinktank, which produced a near-identical report.

Report rules out options, including Norway model, that could involve tariffs on exports or harm UK’s financial services industry

Ms Woodford's torso was found stuffed in a rucksack in May's cupboard - while her head was stashed 150 yards (138m) inside an underground tunnel. The jury's verdict, which came less than an hour of deliberations, was met with cries of "Yes" from the public gallery. • Man 'killed and dismembered father then used him as TV stand In his opening of the case prosecution barrister Roger Thomas QC described May as a sexual predator obsessed with redheads. May's trial was told that six days before the murder he had made "creepy" remarks to a teenager before stroking her fingers. Mr Thomas said: "This was a brutal, vicious and sexually-motivated murder. After her death she was mutilated and dismembered. "These actions were carried out deliberately and methodically with the intention of concealing her body parts, and thereby evading detection." On April 21 this year Ms Woodford, who was described by her relatives as caring and loving, went into Pontypridd Town Centre to buy a ring before calling into some local pubs. A court heard she had a history of depression and often turned to drink in the process. At around 7.45pm that day, she visited the Skinny Dog pub in Pontypridd - where she would meet steakhouse worker May in the smoking area. Bar staff described her as being fragile and refused to serve her as she was too drunk. Despite her being unsteady on her feet, an undeterred May began flirting with Ms Woodford after she joined his table. She was later invited back to his flat with the promise of alcohol - although she warned "I'm not that kind of girl" when a hint about sex was made. But back at his home, May later flew into a rage and strangled Ms Woodford after his wooing attempts - which included half a glass of cider and a Westlife song - failed. A court heard May then had sex with his lifeless victim before slicing up her body with a saw, Stanley knife and secateurs. After flushing some of her remains down the toilet, he then walked through Pontypridd with her severed head in a plastic bag before stashing it in a storm drain close to the town's rugby stadium. Detectives later worked on the theory that May had kept the body part in a hidden location so he could visit it again. The following day, Ms Woodford's worried mother and brother contacted the police after she failed to come home - and described her disappearance as totally out of character. • Dismembered body of British scientist found in rural Argentina Inquiries would later lead Sergeant Stuart Williams and Constable Craig Gardener to May's home in Andrews Court. Sergeant Williams described May's flat as smelling of "gone-off meat" and the defendant appeared uneasy before the gruesome discovery of Ms Woodford's body parts was found in the shower. "I was very shocked," he added. "I double checked to see what I saw. I could not believe my eyes." After wiping tears from his eyes, a visibly-upset Constable Gardener told the jury: "I thought I was watching a horror movie. "I've been in the police force 11 years. I've never had to deal with anything like this before."

Christopher May, 50, is found guilty at Cardiff Crown Court of murdering Pontypridd woman Tracey Woodford

Energy prices have been dropping due to falling wholesale gas and oil prices and are lower than several years ago, although only a portion of the savings have been passed on to consumers. The report, which also compared prices towards the end of each month in 2015, showed energy companies other than the Big Six offering the cheapest variable and fixed tariff deals. Most UK consumers are on standard tariff deals with a Big Six supplier, although savings of £300 a year are achievable for those who switch. There was significant regional variability on display in the report too. Customers in the East Midlands had the cheapest lowest average energy tariff at £920 and buyers in the North West, North Wales and South West the most expensive at £981. Londoners were offered an average lowest dual fuel tariff of £944. Differences in regional prices are primarily due to increased distribution costs in certain areas raising provider's overheads. From April to November 2015, GB Energy Supply offered the cheapest fixed or variable tariff followed closely by Extra Energy and First Utility. • For money tips, tricks and ideas, get our round-up here The cheapest lowest average tariff providers included only one member of the “Big Six”, EDF Energy, the list being topped by Extra Energy and GB Energy Supply. The study also compared the strength of the various energy company's websites and here, unlike in the price comparison, the Big Six performed relatively well. As of 2015-16 the Government has provided £57m in funding, representing around £41 per household, to help reduce electricity distribution charges. A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: “Energy bills fell by £45 this year but we will continue to work hard to reduce them further, doing more to support switching, ensuring the swift roll-out of smart meters and increasing competition in energy markets.” This figure includes the provisional figures for electricity (fallen by £8) and gas (fallen by £37). Smart meters, in particular, have been a controversial topic, with doubts over the true benefits of the £11bn rollout. British Gas said the report was historic and that it was no longer the most expensive. CORRECTION: This article originally listed the energy companies with the 'most effective' and 'least effective' websites. This came from analysis in the MyOffers Research of "Domain Authority", a measure of how websites perform in search engine rankings. Describing it as a measure of 'effectiveness' was potentially misleading and we have removed the lists from the article. Robin Hood Energy, listed as having the 'least effective' site, has asked us to point out that its site in fact scores medium to high on all the MyOffer Research tables for website user experience. We are happy to set the record straight. Have a question for our experts? Email moneyexpert@telegraph.co.uk

A study of the UK energy market has revealed the average dual fuel tariffs based on both supplier and region

And I had heard about a new Goa, a chic Goa, one that involved culture and luxury instead of beach shacks and bongos, one that Hollywood A-listers such as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt had travelled to, and all the new rich Russians loved thanks to its warmth and its relative proximity to Moscow. My friend Holly and I were far more determined to find that Goa than we were our inner selves. Still, at the dusty airport, delirious after almost 24 hours with no sleep and a six-hour wait in the dead of night in Mumbai’s dreary domestic terminal, I struggled to see how we would discover either. Arriving at our hotel, shepherded through the airport-style security that has been a feature of Indian tourism since the Mumbai terrorist attacks of 2008, I wondered if we had got our destination wrong. Then I saw the pool, a vast infinity number that spilt into a paddy field, and all worries evaporated (hard not to in the heat). It is the selling point of the Alila Diwa, one of the many plush resorts that have popped up in southern Goa, away from the hippies who are said to stalk the north of the state. Actually, it was one of the many selling points of the Alila Diwa, but let me catch my breath. The other ones were: it’s as swish as it is reasonably priced; the giant beds and baths; the four different restaurants; the fact that it was really quite big and yet felt ridiculously intimate. Also there’s the lovely detail of being contacted by staff before you’ve even left your home in Britain to ask what kind of fruit you want, the pillow you’d like, and whether you want to surprise your loved one with a romantic dinner (while I do love Holly, I decided not to treat her to this). I liked the staff, most of whom are from the local village of Majorda, because they weren’t too fawning or overattentive – such as the in-house yoga teacher, who told me that I needed to “pull” my “weight down”. He was no-nonsense and fun and I saw him every day we were there. A week with him was about the price of a two-hour yoga class in central London, and a whole lot better. Ditto the treatments in the spa, where they used fresh, natural, local ingredients to exfoliate and pummel. I went there every day, too, sometimes twice. Holly thought this was a bit indulgent, so instead she took advantage of the option to accompany the senior chef, Eida, to the market, where they bought fish and later cooked it together for our dinner. She was very keen to let it be known that this was not her very own surprise romantic dinner, but a way to acquire cooking skills with which to impress her new boyfriend. Bom Jesus Basilica, Old Goa, India While I spent my days reading and being massaged, Holly continued to look for adventures, all of which were organised by the smiling Alila staff. She went to a spice plantation and came back stinking of cardamom and nutmeg and cinnamon, and raving about the smell of split-in-half vanilla pods. Then she gallivanted off to Old Goa, returning with tales of Catholic churches and Hindu temples and a city abandoned in the 16th century due to outbreaks of plague and cholera. It sounded terribly romantic, but I had another massage appointment to get to. Holly sighed. I had to accept that a pool overlooking a paddy field was no substitute for seeing the real Goa, however lovely it might have been. Also, I was getting a bit sick of the sight of glamorous Russian women in teeny bikinis, who had a habit of parading in front of the paddy field. It was time to move on. We were going – gasp! – north, to where the hippies supposedly were. Would we find any? Our destination was a place called Elsewhere, though we were unsure as to where Elsewhere was, exactly. Somewhere on Mandrem beach, apparently, but precious little other information was given to us when we called ahead to book one of its beach houses for a few days. Owned by the fashion photographer Denzel Sequeira, who hails from Mumbai, Elsewhere has been in his family since 1886, when his great-grandfather, Anjelo Zeferino Sequeira, bought 80,000 sq ft of land on a beach wedged between a creek and the Arabian Sea. Since then, four magnificent Portuguese beach houses have been built, and Denzel has added three large, luxurious tents overlooking the creek. Elsewhere is now an idyllic escape for those in the know, never advertised and no address given. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are said to have stayed here, attracted by both its remoteness and its discretion. Barbara, a former Pan Am air hostess who now runs the joint with Denzel, told us where to take a taxi to. At our allotted point, on a dirty coastal road, we were met by a young man bearing a sign that read “Take Me Elsewhere”. He did. We walked to the edge of the creek, where we crossed a rickety bamboo bridge that could have come straight from an Indiana Jones movie. On the other side there were coconut trees and there was beach – oodles of it. Barbara took us to the “dining shack” – a giant canvas awning, where we sat on antique furniture and pushed our toes around in the sand. She ordered us freshly made omelettes from the kitchen and, as we waited, we chose books from the library (a set of shelves) and listened to her tales of turtles hatching on the beach. Even before we got to our beach house, we felt as if we were in heaven. The omelettes were fluffy and worth the wait (indeed, all the food – made from scratch with only local ingredients – was worth waiting for). The five-minute walk to the house took us past pine trees and the bones of a whale that had washed up on the beach a few years previously. Once we got to the Bakery – you can also stay in the Piggery or the Priest’s House – we almost cried. It was basic but beautiful, all whitewashed walls and guidebooks detailing the local wildlife. We sat on our porch drinking local beer and watching a kingfisher flutter around a hammock before the sun went down. In the distance, we could just about make out the thump of trance music from a bar. There were hippies nearby, we were sure of it, but they could have been on a different planet for all we cared. Thomas Cook (flythomascook.com) has direct flights from Gatwick and Manchester to Goa from £209. Ampersand Travel (020 7819 9770; ampersandtravel.com) offers a seven-night stay at the Alila Diwa in Goa on a half-board basis from £1,200 per person. The price includes return flights from Britain and transfers within Goa. More details about Alila Diwa Goa (alilahotels.com) and Elsewhere (aseascape.com). An essential guide to India

Bryony Gordon sets off to the west Indian state full of preconceptions, but discovers peace, simple luxury and yoga… and only the merest hint of drug-fuelled hedonism

In an ideal world, the pilot wants to land into the wind and in the centre of the runway. If there's a tricky cross wind, he says, they will approach with the nose of the plane facing the wind. Just as the pilot performs the “flare” – designed to slow the descent rate – he or she will bring the aeroplane’s nose in line with the runway. It this manoeuvre is performed too early, “the aeroplane won’t land in the centre of the runway – or on the runway at all,” says Captain Thomas. If the pilot isn’t happy with their first effort, he or she will abort the landing, and try again. In what is known as a “baulked landing”, the plane might even touch the runway. In the windiest conditions “wingstrike” may occur – when, you’ve guessed it, a wing hits the runway. It doesn’t happen often, although one notable incident took place in 2008, when a Lufthansa A320 tried to land at Hamburg Airport amid gusts of up to 47 knots (54mph). The footage on YouTube is excruciating, but no one was hurt and the plane eventually touched down on another runway. The phenomenon known as “wind shear” also poses a risk. This is a sudden change in wind speed and/or direction, causing turbulence or a rapid increase or decrease in velocity. A tricky scenario might see a pilot attempting to land into a head wind that sudden turns into a tail wind. The result? Landing late and fast, and potentially overshooting the runway. Airbus says wind shear is the main cause of four per cent of “approach and landing” accidents, such as the crash of the Delta Flight 191 in 1985. A loss of 54 knots of air speed in a matter of seconds saw the plane hit the ground about a mile short of the runway. This was one of several incidents that led the Federal Aviation Administration, the US equivalent of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), to rule that all commercial planes must be fitted with a wind shear detection and alert system. The CAA does not currently make the same demands of UK operators. Captain Thomas says that wind shear may cause a pilot to break off a landing at around 3,000ft: “It’s the right thing to do – put the power on and get up and out of there.” Pilots always have a plan B in mind if the intended approach is not safe or if the airport closes because of high winds. For landing in Washington DC, for example, the BA pilot knows he could divert to Baltimore or Boston. Updates on wind and weather conditions are communicated to crew throughout a journey to help with decision making. To curtail the dangers posed by strong winds, manufacturers issue limits for maximum ground speeds, air speeds and cross speeds in which a plane can operate, based on “analytical computations and simulations”. For example, the Airbus A380 was designed to cope with crosswinds of 35 knots at take-off and 40 knots when landing. According to the CAA, however, the pilot decides whether a landing is safe – based on experience, not algorithms. The CAA does enforce detailed weather reporting regulations for UK airports, however – set out in a 119-page document that makes for gripping reading – and airports must also provide half-hourly reports describing conditions along the runway. Some airports are more susceptible to strong winds. Those flying into Leeds Bradford, the highest airport in Britain at 681 feet (208m), have seen their fair share of wobbly approaches – including this week. Last month, a BA flight diverted to Manchester because of conditions there. A plane makes a wonky approach at Leeds Bradford Airport this week Flights in northern Scotland are also more likely to be cancelled: this week around 20 were cancelled between Aberdeen and Shetland as gusts reached 70mph. Captain Thomas says that Keflavik Airport in Iceland is notorious for its high winds, and often hosts trainee pilots for landing practice. He adds that pilots will usually tell the cabin if a landing is likely to be bumpy: “It’s better to let people know – you’ve normally got at least one nervous flyer on board.” High winds can make a flight uncomfortable, but are extremely unlikely to be fatal – they might even mean your holiday starts sooner. Strong tailwinds – and jet streams – can shave hours off a flight time. A BA flight nearly went supersonic this week thanks to just that – flying from New York to London in just five hours and 16 minutes when the usual journey time is nearly seven hours. That’s one reason to hope for buffeting gales next time you’re waiting in the departure lounge.

The sight of planes swaying in gales is unlikely to encourage nervous fliers. But how risky is flying in high winds?

Padraig Long and Puppy No. 19, Boone. “We thought it was time for us to give a precious pup a good home after we had our son, who is now 1,” said Katie Long, who is Padraig’s mother and married to Andrew Long, who plays the father in the play. “Boone, named after Andrew’s character name, is wonderful with both kids, and our 1-year-old son enjoys lying on him whenever possible.”

A look at the puppies who have aged out of the show.

To look at, Jeffries isn’t your typical ladies’ man. He has Velcro-like thunder-grey hair and one of those shrewd faces which screams 'LA nerd'. He looks like an older Mark Zuckerberg – an apt similarity, given that, as with Facebook's inventor, Jeffries is the founder of his subject. Except that Jefferies’ field isn’t creating computer programs. It’s unpicking women’s thoughts. Jeffries is known in the pickup artist (PUA) community as the pioneer of seduction techniques. He developed his skills using a mixture of hypnosis and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and set the benchmark for the success with women using such approaches. When we’re first introduced to Jeffries in The Game, he manages to get the number of a young waitress (he’s in his early forties) by simply talking to her while he’s ordering breakfast. He starts out by suggesting she wouldn’t be attracted to him and then persuades her of the opposite through a series of subtle gestures including, but not exclusive to, ‘condiment anchoring’ – that is the association of a thought or feeling, in this case the fuzziness of fancying someone, with a packet of ketchup. In other words, Jeffries makes a complete stranger besotted with him using years of study, in-field experience and a packet of ketchup. It’s quite remarkable. If not slightly unnerving. Regardless of where you stand on the ethics of the seduction community (to many it’s considered misogynist), Jeffries exudes a powerful gravitational pull. During his talk on seduction at the Soho House Salon, Jeffries teaches and demonstrates his persuasive powers to a mesmerised audience. But it’s hard to tell whether we’re genuinely impressed or if we’re just being persuaded we are. I’m not here, however, to learn how to get women into bed. I’m here to learn the story of the seduction community. Jefferies was around long before The Game hit bookshop shelves. When the main players in The Game were still looking over their pencil cases at the popular girls on the other side of the class, Jeffries was out on the street, chatting girls up, getting their numbers and, more often than not, getting them into bed too. It all started in 1988 when Jeffries self-published his own book, How to Get the Women You Desire into Bed. The subtle, un-offensive tone of the book on how to woo women carried little weight. In short: it flopped. But Jeffries was sure it wasn’t the message that was wrong, but the way in which that message was delivered. As a result, he changed tack. When chatting women up he would remain subtle and understated, that was his technique after all, but in order to make money, and train other men, he had to appeal to their animal urges. Subtlety in that quarter wasn’t going to cut it. “I thought: I’m going to be the most unsubtle, brash, obnoxious, loud mouth there is,” he says, inventing a character that he would play with great success – that ‘character’ was Ross Jefferies. ‘Women hate nice guys’ his website said. ‘Sex Book author Ross Jeffries. The man who turns wimps and geeks into supercharged macho studs.’ The change worked. After gambling his last $500 on a full-page ad in a magazine that extolled his pickup abilities, Jeffries got a call from the number one chat show in America at the time: The Phil Donahue Show. A series of TV appearances and worldwide exposure followed, leading to a surge in the sales of his audio tapes and workshops. The late 90s proved to be a busy period in the life of Ross Jefferies. Rolling Stones did a feature story on him in 1998; he was the inspiration for Tom Cruise’s character in Magnolia the following year, and then in 2000, Jeffries was introduced to British audiences through Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends series. At the height of his powers, Jeffries wasn’t just synonymous with the seduction community, he was the seduction community. And then things changed. Jeffries met Neil Strauss in 2004. He didn’t know he was a writer. “I think all along Neil was posing as people’s friends. I think he posed as my friend, posed as Mystery’s friend and then turned around and did us in the ass when it was time to ridicule us and write his book.” The animosity in Jeffries's words is evident. Strauss went on to write two bestselling books about seduction in the mid noughties, often using the (possibly self-proclaimed) title of the greatest pickup artist of all time. Jeffries crown had been usurped – although he does admit that Strauss made him “a piss load of money” and changed the landscape of the seduction community. “The Game really got the attention of the world. It bought the PUA community out from under the table and put it on top of the table.” Neil Strauss, AKA Style (PIC: GETTY) The community of geeky want-to-meet-girls guys became an industry. PDFs of popular routines (tricks and traps to get girls into bed) popularised by the book became available and as some PUAs went private, others offered their services for free. The result was an industry eating itself. “There was all sorts of back stabbing and screwing over and scheming. My attorney wanted to sue everybody. I don’t think everyone has stolen from me but a lot of people have stolen a lot of stuff. Fundamentally, 80 per cent of the people drawn to this work are sociopaths or megalomaniacs – they really don’t have a conscience. They’re just in it for the money.” So what’s next? What’s the future of the seduction community? “It’s not a community,” Jeffries says. “It’s a deviant subculture of people who act outside of what is normally considered acceptable ways of thinking and communication.” Is there a fine line between deviant and immoral? Earlier this year, in the wake of the Santa Barbara killings, it was revealed that 22-year-old gunman Elliot Rodger had been a regular visitor to online PUA forums. After apparently failing to pick up women, he joined a message board called PUAHate, where men go to debunk PUA techniques. It's a forum Jeffries has posted on. “Mass shootings are now part of American culture. They happen all the time. People who are psychotic will grab on to anything and obsess about it. If you look at his diary, he planned to kill his own brother; the first three victims of his rampage were his male room-mates. So there goes the whole idea that this is just about his hatred of women. He was clearly a very narcissistic, grandiose and sick human. Nothing to do with the pickup community.” In fact, far from having a negative impact on young men’s live, Jeffries considers his work to have a beneficial effect. “Teaching a class of 40 guys who are really hurting takes a lot of energy. I’ve loved doing it, don’t get me wrong, but I was their messiah. For many of them I was their last hope.” The disciples of the seduction community are losing their idols. Last year, Strauss held a mock funeral for his PUA persona Style and two days before our meeting, Jeffries held his last seduction seminar. So what of their legacies? “In a hundred years from now, when I’ve died and become dust, no one will remember Neil Strauss. No one will remember Mystery. But they’ll all remember Ross Jeffries.”

When Neil Strauss’s bestselling book The Game was published in 2005, the world became seduced by the pickup artist community. Ross Jefferies, the father of the community and one of the book’s characters, tells all to Gareth May

“Some of us think the Chinese got her,” said one Conservative source. “She can get everywhere. You'd only have to bug her to find out half the Government's secrets.” She has been described as the “purr-fect” spy because of her ability to get past policemen and protection officers. It has led to her being discovered in the most secure area of the Foreign Office, inside the Cabinet room in Number 10, trying to break into the Treasury and in the command centre during a Royal Navy exercise. In contrast David Cameron’s cat Larry spends his days lazing outside Number 10. Sources have even suggested to the Chancellor that Freya may be using him for his top secret political knowledge. She is not the first Downing Street cat to have mysteriously disappeared. When Tony Blair’s cat Freya went missing shortly after the election in 1997 some blamed Cherie, but officials insisted she had simply retired.

She has friends in high places and an inquisitive nature, so after a mysterious disappearance there are whispers she may have been recruited by a foreign power.

Ad men were using the stereotype as far back as 1993, when Carling ran a mildly controversial commercial that saw a bronzed Bond-like Briton beating a horde of portly Germans to a prime lounger, with the Dambusters theme music providing the soundtrack (his rolled-up towel even bounces off the surface of the swimming pool, like one of Barnes Wallis’s famous bombs – “I bet he drinks Carling Black Label”). It is also fairly accurate, and something that even Germans themselves acknowledge. Back in 2005, Ralf Höcker, a German solicitor, admitted that “the stereotype is true - German people do reserve all the loungers.” “There is a certain type of German tourist who does it,” he added. “The same type who when they are on the beach builds a little wall… to protect their spot.” He also confirmed the cunning deployment of towels is not backed up by law. "British tourists would be quite within their legal rights to ignore the reservation implied by the towels if there is nobody there,” he said. The Germans do – however – appear to be trying to reign in their seat-hogging instincts. Peter Hughes, who recently boarded a cruise on the MS Deutschland, found instructions warning the largely German clientele that no sun loungers should be reserved in this way. Aggressive nudism is another accusation that might be reasonably levelled at the German holidaymaker. A poll last month suggested that they are the most likely to go naked on the beach, with 28 per cent of them admitting stripping down to their birthday suit, compared with just 12 per cent of Britons (the Japanese came bottom, as it were, with just two per cent). Its cruise ships feature areas for nude sunbathing, it has several nudist hotels, and a German firm has even offered nudist flights. As Telegraph Travel’s Adrian Bridge points out: “For a nation that sometimes finds it difficult to bare its soul, the German people are surprisingly relaxed when it comes to baring their bodies.” When they are not naked, they are “incredibly well dressed”, according to Peter Hughes. “They all wore clothes suited to an activity far smarter than the one in which they were engaged. Men wore ties on the promenade deck.” This buttoned-up demeanour was a common theme among the other Telegraph Travel contributers I canvassed, who were of the opinion that Germans find it very difficult to let their hair down, even on holiday. That apparent lack of humour came up too. "They take their holidays very seriously. In fact, they take them so seriously it is hard to tell if they are actually having fun," said Andrew Eames, the man behind the website germanyiswunderbar.com. "And they like the detail. If an itinerary says the transfer from the airport includes cold towels, soft drinks and snacks, then they will insist on cold towels, soft drinks and snacks... even if it means not noticing what's out of the window." "I'd say that there's plenty of drunk, fat and sunburnt Germans, too," he added. Gill Charlton, our consumer correspondent, who used to run a B&B in Cornwall, said: “They can lack a certain levity and sense of humour, unless they’ve spent time working in Britain. They speak good English, never complain about the weather, take their shoes off to go upstairs, and have a holiday action plan which usually involves a lot of walking, drinking British beer (always in moderation) and seeking out the Cornish locations of Rosamund Pilcher’s deeply sentimental romantic romps which have proved a huge hit on Sunday night television in Germany.” All of which makes them “model guests”, she added. “The only moan I’ve ever heard is if there’s no ham and cheese on the breakfast buffet. I’ve served parmesan to Germans desperate for a cheese hit at breakfast time.” Bee Rowlatt, one of the stars of last year’s BBC documentary Make Me A German, had her own humorous take on the Bild portrait of the Brits abroad: “Drunk, fat and sunburnt? Yes please! Thank you Germany for reminding us what holidays are for. I’ll be at the all-day buffet, with a glass of something I can’t pronounce - at least we Brits win at something.” German tourists letting their hair down For the French, the slightly stuffy demeanour displayed by some visiting Germans can be interpreted as arrogance, said Anthony Peregrine, an ex pat living in Nimes and the author of our regular column Le Rosbif Writes. “A while ago, I did a (very) informal survey among South France tourism pros, asking who their favourite foreigners were,” he explained. “The Brits came out way in front (‘polite’, ‘impressed by everything’, ‘never complain’, ‘eager to listen’). Spanish and Italians were essentially considered as continuations of Southern French people by other means, but noisier – while the Dutch were disliked (‘they colonise camp sites – and have their own supplies shipped down from Holland. Even lettuce’). “But it was the Germans that came last. Clearly, there was lingering resentment over what happened in the Second World War – but also what was perceived as a sort of arrogance. More than once, people said things like: ‘They come here – and treat us as if we were the Third World’ or ‘They behave as if they still run the country.’ From a restaurateur in Sète: ‘If we didn’t need their money, we wouldn’t let them in.’” Anthony added that, despite those John Cleese-style warnings about not mentioning the war, Germans religiously visit sites connected with it. “I’ve seen them being terribly respectful at Oradour-sur-Glane, at various Resistance Museums, and also on a guided tour of a Maginot Line fortress. I was, in fact, the only non-German on the visit” he said. “The guide was underlining the quality of the defensive arrangements. ‘So how come it proved useless?’ I asked. He took me aside, pointed at the Germans and said: ‘We had great cannons – but they had Stukas!’. A German overheard. He brightened immediately: ‘Ja, ja Stukas!’ he cried, doing a very fine mime of an attacking dive-bomber, including the rat-a-tat machine gun fire. This clearly made him happy. I wasn’t sure how to take this.” Nigel Richardson, another of our regular contributors, described the German tourist as “irritatingly well travelled and adventurous. Whenever you think you’ve reached somewhere few people have been, and are feeling smug about it, a campervan will appear and eight Germans will spill out, looking as if they’ve been to a million such places.” So there you have it, Herr holidaymaker. You’re not so perfect yourselves. And if you’ve got a problem with that – YOU STARTED IT! Books about Germany: holiday reading guide Long German words: a phrasebook for show-offs Eleven reasons to go to Germany Berlin: an unlikely paradise for birders Twenty things you didn't know about Germany Freiburg, Germany: Europe's huge secret gem Win one of 40 holidays worth £800,000 Telegraph Travel Awards 2014: vote for your favourite destinations and travel companies for the chance to win one of 40 luxury breaks worth a total of £800,000. Travel Guides app Download the free Telegraph Travel app, featuring expert guides to destinations including Paris, Rome, New York, Venice and Amsterdam Follow Telegraph Travel on Twitter Follow Telegraph Travel on Facebook Follow Telegraph Travel on Pinterest Follow Telegraph Travel on FourSquare

British holidaymakers may be fat, drunk and sunburnt, but what of our German counterparts?

When deciding how to divide a portfolio between stocks and bonds, many investors simply subtract their age from 100 to determine what percentage to put into stocks, and invest the rest in bonds. But new research indicates that before doing the math, it's important to consider something many investors and financial advisers overlook: the value and riskiness of your other assets—specifically, any pension and Social Security benefits...

Taking into account any pension and Social Security benefits you stand to receive, your future employment income and your home equity can result in big changes in portfolio design.

The weather is heating up, and so are deals on a variety of goods. Memorial Day also means a weekend of sales. Many grocery stores will have specials on grillable meats throughout May. "With consumers eager to enjoy a grilled dinner outdoors, so the demand and competitive price game begins for everyone's favorite meats," says Erin Chase, consumer shopping expert for savings app. "From ribs to steaks to chicken breast and premade kebabs, consumers will be able to find great deals on the meats they love to grill." She says that condiments are also hot, so look for coupons and store discounts. May is one of the best times to purchase . To save more money, check out , which tend to have impressive offers on mattresses for local stores. You can stack these with in-store specials. Note that expensive mattress models are displayed in the front of the store, while cheaper options are often toward the back. at your favorite retailers for several months. That's because retailers know people shop in advance for the summer entertaining. Now that the surge of patio furniture purchases has lulled, retailers have begun marking down prices, explains Meghan Heffernan, also a consumer shopping expert for Savings.com. Heffernan says to expect "a steep increase in prices until the end of summer." Buy now while you still have a good selection. This time of year, bugs are a-plenty and the sun's rays are powerful. As a result, retailers can count on you buying these items consistently. Coupons (either electronic or from the newspaper) can save you money on both . "With the bugs emerging and the sun gaining in stretch, stores everywhere are competing for your bug spray and sunscreen dollars," notes Chase. "It's time to stock up on your favorite brand of repellent and protection for your skin, and be sure to purchase enough to last you through Labor Day weekend." "After a long winter break recovering from the holidays, spring is often when we see people start entertaining again," says Heffernan. "Home ware companies will be offering special reductions on kitchen accessories and cookware." Thanks to these slashed prices, now's a great time to buy -- including cutlery, dishes, linens, electronics and more -- for the recent grads or newlyweds in your life. "As the volume of car sales goes up in summer months, car retailers increase the number of price drops per vehicle," says Heffernan. "This trend starts in May and will peak in July." An excellent way to get a quality used car is to shop previously leased vehicles. These are typically no more than 4 years old but are significantly cheaper than their new counterparts. Additionally, because leased vehicles must be maintained with utmost diligence -- and because mileage is restricted -- you know these cars have been taken care of.

Bargains are likely for seasonal attractions like meats for the grill and patio furniture -- and also for mattresses, kitchen accessories and used cars.

Colin Weir, 64, and his wife Chris, 55, said they checked their numbers at midnight after a "normal night in front of the TV watching CSI". Mrs Weir, a psychiatric nurse, said: "We had bought five lucky dips as the jackpot was now so big. I started circling the numbers I had matched but wasn't doing very well. The couple, from the seaside town of Largs in Ayrshire, scooped the jackpot of £161,653,000 ranking them 430th in the Sunday Times UK Rich List, just behind the Beckhams. Chris Weir added that her husband had never been keen on travelling but hoped that “first class” trips could persuade him. "We have both always wanted to see the Great Wall of China and Colin would love to stand at the foot of Ayers Rock in Australia. We also love galleries so this gives us the chance to visit those in Paris and in Russia." The couple matched the winning numbers - 17, 19, 38, 42 and 45, and the Lucky Stars 9 and 10 - at odds of 116 million to one.

Colin and Chris Weir scoop Europe's biggest ever lottery win, with their £161 million jackpot. The couple are deciding how to spend the money and say they plan to by homes for their children and travel to China and Australia.

There have been signs that Trump’s campaign—which has featured one alienating gaffe after another—have hurt his business brand. Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City (now owned by Carl Icahn) just announced it’s closing, and earlier this year, the travel search engine Hipmunk reported that bookings at Trump-branded hotels were down 59% year over year in the first quarter among Hipmunk users. Now a new report from Foursquare using foot traffic data for all Trump-branded businesses shows even further how things do not look good for the Republican nominee. The app, which has more than 50 million users and gives people recommendations for food, hotels, and more, based on places they travel, has a solid track record of prognostication, having successfully predicted iPhone 6s sales, the success of McDonald’s all-day breakfast, and Chipotle struggles using similar foot traffic data. Since he announced his campaign last year, foot traffic to Trump-branded businesses has plummeted significantly. For example, this July saw 17% less than last July. Graphics published by Foursquare show that both this year and last year had a slow winter, but this year did not have the typical recovery that hotels make after the slow season. This year, Trump foot traffic remained fairly low. The hotels worst off were the Trump SoHo, Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago, and the failing Trump Taj Mahal, which is “losing multimillions a month,” according to its CEO Tony Rodio. Foursquare’s detailed data is even more interesting, though not surprising. Trump properties suffered way more in Blue States. And although men and women had equal foot traffic to Trump businesses in the past, the rate of women going plunged significantly in March. The day that month ended, a Gallup poll indicated that seven out of 10 women held unfavorable views of the Republican nominee. Blue States are to be expected, but what about purple states—the swing states that can decide elections? In those Trump fared worse than in Blue States, in terms of year-over-year attrition of guests. From March to June, foot traffic was down 18.8% from the year before. Sad! Of course, this doesn’t predict that he will lose the election. It means that he’s likely alienated some people who might go to his hotels, and as a result his business is going through a rocky patch. And with under 100 days until the general election, aggressive politicking is only getting started.

It's a rough time for the Trump brand.

On Sept. 26 child welfare officials in Douglas County, which includes Omaha, filed a petition accusing Ms. Coover of neglect. She is working to have that changed to a “no fault” transfer of custody. Being officially declared neglectful could jeopardize her teaching credential and future parental rights. The abrupt handovers in Nebraska are striking examples of an ongoing, more orderly phenomenon that exposes the shortage of psychiatric help for children. A 2003 report by the General Accounting Office, compiling responses from only 19 states and 30 counties, found that 12,700 children in one year had been placed in child welfare or juvenile justice systems simply so they could receive mental health care. As the drop-offs continued through the fall in Nebraska, including five cases in which children were driven in from other states, Gov. Dave Heineman called an emergency session of the Legislature this week to revise the law. Earlier this year, Nebraska was the last of the 50 states to adopt a safe-haven law. But instead of specifying that it applied only to infants up to a certain age, as in other states, Nebraska’s version used the word “child,” opening the door to handovers of children up to age 18. Many legislators and advocates for children said the desperate actions by caretakers had exposed serious gaps in services, especially for families with troubled older children. The findings of the new commission are sure to be scrutinized by other states where the same unmet needs are rumbling. As in most states, Nebraska offers a patchwork of hot lines, private agencies like Boys Town and public programs that offer counseling and respite shelters to distressed families and runaway children. Some Nebraska officials have said that ample services exist, including free counseling for the poor, but that parents are not fully using them. Many legislators and advocates disagree. Ms. Coover said that her son had received psychiatric care off and on, with limited coverage by her insurance plan, but that he often refused to take prescribed medications. When he refused to go to school, she could not afford a sitter and did not know where to turn. She has spoken out, she said, because newspaper descriptions made her family easily identifiable in their town of 640 and because she resented the way state officials described parents like her as irresponsibly “abandoning” their children. Far from abandoning Skylar, she said, she gave her phone number to the hospital and state agencies, has visited him weekly — he is still in the same hospital but will soon move into a therapeutic foster home with specially trained parents and services — and hopes he can return home at some point. It was easy for officials to talk of available counseling and mental health services, Ms. Coover said. But in a rural area like hers, such aid is rare, and when she did find it, the offices were distant. “Good luck finding a counselor — they’re all filled up,” she said. “You call a psychiatrist and have to wait three months for an appointment.” Once during a snowstorm, she said, after she drove 25 miles to pick up the boys at school, then 45 miles to a psychiatric appointment, she arrived 15 minutes late. “They said we’d have to make a new appointment for six weeks later,” she said. The short-lived law has yielded many poignant scenes. The same night that Ms. Coover took Skylar in, a father went into another hospital in Omaha and dropped off nine children, saying that since his wife died last year, he could not cope with raising them. Those children, like some others handed to the state, have moved in with relatives, but most are in foster care or group homes. Courtney Anderson, a social worker at Immanuel Hospital, said that some of the children taken to the emergency room cried and begged their parent or guardian not to leave them. Some did not realize what was happening. “Some knew, but were just numb,” Ms. Anderson said. Nine of the 35 drop-offs occurred at Immanuel Hospital, but at least as many more families arrived intending to leave a child but were talked out of it by social workers who offered respite care, parenting classes and referrals to other aid that, Ms. Anderson said, the parents had not known about. Even with children suffering more severe psychiatric problems, Ms. Anderson said, state child welfare and other agencies “came together quickly” to offer help. “Everyone wants the families to stay together,” she said. “And we are looking forward to the solutions that the new commission proposes.” A version of this article appears in print on , on page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Nebraska Limits Safe-Haven Law to Infants. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

The revision to a law permitting parents to hand children over to state custody limits its reach to infants.

The creator of the 10m-tall Man Engine puppet saved one of the biggest surprises of his work to last as it made its final appearance during a two-week tour of Devon and Cornwall - he proposed to his partner under its shadow. After the final ceremony at Geevor on Saturday, creator Will Coleman lured his partner of six years, Dominique Trevail, on to the top of a support vehicle, telling her she would get a personal wink from her 40-tonne heartthrob. He then went down on one knee and asked for her hand in marriage, presenting her with an large metal washer from the puppet itself as an engagement ring. Dominique said: "I am so immensely proud of Will and what he has achieved for the people of Cornwall. First I called him every name under the sun for proposing in front of thousands of people... but I did eventually say yes."

Wild seal warning, never event during surgery; floral tributes laid for missing teenager, and more

StarringGerald McRaney as Major John MacGillisShanna Reed as Polly CooperMatt Mulhern as Lieutenant Gene HolowachukWhitney Kershaw as Merilee GundersonBeverly Archer as Gunnery Sergeant Alva "Gunny" BrickerJohn Cypher as Commanding General Marcus Craig Created by Richard C. Okie and John G. Stephens, "Major Dad" is a family-friendly sitcom centered on a straitlaced Marine, his wife and stepdaughters, and his fellow Marines. The series ran on CBS for four seasons, from 1989 to 1993. "Major Dad" begins with sparks flying between conservative Marine Major John "Mac" MacGillis (Gerald McRaney, "Longmire," "House of Cards") and his interviewer, pacifist reporter Polly Cooper. This unlikely pair finds themselves falling hard for each other, and Polly has to introduce Mac to her three daughters, Robin (Nicole Dubuc), Casey (Chelsea Hertford) and Elizabeth (Marisa Ryan). With the girls' blessing, Mac and Polly are married mere weeks later. Suddenly the girls have to adjust to being in a military family, and Polly has to adjust to being a Marine wife. Meanwhile, the Major has to contend with the ups and downs of his work life. He starts out commanding an infantry training school, aided (and frustrated) by Lieutenant Gene Holowachuk (Matt Mulhern, "Biloxi Blues"), Sergeant Byron James (Marlon Archey) and Merilee Gunderson (Whitney Kershaw). At the end of Season 1, budget cutbacks force Mac to choose between retirement and a new job, and he moves his family to the base at Camp Hollister, where he serves as Staff Secretary. Now labeled the "Staff Weenie," Mac must contend with a whole new group of wacky colleagues. Lieutenant Holowachuk transferred with him, but now they're under the orders of Commanding General Marcus Craig (John Cypher, "Hill Street Blues") and work closely with sometimes prickly Gunnery Sergeant Alva "Gunny" Bricker (Beverly Archer, "Mama's Family"). Notable guest appearances on the series include Vicki Lawrence ("Mama's Family"), comedian Yakov Smirnoff and Vice President Dan Quayle. "Major Dad" was created by Richard C. Okie and John G. Stevens and developed by Emmy and Humanitas Prize winner Earl Pomerantz ("The Cosby Show," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Taxi"), and featured the early work of writer-producer Janet Leahy ("Boston Legal," "Gilmore Girls," "Mad Men"). Its theme music was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1992.

The classic TV sitcom Major Dad originally aired from 1989 to 1993 with Gerald McRaney as Major MacGillis. Explore the show on NBC.com.

One day you return home from work, go to your mailbox, and find a packet from your employer concerning the coming Nov. 6 election. It includes information about the candidates and a letter from the company president that reads: "To help you engage in the political process, we have enclosed several items in this packet. For most of you, this includes information about voter registration deadlines and early voting options in your state. At the request of many employees, we have also provided a list of candidates in your...

In The Wall Street Journal, Bradley Smith writes that the left would rather voters remain in the dark than get information from their employers.

You would think after winning a gold medal for the 20th time, Michael Phelps might be used to the pomp and circumstance. But Phelps is no ordinary athlete. Many in the television audience may have been taken aback when the Maryland native quickly transitioned from visibly holding back the tears to laughter while the "Star Spangled Banner" was being played Tuesday night during the medal ceremony for the 200 meter butterfly. The thing is, the words toward the end of the anthem have special meaning for anyone from Baltimore, where Phelps was raised, and is considered by many on par with Cal Ripken for all-time sports greatness. "And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there." These words are somber and sang the same in Baltimore or Boston, Chicago or Los Angeles. Team USA swimmer Michael Phelps prepares to swim laps during a practice session at Northside Swim Center in San Antonio, Texas, July 16, 2016. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports/File Photo Michael Phelps (C) of the U.S. swims the butterfly stroke during his team's victory in the men's 4x100 meters medley relay at the National Aquatics Center during the Beijing 2008 Olympics August 17, 2008. Picture taken with underwater camera. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File photo Michael Phelps of the U.S. poses with his gold medal after winning the men's 4x100m medley relay final during the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre August 4, 2012. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/File photo Michael Phelps and Garrett Weber-Gale (L) of the U.S. celebrate after winning the men's 4x100m freestyle relay swimming final at the National Aquatics Center during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 11, 2008. REUTERS/David Gray (CHINA) Gold medallist Michael Phelps of the U.S. listens to his national anthem during the men's 200m individual medley victory ceremony during the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre August 2, 2012. REUTERS/David Gray Members of the men's 4 x 200m freestyle relay team, Michael Phelps, Conor Dwyer, Ryan Lochte and Ricky Berens (L-R) hold their national flag as they celebrate their gold medal win in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay victory ceremony during the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre July 31, 2012. Phelps won the record 19th Olympic medal on Tuesday when he joined forces with his U.S. team mates to win the 4x200m freestyle relay. REUTERS/Jorge Silva Michael Phelps of the U.S. competes in the men's 400m individual medley swimming final at the National Aquatics Center during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 10, 2008. Picture taken with underwater camera. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay (CHINA) Michael Phelps of the U.S. holds up his award recognising him as the most decorated Olympian, during the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre August 4, 2012. Phelps ended his incredible Olympic career on the perfect note on Saturday, winning his 18th gold medal for the United States in the men's medley relay, the last time he will swim a competitive race. REUTERS/Brian Snyder A combination photo shows Michael Phelps of the U.S. holding each of his eight gold medals in the swimming competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Phelps won his eighth gold medal on Sunday, beating Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals won at a single Games in 1972. The medals were won in: (Top row L-R) 400m individual medley (August 10), 4x100m freestyle relay (August 11), 200m freestyle (August 12), 200m butterfly (August 13). (Bottom row L-R) 4x200m freestyle relay (August 13), 200m individual medley (August 15), 100m butterfly (August 16), and 4x100m medley relay (August 17). REUTERS/Staff (CHINA) Michael Phelps of the U.S. looks down at the pool after his team was beaten to the gold by France in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay final during the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre July 29, 2012. REUTERS/David Gray Photographers surround Michael Phelps of the U.S. after he won his eighth gold medal of the games at the National Aquatics Center during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 17, 2008. REUTERS/Gary Hershorn (CHINA) But the next line, is slightly different. "Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave," becomes "OOOOO-HHHHH, say does.." in Baltimore, with fans screaming the "Oh" as loud as possible. It's a tribute to the Orioles, the baseball team that moved to Baltimore in 1954 and helped many a sports fan get over the loss of the beloved Colts when they relocated in the dead of night to Indianapolis in 1984. Phelps was asked about it after the ceremony and explained that the yelling reminded him of home. "My boys from Baltimore were down on the other end, and back in Maryland, we all say "O!" for the Orioles during that part of the National Anthem. And all of the sudden I hear them roar "O!" and I knew exactly where I came from," explained Phelps during a post-ceremony interview. "I just lost it because those guys came down from Baltimore and New York City to be here, and it's just special to see those guys in the stands." Shortly afterwards he went on to win his 21st gold medal in the 4x200 men's freestyle relay race. In other words, just your average day in the life of Michael Phelps. Boomer Phelps at Rio 2016: Boomer Phelps at Rio 2016 Michel Phelps' son Boomer, left, is held by Phelps' finance Nicole Johnson at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, Tuesday, June 28, 2016, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) 2016 Rio Olympics - Swimming - Victory Ceremony - Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay Victory Ceremony - Olympic Aquatics Stadium - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 07/08/2016. Nicole Johnson, the fiance of Michael Phelps (USA) of USA, carries their son Boomer as she waves to him. REUTERS/Michael Dalder FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. OMAHA, NE - JULY 01: Michael Phelps (L) of the United States celebrates with his fiance Nicole Johnson (R) and their son Boomer (C) after finishing first in the final heat for the Men's 200 Meter Individual Medley during Day Six of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials at CenturyLink Center on July 1, 2016 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) Jul 1, 2016; Omaha, NE, USA; Michael Phelps greets fiance Nicole Johnson and their son Boomer Phelps during the U.S. Olympic swimming team trials at CenturyLink Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports Michel Phelps' son Boomer, left, is held by Phelps' finance Nicole Johnson at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, Tuesday, June 28, 2016, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) OMAHA, NE - JUNE 30: Nicole Johnson, fiancee of Michael Phelps, looks on with son Boomer prior to the semi-final heat for the Men's 200 Meter Individual Medley during Day Five of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials at CenturyLink Center on June 30, 2016 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) Michel Phelps' son Boomer, left, his held by Phelps' finance Nicole Johnson at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, Tuesday, June 28, 2016, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Jul 1, 2016; Omaha, NE, USA; Michael Phelps greets fiance Nicole Johnson and their son Boomer Phelps during the U.S. Olympic swimming team trials at CenturyLink Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports United States' Michael Phelps' son Boomer wears ear protection during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) United States' Michael Phelps' son Boomer wears ear protection during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) Nicole Johnson the fiancee of United States' Michael Phelps, holding his baby Boomer, leaves the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) Nicole Johnson, fiance of United States' Michael Phelps, holds their baby Boomer during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) RIO DE JANERIO, BRAZIL - AUGUST 08: Nicole Johnson (R), partner of Michael Phelps of the United States, holds their son Boomer during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 08, 2016. (Photo by Salih Zeki Fazlioglu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - AUGUST 08: Nicole Johnson, partner of Michael Phelps of the United States, holds their son Boomer on Day 3 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium on August 8, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) 2016 Rio Olympics - Swimming - Semifinal - Women's 200m Freestyle Semifinals - Olympic Aquatics Stadium - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 08/08/2016.Nicole Johnson, the fiance of Michael Phelps (USA) of USA, carries their son Boomer REUTERS/David Gray FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. 2016 Rio Olympics - Swimming - Semifinal - Women's 200m Freestyle Semifinals - Olympic Aquatics Stadium - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 08/08/2016.Nicole Johnson, the fiance of Michael Phelps (USA) of USA, carries their son Boomer REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. 2016 Rio Olympics - Swimming - Victory Ceremony - Men's 200m Butterfly Victory Ceremony - Olympic Aquatics Stadium - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 09/08/2016. Michael Phelps (USA) of USA greets his son Boomer after he won the gold medal. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. 2016 Rio Olympics - Swimming - Victory Ceremony - Men's 200m Butterfly Victory Ceremony - Olympic Aquatics Stadium - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 09/08/2016. Michael Phelps (USA) of USA greets his mother Debbie, fiance Nicole Johnson and their son Boomer after he won the gold medal. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. 2016 Rio Olympics - Swimming - Victory Ceremony - Men's 200m Butterfly Victory Ceremony - Olympic Aquatics Stadium - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 09/08/2016. Michael Phelps (USA) of USA greets his mother Debbie, fiance Nicole Johnson and their son Boomer after he won the gold medal. REUTERS/Dominic Ebenbichler FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - AUGUST 9: Gold medalist Michael Phelps of USA kisses his 3 months old son Boomer Phelps following the medal ceremony for the men's 200m butterfly on day 4 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Olympic Aquatics Stadium on August 9, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images) United States' Michael Phelps celebrates winning his gold medal in the men's 200-meter butterfly with his mother Debbie, fiance Nicole Johnson and baby Boomer during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) 2016 Rio Olympics - Swimming - Victory Ceremony - Men's 200m Butterfly Victory Ceremony - Olympic Aquatics Stadium - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 09/08/2016. Michael Phelps (USA) of USA greets his son Boomer after he won the gold medal. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. United States' Michael Phelps fiancee, Nicole Johnson, holds his baby son Boomer during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip ) Copyright 2016 U.S. News & World Report More from US News: Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky Strike Gold in Rio Here's How Many Calories 6 Summer Olympic Sports Burn 7 Olympian-Approved Ways to Eat Healthier

It was all a part of an inside joke.

Discussing salary is always a bit uncomfortable — but it’s especially tricky when a hiring manager asks what you currently make during a job interview. Why? There are a few reasons. First, maybe they were going to offer you, say, $90,000 — but you tell them you currently make $65,000. Once they hear that, they might decide to offer you just $70,000. Second, maybe they can only offer you $60,000 because that’s all they have in the budget for this particular position. When you say you currently earn $65,000, they might think they can’t afford you or assume you wouldn’t be willing to take a pay cut, and therefore decide not to move forward with you as a candidate. Third, if you make much less than the average person in your job, the employer might assume you’re not a highly valued employee. If you’re paid a lot more than the average worker in your position, they might assume you’re overqualified. And lastly, it’s just awkward to discuss how much you earn, especially with a stranger. But whether you like it or not, there’s a good chance this question will come up in the interview process. We spoke to Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and the author of Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job, who provided tips for handling this query. Here’s what she said: Enter the interview armed with all the knowledge you can about the salary range for the position, so you’ll put your best foot forward, says Taylor. “Visit salary sites like Payscale.com, Glassdoor.com, Indeed.com, and Salary.com to get insight — but also tap into your contacts on LinkedIn and other networks.” She suggests talking to people you may know who work at the company, used to work there, or people who know others who have worked at the firm. “Know in advance your desired salary range and try to be realistic based on your research.” You might be fortunate enough to get the inside scoop during your discussions with HR before getting into the interview. “That would certainly give you a leg up in your salary negotiations,” she says. “But many companies will want to vet your experience more closely before divulging their budget.” “It’s often a game of who’ll blink first, but it’s well worth trying, using a great deal of diplomacy: ‘Well I’m flexible on salary. The position and its growth potential are much more important to me than compensation. Would you be willing to share the rough salary range you have in mind for this position?'” Taylor suggests. The interviewer might be easy on you and give you a ballpark. In the worst case, they’ll say, in effect, “I asked you first,” putting you back in the hot seat. If you think your desired salary is too high, inquire about other compensation factors, such as 401(k)s or vacation policies, versus a higher or equal salary. If your salary is extremely below market (one of the reasons you may be leaving your current job), explain why. “Maybe you’ve taken on greater responsibility lately, which isn’t yet reflected in your salary, or your department has downsized,” says Taylor. “You don’t want to alarm the interviewer into believing you’re underqualified.” Either way, you’re adding depth and context to your answer, versus a terse answer: “I make X.” “You’re also dialing down the ‘deal killer meter’ by inviting discussion, talking up your strengths and asking questions,” she says. Keep in mind that this is one of those opportunities to judge the hiring manager, too, Taylor says. “Do they give you a chance to explain your larger objectives beyond salary, or rush to judgment? A good prospective boss will listen with interest to your true long-term goals. A bad boss will practically abort the interview if you’re even slightly outside the salary parameters — end of story,” she explains. In the latter case, you might have just dodged a big bullet. If your hiring manager is steadfast and lobs the ball back in your court, just answer truthfully, says Taylor. “But it’s good practice to immediately put back emphasis on the position itself, as an addendum: ‘Compensation is certainly important, but I’m really looking for other factors in my next job, too — such as growth potential and making a difference with a great product and team. Perhaps you can you tell me what is budgeted for the position and we can discuss it?'” Whatever you do, don’t tell mistruths or exaggerate about your current salary — up or down; it could backfire through a little investigation, she says. “Not only could you lose the opportunity, it could damage your professional reputation.” 7. Keep the focus on your passion for the job By placing more emphasis on your passion for the position and how you can contribute to their bottom line (i.e., make them money) — versus your salary — you will have their attention and maximize your bargaining power, she says. “With some advance preparation and the proper strategy, you can warm up this chilly question with a two-way conversation that leads to a meeting of the minds,” Taylor concludes. This article originally appeared on Business Insider

Be honest and diplomatic

A newly constructed, roughly 14,700-square-foot home in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles, Calif., has sold fully furnished—and with beauty salon included—for $30 million, according to the seller, Stuart Liner. Mr. Liner, a 52-year-old litigator, and his wife, designer Stephanie Liner, bought the roughly 1-acre property in 2012 for about $9.5 million through a limited-liability company, according to public records. The couple tore down an existing 1930s home on the lot and built this six-bedroom, eight-bathroom...

Newly constructed, the roughly 14,700-square-foot Holmby Hills home also has a pool, tennis court and guesthouse with a gym and screening room

Netflix exceeded its own projections for subscriber growth after rolling out its streaming video service in 130 additional countries in the first quarter of the year. The company added 4.5 million international subscribers during the quarter; it had projected adding only 4.3 million. In the U.S., Netflix added 2.2 million subscribers, beating its own projections of 1.7 million new members. Overall, the service now has more than 77 million paying members globally. Revenues for the quarter totaled $1.96 billion, just off analysts’ estimates of $1.97 billion. Earnings were six cents per share, double analysts’ expectations of three cents per share. In a letter to shareholders, Netflix attributed its strong performance to its growing emphasis on original programming. New shows such as Fuller House and Love debuted during the quarter, as well as returning seasons of existing programs like Daredevil and House of Cards. Still, the company faces intense pressure from Wall Street to continue growing at a breakneck pace. Netflix stock plunged more than 10% in after-hours trading Monday. That’s not because the firm’s current figures aren’t impressive, but rather because it’s only expecting to add 2.5 million subscribers globally during the second quarter, including a paltry half-million in the United States. Netflix added 3.3 million customers in the second quarter of 2015.

Even though it added millions of new subscribers

Pam Dimitro, the controller at JNET Communications LLC, realized employees were often turning to payday lenders or high-interest credit cards in a financial pinch. So the Warren, N.J., employer of call-center workers and cable installers began offering employees a new benefit: low-interest loans to help pay for things such as car repairs and...

Worried about their financially strapped workforce, a handful of companies are stepping in to offer employees alternatives to payday loans and other expensive financial products.

If you want to understand how important national conventions can be to a presidential candidate then look at the latest round of polls. The well-executed Democratic convention provided a fulcrum for Hillary Clinton that shows her well ahead in most polls -- strength that the Republican convention didn’t give Donald Trump. The contrast between the two events was stark in tone, and voters noticed. But there is one common denominator each convention employed: the voices of grief. The Democratic and Republican convention had speakers who shared their stories of grief in profound fashion before a national audience. And it may well be the reason the polls turned so dramatically. As Americans we pride ourselves on fairness and righting wrongs. In the case of those who voiced their grief, there is nothing we can do to bring their loved ones back. That is why the voices of the Newtown survivors, law enforcement officers, Mothers of the Movement, as well as Patricia Smith and the Khans are so powerful. There is always a risk that the survivors of tragedy will experience backlash when they share their grief so publicly in such a highly charged political environment. There is never any guarantee they can change minds. But for most the loss suffered far outweighs the risk of political attacks and scrutiny. The worst has happened to them already. That doesn’t mean the slings and arrows of words, the harsh spotlight, and the online trolls don’t cause pain. They most certainly do. But by speaking up, the hope is that it will bring change to ensure others don’t suffer similar losses. So their loss may not be in vain. And that may be the real difference in the two conventions. In the Democratic convention, solutions were offered, including gun control, which had been the focus of the campaign and continues in its wake. In the Republican convention the focus was on blame and criticism, which continues today as well. America is a country built on hope and redemption; the belief that we can always do better and we must. The voices of grief deserve to be heard and they are often the most powerful. The candidate who can harness that powerful message to bring change is the one who will always benefit with voters. It is also the hope of everyone who suffers loss and gives voice to their grief.

When it comes to grief, redemption, not blame or criticism, is the more powerful message that politicians should harness.

Before you go, we thought you'd like these... Taco night is something I always look forward to at my house. But even though I love a traditional taco, I am always looking for new and exciting to try out, like these And when I spotted this recipe for a delicious chocolate dessert taco, I couldn't wait to make it myself. Watch the video below to see just how easy it is put a sweet twist on taco night with these ice-cream-filled chocolate tacos. Will you be making them at home yourself? Let us know in the comments. this tasty dessert recipe with friends and family!

Everyone loves a traditional taco, soft or crispy, but it's time to take that love to the next level with this unique recipe.

Ahh, modern love — one day you’re posting adorable Instagrams together and the next you’re removing any trace of your ex from all social media platforms. The doomed love story of our time, that is, the saga that was Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris‘ oft-documented 15-month love affair, is yet another casualty of millennial love, leaving both their social media accounts ravaged. A quick sweep of Taylor’s Instagram shows that the singer has deleted any trace of her former DJ paramour from her feed, which is a real shame because she had amassed a record number of perfectly posed couple shots, including this one from their anniversary tropical getaway. Meanwhile Calvin Harris took it a step further and deleted the tweet he wrote about their breakup, which read, “The only truth here is that a relationship came to an end & what remains is a huge amount of love and respect.” He then unfollowed Swift, and reportedly unfollowed her brother and blocked some of her fans. How much do you want to bet that these two are never, ever, ever getting back together? Taylor, for her part, seems to have rebounded nicely with Loki. Calvin, for his part, might do well to take a cue from Justin Bieber; a little throwback pic of an ex can really rake in those Instagram likes, which as any 21st century lover knows, can really comfort a wounded heart.

A cautionary tale about millennial romance

For decades, tens of thousands of Israeli teens have been taking part in a school trip deemed a ‘rite of passage’ marking the end of their high school years – a visit to Nazi concentration camps in Poland. Since the 1980s, the week-long trip to sites of mass murder, tours of the Jewish ghettos and museums in eastern Europe was part of the schools’ ‘heritage studies’ curriculum, aiming to provide an in-depth understanding of the atrocities of the Second World War. But this week, a prestigious and historic Israeli school, the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium – the first modern Hebrew-language school, founded in 1905, before the creation of the city of Tel Aviv and the state of Israel, announced it is breaking with the tradition. Instead of trips to Poland, the school will institute a Holocaust-awareness program in Israel, meeting survivors and visiting local museums, learning about the persecution of Jews and other communities. The school’s principal Zeev Dagani says he has stopped the trips because of their cost and a concern that it exacerbates nationalistic sentiments in youths, months before the students embark on compulsory service in the Israeli military. “In recent years, the journey has increasingly overlapped with the current regime and atmosphere in Israel, which revolves around fear and hatred for the other,” Dagani told Israeli daily Haaretz. He warned that “the popular atmosphere here today is all about the delegitimization of the other and nationalistic sentiments” – and that such trips can then “serve these trends.” His concerns are reflected in Israel’s education ministry study conducted in 2011, which concluded that the school trips to Poland cause participants to have a more positive opinion of the Israel military. When asked how much the Poland trip helped “to better understand the existence of the Israeli Defence Force,” 83% of trip participants assigned a high grade to the statement. Before the trip, only 74% of the students agreed with the statement. “The army was less important to me before I saw the soldiers at Majdanek. Now I have more motivation,” one respondent told Haaretz. “This linkage is very dangerous, in my opinion,” says Dagani in his Tel Aviv office. “And then the trip to Poland prepares [the students] to be the fighting soldiers, against the Arabs, against the neighbors.” Sending young people to Poland on a trip that strengthens nationalist beliefs is something he considers a mistake. “I think that my job is to stop this process, not to send them there in this climate in order to come back more nationalist, [with a sentiment of] that ‘there is no others, only us’. ” Some of the trips coincide with the March of the Living, a walk between Auschwitz and Birkenau, which takes place on Israel’s Holocaust Day, which this year is on May 5. A series of studies has found that Israeli public opinion has become more rightwing in recent years. In a March 2016 survey by the Washington-based Pew Research Center, 48% of Israeli Jews said they agreed with the statement that Arabs should be expelled or transferred from Israel, where they make up 20% of the population. In March 2015, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu won the general election, after he called voters to the ballots by threatening that “the Arabs […] are flocking to the polling booths in droves.” Israel’s teens are also increasingly rightwing, numerous polls show. A 2015 survey by the Rafi Smith Institute found that around 52% of Jewish youth defined themselves as rightwing, compared to only nine percent who saw themselves as leftwing. Dagani is not the first principal to cancel the trip to Poland. The Israel Arts and Science Academy in Jerusalem cancelled its trips in 2008, because it wanted to find a new way for Israeli students to engage with the Holocaust. Etay Benovich, the school’s principal say: “We felt we need to challenge the central dogma of the fact that every Israeli has to go to Poland in order to get an understanding of the Holocaust,” says Benovich. The academy devised a program dealing with the effects of the Holocaust on Israeli society. The cost of trips—around $1,300—have also become a factor. Dagani says that only half his students went to Poland in 2015. In Feb. 2016, Israel’s parliamentary education committee urged schools to suspend their annual trips to Poland until subsidies for the trips became available “to ensure that no student is left behind.” The decision to stop the trips has triggered a wider discussion in Israeli society about the visits, says Dagani. “Till now, it’s been very very silent. […] It was [ considered] a ‘holy trip’, ” he says, showing a thick wad of emails from principals, pupils, parents and grandparents, including some Holocaust survivors who wrote in support of the school’s new policy. Dagani himself is no stranger to controversy. In 2010, he received death threats and was summoned to an Israeli parliamentary committee when he banned Israeli military officers from training teachers to encourage pupils to sign up for combat units. Referring to the school policy, Gabi Ashkenazi—a former graduate of the school who went on to become the Israeli military’s chief of staff, said “I am ashamed of the school where I studied.” Dagani say he is supported by his students and parents. “I get the support from the parents and the students, of course. Not all of them agree with me, but they support me in putting my ideas on the table,” he says, “I love this country, I want to continue to live here. But can you see the political situation? […] You can see the fascism that is inside our community.” “In the schools, we’re not allowed to teach some books because they’re afraid that we’ll encourage Jews and Arabs to marry together,” he says, referring to Borderlands, a novel by Dorit Rabinyan about a romantic relationship between a Jewish woman and a Palestinian man in New York City which was taken off the national school curriculum earlier this year for fear that it promoted mixed relationships. “Our school is full of Jews and Arabs, and I’m proud, really proud of this. They continue to study with us, and they are part of all the discussions about the peace process and the trip to Poland—they are part of our life, we are studying together, we are working together and it’s OK,” says Dagani. “I think that in Israel, the only solution is to live together.”

The Herzliya Gymnasium will no longer send its students to Poland

There’s been quite a bit of hype around 19-year-old superstar American gymnast Simone Biles going into this year’s Olympics. The athlete is an advance favorite to bring home a hefty stack of medals, thanks to the level of difficulty she includes in her routines and her title as three-time world champ. But although she may be launching herself to unheard-of heights in her jumps, with her two feet on the ground, Biles is very tiny. So tiny, in fact, that at 4 ft. 8 in., she’s the shortest of the 555 athletes that make up the U.S.’s Olympic delegation. She was even able to find a fellow Team USA Olympian, volleyball player David Lee, who stands two whole feet taller. Fellow gymnastics squad member (and 2012 medalist) Aly Raisman also went back-to-back with Lee for a photo opp — and he towers over her, too. Take a look at how the entire men’s volleyball team of Cuba dwarfs the petite U.S. ladies’ gymnastics squad, none of whom clock in above 5 ft. 2 in.: Even in comparison with her own crew, Biles is a particularly compact athlete. Here she is with Gabby Douglas, the reigning all-around champion from 2012: A photo posted by Gabby Douglas (@gabbycvdouglas) on Apr 19, 2016 at 11:52am PDT And here’s the whole 2016 squad lined up (and decked out in patriotic leotards). A photo posted by Simone Biles (@simonebiles) on Aug 1, 2016 at 9:42am PDT The lesson here, as Biles herself tweeted: size really doesn’t matter. Because the Team USA gymnasts may be small, but expectations for their Rio success are very tall.

The star gymnast has posted a series of photos that prove size doesn't matter.

Millennials are more likely than Gen X’ers and Baby Boomers to say it matters if American businesses give back to society, according to a new poll conducted by Morning Consult for Fortune. The survey of more than 2,000 individuals found that nearly two-thirds of people between the ages of 18 and 34 were at least somewhat more likely to want to work for a company that gave to charity than one did that not. That compares with 59% of those between 35 and 44 years old, and 47% of people between 45 and 64 years old. Young people were also more inclined than their elders to say they would buy products from a company that contributes to charity, or to recommend the business to a friend. Corporate America is trying to capitalize on young people’s interest in giving back. Goldman Sachs, where 66% of employees were born after 1979, started a competition earlier this year that enables young analysts to vie for grants to nonprofits of their choice. Workers also volunteer through the company’s 10,000 Small Businesses program, providing coaching to entrepreneurs. Said Dina Powell, leader of the bank’s philanthropy initiatives: “This is a generation that’s very interested in making a positive impact.” Top executives at other Fortune 500 companies, including Microsoft and PNC Financial Services, said they also see a benefit to giving younger workers the chance to get involved in volunteerism and philanthropy programs. But giving lots of money to good causes doesn’t always generate a warm glow beyond the corporation’s walls. Some of the businesses atop Fortune’s list of The Giving 20: The Most Generous Companies of the Fortune 500, which was based on data collected by The Chronicle of Philanthropy, were also those viewed least favorably by the public. The No. 1 giver, pharmaceutical firm Gilead, scored a D on a brand index developed by Fortune-Morning Consult, among the lowest of any Fortune 500 company. The next biggest donors were Walmart (A-), Wells Fargo (B+), Goldman (C+), and Exxon Mobil (B). That may be because companies that give the most are also most in need of burnishing their reputations, according to some philanthropy experts. And corporations need to be cautious when it comes to crowing too loudly about their good deeds. For example, Philip Morris, the tobacco company, faced criticism for spending more to publicize its charity than it did on charities themselves. A 2013 study, by professors at UC-Riverside School of Business Administration and the London Business School, went one step further. It found that corporations that promote their philanthropy and corporate social responsibility are actually more likely to act irresponsibly in the future, because they may feel moral license to worry less about potential wrongdoing. Denise Lee Yohn, a brand consultant and author of the book What Great Brands Do, encourages companies to engage in authentic philanthropy that ties most directly to their areas of expertise. Too often, she says, businesses instead use charity as a way to divert attention from poor treatment of workers or weak management of environmental resources. “It’s as if giving back could make up for taking something away in the first place,” she wrote in an article for Harvard Business Review. “Consumers aren’t falling for the trick.”

A new survey shows that brand reputation isn't directly related to a company's cash contributions.

Aly Raisman accurately predicted that she would become an Olympic gymnast back when she was in summer camp. Exhibit A: a photo of her New Hampshire summer camp yearbook that shows campers revealing their hopes and dreams for the future. Following Tuesday, when Raisman, crystal-covered wonder woman won gold in the team all-around along with the rest of the USA women’s gymnastics team, her fellow Wicosuta camper took to Twitter to share a photo of Raisman’s yearbook. Back then, Raisman was likely owning the obstacle courses in queen camper style, and she said that she would be an Olympic gymnast in twenty years. Raisman became an Olympic gymnast in 2012. Now, she has a gold medal and focuses on being awesome full-time. That’s some legitimate goals. Ideally, “Olivia” is also now a teacher, veterinarian and singer.

The camper already knew her future

This story has been updated to reflect new pricing plans. Going abroad? Don’t just sign up automatically for an international data plan (or rack up international roaming charges, which can easily run $10 a day). There are better ways to save. Among your choices: Best for light users in well-connected destinations. Best for travelers who need calling and data for more than a long weekend. Best for Big Four customers who need the simplest way to get full access. For more on minimizing your cell phone costs, read our main story, The Best Cell Phone Plans of 2016.

Here's what you need to know about getting a SIM card.

With the planting season well into its stride, I'm still often asked by perplexed gardeners about correct planting distances. Many older gardening books tend to state prescriptively exact distances. Borders tended to be planted sparsely with many different species of shrubs and herbaceous plants (some would say a mishmash). Also, because people were frugal, they put plants in to last a good many years and did not expect borders to all "come together" in the year after planting. Now planting styles, trends and ideas have moved on a lot from even 10 years ago. Current planting styles with drifts of the same plant (egged on by the Chelsea Flower Show-type instant wonder), prairie-type planting and so on mean that most of us want to reap our rewards pretty fast. As Helen Dillon, one of our most skilled and perceptive gardeners, succinctly puts it, "It's really the old style versus the new". The silver birches in her front garden create a spectacular design statement. She has planted 51 in a space about 12 metres by 12 metres, to create real drama. Helen is definitely an advocate of the new style of planting, and her own garden is full of terrific planting combinations and original thinking. The bins in her front drive are a case in point: she plants them with tulips, at a density of 70 per bin in three layers. As the last tulip is ripped out towards the end of May its place is taken by five stonking sweet rocket plants, Hesperis matrionalis and 40 alliums, some the larger-than-life 'Globe Master'. These are then followed by cannas and other colourful goodies. With temporary planting you can feel your way and too many plants are probably better than too few. There is nothing like a bit of high-impact instant gratification in a garden. But just how close can you go for more permanent shrubs and herbaceous plants? When Peter Thoday, horticultural consultant for the Eden Project, was at Bath University in the Seventies he researched various plants spaced at various densities. The idea came from similar research by Professor John Bleasdale at the National Vegetable Research Station on the effect of planting densities on vegetables, and how dwarf carrots and other crops can be produced by closer spacing. The Bath research found if you grow a plant such as a two or three-litre potentilla very widely spaced from its neighbour you will get a perfect rounded specimen. If you plant very close together you will get tall, skinny plants that flower less, don't live as long and are likely to be irregular. This irregularity can be demonstrated when you leave a tray of cabbage seedlings too long. One or two really take off among the scores of misshapen weedy ones. But as Peter points out, from the biological point of view, the stress of the closer spacing is negative. From a design point of view, though, a closer-than-perfect spacing means you cover the ground faster, so you achieve a closed canopy more quickly. This is what most gardeners want, unless of course we are growing a perfect, solitary specimen. Peter recommends that you plant shrubs at densities so as to achieve a closed canopy in one and a half growing seasons. With something like potentilla, this would be two and a half plants per square metre, with cornus one per square metre and dianthus, nine per square metre. For herbaceous plants and grasses that throw up several stems from one plant, the density of the stems produced is governed by the biology of the plant; the stems will grow to form a particular density and then stop. The competition element from close planting is predominantly for water and light; nutrient level is far less important. When you visit a garden centre and see a nursery bed full of plants, be they phlox or viburnums, en masse, they invariably look amazing. You buy three and pop them in your border. The initial effect can be an anticlimax. I asked Claire Austin, a grower of many herbaceous perennials, what sort of spacing she recommends. She suggests planting something such as a well-grown, one-litre phlox at five per square metre, which will give you a full appearance in two years. If you want to go closer to get a quicker effect, then you will probably have to shuffle some out in a year's time. Larger plants such as crambe and acanthus can be brought down to one or two. Planting distances for roses often causes confusion, too. Michael Marriott, from David Austin Roses, says: "Some people are horrified when they see how many roses I put into a garden, but when I design my rose gardens I have in my mind a well-planted herbaceous border with big, or at least appropriately sized, groups with no soil visible." He recommends for block-planting large beds that you use four roses (hybrid teas, floribundas and English roses) per square metre. For groups in a more informal border, 50cm between plants of the same variety and one metre between plants of different varieties. When pruning, he suggests shaping the plants of each variety to give the impression of one large plant of each variety rather than a number of individuals. Gardeners are well known for constantly playing musical chairs with their plants. It's no wonder really. We are trying to manipulate their natural growth to form a design we can rave about. We will probably rarely fulfil our plants' optimum biological requirements, but will temper their habits accordingly and relish in the joy of it. Two Blades of Grass – The Story of The Cultivation of Plants' by Peter Thoday (Thoday Associates, £20)

Give your plants enough space to ensure a spectacular show next summer

Imagine a world where you have to pay to deposit money into your bank account. As crazy as it sounds, if you live in the Eurozone or even in Japan, then you're already living in a region where this very scenario exists. That's because a growing number of central banks have cut key interest rates below zero and depositors are now having to pay to keep their money in the central bank. Called "negative interest rates", they're just what they sound like: people have to pay to have money deposited in a bank. While it mainly affects commercial banks which have traditionally earned interest on their money when they park it with the central bank, it now means banks will be charged more for leaving cash unused in the electronic vaults, rather than lending it to customers. Megan Greene, the chief economist at Manulife Asset Management, joins Counting the Cost to discuss whether the unorthodox choice will help to reinvigorate the global economy. A court order demanding Apple help the US government to unlock the encrypted iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters is having implications far beyond this one case. Pitting law enforcement against civil liberties advocates, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is demanding that Apple help it to bypass security features of an iPhone recovered from Syed Rizwan Farook, who, along with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people in December 2015 during a mass shooting. Apple CEO Tim Cook is fighting the order, calling it a "dangerous precedent". NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden called it the "the most important tech case in a decade", while civil liberties advocates have accused the US government of using the case to establish a dangerous legal precedent. Ross Schulman, a senior policy counsel at the Open Technology Institute, joins the programme to discuss the Apple's fight with the FBI over encryption. The hospitality business: Adapting to survive While cockroaches, bad smells and poor service can ruin or destroy a hotel's reputation, tough trading conditions brought on by the 2008 global financial economic crisis have had the biggest impact on the hospitality industry. The majority of large chain hotels have begun offering special discounts to lure in customers or have decided to change tack completely, but the Shangri-La Hotels, a chain with its roots firmly in Asia but growing internationally, has adapted its business to get people in the door. Greg Dogan, the CEO and President of Shangri-La Hotels, joins the programme to discuss the future for the hotel industry in the face of intense competition.

We look at negative interest rates and examine why depositors would pay banks to hold their money.

Off the bike, the first thing you notice about Peter Sagan is the hair. The hair is magnificent. It’s chestnut-brown with blondish streaks, and it brushes the shoulders of Sagan’s rainbow-striped jersey, which he wears because he’s the sport of road cycling’s reigning world champion. It is not the hair of a typical bike racer. It is the hair of a man who holds a sword while fighting a tiger—and perhaps a two-headed eagle—on the cover...

How Slovakian rider Peter Sagan restored flamboyance and swagger to the sport and its marquee event, the Tour de France.

Red-rock canyons, wide-open plateaus and steep, rugged mountains: Utah has been my home for over half a century. I feel a strong sense of connection to this state, its people and its landscapes, as many of us feel toward the places we call home. Here in the rural American West, that connection to the land is still very much alive, especially for the cultures that are inextricably linked to these sandstone mesas and high alpine meadows. Ranchers are intimately familiar with the lands on which they run livestock. Hunters know where to find elk and deer in late fall. Native Americans have inhabited these landscapes since time immemorial and still harvest herbs, collect firewood and perform ceremonies on their ancestral grounds. As Westerners, we feel a sense of ownership over public lands not only because we use them, but because we belong to them and have stewarded them for generations. Over time, our national monuments commemorate the contributions of underrepresented portions of our history and population. Today there is a proposal for a new national monument in Utah that recognizes and celebrates human relationships to land. Bears Ears National Monument has been proposed by an unprecedented coalition of Native American tribes whose connections to this cultural landscape run millennia deep. For the first time in history, five tribes—the Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute and Uintah Ouray Ute—have joined forces to call on the President of the United States to designate their sacred ancestral lands as a national monument for future generations. Named for a pair of iconic twin buttes that in every Native language translate as “Bears Ears,” the proposed monument encompasses 1.9 million acres of high desert plateau in southeast Utah. All five tribes of the coalition trace an unbroken line of ancestry here, reaching back thousands of years. Within the proposed boundary lie more than 100,000 archaeological sites that Native people recognize as the dwelling places of their Ancestors. Every canyon and alcove holds significance for tribal members who utilize these lands for subsistence and ceremony. Despite the cultural significance of this area for Native people—and in a sense, because of it—Bears Ears is facing serious threats. Looting, vandalism and grave robbing continue to this day, with half a dozen cases reported so far in 2016 alone. As Americans, we would never tolerate desecration of the cemeteries of our pioneers or founding fathers. Yet that is precisely what is taking place within Bears Ears. Oil and gas speculation, as well as uranium and potash mining, also threaten to disrupt the ecosystems upon which we all depend. Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell visited the proposed Bears Ears National Monument in July and met with a diversity of grassroots residents who all care deeply about these homelands. As she observed, “There is a desire to protect what’s here for future generations. That has been consistent no matter who I have spoken with.” I hope Secretary Jewell accepts the opportunity to honor both Native Americans and rural Utahns by recommending that President Obama act to protect Bears Ears. Ongoing stewardship and access to the land is essential to both cultures. The Bears Ears proposal is unique in that it celebrates the timeless bond between people and place. We all feel that bond, whether you’re a cowboy working the land for a living, a passerby enjoying the freedom of the open range or a Native American whose people have lived here since time immemorial, with stories and songs that run as deep as the canyons of the Colorado River. That is why I stand with the tribes and a broad coalition of supporters throughout Utah and across the United States asking President Barack Obama to permanently protect Bears Ears as a national monument. These 1.9 million acres and the cultures connected to them are profoundly deserving of our respect. Bears Ears National Monument is an opportunity to honor the land and all the people by moving forward, together.

Bear Ears, a hallowed region for Native Americans, should be a national monument

Before this year’s Olympics had even begun, a major scandal sparked headlines around the world – all but one of Russia’s track and field athletes were banned from this year’s Olympics following claims of a state-sanctioned doping programme. As the Games have progressed, we've heard athletes accusing others of cheating, such as US swimmer Lilly King calling out Russia’s Yulia Efimova, or Australian swimmer Mack Horton accusing Chinese competitor Sun Yang of using banned drugs. But getting ahead using unethical means isn’t distinct to sport. There are many instances in our work, personal and social lives where the temptation to give ourselves a secret boost may be all too enticing. But it is not only driven by greed, say experts. So why exactly do some people cheat? Is it just that they are morally corrupt or greedy? And does our often competitive society encourage it? Psychologists have found that winning can make people more dishonest, while working as part of team can lead to more deceit. Amos Schurr, a behavioural psychologist at Ben Gurion University in Israel, has been looking into how group behaviour can make cheating seem okay and how winning a competition can make people more likely to be dishonest. When they had won at a previous memory or trivia game, people were more dishonest, keeping more money than was rolled The team behind the research conducted a series of experiments, using trivia, memory and dice games, where they watched how 23 volunteers reported their own winnings. The volunteers could win money depending on, for example, what number dice they rolled. Schurr’s team found that when they had won at a previous memory or trivia game, people were more dishonest, keeping more money than they were entitled to. Schurr’s team is researching how unethical behaviour may develop after exposure to competitive settings, and how social or group ethics can make people cheat. “We are social creatures – when working in groups, we follow the norms that the group establishes,” says Schurr. People cheat when they are encouraged by their peers, according to analysis from the University of Nottingham in the UK, which found cooperation can create ample opportunity for corruption. Participants in the study were asked to work together on a dice-rolling game to win money. The first participant rolled a die, and then reported the number to his or her partner. If the partner rolled the same number, they both got a pay out. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the teams often put their heads together to lie to collect these winnings – the instances of winning double rolls were almost 500% higher than what would be expected if it were assumed the participants were being honest. The research found that the highest levels of corruption in a team occurred when the profits were shared equally and when there were strong bonds in a group. The study’s authors, Ori Weiseland Shaul Shalvi, concluded that the corruption and immoral conduct at the roots of recent financial scandals “are possibly driven not only by greed, but also by cooperative tendencies and aligned incentives.” The ways people cheat are changing, and this is a significant problem in the world of finance, high levels of company management and politics, according to fraud analysts. Thanks to technology, there are ever-evolving ways for workers and students to cheat. There are ever-evolving ways for workers and students to cheat Phillip Dawson, associate director of the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning at Deakin University in Victoria, Australia, says: “Some new frontiers for cheating include exam hacking and online tools that manipulate text such as getting away with copy-pasting text by running it through Google Translate from English to Spanish to English.” The scam is also cropping up in workplaces such as consulting firms that produce international reports, or in media organisations and universities. But Dawson says there are also more ways to get caught, through sites like Turnitin, which check for plagiarism. Dawson adds: “I’m not convinced that cheating is more or less prevalent than in years past. It’s just different.” I’m not convinced that cheating is more or less prevalent than in years past - Phillip Dawson Dawson believes that time pressure and a higher cost of living have made many people rely on extra sources of income other than their basic salary to live, which can make more people consider unethical or illegal ways to make money. As well, pressures on students to pass exams can make cheating an attractive option for those starved for time. There is good news for those of us who feel guilty and may want to improve our behavior to be more honest in the workplace. A good sense of perspective can diminish any temptation to cheat, according to research from Harvard Business School that examined whether exposure to other people’s behaviour can increase your own dishonesty. It found that when a member of a group behaves dishonestly, it made the group as a whole more likely to behave the same way. In the study, a group of friends observed a member of their own group cheating at a test, which in turn made them more likely to cheat. But when a group observed a stranger cheating, the group’s ethics and behaviour changed in a different way – that is, seeing a stranger cheat actually made the group of friends more likely to honestly complete the test. The threshold of unacceptable behaviour is not fixed “The threshold of unacceptable behaviour is not fixed. Rather, it depends on the perspective through which people view their actions,” concludes Schurr. So, perhaps if we want to become more honest, it may be a good idea to keep our dishonest rivals close, to maintain perspective on our own behaviour. To comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Capital, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.

Cheating at work and sport is unethical, but we sometimes do it anyway. Here’s why

Many see the current situation as a result of the socialist economic agenda of President Nicolás Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez. There has also been growing criticism of the government’s response, which put food distribution of 70 per cent of local produce in the hands of neighbourhood committees known as Claps or Local Committees for Supply and Production. Milagros Paz, congresswoman for the north-eastern state of Sucre, which includes Cumaná, accused the state governor of failing to distribute food in opposition towns, instead diverting funding to agribusiness. “The situation that the state of Sucre is going through is very hard because there are almost no establishments open, some do not have supplies, others were looted and the rest of them can’t guarantee their security in order to sell what little they have,” she said in a press conference on Thursday. “I think worse is coming because until now, the national government has not announced a special plan for food.” The regional bloc, the Organisation of American States (OAS), has called an extraordinary meeting of its permanent council on Tuesday to “present the progress of the initiative of the national political dialogue in Venezuela”. However, critics feared the government would continue to snub talks to find a resolution.

Venezuelan authorities on Saturday claimed to have arrested several suspects accused of being behind the looting and vandalism that swept towns and left at least five people dead last week.

The federal government is hailing a new healthcare package as a revolutionary reform, but doctors and health groups warn it's set to fail unless Malcolm Turnbull invests more money in it. The Health Care Homes program will keep chronically ill Australians out of hospital by changing the way doctors are paid. Instead of the existing fee-for-service model which encourages high patient volumes because doctors are paid per consultation, the new model will remunerate GPs on a quarterly basis for the ongoing care of patients suffering chronic diseases such as diabetes. Patients would enrol with a GP who becomes their care "home", coordinating all their care from psychologists to specialists. The plan was announced in March with Mr Turnbull and Health Minister Sussan Ley on Wednesday revealing 10 trial sites to be rolled out next year that will involve 65,000 patients at 200 medical practices. "It is said that it takes a village to raise a child, but it also takes a team to look after a person's health," the prime minister told reporters in western Sydney, one of the 10 trial sites. The model itself has been welcomed by doctors and health groups but many have expressed concern at the amount the government is spending. The government has committed $21 million to roll out the trial, while another $100 million will be redirected from the existing Medicare pool to pay doctors who participate for their work. Australian Medical Association president Michael Gannon says it's not enough. "For it to really work we need more than just a repackaging of existing monies in the health system," he told AAP. "If we want GPs to do extra work, if we expect them to provide enhanced patient care, we need to fund it." Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association boss Alison Verhoeven says the model looks set to fail unless more money is invested. "The stated objectives cannot be achieved with inadequate funding and the investment proposed for this trial looks set to fall substantially short of requirements," she said. Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Frank Jones also expressed concern about funding, insisting the trial could fail. "If it's not funded appropriately, if it's not assessed appropriately, it may fail - we have some misgivings about the dollars." Ms Ley says the model is the revolutionary reform doctors have been seeking for years. "I am very conscious Health Care Homes has the potential to revolutionise the way we care for those with a chronic illness, which is exactly why we are taking a careful approach to get it absolutely right but as smartly as possible," she told AAP. * Hunter New England and Central Coast (NSW)

The federal government says 65,000 Australians will take part in a trial of a new model of care to keep the chronically-ill out of hospital.

ST. LOUIS, Sept. 19—Sena­tor Barry. Goldwater today handed out to the reporters who travel with him on his airplane gold lapel pins en­graved “Eastern Liberal Press.” He distributed the pins as the plane brought him here from North Dakota. The good‐humored gift was well received by the 50-odd journalists who ride in the rear section of Mr. Goldwater's chartered Boeing 727 jet. Where appropriate, a few pins engraved “Western Tory Press” were also banded out. Life aboard the plane, called the Yai‐bi-kin (which in the Navajo Indian language means “house in the sky”), has settled down to a routine that is cramped but harmonious. Mr. Goldwater is personally liked by most of the men who travel with him. He has, however, been a bit aloof and has not in two weeks wandered back to the press sec­tion to chat.. Mr. Goldwater, who occasion­ally likes to fly the jet, also likes a joke. The other day his familiar voice suddenly boomed out over the public‐address system: “This is the captain speaking. Will the stewardess please bring another double martini to the cabin?” Mr. Goldwater has nailed a lucky horseshoe, given to him in Springfield, Mo., over a forward doorway within the cabin. And, for several days a bulkhead was decorated With a pin‐the­tail‐on-the‐donkey poster that had the face of President John­son on the donkey. This article can be viewed in its original form. Please send questions and feedback to archive_feedback@nytimes.com

on flight from ND to St Louis gives to newsmen who regularly travel with him lapel pins engraved 'Eastern Liberal Press' and 'Western Tory Press,'

When ambling around the white walled corridors of the latest exhibition at the Tate, Victoria Miro, Saatchi Gallery or whichever highbrow establishment you may find yourself in on a Sunday afternoon, how often do you find yourself coveting what is clearly an unaffordable piece of art? What stands between you and this modern masterpiece is not just the ubiquitous white line or rope, preventing you from illicit proximity, but also a few too many zeros on the price tag. Gone are the days when you were satisfied with posters of has-been bands, IKEA prints of geometric patterns or the tie-dyed batik you picked up during your backpacking excursions through South-East Asia. However, the realisation that owning original artworks by globally renowned artists is off your spectrum does not mean you have to accept defeat. It merely encourages exploration of alternative options to expand and enhance your art collection, without having to remortgage your home. Thanks to modern printing methods and the ease of reproduction, having a taste of the previously unattainable is now very much within your grasp. By understanding a few key facts you can begin to decipher what is worth investing in and how to obtain it. Below are three terms to have on your radar: Museums that have particular affiliations with certain artists have been known to commission a limited-edition series of works which are available to buy through their museum shop or online. The shop at the Newport Street Gallery, owned by Damien Hirst, houses a collection of his limited-edition prints alongside skulls and T-shirts representing his works. Gerhard Richter has also been an advocate of this method of selling reproductions of his works, through a partnership with the Tate. A well-known example of an artist producing a series of limited-edition prints was again Hirst in 2003, when he released a limited-edition lithographic series entitled For the Love of Comic Relief where all proceeds went to the charity. This was a spin on For the Love of God, Hirst’s iconic diamond-encrusted skull, with a red nose. The edition was restricted to 50 and each piece was sold for £2,500. An alternative, affordable and rather unique investment route to consider is artists’ books (not to be confused with an art book). These are deemed to be artworks in their own right. Frequently produced as limited editions, they present artists’ works through unconventional methods, deliberately provoking and stimulating the readers through an interaction of visual and linguistic content combined. Helmut Newton’s SUMO, edited by his wife, June Newton, is a limited-edition artist book of 10,000 copies, each signed and numbered by Newton himself. This titanic conglomeration of Newton’s oeuvre is in itself a masterpiece. Many superstars of the art world have graced the auctions of Catawiki, with pieces sold at prices that may pleasantly surprise the most discerning bargain hunter. The hit-list includes an offset lithograph by Takashi Murakami, a polaroid taken by Andy Warhol and an original etching by James Ensor. In March this year a signed, limited-edition iron sculpture by Man Ray entitled Cadeau featured and sold for £700. The piece was an edition of 5,000 and represented a very affordable price for a signed Man Ray object. The online auctions of Catawiki are indeed a hotspot for unearthing true hidden gems. Yes, of course owning an original is a dream that some of us may never reach, but it does not preclude you from owning that gallery image you so lustfully pine after, if in a slightly different format. Know the different printing techniques, ask for tips from curators or gallery owners, seek and you shall find. Unaffordable does not necessarily mean unobtainable. Bid at auction on your own piece of affordable art on catawiki.com

There are various ways around the prohibitive price tag of many works of art so you can start to build your very own collection

When public transportation emerged, a peculiar phenomenon emerged with it: the fact that you can be moving — going from point A to point B — but not actually be doing anything. You just sit there. The vessel does the moving for you. People got bored. So they came up with ways of amusing themselves. The arrival of the automobile brought with it the family road trip, and with it, restless back-seat passengers. Technology also changed, and those time-killing games changed with them. Reading a newspaper was fine for a train ride across town, but soon people bought cars and started taking car trips that lasted hours, days, weeks. So a new kind of game was created: car games that resembled party or parlour games, like I Spy or 20 Questions. These diversions became ennui antidotes, especially for kids. But then in-car entertainment became more sophisticated, technological, and aimed to everyone in the vehicle, not just children. Of course, the dangers of distracted driving are very real — as proven by the recent Pokémon Go phenomenon, with some drivers keeping one hand on the wheel; the other, on a Pikachu-finding smartphone. But customer preference for entertainment in their cars has only gotten stronger over the years. Let’s look at some of the ways passengers have amused themselves, and how the games have evolved. Animal, vegetable, or mineral? This game is the quintessential pastime that requires zero equipment. The origins of 20 Questions, like many spoken games, are murky. But there is an 1882 book entitled Twenty Questions: A Short Treatise to the Game which are a Code of Rules and Specimen Games for the Use of Beginners, suggesting the game goes back as far as the 19th Century. Fast forward a few decades, and 20 Questions went on to spawn TV game shows in both the US, UK, and elsewhere. “I spy with my little eye…” An aqua-coloured air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror? An exit sign to Gatwick Airport? The finding-and-seeking game led to a popular series of children’s books in the 1990s: called I Spy, it was a series of oversized hardcovers crammed with gorgeous photos of hand-sized bric-a-brac landscapes: Riddles at the bottom of the page tell you what you’re supposed to find, like the toy lizard hiding among the papier-mâché rainforest. Martin Handford’s Where’s Wally? books — in which readers must sniff out a bespectacled chap in a candy-striped jumper in impossibly detailed illustrations — have become world-renowned, known as Where’s Waldo? in many countries outside the UK. Whiling time away in a car and mixing it with light violence seems odd — but that’s exactly how the Punch Buggy game works. Spot a Volkswagen Beetle on the road, exclaim “punch buggy!” and throw a jab into a fellow traveller’s arm, usually including the colour of the particular Bug. In the UK, the “yellow car game” focuses on specifically on vehicles of a sunnier persuasion. (No pugnaciousness needed.) Tagging along in the passenger seat on the open road can be a boring quest, so one car game ginned up rules out of a car trip’s guaranteed constants: The numberplates of fellow motorists. In Canada and the US, a makeshift bingo board of states and provinces is gradually filled with crosses placed over squares whose locations are spotted on the highway. The board-game industry was gaining rapid steam decades before the advent of the automobile, but it took a surprisingly long time for game makers to minimise their offerings — literally — effectively migrating from the kitchen table to the back seat. In the 1970s and ‘80s, pocket-sized versions of classics like chess and Othello appeared, with foldable boards and magnetised pieces. Travel editions of newer brands like Monopoly and Cluedo eventually followed, too. Today, 20 Questions and miniature imaginations of Battleship seem somewhat quaint and dated. But the constant need for our short attention spans to be entertained at all times is a human truth, which is why a couple decades ago, bulky conversion vans started sporting amenities like televisions and video game systems for passengers in the backseat. And with the looming arrival of self-driving cars — sans human drivers — the possibilities for in-car amusement seem limitless. One Ford patent application details a projection movie screen located near the windshield. Sounds fun — if these kinds of wired cars aren’t hacked into first, that is. What are your favourite road-trip games? We want to hear from you: Join the discussion on our Facebook page, or message us on Twitter. And if you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called “If You Only Read 6 Things This Week”. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Autos, Future, Earth, Culture, Capital and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday.

From 20 Questions to Nintendo, how the back-seat crowd has kept itself amused over the long haul.

The coolest things aren’t always new; very often they’re old, but seriously desirable. From furniture to fashion, our love affair with all things retro has seen every era reclaimed. Extraordinary websites like Catawiki give opportunity for buyers and sellers to share treasured goods in a trusted and supervised auction and it’s proven popularity is due to the high demand for goods that were manufactured in a time before mass production. It’s time to tap into our sense of adventure and get into the spirit of the full-on pick-and-mix revival. Fashion is always inspired by what has gone before and the current season is awash with reinterpretations of every decade. Swathes of inky black velvet and lace, long floor-skimming frocks with bell sleeves, ruffles and frills slunk down the catwalk in Eighties-inspired gothic trends in Gucci’s and Alexander McQueen’s collections. Dolce & Gabbana tapped into the love of the Sixties with sparkly dresses, skirts and coats, while Hedi Slimane nodded in that direction with cigarette-cut trousers and Cuban heels in his Saint Laurent collection. Marc Jacobs and Vivienne Westwood were rocking the Seventies with glam rock touches: chunky-soled shoes and metallic platform boots straight out of Ziggy Stardust, and bags embellished with baroque fabrics, fringing and folksy guitar straps. Antique jewels and retro gems are finding their way back into the wardrobes of style-savvy collectors. The trend of new-age spirituality among high-profile women has brought psychedelic gemstones, fire opals and mystical mood rings back from their Seventies hippy heyday into the new-season agendas. Strings of New Romantic diamanté and pearls are being paired with denim and military jackets for a fresh twist. Statement chokers – straps of black velvet and satin ribbons with crucifixes, rhinestones and love-hearts that resurged in the Nineties with slip dresses and grungy rock T-shirts – featured in Lanvin and Dries Van Noten and are everywhere on the high street and the red carpet. The retro revival, following on from fashion, is shaping interiors with matching and clashing looks pulled together from several decades. Diving back into the elegance of the Sixties and the lushness of the Seventies, low-slung modular sofas, ottomans and swivel chairs in earthy green and brown crush-velvets have made a big comeback. Mismatched modernist pieces are teamed up with soothing greenhouse-inspired wallpapers, fabrics, rugs and cushions blooming with petal-prints and exotic palms, as seen in Orla Kiely and Jonathan Adler. The glam-rock influences continue with glints of metal, silver, gold and chrome accents and opulent swag lights and floor lamps adding to the heady mix to create a unique and vibrant living space. The throwback sensibility has filtered into art and photography, a bohemian mash-up of high and low works from different periods. The maximalist vibe that’s been filling up the runways is spilling into art – large-scale, pop art-inspired prints, such as an Andy Warhol Elvis or Marilyn lithograph, combined with an eclectic mix of smaller objects d’art and kitschy bric-a-brac. The desire for the artisanal has brought back handicrafts, and with it origami and macramé. Refreshed interpretations of fun, funky art prints on canvas and colour-saturated Golden Age travel posters are injecting new life into these time-worn classics. The return of moody black and white photography – attributed in part to Instagram and the international music and fashion retrospectives such as The Rolling Stones’s Exhibitionism show, and legendary snappers Peter Lindbergh and David Bailey – is having its moment right now. The new Beatles documentary, Eight Days a Week, offers another dose of nostalgia and Sixties glamour. The Sixties and Seventies revival doesn’t stop with fashion and art. The passion and quest for classic motors is surging and has raced past art and diamonds to become the best-performing collectible investment of 2016. The likes of Mustang, Jaguar and Aston Martin remind us that great design isn’t just about a passing fancy but timelessness. What better way to buy a piece of history and, at the same time, satisfy a lot of fantasies. And the added bonus? They retain their value or go up. To find a globally-curated mix of vintage fashion, jewellery, furniture, art, classic cars and rarities including old vinyl records, coins and comics, visit catawiki.com

Classic cars, haute couture, interior design – it’s back to the future for everything from fashion to art, and here’s why. . .

Damage from the blasts in Homs. (AAP) A series of blasts hit three Syrian government-held areas and a Kurdish region Monday, killing some 48 people, a monitoring group and Syrian state media reported, as the United States and Russia failed to agree on a way to end the violence. The blasts hit government-held Tartous, as well as Homs - an area west of the capital Damascus - and Hassakeh, which is mostly controlled by Kurdish forces, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. In the worst attack, at least 35 people were killed and 40 others wounded in a double bombing just outside the coastal city of Tartous, a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad's government. Syrian state TV said that the "two terrorist blasts" took place on a bridge. The first was a car bomb and the second was reportedly carried out by a suicide bomber who detonated an explosive belt when people gathered to help the wounded. Tartous is home to many Syrian refugees who have fled from other government-held areas. It was hit in May by several explosions that killed more 100 people. Shortly after the Tartous bombings, at least four people were killed when a car bomb exploded at the entrance of the al-Zahraa neighbourhood in the central Homs province. The residents of Homs are mostly Alawite, the same sect as al-Assad. Syrian television aired footage of the aftermath of the blast, showing rubble covering the streets and smoke rising from burning vehicles. A bomb attack also targeted a Syrian army checkpoint in the al-Sabura area west of the capital Damascus, killing three people, the observatory said. A further explosion hit Hassakeh, in the north-east of Syria, targeting a Kurdish area and killing at least five people. State media put the number of deaths in the Hassakeh bombing at eight. The head of the observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, said the blast in Hassakeh hit a checkpoint belonging to the Kurdish Asayesh security forces. "Those attacks are simultaneous and are definitely coordinated," he said. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks in Hassakeh. As the violence continued in Syria, signs of possible progress between the United States and Russia on a Syrian ceasefire deal came to nothing after talks between the countries leaders and top diplomats stalled. "Technical" disagreements remain, a White House official said Monday. US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for 90 minutes for talks centred largely on efforts to reduce violence, allow humanitarian aid and the need to focus the fight on al-Qaeda, al-Nusra and Islamic State. The leaders told their top diplomats to continue trying to reach an agreement amid "technical" issues having to do with implementation of the agreement.

Bomb blasts across Syria have claimed the lives of at least 12 people.

More than 960 students at a Perth high school were asked to stay at home on Friday after vandals caused extensive damage the night before. More than 220 windows were smashed, numerous computers were damaged and the gymnasium and other areas flooded using fire hoses at Eastern Hills Senior High School. "Due to damage overnight to school there will be limited classes today. If your child can stay at home today please do not send them to school. Thank you," the school said in emails and text messages to families. The school provided supervision for about 50 students who turned up. Midland detectives are looking at security camera footage and are seeking public help over the damage they say occurred between 11pm and 12.30am. Staff discovered the aftermath when they arrived for work on Friday morning. Education Department regional executive director Jim Webb told ABC radio about 40 per cent of the school was damaged.

Vandals have attacked a Perth school, flooding buildings and smashing windows and forcing more than 900 students to stay at home.

endured for seven years – when she lived in a box for 23 hours a day – seems almost too horrific to be true. But it is true, and this Saturday at 8 p.m. EST, Lifetime will air , a two-hour movie about her kidnapping and capture by Cameron and Janice Hooker. Janice later testified against Cameron in exchange for immunity. He was convicted of rape and kidnapping and  How did her story become a movie nearly 40 years after she was first captured? The film's writer/director/executive producer Stephen Kemp met Stan a few years ago while working on a documentary about the case and was just "struck by both her and her story," he tells PEOPLE exclusively. "I was very surprised it hadn't been sampled as a drama before, so I began the process of developing the script," he says. Colleen Stan in this week's PEOPLE on newsstands Friday Still, he had reservations about the project. "I was actually quite nervous about the idea of trying to tackle it because it does have some very dark aspects to it," he says. "But actually it's also the story of a survivor and someone who manages to overcome a terrible ordeal, and comes out the other side of it." He tried to portray the positive aspects of the story as well as the obvious dark ones. "I think the film itself is in some ways quite an uplifting film despite having some very dark things in it," he says. He spends most of the film inside the seven years of her captivity, he says. "Within those seven years a huge amount happened," he says, "and it was a big challenge to try to capture all the twists and turns and things that happened into a 90-minute film." As for Stan, 59, she still hasn't seen the movie herself, though she watched the filming back in March in Prescott, Arizona, describing the experience as "really cool." "I got to actually meet the main actors," she says. "I didn't even know that Zelda [who plays Janice] was Zelda Williams, and Robin Williams' daughter," she says. "I just found out like a month ago. "I also got to meet Addison Timlin, the little lady that played me, and Zane Holtz, the guy that played Cameron," she continues. "Zane was really afraid to meet me," she says. "He told Addison, 'She's going to be mad at me. I'm afraid to meet her.' I told Addison, 'You tell him I want to meet him and no, I am not angry at him.' "Then I met him and I said, 'Hon, somebody had to play him.' I said, 'I feel bad for you that you had to play this guy.' " "The last night, after they were all wrapped and done shooting, we all had dinner together at a really nice restaurant in Prescott," she says. "Stephen Kemp was there and a lot of the production crew as well as the three main actors. It was kind of a fun thing that I got to go." Kemp says he hopes she likes it the movie. "I think Colleen herself is quite an inspirational character when you meet her," he says. "And I think when you see the film, you'll understand just how incredible it is that she survived what she went through and has managed to rebuild her life afterward."  Â

The "girl in the box" met the actress who portrayed her

Naomi Watts (left) and Nicole Kidman 09/11/2016 AT 03:50 PM EDT From Down Under to the True North. over the weekend, where they were both promoting their upcoming films. Watts documented the reunion on , posting a black-and-white photo of the pair. "When you run into your #bff even for one second, it's a winning moment," Watts, 47, wrote of the sweet encounter. "#tff #loveyoutothemoon." Both actresses hail from Australia, and met at North Sydney Girls High School. premiered on Saturday night. The drama – which is based on Saroo Brierley's non-fiction book , the boxing biopic in which Watts stars alongside longtime partner , also made its TIFF debut on Saturday. Watts and Schreiber were also on hand when the drama premiered at the

Naomi Watts and Nicole Kidman, who have been friends since high school, both promoted their films at TIFF

It’s been almost 15 years since the Bank of England last changed the design of British bank notes. Now, the central bank has followed the lead of Australia, Canada and Singapore, among others, and turned to technology to modernise British money using polymer fibre. Yes, plastic. They’re supposed to be significantly more secure and practically indestructible. Trust us, we tried to rip it apart and poured tea over the new fiver to test this. You can check out the Facebook Live to see how the fiver held up to our efforts and hear from Bank of England’s Ben Crosland about the note's peculiarities. The new fiver goes into circulation 13 September. The new polymer £10 note featuring Jane Austen will enter circulation in summer 2017 and the £20 note featuring JMW Turner will enter circulation by 2020. Here are five surprising facts about the new note. To comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Capital, head over to our Facebook page or get in touch on Twitter.

The Bank of England has introduced a tougher, more secure banknote – and you can spill your cuppa on it too.

Australia spends more than most countries on education, but class sizes are higher than average, an OECD report has found. Australia allocated 13.8 per cent of total public spending to education in 2013, compared the OECD average of 11.3 per cent, ranking it fifth out of the 32 countries surveyed in the report. However, there are three more children per class in Australian primary schools than the OECD average. The Australian Teaching Union said the higher class sizes indicated schools were under-resourced. ATU federal president Correna Haythorpe said the report reinforced the Gonski Review's recommendations for needs-based funding, which was adopted by the previous Labor government but substituted by the Coalition. "This report is more evidence that needs-based funding was necessary to address this bias and reduce achievement gaps between schools," Ms Haythorpe said. But Education Minister Simon Birmingham said class sizes were not indicative of student performance, and neither was government spending. "This report from the OECD adds to the facts and evidence that show that, despite many in the community liking the idea of smaller classes, they don't necessarily correlate to better outcomes for students," Mr Birmingham said. "These new statistics highlight what the Turnbull government has been saying that there is not a clear relationship between education spending and the level of student performance." China recorded the highest class sizes, averaging almost 50 students in secondary education, while Latvia has less than 20 per class. The international report also found those with tertiary qualifications earn on average 55 per cent more than those with upper secondary level education. There is still a large gender disparity with regard to what women study, with Australian women 30 per cent more likely to move into education and humanities than science and engineering. Australia is among the two thirds of countries that increased expenditure per student between 2008 and 2013, while the report also found Australian high school students spend more time in the class than any other country surveyed.

The federal government and unions differ on new OECD data about school funding.

09/20/2016 AT 03:35 PM EDT , there is no question that are continuing to put their children first. "Both Brad and Angelina care very much about their kids," a source tells PEOPLE, adding that "it should be clear that Angelina is a great mother, and Brad is a great father. It is unfortunate if anybody tries to introduce negativity into what is already a very difficult and painful situation." on Monday citing irreconcilable differences, and both actors have since focused on the well-being of their six children in their respective statements. "This decision was made for the health of the family," Jolie's attorney said in a statement to PEOPLE. "She will not be commenting at this time, and asks that the family be given their privacy during this difficult time." "I am very saddened by this, but what matters most now is the well-being of our kids," Pitt said in a separate statement to PEOPLE. "I kindly ask the press to give them the space they deserve during this challenging time." on the 2003 set of their 2005 thriller , and began publicly dating a few years later. They welcomed their , daughter Shiloh, now 10, in May 2006. She joined Jolie's adopted brood of Maddox, now 15, and Zahara, now 11. son Pax, now 12, from a Vietnamese orphanage. The next year, twins Knox and Vivienne . Of their new family of eight, Jolie told PEOPLE at the time, "It is chaos, but we are managing it and having a wonderful time." In her divorce filing, Jolie asked for physical custody of the couple's shared six children. She did not request child or spousal support.

Despite problems in their marriage, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were 'great' parents, says a source

09/21/2016 AT 07:25 AM EDT came as complete surprise to many, with one source calling it "a complete shock," there have been some hints of trouble. The same source notes the former couple "have definitely spent more time apart this year." In fact, Jolie and Pitt were last seen together in public back in July, while making a stop inside a Los Angeles Jamba Juice store with their daughter Shiloh. in August, the couple had spent a large part of the past couple months apart due to their hectic work schedules. Pitt has been busy finishing his new films , which both shot overseas, while Jolie finished her latest directorial effort, Jolie has also spent time keeping up with her humanitarian efforts as a special envoy for the United Nations' refugee agency. In the past year, she spoke out in front of a House of Lords committee in London and led an honorary committee for this year's Cambodian International Film Festival. Most recently, she advocated for victims of sexual assault in war zones. In addition to their busy work schedules, Pitt has been spotted to the former couple's estate in the South of France several times solo. "Brad has been coming to Miraval every few weeks in season this year," a source told PEOPLE. "He has been filming in Europe and he's come in a couple of times, for a couple of days." According to the source, Pitt had flown out of Miraval via helicopter when he made his flag waving appearance at in June. Most recently, Pitt spent a couple nights at Miraval during the vineyard's wine harvest in early September, after a solo , where he took an onsite tour of a proposed $1 billion dollar luxury real estate development on the Adriatic coast. Despite Pitt's visits to the French estate, multiple sources told PEOPLE there have been no sightings of Jolie this year, with one source suggesting she may not have visited since beginning of 2015. Jolie filed for divorce after two years of marriage and over a decade together, PEOPLE confirmed on Tuesday. In court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Jolie states that the couple have been separated since Sept. 15. "I am very saddened by this, but what matters most now is the well-being of our kids," Pitt said in a statement to PEOPLE. "I kindly ask the press to give them the space they deserve during this challenging time." Jolie, through her lawyer, also released a statement addressing the divorce: "This decision was made for the health of the family," the actress' attorney said. "She will not be commenting at this time, and asks that the family be given their privacy during this difficult time."

Inside possible warning signs that pointed to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's split

Malcolm Turnbull believes those worried about their economic future and trade deals need to recognise many job losses are driven by technology. "It's the pace of technological advancement as much as anything else that is causing these disruptions," the prime minister told Sky News on Thursday, saying that was especially the case for manufacturing jobs. Nevertheless, Mr Turnbull recognised some people were unsettled by the pace of change and said the onus was on him and other leaders to make the case for trade, not just treat it as some "ideological virtue" with self-evident benefits.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has acknowledged some people are finding the pace of economic change unsettling but says it's not all down to trade deals.

One of Victoria's most dangerous pedophile priests is behind bars, and he is unlikely to ever come out. Predator Robert Patrick Claffey, 73, has been jailed for more than 18 years for using his position as a Catholic priest to sexually abuse 12 Victorian children between 1969 and 1992. Victims drew parallels between Claffey and serial pedophile Gerald Francis Ridsdale, who abused more than 50 victims - one of whom was also attacked by Claffey. In jailing Claffey, Victorian County Court Judge Felicty Hampel said the evidence revealed the culpable conduct of the Catholic church in the Diocese of Ballarat, and more broadly. From 1969 to the mid-1980s, Claffey attacked children as young as five, unchecked, until the father of one of his victims reported the priest to the Bishop of Ballarat, Ronald Mulkearns. Bishop Mulkearns has since admitted not dealing with pedophile priests properly, saying he was trying to protect the church's reputation and stop further offending. He knew Ridsdale and others were sexually abusing children and moved them between parishes. After serving a period of suspension, Claffey again offended in 1992. The 19 charges Claffey admitted constitute what Judge Hampel called a shameful and protracted abuse of his authority as a priest. He started by abusing a seven-year-old girl. One year after he was ordained, Claffey took a schoolgirl into a storeroom and forced himself on her, telling her it would "kill" her mother if she said anything. Five years later in Warnambool he indecently assaulted a 13-year-old boy in his bedroom. Claffey had developed a habit of dropping in on the boy's family home and it was this type of behaviour, Judge Hampel said, that constituted the "grooming" of parents which enabled him to act with impunity for so many years. He repeated the pattern in 1977 with another boy, who fought him off with a cricket bat, but not before an act of indecent assault was committed. Another victim he attacked in a school shed and yet another - an alter boy - in a church vestry before mass. "You would touch (the victim) ... then make casual conversation before you yourself robed and went onto the alter to say mass," Judge Hampel said. "He was too scared to move." One of his victims said the sentence for the "unbridled and unbroken rape" of the children of western Victoria was just, fair and tantamount to a death penalty. "Bob Claffey has taken a fair portion of everyone's lives and he deserves to have a fair portion of his life taken from him," Frank Hampster said outside court. Another of his victims said she suspected there were others out there. The remorseless child abuser has offered no apology. Claffey's total sentence is 18 years and four months, of which he must serve 13 years and four months.

A Victorian priest who abused children as young as four over three decades will be sentenced.

NSW Premier Mike Baird may have performed a spectacular backflip on his greyhound racing ban but says he is not rushing to change Sydney's lockout laws. Fresh from his humiliating reverse of the greyhound industry ban, Mr Baird said his government was still considering overhauling the restrictions placed on inner-city nightspots. "We've had Ian Callinan look at it, he's made some recommendations and there is two sides of the debate, we've listened comprehensively to those now in the next few weeks. Cabinet and the government and our party rooms will consider that," he told 2GB radio on Wednesday. The report, handed to the state government a month ago, recommended a two-year trial in which the 1.30am lockout and 3am last drinks measures be relaxed for live entertainment venues. Easing those restrictions by half an hour could help restore the vibrancy and lost employment opportunities in the precincts affected by the laws, former High Court judge Ian Callinan said in his report. A decision on the city's lockout laws would be made by the end of the year, Mr Baird told another Sydney radio station, Nova. "There has been a massive reduction in violence, there are also concerns in terms of businesses, there are concerns in terms of what it has done to the live music industry." On Tuesday the premier offered the greyhound industry "one last chance" after dropping his pledge to shut down the industry by July next year. The premier declared on Tuesday he "got it wrong" by banning the sport, instead throwing the industry a lifeline in the form of strict new regulations. Mr Baird denied the decision had anything to do with his sliding popularity.

Greyhound owners and trainers are celebrating an about-face on banning the industry in NSW, but animal welfare activists say they're bitterly disappointed.

Donald Trump has angrily denied several accusations of groping in a growing controversy over inappropriate behaviour with women that is damaging the Republican presidential candidate's chances of winning the November 8 US election. Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, the New York Times and other media were engaged in a concerted, "vicious" attempt to stop him, Trump told a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday. "These claims are all fabricated. They're pure fiction and they're outright lies. These events never, ever happened," Trump said, adding he would make public at some point evidence to dispute the claims. Trump spoke after the New York Times reported on Wednesday that two women had endured sexual aggression from Trump, and several other women made similar allegations in other media outlets, putting more pressure on Trump as he lags Clinton in national opinion polls. Trump's campaign was already struggling to contain a crisis after a video surfaced last week showing him bragging in 2005 about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances. One woman, Jessica Leeds, appeared on camera on The New York Times' website to recount how Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt on a flight from the Midwest to New York in or around 1980. The second woman, Rachel Crooks, described how Trump "kissed me directly on the mouth" in an unwanted advance in 2005 outside the elevator in Trump Tower in Manhattan, where she was a receptionist at a real estate firm. On Wednesday night, Trump's campaign made public a letter to the newspaper from a lawyer representing Trump, demanding it retract the story, calling it libellous, and threatening legal action if it did not comply. "This entire article is fiction, and for the New York Times to launch a completely false, coordinated character assassination against Mr. Trump on a topic like this is dangerous," the Trump campaign's senior communications adviser, Jason Miller, said in a statement. The New York Times said on Thursday it stood by its story and rejected claims the article was libellous. The Times report came just two days after a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll showed Trump 8 points behind Clinton among likely voters. Within hours of Times report, several other media outlets published similar reports. People magazine published a detailed first-person account from one of its reporters, Natasha Stoynoff. Stoynoff said Trump pinned her against a wall at his Florida estate in 2005 and kissed her as she struggled to get away. Trump, 70, denied the People story in a Twitter message. The Palm Beach Post reported a claim by Mindy McGillivray, 36, a woman in South Florida, that Trump had grabbed her bottom 13 years ago while she was working at his Mar-a-Lago estate as a photographer's assistant. "There is no truth to this whatsoever," Trump's spokeswoman Hope Hicks told the Post. The 2005 video has thrown a cloud over Republican hopes of retaining control of the US Congress and deeply split the party as a slew of elected officials have abandoned support for the candidate. A spokeswoman for Clinton, 68, said Wednesday's report in the New York Times was "disturbing." "These reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the disgusting behaviour he bragged about in the tape is more than just words," said spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he will provide evidence "very soon" to disprove multiple women's claims he sexually assaulted them.

The battle to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul will be bitter, with Islamic State defenders expected to sacrifice their own fighters in suicide attacks and use civilians as human shields, the prime minister has warned parliament. Malcolm Turnbull said the defeat of IS in Mosul would not mark the end of the wider conflict and there would be a need to establish order and maintain stability. "That's why our work in the Middle East must be ongoing," he said. Mr Turnbull said IS was losing on the battlefield, its territory and resources were shrinking, its numbers falling and its myth of invincibility was shattered. "As Daesh loses ground, it will try to find new ways to incite fear and division and propagate the illusion of momentum, including by encouraging and inspiring attacks against civilian populations in the West, including our own nation," he said. The prime minister said IS knew Mosul was one of its last strongholds. "It will sacrifice its fighters and suicide attacks, it will use the civilians, the residents of Mosul as shields. This will be a terrible battle to recapture Mosul," he said. Australian defence force personnel, including the RAAF Air Task Group, Special Operations Task Group and Australian and New Zealand training team would be helping, he said. "All of them are putting their lives on the line. All of them are putting their heart and soul into keeping us safe," he said. Opposition leader Bill Shorten said retaking Mosul was critical and Australians could be proud of the defence contribution. "Retaking Mosul may not be achieved quickly and victory will not come easy to the Iraqi military or the Iraqi people but for the sake of all the people suffering and dying at the hands after this hateful extremism, it must be done," he said.

Defence Minister Marise Payne says Australian personnel in Iraq will continue to advise and assist the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Services in the assault on Mosul.

Police have released images of the men believed responsible for the robbery. (Victoria Police) A man expecting the arrival of his friend has accidentally buzzed three alleged thieves into his apartment in Melbourne's CBD. The man told police he believed a friend was downstairs when contacted on the intercom of his Swanston Street building around 12.35pm on Tuesday afternoon. Despite realising his mistake as soon as he opened the door, the man was unable to keep out the three alleged burglars. The trio of thieves then allegedly stole his mobile phone and empty shopping bag from a table, then fled the scene. The three men were captured on security cameras. (Victoria Police) No one was injured in the incident. Police have released images of the three men they allege were responsible for the robbery. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

A man mistook three burglars for his mates and buzzed them into his Melbourne apartment where they stole his phone - and an empty shopping bag.

A suggested overhaul of Australia's visa system which may potentially create a two-tiered society has been described as an attempt to exploit fear and division. Cabinet documents obtained by Fairfax Media reveal a proposal for the mandatory granting of a new provisional visa before a person can be granted permanent residency. "What we are seeing is the (immigration) minister attempting to exploit fear and division within our community, playing the race card at a time when we need unity," Greens leader Richard Di Natale told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday. "It seems the minister has learnt the lessons from Donald Trump that race, fear and division are potent political weapons and he is seeking to exploit them at every opportunity." The proposed changes would remove a direct line to securing permanent residence by ensuring a person is first granted a provisional visa, according to departmental briefing notes. The reforms were likely to be unpopular in the community given the large number of people affected, and because one in two Australians were either born overseas or had a parent born overseas, the Department of Social Services said. It flagged concerns the timetable was "too short" to allow proper consideration and implementation and demanded humanitarian entrants be excluded from any social security changes tied to the proposal. Labor frontbencher Brendan O'Connor said the fact the documents were leaked spoke volumes of the government. "These are very sensitive issues, how we deal with permanent residents, temporary visas, people with citizenship," he told reporters. "The fact that document is released mean there is fighting amongst cabinet ministers in this government, and the fighting will not cease." In parliament, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the document was submitted to cabinet, but not regarded as a cabinet document. "It was marked protected because it was dealing with matters that were to be submitted to cabinet but was not, in fact, submitted to cabinet," he said.

A proposal to alter Australia's visa system is likely to create double standards by treating migrants differently to Australian citizens.

A new witness has broken his 36 -year silence to speak out about Britain’s most famous UFO incident. Alien life is behind the mysteries of the universe, according to a radical new theory. Any intelligent aliens that humans manage to contact probably won't look much like you or me, or the squid-like creatures in the new film "Arrival." A large, unidentified metal object fell from the sky Nov. 10 in a remote mountainous region of Myanmar. A $100 million search for intelligent alien life just added a big arrow to its quiver. A conspiracy theorist has been found dead in Poland—just days after he texted his mum instructing her to “investigate” should anything happen to him. A study in which two scientists claim they’ve found evidence of intelligent aliens is raising eyebrows. The discovery of an ancient piece of aluminium is being hailed as evidence that aliens visited Earth 250,000 years ago. Humanity should be wary of seeking out contact with alien civilizations, Stephen Hawking has warned once again. Even with all of the advancements in modern technology, we still haven’t made contact with intelligent life on other planets. But what if our attempts to communicate have been igno...

UFOs news articles and videos from FoxNews.com's Science section.

A former Queensland policeman says he identified Daniel Morcombe's killer Brett Cowan as a strong suspect in the days after the child's disappearance but was never asked more about his findings, an inquest has been told. Kenneth King was part of the Major Incident Response team that conducted preliminary investigations into the boy's abduction on the Sunshine Coast in December 2003, and he drew the conclusion that Cowan was a key suspect. "Cowan was a very strong suspect. I thought it was odd, given the normal investigation practice ... no one had ever come back to me to clarify or check details," Mr King told the inquest. Daniel Morcombe's killer Brett Peter Cowan. (AAP) Chief Coroner Terry Ryan on Wednesday reopened the inquest into the abduction and murder more than five-and-a-half years after it was adjourned in 2011. Cowan is serving a life sentence after being found guilty of murder in 2014.. Mr King said he worked on the preliminary investigations for about two weeks before homicide detectives took over. Daniel Morcombe was abducted in 2003. He agreed with lawyer Peter Boyce, who is representing Denise and Bruce Morcombe, that Cowan ticked a lot of boxes. Cowan was in the vicinity at the time Daniel went missing, there was a 45-minute hole in his alibi, he owned a white vehicle and a criminal history of pedophilia. The constable and his partner Detective Senior Constable Dennis Martyn are two of the four witnesses giving evidence on Wednesday. Also due to appear is Assistant Commissioner Mike Condon who was asked to leave the room while Mr King gave evidence.

The inquest into Daniel Morcombe's abduction and murder will reopen to look at aspects of the investigation despite the man responsible being behind bars.

French drug giant Sanofi SA is betting that a biotech partnership named after a Star Trek premise will help it crack one of the biggest mysteries in pharmaceutical research: molecules that drive diseases, including some cancers, that have been considered “undruggable” because of their shape. Four-and-a-half years in, Sanofi now believes its partnership, Warp Drive Bio, is close to getting its first new drug candidate. But the path has been painful. The venture has gone through three CEOs, two organizational structures, dizzying shifts in priorities—and so far, no marketable products. Such challenges are playing out around the drug industry, which had long relied on their own scientists to discover new products. With a string of expensive failures, Big Pharma has come to realize over the past decade that the science was getting too complex for anyone to master alone. Companies like Sanofi, Johnson & Johnson and others have been re-engineering how they find new treatments, striking partnerships with bright university researchers and deals with promising biotechs. They have even agreed to work with one another to better understand diseases. “You can’t do it alone. You have to say, ‘Hey, we might have been good in the past, but we need insights from others,’ ” says Paul Stoffels, chief scientific officer at J&J. About 70% of the industry’s new sales today come from drugs originated in small companies, up from 30% in 1990, according to the Boston Consulting Group. And new-drug approvals are up from the low levels of just a few years ago. Yet pharmaceutical companies and their partners have struggled to reconcile different personalities, distinct ways of working and sometimes, competing goals. “How do you stimulate innovation without killing it in the process?” says Elias Zerhouni, Sanofi’s research and development chief. The collaboration began in Paris in 2011, when Dr. Zerhouni was just months into his new job, following stints at Johns Hopkins University’s medical school and 6½ years running the National Institutes of Health. Sanofi’s top sellers like the sleep aid Ambien and the blood-thinner Plavix were losing patent protection. Yet since 2008, the company had launched just three new products whose sales could offset the losses. Dr. Zerhouni, a physician and biomedical engineer who had started five companies while in academia, figured that if Sanofi was going to cure its innovation ills, it needed to collaborate with world-class scientists outside of Big Pharma. So one afternoon in May, he sat down with Harvard University professor Gregory Verdine at the College de France in Paris. Dr. Verdine had made groundbreaking discoveries at the crossroads of biology and chemistry, and had formed seven companies that developed drugs for hepatitis C and lymphoma. Dr. Zerhouni grew excited as he listened to Dr. Verdine, hunched over a computer in a small conference room, sketch out his idea for an eighth company. He proposed a Holy Grail of drug research: targeting proteins that are relatively flat and inside cells. These proteins play pivotal roles in a lot of diseases, including many cancers. But their flat surfaces protect them from the current crop of biotech drugs, which typically work by locking onto deep pockets in the proteins, outside cells, to stop them from connecting to other important molecules. They were considered “undruggable” because researchers had failed to find a way to link a drug to one of these flat proteins inside a cell. Mother Nature had, though. A few bacteria, including one found in the soil of Easter Island, did in certain situations make molecules that could cross cell walls and connect with the flat proteins inside. These molecules were the basis for drugs to help patients recover from organ transplants. Dr. Verdine was hoping to use the latest gene-mapping technology to scour databases of bacteria for other similar bacteria. Some, he figured, had to be able to hook to flat proteins and point the way to new drugs. You “don’t need to tell me more,” Dr. Zerhouni recalled saying. Dr. Verdine was ecstatic. After the economic downturn of 2008, funding for life sciences startups was scarce. He had an interested partner in Third Rock Ventures, a venture-capital firm based in Boston that had been paying for a small team to begin the research. But they needed the support of a company such as Sanofi to fully engage in the risky undertaking. Such a collaboration between venture capital, Big Pharma and a top scientist with a novel idea was highly unorthodox, and negotiations took until Christmas. Some things came easily. There was quick agreement on a name: Warp Drive Bio, a homage to Star Trek that reflected the shared goal of discovering new medicines rapidly—at warp speed. Other issues were tougher. Dr. Zerhouni, who admired Dr. Verdine, nevertheless wanted the partnership to be led by someone other than its scientific founder. “I didn’t want to give money and let some crazy professor run with it,” Dr. Zerhouni recalls. Dr. Verdine says there weren’t any plans at that time for him to run the company at its inception, and he was only on a one-year sabbatical from Harvard. Alexis Borisy, a partner at Third Rock Ventures who served as Warp Drive’s first chief executive, says: “We were making it up as we went along. There was no model we could follow.” The final terms for Warp Drive Bio were unveiled Jan. 10, 2012. Sanofi would give up to $87.5 million over five years to the partnership. By then, Warp Drive Bio was to have delivered three to five potential new drugs that Sanofi could test in humans. Sanofi would have exclusive rights to the drugs and an option to buy the rest of Warp Drive. The company’s first hires scavenged for bacteria to test, drawing on collections kept by Sanofi, other drug companies and government laboratories. They also swiped their own samples from sidewalks, backyards, even during a wedding in California wine country. Within a few months, in March, the scientists had their first hit. Researcher Keith Robison was poring over the genetic readouts while in a rehab-center bed recovering from a skiing accident, when he saw the telltale signs. “This looks like the real deal,” Dr. Robison emailed Dr. Verdine later. The bacteria had a cluster of genes, dubbed X1, that under the right conditions should make molecules able to connect with flat proteins. Dr. Verdine was right: Nature had made other microbes with the special properties. Over the months, Warp Drive sequenced tens of thousands more bacteria. By summer 2013, the firm had found a dozen bacterial strains making molecules with the special properties it was looking for. But Warp Drive was far from discovering drug candidates. Company researchers still had to uncover the molecules made by these special bacteria and then the proteins that were targeted by these molecules. The researchers also had to determine if any diseases were triggered by one of these proteins and therefore good candidates for drugs. That summer, the scientists had identified only the molecule made by X1 and its protein target. The biology was proving more complicated than originally hoped. As it faced such scientific obstacles, Warp Drive was moving toward some significant changes. Mr. Borisy, Warp Drive’s first chief executive, returned to Third Rock to help it create new companies. Dr. Verdine took the helm that July. Dr. Verdine was among several at the company who began thinking it should take a different tack: engineering in the lab molecules that could bind to targets that were already well understood, rather than waiting to find such molecules in nature and then working out the diseases they could treat. Such a change in direction promised to give Warp Drive the technological platform for developing a range of drugs treating a variety of conditions. But it would require heavy investment and might delay the development of the handful of medicines that Sanofi was in a rush to put into its pipeline. “Warp Drive wanted to go fishing, but Sanofi couldn’t wait to see what it found,” Dr. Zerhouni says. The doubts reached a boiling point by October 2013, when Dr. Verdine pulled Dr. Zerhouni into a Massachusetts General Hospital coffee room. “I want your help to change Warp Drive,” Dr. Verdine says he told him. Dr. Verdine told Dr. Zerhouni Warp Drive was having trouble recruiting and retaining staff under the cloud of a potential Sanofi takeover. For similar reasons, Dr. Verdine went on, Warp Drive was having trouble persuading other drug companies to partner. He bemoaned the terms of the deal negotiated in 2011, when the public funding markets were in a downturn. The French company had the option to buy the portion of Warp Drive it didn’t own for more than $1 billion. Now the markets were recovering, and Dr. Verdine and staff were worried the deal undervalued Warp Drive. And he described the timeline for discovering new drugs as too aggressive. Dr. Zerhouni says he was surprised and troubled by the impact on Warp Drive’s scientific talent. Given the stakes for him inside Sanofi, he wanted to give the company every opportunity to flourish. “Let’s find a way,” he told Dr. Verdine. The pair went up to a conference room, where they sketched out on a whiteboard what a restructured collaboration might look like, making Sanofi the primary partner of Warp Drive but giving it the runway to join with other companies and eventually go public. Dr. Zerhouni emphasized getting products was more important to Sanofi than any technology Warp Drive developed. While they agreed on the basics, working out the details of what they wrote on that whiteboard would take another two years. An initial obstacle, say people involved in the discussions: Dr. Verdine’s leadership of the company. Dr. Verdine wanted to be an involved father for his brainchild, especially at such a pivotal moment. He saw that the firm could build the machinery for making new drugs for myriad previously untreatable disease targets. In particular, he was interested in a collection of genes called RAS, involved in cell growth and proliferation. When mutated, these RAS genes are major drivers of many cancers. Dr. Verdine asked Harvard to extend his leave of absence from his academic post. “I’m trying to come up with a drug that will treat a third of all cancers. I think you would want me to do that,” he recalls telling the university. Dr. Zerhouni appreciated his partner’s commitment. Yet he worried that Warp Drive needed to apply its findings toward the practical pursuit of specific drugs, rather than “revolutionizing the world.” In July 2014, the Warp Drive board agreed on Dr. Verdine’s plan that the firm shouldn’t just wait to unravel Nature’s mysteries, but should also use its labs to proactively design molecules that could target flat proteins like those whose production is controlled by RAS. Dr. Verdine eventually agreed to shift to become the company’s chief scientific officer. Warp Drive brought in biotech veteran Laurence Reid, a former executive at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Ensemble Therapeutics, as the venture’s new chief. When the partners exchanged proposals in March 2015, a big sticking point emerged: rights to the drugs that Warp Drive discovered for Sanofi. The French company sought to retain all the rights to the promising medicines. From his industry experience, Dr. Reid figured the startup couldn’t go forward as an independent company and succeed without some rights to the drugs it found. “Small companies throwing innovative assets over the wall and then stepping back and hoping pharma will develop them and send checks is a bit of a fool’s errand,” Dr. Reid says. Dr. Reid says he was “shocked” the partners were so far apart, and wondered whether he had made a bad decision by taking the Warp Drive job. Around Christmas 2015, the two sides negotiated a compromise. They would narrow their research partnership to some antibiotics and drugs targeting cancers caused by three different mutations of RAS. In addition, Warp Drive would be reorganized as a C corporation so it could raise money and be able to go public. It could pursue other drugs outside the collaboration and had an option to split a RAS drug’s U.S. rights, while getting royalties for international sales. Today, Warp Drive has 57 employees. Last month, the startup delivered a few dozen bacteria-fighting compounds to Sanofi, which hopes to turn them into antibiotics to treat drug-resistant infections. Dr. Robison, the researcher who found that first promising bacteria, is optimistic. He says he enjoys working at a lean startup nimble enough to follow the science wherever it leads, not slowed by a big company’s bureaucracy. At the same time, he appreciates Sanofi’s investment and input and now, agreement to let the startup’s researchers build a stand-alone company. As in any relationship, Dr. Robison expects new issues to arise that will require further compromise. “It’s kind of like when a couple renews their vows,” he says.

Sanofi’s unorthodox partnership with a Harvard professor explores molecular mysteries—while churning through multiple CEOs.

DEVELOPERS RARELY GIVE new condominium interiors a lot of thought, said New York architect Andrew Franz : “They’re just these rooms waiting for some vocabulary and identity to be given to them.” He and his team did just that with this Manhattan apartment, transforming it from an architectural tabula rasa to a space with the same level of character as a prewar building. Neither he nor the clients were interested in adding details, such as window casings and crown moldings, that emulate more classic architecture, a reflex move that many new-condo buyers make. Instead, the couple asked that the duplex’s design indulge the husband’s love of the outdoors by introducing as much natural wood as possible and stylistically blending the interior with the landscaped, rather astounding 2,600-foot terrace that came with this 17th-floor aerie. The firm introduced beautiful materials but in ways that celebrated their fundamental character rather than manipulating them into complex, artificial forms. Wood remains live-edged with a low sheen that shows off the grain; silk wallpaper is unpatterned; sheer wool curtains a solid color. “The rich material palette gives a sense of a more civilized and refined space,” said Mr. Franz. The lack of ornamentation keeps the interior modern “but with the caliber of finish of a historic building.” Here, how the strategy played out in four of the home’s rooms. Smack in the middle of this Manhattan apartment’s living and dining spaces sits the stairway (pictured above), an element that could easily have blocked the view to the expansive terrace. The material of choice: slices of old-growth black walnut from Oregon, their organic live edges intact to distract from the room’s rigid geometry. The answer to making the steps “a feature but not an obstacle,” said architect Andrew Franz, was forgoing risers between the heavy treads and using 1/8-inch bronze cable instead of traditional balusters. The loft-like space takes its color cues from the wood for a cohesive, warm and low-contrast palette of browns, rusts and corals. “Generally, high-contrast reads more modern,” said Mr. Franz. The fireplace is constructed of green onyx in simple slabs, another example of resisting the urge to over-manipulate materials. “On its own, it sings.” Positioned immediately opposite the dining room and visible to diners, the kitchen needed to be an extension of the wood-worshipping living space, explained Mr. Franz. The back cabinet wall of ash was brushed to bring out the grain, then finished with opaque lacquer so it reads more like paneling than cabinetry. The island, made of wood from the same tree as the stairs, also retains a live edge. Carved finger grooves are more organic drawer pulls than hardware would be. Personable materials and round shapes help transform a mundane file-drawer of a bedroom (three walls and a window) into a space with a charismatic sense of place, said Mr. Franz. Circular mirrors, an artfully blobby Ligne Roset lounge chair and the strong daisy print of the Duralee curtain panels take the edge off the rectangularity of the desk. Not only does the variegated grass-cloth wallpaper give the bland room character, it hides blemishes better than painted Sheetrock does. “You take a picture nail out and you can’t even find the hole,” noted Mr. Franz. This second-floor entrance leads to three bedrooms and a mudroom. As the only windowless space in the home, “this was one of the few places we could introduce something that was itself the event without a competing view,” said Mr. Franz. Hence, the Schumacher Chiang Mai Dragon wallpaper. The antique Persian rug of camel-hair and wool boasts enough color to keep up with the walls but is bordered in a beige that aligns with carpets visible through four adjacent doorways. The vintage Stilnovo light fixture that’s flush-mounted to the ceiling issues rays of light through its perforated metal, a subtle display that lets the wallpaper shine. Family members limit digital screen time, so a custom-built walnut charging station serves as a drop-off for their devices. The 14-year-old son’s room, more visible than the others, got a slightly nicer treatment than did the other children’s rooms. He lucked out with a vintage Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair and ottoman and silk-alpaca carpeting.

How the team at Andrew Franz Architect gave a clinical Manhattan apartment with zero character the friendly, organic quality of an older home

But our tools are not limitless. The economy has already received some stimulus—such as from the lower yield curve, sterling’s depreciation, and the easing of banks’ buffers to increase their lending capacity. The MPC is committed to take action as needed to support growth and sustain inflation around target. The adjustment to the referendum will be a long process. Markets have stabilized. In my view, we can wait to use these tools until we better understand the effects of the referendum, the optimal magnitude of any stimulus, and how best to target these tools to be most effective and minimize the negative side-effects. There may be a case to adjust monetary policy soon. But until more hard data is available, I believe this is a good time to “keep calm and carry on.”

“Keep calm and carry on” is a good motto to live by—as well as a good strategy for monetary policy.

Actually, VanLandingham was only tied for that honor, sharing it with the Dodgers' Todd Hollandsworth. But what's in a name? The Angels see potential, packaged at a discount price because of VanLandingham's struggles over the last two seasons. The Angels see a still-young right-hander (he's 27) who was 14-5 over two seasons in 1994 and '95. As for VanLandingham's control problems, which led to his 4-7 record and 4.96 ERA with the Giants last season? The Angels are supremely confident that if anybody can correct mechanical flaws in a delivery, it's pitching coach Marcel Lachemann. In 1996, VanLandingham struggled to a 9-14 record with a 5.40 ERA in 32 starts for San Francisco. VanLandingham will compete with recently acquired Omar Olivares for the fifth spot in the Angels' rotation. Randy Velarde missed the entire 1997 season following arm surgery, Luis Alicea jumped to Texas as a free agent, and Jack Howell grabbed a two-year offer from the Astros, so the Angels signed infielder Norberto "Paco" Martin as a hedge. The second-base job is Velarde's if he can cut it, but Martin gives the Angels a fall-back position. Utility player Phil Nevin, a natural third baseman, could also figure in the spring competition for second base. No matter what happens, Martin figures to stick with the club. He signed a one-year major-league contract and, if he doesn't fill a starting role, can come off the bench and play shortstop or third base, in addition to second. Versatility and a solid bat were Martin's trademarks during four seasons with the Chicago White Sox. He's a career .299 hitter and batted .300 last season, appearing in 28 games as a shortstop, 17 games at third and nine at second base. The White Sox decided against offering Martin a contract after acquiring shortstop Benji Gil in a trade with Texas. NOTES, QUOTES, ANECDOTES After the Angels declined to offer arbitration to veteran Mark Langston, it was a cinch the accomplished southpaw would turn to the Padres and Dodgers. His family has become entrenched in Southern California, so Langston wanted to stay close. San Diego got him to sign on the dotted line of a minor-league contract, but Padres GM Kevin Towers said he doesn't expect Langston to start in Triple-A. "We didn't sign him to pitch in Las Vegas," Towers said. "If Mark is back to full health, he's going to go for one of the spots in the starting rotation. And from everything I hear, his arm problems are over with." Last May, Langston had arthroscopic surgery on his pitching elbow to remove bone spurs, the second time in four years he has undergone such a process. "I'll probably wait until next week to start throwing off the mound. I see myself winning one of those slots. I firmly believe I can still do that," Langston said. "And I believe we've got the makings of a contender. San Diego has stepped up and made some good acquisitions. If I'm healthy, I'll enhance the team." After taking $1.6 million of the Angels' money to do little more than run and lift weights in 1997, pitcher Mark Gubicza has signed with the Dodgers. Gubicza made just two starts last season before yet another serious shoulder injury sent him to the surgeon's table. Acquired in the unpopular trade that sent designated hitter Chili Davis to Kansas City, Gubicza tried to make a comeback late in the season but never regained sufficient velocity on his fastball during minor-league rehabilitation assignments. Gubicza's preference of the Dodgers over the Angels is based in part on location: Dodger Stadium is much closer to his home in Northridge. Gubicza hopes to fill the vacancy in the rotation created when Tom Candiotti signed with Oakland. His main competition figures to be hard-throwing right-hander Darren Dreifort. Gubicza spent 13 seasons with Kansas City, compiling a lifetime record of 132-136 with a 3.96 ERA. His best season was 1988, when he finished 20-8 with a 2.70 ERA and 183 strikeouts in 269 2/3 innings. ROSTER REPORT FREE AGENCY UPDATE -- Second baseman Luis Alicea (signed with Rangers), right-handed pitcher Rich DeLucia (re-signed by Angels), designated hitter Rickey Henderson (not offered arbitration, talking with Athletics), infielder Jack Howell (signed with Astros), catcher Chad Kreuter (signed with the White Sox), left-handed pitcher Mark Langston (signed with Padres), right-handed pitcher Steve Ontiveros (still unsigned), second baseman Tony Phillips (leaning towards signing with Diamondbacks), C Chris Turner (signed with Twins), right-handed pitcher Shad Williams (cleared waivers and opted for free agency), right-handed pitcher Mark Gubicza (signed with Dodgers). MEDICAL WATCH -- Right-handed pitcher Jason Dickson (undergoing therapy to build up sore right shoulder), shortstop Gary DiSarcina (recovering from arthroscopic surgery to remove bone chips from right elbow), center fielder Jim Edmonds (recovering from arthroscopic surgery to both knees), first baseman Darin Erstad (recovering from arthroscopic surgery on hyper-extended right shoulder), left-handed pitcher Chuck Finley (recovering from a broken left wrist), catcher Todd Greene (recovering from a broken right wrist and arthroscopic surgery on right shoulder), right-handed pitcher Mark Gubicza (recovering from arthroscopic surgery on right shoulder), third baseman Dave Hollins (recovering from arthroscopic surgery on right knee), right-handed pitcher Mike James (therapy on sore right elbow), right-handed pitcher Steve Ontiveros (recovering from 1997 elbow surgery), second baseman Randy Velarde (rehabilitation for right arm surgery).

ANAHEIM ANGELS team notebook

Pep talk over, it's time to commit. I have one week of proper dedicated training with no hunting for Truffles to get in the way. (That's one of this things we filmed in Italy). So in the upcoming week I will run three times for an hour, twice for 30 minutes, and do one alternative thing, such as swimming. I need to because I have fallen behind. During the last few days of our Italian adventure there was literally nowhere to run. We were staying on the low slopes of Mt Vesuvius and there were no paths, no tracks, only narrow windy roads, so it was pretty dangerous walking in a group let alone running. Not to mention the hassle. At the risk of sounding really arrogant, men kept pulling their Vespas in front of me and asking me to go for a coffee. I was red faced, sweating, hair scraped back, and wearing some very unflattering sportswear (seriously who looks good in running gear? These legs of mine were not made for cycling shorts but who's were?!?). Anyway, it was not a good look that I know, so it must be the Italian way. I hate being rude to people and I hate to stereotype people, but the only way to get rid of them was to totally ignore them. I think they thought I was playing hard to get. Whatever it was it was very unsettling and it put me off running in Naples. I did swim though. I got up early and did an hour. It means I have had a rest from running and am keen to get back on it. (Well that's what I am telling myself). I'm in Cumbria for at least a week and my running should take in some mild hills, so that will make my trots less boring and to me it makes a training session seem easier: after every incline there is a decline! (You can do that thing where you pretend you're seven and your legs go so fast you think they will fall off. Don't worry they won't). I'm pretty sure I won't be stopped by any fiery men on mo-peds in Cumbria, so this week I have no distraction, sorry I meant excuse.

Bupa Team Telegraph captain Helen Skelton receives some unwarranted attention in Naples as she trains for the 2010 Bupa Great North Run.

Tom Wolfe once said of The New Yorker that its style was one of “leisurely meandering understatement, droll when in the humorous mode, tautological and litotical when in the serious mode, constantly amplified, qualified, adumbrated upon, nuanced and renuanced”. It would appear, alas, that things have gone downhill dramatically with an interview that the magazine has just run with the German photographer Thomas Struth, who produced a study of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh for the National Portrait Gallery. He talks in the most vulgar terms imaginable about how the Queen’s embonpoint, coupled with her taste in apparel that “goes up to the neck,” has the effect of making her face look small. Such lèse-majesté ought to result in Georg Boomgaarden, the German ambassador, being summoned immediately. Even the late Harold Pinter used to find it difficult to get the attention of Sir Trevor Nunn when he was in charge of the National Theatre. Di Trevis, in her fine book, Being a Director, recalls how, when she adapted, with Pinter, Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past for the stage, Pinter suddenly realised Sir Trevor had not seen the final script. Hurriedly, Pinter arranged for it to be couriered to Heathrow where Sir Trevor was about to board the Concorde for New York. “Otherwise it will sit on his desk for weeks,” Pinter told Trevis. She recognised his was “the voice of experience.”

Jodie Kidd says the son that she has had by her boyfriend Andrea Vianini has taken the relationship 'to a new level'

LOS ANGELES – Jennifer Aniston’s recent comments about how men are optional in child raising has sparked outrage from those who believe the 41-year-old actress has an unrealistic perception of what it really takes to raise children alone. “(Promoting single parenthood) might be the norm in the Hollywood, but the rest of America believes children deserve and need a mother and a father,” Nathan Burchfiel of the MRC’s Culture and Media Institute told Pop Tarts. “Life is extremely difficult for single moms, with about one quarter of them living below the poverty line. But of course Jennifer doesn’t have to worry about that given her financial resources.” Lynda Powell of the Bethel Foundation, a non-profit organization that seeks to support single moms attain housing, rehabilitation and mentoring, echoed Burchfiel’s sentiments that the “single life” is far from glamorizing or gratifying. SLIDESHOW: The Lovely and Talented Jennifer Aniston “Jen needs to come back to the real world of where the average, everyday mother does not begin to make the money to provide adequately for her children,” Powell said. “We work with single mothers everyday where the father is absent and we see the sadness this brings into the family. From my own experience as a single mother, I know that having a positive male in the family unit makes a huge difference in that child's life. Our prison systems are now overloaded and many that are in the prison system did not have a male role model in their life. We need to stop and think 'What are we doing to our children by choosing to have a baby without the family unit intact?’” A CBS poll conducted last year showed that the children of single and/or unmarried parents were impacted significantly harder by the economic recession. A 2006 study conducted by the National Center for Juvenile Justice also found that juveniles who lived with both biological parents were less likely to join gangs or break the law than their single-parent or orphaned counterparts. RELATED: Jennifer Aniston Says Women Don't Need to Settle for a Man to Have a Child Aniston, who plays a woman that opts for single parenthood by choosing to become pregnant via artificial insemination in her new film “The Switch,” also blasted the value of the classic family model by stating that family life has "evolved" from "the traditional stereotype” defined by “a mother, father, two children and a dog named Spot.” “A woman can have children without a father to raise them, but it's the children who pay the high price for that decision,”said Wendy Wright, President of the conservative political Christian action group, Concerned Women for America. “Hollywood celebrities have long been in the forefront of mocking social norms, to their own detriment and the shattered lives of those who follow their example.” “Traditional family values may be boring for Hollywood celebrities, but they develop stable, secure and healthy people,” Wright added. “Children need a dad. No amount of insisting 'but I can do whatever I want' can changed that fact.” While many disagree with Aniston’s liberal views on parenting and the family structure, she has also been applauded for empowering women to take control of their own destiny without their reliance on a sexual partner. “It is terrific that, in today's world, women have the choice to start a family when they are ready, and that might be before, or after, they meet the person they want to marry,” Jane Mattes, Director and Founder of Single Mothers By Choice, which provides information and emotional support to women in these situations, told us. “It's a big decision and needs to be given careful thought, but it is definitely do-able if the woman has the emotional and financial resources to support herself and a child on her own.” Eileen Koch, who raised a daughter on her own due to divorce, agreed that no woman should have to bypass the opportunity of having children of her own for the sake of not meeting Mr. Right. “If a woman doesn't find love in her child-bearing years, she should not miss out on having a family. If the children are fortunate enough to have a loving mom and the mom's extending family, they will be just fine,” Koch said. “It would be nice for all of us to have everything, but sometimes in this world it just doesn't work out for all.” Deidre Behar contributed to this report.

Jennifer Aniston Slammed for Suggesting Dads Are Optional in Families

These are unfortunate statistics given the many useful and eco-friendly alternatives for disposing of your old electronics — not to mention tax breaks for consumers. We’ve highlighted a few of these options below, along with information about preparing your unwanted goods for donation. Many companies have recycling programs for used and unwanted electronics. Several have partnered with charitable organizations; we’ve highlighted several below. 1. Reconnect Since 2004, Dell and Goodwill have collaborated to collect more than 96 million pounds of electronics and have recently expanded the program to over 1,900 Goodwill locations. Simply take your unwanted devices and related equipment to a participating store or drop-off site. Goodwill accepts a wide array of items in any condition — even broken monitor glass is accepted as long as it’s sealed and properly labeled. Goodwill will refurbish or recycle your materials to benefit local communities. You can locate participating Goodwill locations here. 2. The Wireless Foundation The Wireless Foundation’s CALL to PROTECT program accepts used phones to help end family violence. With the help of ReCellular, Inc., phones are refurbished and sold or recycled, with one hundred percent of the net proceeds going to grants for national organizations combatting domestic abuse. You can mail in your phone or drop it off at a local donation site. Click here to find out more. 3. StRUT Students Recycling Used Technology (StRUT) is a program that provides schools with reusable technology equipment in California, Arizona, Georgia, Oregon, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Louisiana, Texas and Washington. Students develop the skills they need for a career in technology by refurbishing the donated materials. In addition, schools gain trained technicians to help with IT needs and consumer electronics waste is reduced. You can find out more about how to donate your old computers, monitors, printers and other items from the linked sites above. 4. Komputers 4 Kids Based in southern California, Komputers 4 Kids strives to bridge the gap in technology access between children of higher and lower income families. The charity will accept nearly any electronic device that is not a household appliance. Learn more here. 5. eBay Giving Works If you’d like to make a charitable contribution to a non-profit that doesn’t have a consumer electronics recycling program, eBay’s Giving Works program may be the perfect solution. You can auction your used goods on eBay and donate 10-100% of the final sale price to the organization of your choice. You can visit the Giving Works page to find out more. If you’re not particularly keen on any of the options above, you might also want to check out TechSoup. Its search engine helps pair donors with consumer electronics recyclers and charitable programs in the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, if you have any unused electronics you would like to donate, you may want to consider reaching out to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which provides new computers, MP3 players and gaming consoles to entertain children while they receive or recover from treatment. The next time you think about tossing your old MP3 player or computer monitor in the trash can, we hope you’ll stop and consider a donation to one of the programs listed above. This post is part of the Recycling Series, which is supported by Best Buy. No matter where you may have purchased your electronics, Best Buy makes it easy to recycle. For more information on their recycling program and to make your recycle pledge, please visit recycleiton.com.

According to the EPA, of the roughly 2.25 million tons of used and unwanted electronics each year, roughly 82% winds up in landfills. Here are 5 places you can put old gadgets to better use.

The fall of the Berlin Wall changed Europe politically and the German city physically. Ushering in a new era of freedom for a new decade, this footage from 1989 offers powerful imagery of East and West reuniting after nearly 40 years of enforced separation. We never get tired of watching this amazing clip. The 1969 Apollo 11 mission to the moon was a remarkable achievement for all of mankind, and its morale-boosting effects on the United States at the time of the Cold War can't be underestimated. The anonymous "Tank Man" of this heart-stopping footage has never been identified, but the sight of him, unarmed, planted firmly in front of a line of tanks in Tiananmen Square in 1989 has become an enduring symbol of amazing courage. It may have been a while since you last heard Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech in full, rather than just the highlights. Despite social change since 1963, there are still wider lessons to be drawn from the civil rights hero's historic words. Not letting his ALS condition get in the way of a glittering academic career, Stephen Hawking is one of the most inspiring humans alive today. Here, at age 65, he experiences zero-gravity to help increase public interest in space exploration. You could argue that America's first blow against Nazi Germany in the Second World War came in 1936, as African-American Jesse Owens, the grandson of a slave, competed in the Berlin Olympics. In the midst of Nazi propaganda about "Aryan superiority," Owens discredited Hitler's hideous racial assertions and came away with four gold medals. We take flying for granted now, but this clip gives us a glimpse of how remarkable sustained mechanical flight was, as the Wright Brothers strove to achieve what many considered absolutely impossible. Although President Barack Obama's inauguration speech is the one that will be quoted and referenced in years to come, we think his victory speech from Grant Park in his home town of Chicago best captures the electric excitement, and historic magnitude of his election into office. Although by today's standards, Bannister's physical achievement is not that impressive, what doesn't diminish over time is how inspiring his dedication and ultimate success is. Bannister broke the four-minute mile through sheer determination. When asked how he reached his goal, he explained, “It’s the ability to take more out of yourself than you've got.” This incredible footage from 1930 shows a 61-year-old Gandhi on the famous Dandi March, in which he and his followers challenged British authority by protesting a salt tax with a peaceful 240-mile procession. The march was a seminal moment in the "Civil Disobedience Movement," a very influential non-violent initiative that would eventually lead to Indian independence from British rule.

YouTube isn't just for kittens, cute kids, and confabulating celebrities. It's also home to some of the most inspiring historical moments ever captured on camera.

Saturday: Following a strong debate performance and a late surge to the top of the polls, Newt Gingrich wins the South Carolina primary, defeating rival Mitt Romney; Also, divers searching for missing passengers on the Costa Concordia found the body of a woman - bringing the death toll to 12 - and a hard drive that may give answers as to what actually happened the day the cruise ship ran aground; And, two years after an earthquake devastated Haiti, citizens there are laying the foundation of one of the largest, most sophisticated projects in the country - a state-of-the-art teaching hospital.

CBS News video: Evening News Online, 01.27.12 - Friday: On the surface, the latest report on the economy looks like welcome good news. But the White House acknowledges the recovery is still "fragile"; Also, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney lay out their plans for tackling immigration; And, Steve Hartman tells the story of Woody Davis and the community in Corbett, Ore., who are paying Woody back for over 50 years of good deeds.

Could there be an (on-screen) wedding in their future? , who play partners Mitchell and Cameron on the , posted a photo of themselves on their WhoSay pages, asking, "How could you want to see us tie the knot?" just as it appeared they may be closer to legally being able to do so. On Tuesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that California's Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage in the state, was unconstitutional. Ferguson also Tweeted: "Historic! #Prop8 is unconstitutional. @AFER & I won’t stop until ALL Americans are #free2marry." On the show, their characters also have a daughter together, Lily, but are not officially married. Other stars reacted to the ruling, as well. , "Today we took another step towards equality. #Prop8 was found unconstitutional again. I couldn't be happier." And , "Take THAT, prop 8."

Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet react to the ruling that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional

If you harbor serious thoughts of running for the presidency, the first thing you do — long before you commission any polls or make any ads, years before you charter planes to take you back and forth between Iowa and New Hampshire — is to sit down with guys like Chris Korge. A real-estate developer in Coral Gables, outside Miami, Korge is one of the Democratic Party's most proficient "bundlers." That is, in the last two presidential elections, he bundled together more than $7 million in campaign checks for Al Gore and John Kerry from his friends and contacts. David Burnett/Contact, for The New York Times Candidacy Fermenting: Warner visits the Stonyfield Farm yogurt plant in New Hampshire, an obligatory stop for presidential hopefuls. David Burnett/Contact, for The New York Times Exploring the Alternative: Warner in a Manchester hotel preparing a speech for a group of influential New Hampshire Democrats. For Korge, the 2008 presidential campaign began a few days after Kerry lost, when, he says, one prospective candidate — he won't say who — called to enlist his help. Having raised money for both of Bill Clinton's presidential campaigns, which earned him an overnight stay in the Lincoln Bedroom, Korge already knew he would support Hillary Clinton if she ran; he considers her the most impressive politician he has ever met, including her husband. But that didn't stop her potential rivals — John Edwards, Joe Biden, Evan Bayh, Wesley Clark — from dropping by, nor did it stop Korge, a guy who rightly prides himself on knowing just about everybody in Democratic politics, from taking the meetings. "In the last six months, I've pretty much seen or talked with all of them, or they've tried to meet with me," Korge told me during a conversation in late January. A few weeks before we spoke, Korge had lunch at the Capital Grille in Miami with Mark Warner, who was then in his final weeks as Virginia's governor. Though little known nationally, Warner has emerged in recent months as the bright new star in the constellation of would-be candidates, a source of curiosity among Democrats searching for a charismatic outsider to lead the party. Pundits credit Warner's popularity in Republican-dominated Virginia — his 80 percent approval rating when he left office made him one of the most adored governors in the state's history — with enabling his Democratic lieutenant governor, Tim Kaine, to win the election to succeed him last November. Suddenly, Warner is being mentioned near the top of every list of candidates vying for the nomination in 2008. Over lunch with Korge and his real-estate partner, Warner made what has become, more or less, his standard pitch. Much as he likes John Kerry and worked hard for him in Virginia, Warner said, the Democratic Party had once again, in 2004, nominated a candidate who could not appeal on a cultural level to white, small-town voters in wide swaths of the country. Warner argued that he was more likely than any of the other potential Democratic candidates to break that cycle. The candidate he was really talking about, of course, was Clinton. It wasn't that she wouldn't do a great job in the White House, necessarily; what Warner was saying, without actually saying it, was that she couldn't get there. Democrats, he liked to say, could not afford to keep trotting out nominees who could expect to win only 16 blue states and then hope, just maybe, for the "triple bank shot" that might deliver Ohio or Florida. They needed a candidate who could compete everywhere. Korge had already heard some version of the same case from several of Warner's rivals. "They can't help themselves," he told me. "What you hear is two things: one, why Hillary can't win, and two, why they're going to be the other candidate who emerges in the showdown with Hillary." Korge told Warner the same thing he told the other suitors, including John Kerry: he was loyal to Hillary and intended to stay that way. That was fine, Warner said, but would Korge be willing to introduce him to friends who weren't yet decided? Korge deflected the request. To him, helping Warner raise money would have been "counterproductive." You might think this would have deflated Warner. It didn't. He knows that many of the money guys he goes to see at this early stage are going to pledge their allegiance to Clinton. But the path of a campaign is long and twisting, and there may come a time when Korge needs a fallback candidate. More to the point, aside from being a fund-raiser, Korge is a validator, the kind of guy to whom others in business and politics will listen. There are perhaps 20,000 activists and contributors whose choices influence the Democratic nominating process, and Korge talks with more than a few of them; his casual appraisals mean something. From this vantage point, Warner's meeting with Korge was an unqualified success. "In my opinion, he's the one to watch as an outsider in this race," Korge told me. "He seems presidential. He's a big guy." (By this he meant, literally, that Warner is well over six feet tall, with a well-coiffed head that requires extra-large baseball caps.) "I think he has a presence. He's very confident. He speaks very well, but he also can speak plainly to people." Matt Bai, a contributing writer who covers national politics for the magazine, is working on a book about Democratic politics.Editors' Note: Wednesday, March 15, 2006: The cover photograph in The Times Magazine on Sunday rendered colors incorrectly for the jacket, shirt and tie worn by Mark Warner, the former Virginia governor who is a possible candidate for the presidency. The jacket was charcoal, not maroon; the shirt was light blue, not pink; the tie was dark blue with stripes, not maroon. The Times's policy rules out alteration of photographs that depict actual news scenes and, even in a contrived illustration, requires acknowledgment in a credit. In this case, the film that was used can cause colors to shift, and the processing altered them further; the change escaped notice because of a misunderstanding by the editors.

For those Democrats who think Hillary Clinton is not electable in 2008? Meet Mark Warner of Virginia.

February 23, 2012 11:15 AM (AP) SEATTLE — The longer the BP Cherry Point refinery at Blaine is out of service because of fire damage, the higher gasoline prices will go for drivers in Washington state, said Tim Hamilton, executive director of the Automotive United Trades Organization, an association of independent dealers.Wholesale prices to dealers went up about 20 cents a gallon Tuesday, Hamilton said. That will push prices in Washington close to $4 a gallon, Hamilton said Wednesday."This tells us the oil companies are not all that confident they'll be able to get Cherry Point up that fast," Hamilton said. "We don't know for certain."The average price for a gallon of gas Wednesday in the state was $3.68 a gallon, according to the AAA auto club. That's already up 14 cents in a week and 21 cents in a month."Shutdowns can push prices up," said AAA spokeswoman Jennifer Cook in Bellevue. "That was already going on. This fire is going to add to it."Four other refineries in Washington could increase production to offset the BP outage, but Hamilton says crude oil stocks would likely run out in eight or nine days. If the outage from Friday's refinery fire lasts a month, Hamilton predicts prices would continue rising higher — to the point motorists are forced to cut their driving and demand meets supply."They will raise it to whatever it takes to force people to stop driving and slow consumption down," Hamilton said.There's no estimate when operations will resume at Cherry Point and the investigation into the cause of Friday's fire continues, said BP spokesman Scott Dean in Chicago.He cautions against directly relating gas prices to the operations of a single refinery."You really can't pin a gas price on any single factor," he said Wednesday. "You have to look at all the factors in totality. There are a lot of things going on globally affecting crude oil prices and that translates into prices at the pump."It's a good sign the BP refinery has remained on standby, said Hamilton an oil industry analyst and consultant for 30 years."They've kept it hot," he said.A shutdown would require a longer startup period and once the refinery is shut down BP might also use that time for the switch from winter to summer-formulated fuels or additional maintenance."If we're down for any amount of time we're going to quickly run out of reserves in storage," he said. And it would take more than a month to direct a special oil tanker to Puget Sound, Hamilton said.The BP refinery is the largest of five in Washington with the capacity to turn 230,000 barrels of crude oil a day into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. It's the third-largest refinery on the West Coast. It produces 20 percent of Washington's gasoline needs and it supplies the majority of jet fuel for Sea-Tac, Portland and Vancouver, British Columbia, airports.The other refineries in the state are the U.S. Oil facility at Tacoma, ConocoPhillips at Ferndale, and Tesoro and Shell at Anacortes.On Wednesday, the Tesoro refinery was in the process of restarting unspecified units that experienced a "brief shutdown" Tuesday, Tesoro spokeswoman Tina Barbee said via email. She offered no details but said the event was not expected to affect "our ability to meet our regional product supply commitments."

BP Refinery fire could boost gas prices in Wash.

Tomorrow's premiere of "American Idol" marks the first that Simon Cowell and his caustic criticisms will be absent from the judging panel. Pop Tarts sat down with the new judges to get their take on what else has changed, and what remains the same. Newcomer Jennifer Lopez swears that as a team she, Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson have brought back the “fun” that supposedly dwindled over the past few seasons. “What was refreshing was that it was so much fun. It was definitely emotional, which I thought was missing a bit, and the fun that was lacking in the past few years is back,” Lopez told FOX411’s Pop Tarts. “You guys (turns to Randy) had that in the beginning, you used to have a lot of fun in the beginning.” Host Ryan Seacrest, who has also been with ‘Idol’ since its U.S debut in 2002, concurred. “She’s right. It’s seamless, we don’t think about what we’re going to say. We obviously don’t plan what we’re going to do, and it’s just fun,” he said. And when you’re a guy spending hours on end with the bootylicious J-Lo, that’s bound to bring about some good times – like examining the pop diva’s a-line, “nude” colored dress. “They all want to wear my dress, that’s the thing,” Lopez laughed. “You thought I was the only girl on the show, but I’m not.” Seacrest also went on to praise the pop diva for looking “skinny” (apparently she “went on a cleanse.”) And even though he’s been in the entertainment industry for over 40 years, rocker Steven Tyler, who generally stayed out of the banter that his three co-stars excitedly engaged in, was still overcome with nerves when first starting out in his new-found role in the “A.I” hot seat. “I was nervous, sure. I was nervous about saying the right thing at the wrong time, or the wrong thing at the right time,” he explained. “It’s gotten easier. It does get easier. For the first couple (of contestants) I didn’t want to be cruel, I’ve got three daughters. I know people have a voice, they are born with a voice, but that’s not what we are here for. Randy keeps reminding me that it is 2011, ‘American Idol,’ high standards, high bar, and they have got to go through that and I’ve got to be able to see that, see the whole thing.” Lopez too initially struggled to find her feet. “I found it very difficult in the beginning, it was about finding my style of how to say things and then once I did that it was fine,” she told Pop Tarts. “We deliver our message in a way that can help them actually grow in this process.” But if anyone is concerned that 2011’s panel may be a little too soft and pre-occupied with not stripping aspiring artists of their confidence with harsh remarks, it sounds as though Mr. Jackson might actually be the one to pick up where Cowell left off. “You’ll see all sides of me. Before, people saw only one side because there was Paula, there was Simon. I think you will see a new version of the Dawg. There’s maybe a little more hair on the Dawg,” Jackson said on a phone conference last week. “You’ll see me take more of an assertive role and trying to guide it a little bit…I think you’ll be like, ‘Wow, Dawg!’ ” "American Idol" kicks off its 10th season on Wednesday on FOX.

EXCLUSIVE: Jennifer Lopez, Ryan Seacrest Say They're Bringing Fun Back to 'Idol'

The pressure to look young in Hollywood is intense, even when you're actually young. In May Kim Kardashian nonchalantly told Nightline she hadn't had any plastic surgery done, but admitted that of course she had used Botox. In January, reality television star and aspiring actress Heidi Montag, 23, was on the cover of People magazine touting the 10 cosmetic procedures she received in one day, including Botox injections. Other young actresses who have been rumored to have gotten injections include Megan Fox, 24, Lindsay Lohan, 23, Hilary Duff, 22 and Jessica Simpson, 29. More and more starlets are feeling the need to start getting Botox injections before their thirtieth, and even twentieth, birthdays to compete with the constant influx of baby-faced newcomers. But of course, no one wants to admit it. "I don't know why they don't just say they do it, because everyone else does it too. I see maybe four or five well-known actresses a week who insist on coming through the back door because they don't want anyone to see them. And half of those are under 30," says Los Angeles-based cosmetic dermatologist Dr. Simon Ourian, M.D. His youngest Botox injectee? A 17-year old model. "I think a lot of women feel the pressure to look younger and be at their best. When the rest of the population seems to be younger then you have no choice but to compete," he told FOX411.com. Botox is a toxin that when used in small doses attaches to nerve endings to prevent the release of neurotransmitters that cause muscle movements. According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, more than 2.5 million Botox injections were performed in 2009. There are no significant dangers to starting Botox as a teenager, but starting the injections too early could lead to the treatments not working later in life when these actresses might want to start hiding some more serious wrinkles. “No long term side effects have been reported. Some studies show that some people develop immunity to it though," explains celebrity plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Fiorello. "Over time Botox doesn’t work as well as it does in the beginning, so after a long time of getting the injections, its doesn’t have the same effect as it did in the beginning." And casting agents are seeing so many paralyzed pouts that some say they're now specifically seeking out young women who haven't had an abundance of procedures done. "We want to cast beautiful women. If Botox does that, then good for them. But if I can tell straightaway that an actress has had excessive amounts of Botox treatments, then I will probably move onto the next woman," one casting agent explained. "I don't want to use an actress who doesn't look like a real woman." Some young women are getting treatments done because of their hard-partying lifestyles. "If someone told these girls to just get back to basics, don't stay out partying all night, don't drink, don't smoke, and don't do drugs, then they wouldn't need these quick fixes for their face," said casting agent Toni Cusumano. And it isn't just casting agents who are turning against these Botox babies, its also the fans who see their movies, watch their television shows and buy their products. America wants to see women who are beautiful, but who also have an attainable beauty, explains Cult of Celebrity author Cooper Lawrence. "These women are not relatable because most Americans at that age are not as vain as New York and Los Angeles twentysomethings are," said Lawrence. "When a twentysomething talks about plastic surgery or Botox, most Americans either roll their eyes or feel pity for the girl for having such low self-esteem. It isn't age appropriate."

Stars as Young as 17 Getting Their Faces Frozen

November 4, 2009 11:06 AM Still soaring out of Gaza on a whoosh and a white plume, every rocket aimed at Israel is another reminder of an enemy supply line the Israeli military can't seem to cut, even though Hamas is surrounded.Just south of where CBS News correspondent Richard Roth reported from, Gaza's 25-mile long Mediterranean Sea coast is sealed off by an Israeli naval blockade. Gunboats off shore command the sea, and block access to Gaza's port.All along their land border, high-tech fences and constant patrols separate Israel and Gaza. And, helped by $23 million of American aid last year, Egypt too has beefed up security along its short frontier.So Gazans get over their border by going under it, through a network of tunnels that runs from buildings on their side deep under the ground - and the border fence - to hideaways in Egypt."These tunnels are not just foxholes," said Maj. Ron Edelheit, an Israeli Army spokesman. "They are very complicated structures. They're long. They have electricity. They have trails and tracks going through them."Stretching as far as three quarters of a mile, the underground interstate is big enough for a barnyard of livestock to be smuggled through. That's not what bothers Israel."Food? Who cares; but when we talk about bombs and rockets and TNT and C4 and you name it, that terrorizes the Israeli population that surrounds it, this is not something the state of Israel can live by," Edelheit said.To win the war, Israel says it needs to stop the smuggling of arms and explosives. Military sources believe aerial bombardment so far has destroyed about 200 tunnels. But 100 more may still be in use.

CBS Evening News: Half Of Underground Pathways Destroyed In Mideast Crisis

The Central Park Five (119 min., unrated) The vicious crime that’s discussed, the Central Park jogger case, and some of the language that’s used make the film too strong for under-16s. It explores the 1989 arrest and eventual conviction of five youths, four African-American and one Latino, in New York City. They were charged with the rape and near-fatal beating of a woman in Central Park. The film briefly shows gruesome photos of the jogger’s face after the attack. Videotapes of the teenagers’ confessions include graphic language about the rape, words often put in their mouths by police detectives heard in the background. The Central Park Five themselves, in present-day interviews, occasionally use profanity. The Hobbitt: An Unexpected Journey (169 min., PG-13) Peter Jackson, having triumphed with his adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, returns to Middle-earth to adapt the book that began the whole business. There are two more films to follow. Battle scenes involve beheadings, lopping off of arms, and runnings-through with swords. Little if any blood flows, but the mayhem is definitely PG-13-worthy. Gross humor about smelly behinds and loogies seems worse in 3-D. Andy Serkis’s Gollum, computer-enhanced, bug-eyed and insane, continues to be a scary screen creation. Playing for Keeps (95 min., PG-13) Gerard Butler plays a former soccer star who coaches his 9-year-old son’s soccer team and suffers — or should that be enjoys? — romantic entanglements with the likes of Jessica Biel, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Uma Thurman. In addition to implied sexual liaisons and infidelities, adult characters use crude language and mildish profanity. Father and son take a joy ride in a Ferrari and nearly crash it. Hyde Park on Hudson (94 min., R) Bill Murray plays Franklin Delano Roosevelt. One scene only earns the R rating. FDR and his lover have a sexual encounter in a car, shown mostly from a distance, but strongly and rather graphically implied with movement. The film includes little profanity. There are a few veiled verbal jokes about Mrs. Roosevelt’s friends, whom the president calls “she-men.” Killing Them Softly (97 min., R) This small-scale crime film, based on George V. Higgins’s novel “Cogan’s Trade,” stars Brad Pitt as a gangland hit man. The violence occurs less frequently than one might expect. When it does, it involves much blood and often unfolds in slow-motion. One character gets a jaw-crushing beating, and another uses extremely crude and explicit sexual language. The dialogue is highly, comically profane. Several characters drink and use drugs.

A roundup of movie capsules for family filmgoers.

ANTHONY MOORE: BEHIND THE MODERN PAVISE Moore’s paintings echo the painted oblong shield, or pavise, that sported religious and heroic imagery and was carried to battle by medieval soldiers. Moore applies a fractured style with realist elements in vivid tones, recalling stained glass. Pictured: “Pavise No. 5, 2012.” Through Feb. 4. Childs Gallery, 169 Newbury St. 617-266-1108, www.childsgallery.com FULLY COMMITTED Becky Mode’s solo comedy of desperation gets a hectic, highly entertaining production directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary and starring Gabriel Kuttner in a virtuoso performance, playing the beleaguered reservations clerk at a four-star restaurant and the dozens of self-interested, self-important people conspiring to make his life a living . . . well, you know. Through Dec. 30. New Repertory Theatre, Black Box Theater, Arsenal Center for the Arts, Watertown. 617-923-8487, www.newrep.org ARABIAN NIGHTS A remount of last year’s bewitching production, again starring Evelyn Howe as the quick-thinking storyteller and Vincent Ernest Siders as the hot-tempered king. Adapted by Dominic Cooke and directed by Daniel Gidron, with visually ravishing set and puppet design by David Fichter. Through Dec. 30. Nora Theatre Company andUnderground Railway Theater. At Central Square Theater,Cambridge. 866-811-4111, www.centralsquaretheater.org OUR TOWN “When the theatre pretends to give the real thing in canvas and wood and metal,” playwright Thornton Wilder wrote, “it loses something of the realer thing which is its true business.” Director David Cromer’s stark production aspires to Wilder’s “realer thing” and achieves it. ThroughJan. 26. Huntington Theatre Company. At Roberts Studio Theatre, Boston Center forthe Arts. 617-266-0800, www.huntingtontheatre.org SEAN FIELDER AND THE BOSTON TAP COMPANY Fielder assembles an energetic crew of young hoofers from Greater Boston to tap their way into this First Night showcase welcoming in the new year. Dec. 31, 9:30 p.m., $18 First Night button (children under 4 free). Hynes Convention Center Ballroom. 617-542-1399, www.firstnight.org FIRST NIGHT FROG POND SKATING SPECTACULAR You can ring in the new year with the Skating Club of Boston, which celebrates the occasion with a showcase of talented students, seasoned competitors, and national champions in some of their fanciest new routines. Dec. 31, 6 p.m., Free. Boston Common Frog Pond.617-635-2120, www.bostonfrogpond.com O’SHEA-CHAPLIN ACADEMY OF IRISH DANCE First Night offers two chances to see the enthusiastic young dancers of this well-known area dance school inperformances that featuretraditional and contemporary styles from the Emerald Isle. Dec. 31, 7:30 and 8:30 p.m.,$18 First Night button (childrenunder 4 free). Hynes Convention Center Ballroom. 617-542-1399, www.firstnight.org ORIGINATION This admirableeducation organization focuses on teaching African-influenced dance, such as hip-hop, jazz, step, and Caribbean styles. Dec. 31, 8 p.m., $18 First Night button (children under 4 free). Hynes Convention CenterBallroom. 617-542-1399, www.firstnight.org BOSTON IN THE GILDED AGE: MAPPING PUBLIC PLACES During the latter half of the19th century, Boston’s map was radically altered by the filling in of Back Bay and a deadly fire in 1872. This exhibit charts those changes. Through March 17. Norman B. Leventhal MapCenter, Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston St. 617-536-5400, www.bpl.org LAKE EFFECT/ NOR’EASTER: PART II Winter is here, and three artists — Zachary Buchner, Andreas Fischer, and Philip Vanderhyden, offer work that addresses the season, in abstractions that emphasize surface, tone, and mark. ThroughJan. 26. LaMontagne Gallery, 555 East 2nd St., South Boston. 617-464-4640, www.lamontagnegallery.com BLUE Every other year, the Cambridge Art Association’s juried show takes blue as its theme, and offers a wide range of interpretations. Mass MOCA’s director Joseph Thompson was the juror.Through Jan. 10. Kathryn Schultz Gallery, Cambridge Art Association, 25 Lowell St.,Cambridge and University Place Gallery, 124 Mt. Auburn St., Cambridge. 617-876-0246, www.cambridgeart.org AMERICAN VANGUARDS:GRAHAM, DAVIS, GORKY, DE KOONING, AND THEIR CIRCLE, 1927-1942 A look at the influence of John Graham’s circle on American modernism. Through Dec. 30. Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover. 978-749-4015, www.andover.edu/museums/addison. JULIANNE SWARTZ: HOW DEEP IS YOUR Inventive, poetic, and witty installations and sculpture that play with perception. Through Dec. 30. deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln. 781-259-8355, www.decordova.org CHROMO-MANIA! THE ART OF CHROMOLITHOGRAPHY INBOSTON 1840-1910 A brilliant survey of color prints in Boston, which was the first American city to introduce chromolitho­graphy. Through Jan. 12. Boston Athenaeum. 617-227-0270, www.bostonathenaeum.org IN THE HOLOCENE A group exhibition that conceives of art as a speculative science, featuring work by John Baldessari, Marcel Broodthaers, Jack Goldstein, Joan Jonas, On Kawara, and Robert Smithson, among others. Pictured: Joseph Beuys’s “Capri-Batterie.’’ Through Jan. 6. List Visual Arts Center. 617-253-4680, listart.mit.edu

Recommended performances and exhibits around the area.

In 2001, Alabama hired Mike Price and before he ever coached a game, he was fired for getting rowdy in a strip club, bringing two strippers back to his hotel room, and running up a room service bill upwards of $1,000. Two years later, Notre Dame hired George O'Leary, who lasted just five days because because he listed NYU-Stony Brook as his alma mater. The problem? NYU-Stony Brook doesn't exist. He also listed that he played football at the University of New Hampshire, which was also proved to be false. Alabama's gaffe was an oversight of character while Notre Dame’s was one of credentials. Since credentials are much easier to measure than character, the Irish takes this one. Edge: Notre Dame.

College football analysts have been comparing Alabama and Notre Dame in every which way before the BCS championship game: Scrutinizing their offenses,...

When a brand repositions a tired old nameplate toward a younger, more affluent buyer, the eye rolls are never far behind. But sometimes, the freshest thinking comes from the stodgiest corners of the marketplace. Case in point is the 2014 Chevrolet Impala full-size sedan, a car that contains no shortage of clever features – as BBC Autos learned during a brief orientation with chief vehicle engineer Todd Pawlick – and bears lessons that all automakers (who lately seem bent on building particle accelerators into their cars’ dashboards) would be wise to heed. Illustrated by this photograph, the multimedia screen on the Impala’s centre stack rises upward to reveal a cubby, much like those increasingly found throughout the General Motors family. Portable MP3 players can live within this space, as could – gasp – CD jewel cases. But in perhaps a sop to the middle-age target driver of the Impala, this trap door is not operated with eye blinks or hand waves or foot taps, but with a hard switch just below the screen, whose action is reassuringly smooth and consistent. (In valet mode, the cubby can be locked with a four-digit passcode, in the manner of a hotel lock-box.) To the right of this button, meanwhile, is a rotary knob, the kind that in another era would tune in the ballgame or traffic report. Here it acts as a redundant control for Chevy’s MyLink infotainment system. If a driver would rather not depend solely on a touch-screen interface to place a phone call, check the weather forecast or connect to a streaming-audio service, the knob allows the driver to toggle among the icons until the desired application is found. And on the inboard side of the steering wheel, unobtrusive audio volume control buttons are literally at a driver’s fingertips, removing a task that is typically absorbed by driver-facing steering-wheel controls – thereby freeing the outboard buttons to access other functions. This kind of thinking about control redundancy has long been the province of Audi. That Chevrolet is not only giving it thought, but executing on it, is as clear a sign as any that GM has turned a corner. Or flipped a switch.

The full-size sedan, redesigned for the 2014 model year, puts a fresh spin on the dashboard knobs, dials and buttons of yesteryear.

These buildings, including One World Trade Center, are some of the tallest in the world. You know what they say, 'nothing is certain but death and taxes.' And it looks like some celebs learned this the hard way. From Pamela Anderson to Martha Stewart, Heidi Fleiss to Wesley Snipes, these stars have been ensnared in tax scandals. Fast food pillowcases. Fake boobs to help kids sleep. Duster socks for the cat's feet. These are real - and real stupid - inventions. Despite their fame and fortune, some stars blow through their money in the blink of an eye. Take a look back at the the biggest hits from Apple through the years.

This 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa is the most expensive cars ever sold at auction, fetching $12.2 million at the Ferrari Leggenda e Passione event in 2009 (sold by RM Auctions in conjunction with Sotheby's). "The beautiful and immediately recognizable Scaglietti-designed 'pontoon-fender' 250 TR was produced from 1957 to 1958 during which only 22 examples were constructed. The Ferrari 250 TRs entered 19 international championship races from 1958 through 1961 emerging with 10 victories and earning them legendary status among discerning collectors, as well as the honor of being one of the most desirable and competitive racing Ferraris ever built," according to Reuters.com.

Pollution and old age is causing serious damage to the home of the Church of England. Photograph Neil Munns/PA. Canterbury cathedral is falling down. Does this come as a surprise? Probably not. Even though most of us - whatever our religious beliefs or lack of them - like to think of our medieval cathedrals as a kind of architectural bedrock, these are ambitious and sometimes even nervous structures, filled with astonishing art and craft, and sheltered under prodigious roofs every bit as prone to rot and decay as any temple, mosque, synagogue, or even office block or humble home. Today, Canterbury cathedral launches its latest worldwide appeal for major funds to keep it standing for the next several hundred years. This is, in itself, at a time when so much of the world is crying out for temporal aid - to fight off illness, starvation, invasion and brutality - a 21st century act of faith. How much do these stones, that 12th century stained glass, those owl-like Gothic towers matter? Europe's medieval cathedrals were themselves built as acts of faith - religious, architectural, engineering - and so they were never less than highly charged and dramatic structures. They displayed the intensity of belief, and the religious and human ambition, of those who commissioned, designed and crafted them. They vaulted so high into the medieval sky that several collapsed - twice in the case of the nave of the never-completed Beauvais cathedral - while the structures of others, like Wells, had to be shored up by ingenious feats of medieval engineering. All of them, despite invasions by shouty, digital camera-wielding, gum-chewing tourists dressed resolutely in shorts, trainers, rucksacks, baseball caps and relentlessly tacky souvenir stalls, remain havens of spirituality, or, at least, of a very different world from that of the brand-crazy, ultra-capitalist, global junk culture beyond their glass-rich walls. Canterbury cathedral matters not just because it is a great and complex work of architecture, and not even for its Croesus-rich history, but because it remains a beacon of warm and forgiving faith in a world of turbulent ideas, stunning greed, unrelenting intellectual myopia and moral cretinism. And yet, because it is also a kind of time capsule of a rich slice of the history of these islands, too, we have a duty, a need, and, hopefully, a desire to protect its venerable stones. Canterbury is at once a prayer and our collective life enshrined in stone. Its spiritual, as well as its architectural influence, has spread, very gently for the most part, across the globe. Any Kentish visitor to Calcutta will be happily surprised to witness the bell tower of that city's St Paul's cathedral: it's a doppelganger for Canterbury's famous 91m high (297-ft) Bell Harry tower, commissioned by Prior Henry of Eastry and completed in 1510. Faith, says Bell Harry tower, is universal, even if it flowers in 100 different ways. In any case, given that so much of Kent has been, or is about to be, subsumed into the faithless, valueless, artless world of the gormless "Thames gateway" development plan, and given the transformation of great tracts of south-east England into cynical, brand-led, shopping-mall, executive-housing hell, any money diverted from this developers' and devil's game into the stones of Canterbury must be a good thing. And, when all the cheapjack junk built in the next quarter of a century turns to dust, the bells of Canterbury will ring out loud, clear and well-supported by the renovated architecture holding them aloft. · Jonathan Glancey is the Guardian's architecture critic

As Canterbury cathedral calls for restoration funds, Jonathan Glancey says the awesome building stands as a rebuke to the crassness of modern life.

Just over 40 years ago the Sexual Offences bill received Royal Assent and became an act of law. In overturning the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885 - the "blackmailer's charter" - the Sexual Offences Act substantially decriminalised homosexual acts and allowed gay men some freedom to live their lives openly and without fear. However, for three high-achieving and, in their own way, extraordinary, British gay men, 1967 marked the end, not a beginning. The outline of their deaths is well documented. On February 3 1967, the independent record producer Joe Meek killed his landlady, Violet Shenton, before turning the shotgun on himself. On August 9, the hottest new British playwright of his generation, Joe Orton, was murdered by his companion, Kenneth Halliwell. On August 27, the body of the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein was found after an accidental overdose of a prescribed sleeping pill. Within the still small, incestuous world of London's entertainment industry, the three had links that went beyond the year of their deaths. During 1966, Meek had meetings with Epstein about managing Liverpool's the Cryin' Shames, whose wracked ballad, Please Stay, was Meek's last top 30 hit. In early 1967, Joe Orton had been sounded out about writing the script for the Beatles' third United Artists movie - provisionally entitled Up Against It. However, they shared more than professional interests. All three were born within five years of each other: Meek in 1929, Orton in 1933, Epstein in 1934. All turned 21 in the early to mid-50s, a time when homosexuality became the number one enemy within - associated not only with perversion, but, thanks to the defection of Guy Burgess and Donald MacLean, the dreaded spectre of communism. The eventual passing of the SOA - in the teeth of some manic parliamentary opposition - marked well over a decade of campaigning that began out of this extreme prejudice. The process began with the September 1957 publication of the report of the Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution. The Wolfenden Report, as it was better known, recommended a change in the law for both humanitarian and practical reasons, while observing that the authorities should not concern themselves with private acts. To commemorate this 50-year anniversary, BBC4 is running a week of programmes that aim to shed light on the hidden lives that most gay men were forced to live before 1967. For, despite its liberalising provisions, the SOA didn't overturn decades of extreme prejudice overnight: there would be no magical rebirth for many gay men who had borne the brunt of tabloid hostility, draconian sentencing, and the tender ministrations of blackmailers and police provocateurs. During the early 50s, there was a major crackdown on male homosexuality in Britain. Though there is no definitive evidence for an anti-communist witch-hunt, some of this could have come from the establishment wish to assert a restrictive normality after the social upheavals of the second world war, with the police casting themselves as the guardians of a traditional morality. The highest profile case of that period was the joint trial of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Michael Pitt-Rivers and Peter Wildeblood in early 1954. Convicted of sexual offences with two young airmen, Montagu was jailed for a year, the other two for 18 months. Incensed by his treatment, Wildebood, a journalist, wrote a campaigning biography, Against the Law, which on its publication in 1955 helped to crystallise opinion against the harsh application of sexual offence laws. Partly as a result of the publicity that the Montagu case received, the Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution had already been set up in the summer of 1954. Refuting the standard slurs then used against homosexual men (paedophilia, the destruction of family life etc), the report caused a stir on its publication in September 1957: well ahead of public opinion, it marked a sea change in attitudes towards male homosexuality. Three months earlier, Epstein had found himself in big trouble. Arrested in April 1957 for "persistent importuning" by a police provocateur in a Swiss Cottage toilet, he was devastated. As he wrote at the time, "the damage, the lying criminal methods of the police in importuning me and consequently capturing me leaves me cold, stunned and finished". The handwritten, impassioned document for his defence makes for fascinating reading. In his turmoil, Epstein had "believed that my own will-power was the best thing with which to overcome my homosexuality." At the same time, it gave him a wider understanding of what it was to be an outcast: "I feel deeply because I have always felt deeply for the persecuted, the Jews, the coloured people, for the old and society's misfits." It was this realisation of his marginality that led Epstein away from a conventional career path into pop management. In late 1961, he found an outlet for his visions in a scruffy group that nobody wanted. Divining the Beatles' world-beating quality, he spent much of early 1962 - while they were struggling to get a record contract - telling anyone who would listen that they would be bigger than Elvis. He was not taken seriously. Epstein avoided prison, despite this and other dangerous encounters, but Joe Orton did not. In April 1962, while still struggling writers, both he and Halliwell received a six-month prison sentence for stealing and defacing library books (which they then returned: their inspired and witty collages could now be considered high-concept art). Orton was certain that the sentence was passed "because we were queers". For Halliwell, prison was a crushing blow, but it honed Orton's prose: "Being in the nick brought detachment into my writing," he said in 1964. Within a year of his release, he received his first commission when The Boy Hairdresser was accepted by the BBC Third Programme. In September 1963, he began a new, full-length play designed as a full-blown attack on British society, that "old whore" which had lifted up her foul-smelling skirts. While Orton was writing Entertaining Mr Sloane, Joe Meek found himself in deep trouble. On November 11 1963, he was caught in a public toilet just off the Holloway Road and charged with "persistently importuning". He was fined, but his real punishment did not occur until the next day, when he was named and shamed on the front page of the Evening News as The Man Who Wrote Telstar. He became the target of blackmailers. The arrest happened at a critical time for Meek. In the early 60s, he had built himself up into Britain's foremost independent record producer with elemental melodramas like John Leyton's Johnny Remember Me and Wild Wind. In the last quarter of 1962, he hit paydirt with the Tornados' Telstar, No 1 in both the US and the UK, which gave a melody to the media age. However, the onset of the beat boom meant that he was becoming passe. The Beatles, not the Tornados, were at No 1 at the end of 1963. Meek continued to fight the odds. His last big hit came in 1964 with the Honeycombs' stomping Have I the Right - an oblique comment on his own blocked sexual and emotional fulfilment. In August 1966, he went public with his homosexuality in Do You Come Here Often, a Tornados B-side. This extraordinary slice of 60s gay life was among his very last releases. For all their unprecedented freedoms, however, the 60s could not wipe away the past. All three of these major cultural innovators were scarred by what they had gone through in the early 1950s, when to be homosexual meant that you were the lowest of the low. All three had suffered violence, prejudice, and the bullying attention of Laura Norder. Out of this adversity, however, came a ferocious drive. This is the syndrome known as gay over-achievement, an incandescent thirst for revenge - right, if you think I'm a piece of dirt, I'm going to show you and the world that I'm not. In fact, I'm going to do more than show you that I'm not a piece of dirt, I'm going to ram the fact that I'm better than you right down your throat. In public. So you have to see the fact that I am richer, cleverer, prettier than you every day, in the newspapers, in the magazines, on the television. So you can choke on your dirty words. All three enacted this drive with incredible force, as their experiences coloured their visionary sensibilities. Meek expanded the possibilities of recorded sound in a series of records that remain perfect distillations of teenage angst. Between 1964 and 1967, Joe Orton wrote five plays and three television screenplays and transformed British theatre with a new farcical language that combined camp's caustic cadences with stylised naturalism. In January 1967, Loot was awarded an award for the best play of the year. In the five years before his death, Brian Epstein saw his visions come true. Under his sympathetic guidance, the no-hoper Beatles became the biggest pop stars in the world. Unlike Elvis, they did not settle into mediocrity but changed the possibilities of pop forever by growing artistically and spiritually. The release of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in June 1967 was the pinnacle of their extraordinary career: as Brian Epstein had foreseen, they remain the biggest showbusiness story of the 20th century. Despite their achievements, all three found that success didn't eradicate the deep scars of exile. They had got to the top, and, for Meek and Epstein at least, it was a barren plateau. Drugs and sex - for Orton, lust was "an emotion indistinguishable from anger" - might have filled the hole, but they were never enough. If there was an underlying message to the 60s' careening momentum, it was that rage could turn inwards to self-destruction. The shocking thing about Joe Meek's lethal self-hatred is how many gay men of his generation shared the impulse. In his diary for March 11 1967, Joe Orton wrote about a conversation he had with his friend Kenneth Williams, by then a national figure in the UK for his appearances in the Carry On series of films. Orton found Williams "a horrible mess" sexually: "He mentions 'guilt' a lot in conversation." Though Orton rejected Williams's sexual guilt as the holdover from a bygone era, he couldn't escape his older partner, Kenneth Halliwell. The more that Orton flaunted his promiscuity in the diary entries and revelled in his success, the more depressed Halliwell became. On August 9 1967, his resentments exploded in a spasm of shocking violence. In turn, Epstein's mental state had deteriorated since August 1966, after the Beatles' stopped touring: he hadn't been able to attend their last ever show at San Francisco's Candlestick Park because his then boyfriend, a hustler called Diz Gillespie, had robbed him of money and valuable documents. According to his attorney and close friend Nat Weiss, that accounted for "his first major depression, the start of his loss of confidence". At the very moment that homosexuality was decriminalised in the UK, the No 1 record was the Beatles' All You Need Is Love - the recording of which had marked Brian Epstein's last ever public appearance with the group. Just when Britain began to savour the new freedoms that they had envisioned and help to bring about, Meek, Orton and Epstein succumbed to the actual or willed suicides that were one logical conclusion to the years that they had spent in the shadow. Stigmas can kill. · Jon Savage is the writer of the Arena documentary The Brian Epstein Story, which is broadcast on September 6 as part of BBC4's Hidden Lives week. Savage's anthology of gay records from 1960 to 1978, Queer Noises: From the Closet to the Charts, is available on Trikont Records.

Jon Savage threads together the extraordinary lives of Brian Epstein, Joe Orton and Joe Meek - three men persecuted for their homosexuality who died in 1967 - the year the stigma was supposed to be lifted.

You fell in love, moved in together … now, who should pay for what? Navigating finances as a cohabitating unmarried couple is one of the biggest strains on a relationship, but doing it correctly can be a predictor of whether it’ll last. Couples are notoriously poor about discussing their individual finances. Instead, they save those conversations for after they’ve moved in together. That means they keep separate bank accounts and have little knowledge of each other’s debt. “People tend not to think about their finances as a couple, but think about them in individual terms,” said Brad Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia. That may make sense short term, he said, but long term it can become problematic — especially since more and more couples share a home, but don’t tie the knot. Over the past two decades, the number of couples who live together, unmarried, has nearly doubled in many countries including the US, United Kingdom and other European nations. In Sweden, the majority of couples cohabitate, marrying only after they have children. “Many couples slide into a cohabiting relationship without discussing what it means” to them financially, says Galena Rhoades, a marriage researcher and associate professor at the University of Denver in Colorado. To split costs or not Most cohabitating couples divide expenses down the middle, Wilcox said. But that can be a problem when one half of the couple earns more than the other. The lower wage earner may feel the need to spend more to keep up with their partner and, as a result, save less or repeatedly dip into savings accounts to keep up. Not addressing a wage discrepancy “can create resentment,” Wilcox said. To keep finances fair, Jamie Seaman, a New York-based medical device sales representative, said she and her boyfriend split rent, utilities and big purchases based on their earnings. Seaman pays 40% of expenses, she said. The couple uses a spreadsheet to track purchases over $100. The system, managed by Seaman’s boyfriend, offers the couple transparency when it comes to who owes what. “Someone has to be the treasurer of your relationship,” she said. For most people, Wilcox recommends maintaining separate bank accounts while also opening a joint account used to pay common bills. That creates “a shared liability and a private zone,” Wilcox said. The higher wage earner should pay a larger share of the bills. Over time, cohabitating couples should start to naturally pool more of their money together to save for things like vacations or furniture. Dealing with ghosts of money past Being forthright about debt from previous purchases, loans or credit cards can be the biggest hurdle when couples first start to mingle finances. Setting clear expectations is also important. For example, will paying rent mean part ownership if you move in with your partner and he holds a mortgage on the house you now both live in? “If, for the next five to seven years, you [fund] the mortgage and you have no equity, that’s something that would concern me,” said Gary Shor, a vice president of financial and estate planning at AEPG Wealth Strategies in Warren, New Jersey. Disclose any big debts you have, too. Be honest about your obligations. Financial experts suggest a “no-nup” or pre-cohabitation agreement for those in the UK, US and most parts of Europe. These function in the same way as a prenuptial agreement and can be drawn up by a lawyer for about $1500. A customisable template is available for free at sites including rocketlawyer.com. If a no-nup isn’t appealing, attorney Frederick Hertz, author of Living Together: A Legal Guide for Unmarried Couples, recommends getting everything in writing, even a simple email, which is then agreed to by both partners in emailed responses. “In an absence of an agreement, neither will have any rights if they break up,” Hertz said. Keep evidence of leases, investments and large purchases, whether they’re purchased by one person or both. While it can take weeks to draft a contract or even an email agreement, “the process should strengthen your relationship,” said Hertz. “Lack of clarity is harmful.” Studies show that combining finances before marriage can be a positive for the relationship, said Rhoades — although perhaps not for the most romantic reasons. When you don’t intermingle funds, it is far easier for one person to simply leave the relationship without as much thought about what disentanglement could mean, she said. “They have already set up that exit plan,” Rhoades said. But there’s also a happy medium for some couples — a shared budgeting process. Tyler Felous, a co-founder of a financial start-up, said he and his girlfriend have come up with a joint budget that they manage together. It helps them understand each other’s financial goals. To keep costs down, the Ann Arbor, Michigan, couple agree to spend no more than $300 on dining out and $600 on groceries per month. Felous, 25, and his girlfriend also keep a monthly tally sheet to make sure they are on track with their spending. “It’s helped us understand how we will coexist once we get married,” he said. If you would like to comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Capital, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.

Combining love and money? The secrets to successfully splitting expenses and merging funds when you live together

Last May, I wrote about the coming wave of bitcoin ATMs. Today, it looks like they have arrived, landing first in Boston’s bustling South Station. The device, manufactured by New Hampshire’s Lamassu, Inc. and placed by Boston startup Liberty Teller, appears to have narrowly beat out a planned bitcoin ATM launch in New Mexico (though that may be disputed). Liberty Teller triumphantly tweeted the launch and said it was planning to give away free bitcoins stored in paper wallets to encourage adoption of the digital currency. Bitcoin is a digital cryptocurrency that, in some ways, is analogous to cash: It can be transferred from one person to another without a third-party, can be bought and sold anonymously, and is tradeable on a variety of currency marketplaces. It has been closely tied with black markets online, where it is popular as a way to transact business without a credit card or PayPal account, and among libertarians worried about government monetary policy. It has also been an incredibly volatile currency with the value of a single bitcoin peaking at around $1,200 in December and then crashing down to under $600 more recently — after having been valued at $100 per bitcoin for much of 2013. Despite the volatility, the currency is somewhat usable on a day-to-day basis: Overstock.com and a number of other online retailers now accept it, as do a few local restaurants, to occasionally mixed results. Those preferring to dine in can even get their bitcoin-bought meal delivered via Foodler.

What is likely America's first bitcoin ATM has arrived in some prime Boston real estate, setting up shop at South Station. Customers can exchange cash for bitcoin in as little as 30 seconds, the company behind the machine promises, and to celebrate its launch the company is giving out free bitcoin.

Born – March 1, 1994 Ontario, Canada The biggest teen sensation ever!!! Unless you count The Jonas Brothers, ‘NSYNC, Britney Spears, Donny Osmond, The Beatles, Ricky Nelson, Frank Sinatra, etc. Also Menudo. Was discovered on YouTube, got signed by Usher, introduced the world to a bold new haircut. His single "Baby" is one of the most viewed YouTube videos ever, just behind the video of the monkey peeing into his own mouth. Won "Best New Artist" at the 2010 BET Awards, which makes total sense since he is very clearly bl... essed with talent. Threw a fit in 2011 when his manager wouldn't let him buy a remote control helicopter. Now rolls around in a $200,000 Ferrari. Has been compared to Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake and countless lesbians … ‘cause he kinda looks like one. Will be fondly remembered for getting violently blown away on “CSI” ... roll the clip! Oh, we can't do that here? Well trust us. It's great.

Justin Bieber on TMZ, your go-to source for celebrity news, photos, & videos. Latest Story: Justin Bieber -- Paying Mom's Rent ... And Mom's In Trouble!

Anselm Kiefer is probably best known for his dramatic, monumental paintings, which are sometimes so heavy that gallery walls have to be reinforced for them to hang. But his first full retrospective shows there is much more to him than just size. For example, his early watercolours possess a "lyricism and lightness of touch that I think will surprise many," said Kathleen Soriano, the departing director of exhibitions at the Royal Academy and curator of what promises to be a significant exhibition. The RA said it was giving over its galleries to the German artist on a similar scale to its exhibitions for David Hockney and Anish Kapoor. Kiefer is considered as one of the most important artists of his generation. Christopher Le Brun, the president of the RA, said Kiefer's influence was enormous. "If anybody has brought back the idea of history painting and painting with a serious subject matter, with moral and powerful vision, it is Anselm. He has absolutely transformed European art." Soriano has spent the last four years planning the show with Kiefer and there will be at least five galleries of new work, she said. Kiefer said he was happy to have the retrospective, although he admitted: "I think a retrospective for an artist is difficult because it is boring. It is your own work. I prefer to look to the future." On Tuesday the RA gave its first details of the show. The exhibition will span Kiefer's career over more than 40 years and include painting, sculpture, photography and installation. It will explore Kiefer's fascination with history and his attempts to address some of the biggest moral and philosophical issues. His work confronts head-on Germany's darker history and the show will include photographs and paintings from his Occupations and Heroic Symbols series from the late 1960s and early 1970s. The images, controversial at the time, record Kiefer's re-enactment of the Nazi salute made in locations across Europe. Kiefer is not a fan of forensically dissecting his art and has previously spoken of how he fears that the beauty of art will "dissolve into ashes" when it is talked about His paintings are loaded with meaning, however, and while they will be explored at length in the audio guides and the catalogue, Soriano said they planned minimal interpretation in the show. "This is to allow the viewer to make their own personal connections with the works and also to allow for the purely aesthetic response to, what I feel, are sublimely beautiful works." There will also be a major Kiefer installation planned for the RA's courtyard. • Anselm Kiefer is at the Royal Academy from 27 September - 14 December

German artist's retrospective charts progress from early watercolours to controversial 1970s re-enactments of Nazi salute

Two years ago, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a medical doctor and moderate Islamist politician, was a serious contender for Egypt’s presidency. Today, as Egypt lurches toward its second presidential contest in as many years, and its first since the military overthrew elected president Mohamed Morsi last July, Aboul Fotouh has refused to run again. “This isn’t a democratic election,” he told TIME last week. “It’s more like a referendum with two names, and one of the candidates represents state institutions and the military.” That candidate is Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, the former commander of the armed forces who ousted and imprisoned Morsi, led a sweeping clampdown on Islamists under the guise of a “war against terrorism” and is now poised to prevail in the upcoming presidential election. “There’s no real competition because he’s had the support of the media since July 3,” Abul Fotouh said of the former military chief. With a Sisi victory regarded as a near-certainty, the stage is set for an electoral anticlimax. Sisi’s only challenger, longtime Nasserist activist Hamdeen Sabahi, is polling in the single digits and struggling to overcome the cult of personality surrounding Sisi, who has positioned himself as the candidate of law and order and the man who rescued Egypt from the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that alienated much of the public while in power and has been demonized in the media since the military takeover. The upcoming election also comes in the aftermath of the deadliest period of political violence in Egypt’s recent history. In the wake of Morsi’s ouster, the military-backed government has arrested as many as 21,000 people including dissidents and journalists, outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, and killed more than 1,000 people during clashes with demonstrators. Islamist news organizations have been shut down, and a new law bans street demonstrations that take place without a government permit. As a result, several distinct political blocs are refusing to participate in the election to protest the crackdown. The Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of deposed president Morsi, who at one time were the largest organized force in Egyptian politics, are boycotting the election outright on the pretense that the position of president is “not currently vacant.” Many ordinary Egyptians plan to sit out the poll out of exhaustion and disgust with politics after more than three years of upheaval — a sea change from the colorful, chaotic, and unpredictable presidential campaign of 2012, when Aboul Fotouh ran as an independent. The 62-year-old was a longtime member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the same group to which Morsi belongs. A voice of political pluralism, he was expelled from the organization in 2011 over his bid for the presidency. His campaign promised reform and assembled a rainbow coalition of Islamists and secular activists. In the first round of voting, he came in fourth, but still garnered more than four million votes, or more than 17% of the total. Despite spending most of his career in Islamist politics, Aboul Fotouh condemned Morsi’s polarizing style of politics as president, and backed the protests against him. But the former candidate rues what has happened since Morsi was deposed. “In this security atmosphere, this republic of fear, true political, democratic hope isn’t possible,” he said. “This repression has to stop, this use of the security apparatus to oppress people, or else there will be another revolutionary explosion, dangerous for the country.” Numerous activists, veterans of the protests against both Mubarak and Morsi, also regard the election as a pageant. Ali Hassan Ali, 51, campaigned after Mubarak’s departure to try and convict police and security officials responsible for the deaths of protesters. Today he is part of a group of activists urging what he calls a “positive boycott.” The idea is for people to show up at the polls, but write on their ballots that they reject the premise of the current election. “The goal of the boycott is to continue the revolution,” said Ali. “There is a large group of revolutionaries who reject this electoral process, because it is at its core the result of a military coup.” The April Sixth Youth Movement, a group that was instrumental in helping to launch the protests against Mubarak, has also called for an election boycott weeks after the group’s activities were banned by a court order. “It became clear that this is theater and that Sabahi is joining just to make Sisi’s propaganda look good,” said Ramy El Swissy, co-founder of the movement and member of its political office, speaking in a separate interview. “There’s no such thing as a free election after a coup.” Sabahi is not letting such doubts dampen his candidacy, embarking on an upbeat multi-city campaign swing on May 16, through Nile Delta en route to Alexandria. His aides insist that the campaign is serious, noting that Sabahi came from behind in 2012 to finish third behind Morsi and Mubarak’s last Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq. “We’re sure that Sabahi can win this election,” said Emad Atef, a member of Sabahi’s campaign committee. But even Atef acknowledged the problem of voter fatigue. Since 2011, Egyptians have voted in three constitutional referendums, three phases of parliamentary voting, and a presidential election. “They’re tired of politics,” he said. “The political process hasn’t made any kind of real change in the last three years.” That may be why many Egyptians, yearning for stability and hoping for an economic and social recovery, welcome the firm leadership that Sisi represents. “Sisi is a strong man. He has a military background. He knows there is terrorism in the country, that the entire Brotherhood is a terrorist organization. They killed people, police, and soldiers,” said Zeinab Abdel Halim, a grocer on a leafy corner in a middle class section of the Cairo neighborhood of Mohandiseen. But millions of others remain disaffected. “If someone speaks against Sisi, they’re terrified. Everyone’s scared,” said Abdallah Mohamed Said, a taxi driver from the working class district of Shubra. “I’m not voting. There’s no point. Egypt is finished.” The aura of inevitability gathering around Sisi has both drained the suspense from the current election cycle and moved the argument ahead to how Sisi will tackle Egypt’s stagnant economy, creaking infrastructure, and persistent Sinai-based armed insurgency, and whether the political crackdown will continue. The winner of the election “will be the president,” said Aboul Fotouh, sitting in his New Cairo office. “Their authority will be a reality,” he said, “de facto.”

Although many Egyptians consider this weekend's presidential election an undemocratic farce, little stands in the way of the former military commander's ascendancy to the nation's highest office

Brough Turner’s audacious scheme to bringa high-speed broadband network to Boston to rival those of the Internet giants rests on a technology from the 19th century: radio airwaves. Using unlicensed radio frequencies — the same spectrum used for Wi-Fi hot spots and garage door openers — Turner is beaming access to the Web from a thicket of radio antennas he has installed on the 61st floor of the John Hancock Tower to a network of receivers on rooftops around Boston. Some 200 business and residential customers of Turner’s company, netBlazr Inc. — from tech startups in West Cambridge to residents in the South End — enjoy Internet connections starting at 15 megabits per second for as little as $40 a month. For businesses that demand more bandwidth, netBlazr offers speeds of up to 500 megabits per second, or enough to support a big company with hundreds of employees. “I was a little skeptical,” said Walter Ferme, the owner of CAJ House, which rents out corporate housing in Boston. At first, he used netBlazr as backup Internet service for his properties, but made it his primary provider when it proved reliable. “Go local — that’s what I always tell people,” Ferme said. Turner and his cofounder, netBlazr chief executive Jim Hanley, are veterans of the computer networking and communications industry, with several successes under their belts. They started the company in 2010 on the assumption that consumers in the Boston area were hungry for low-cost, high-speed Internet service, without long-term contracts or the confusing bundles offered by the big providers. For all of Boston’s acclaim as a hotbed of technology, local entrepreneurs complain they do not have that many low-cost options for fast Web access. Verizon Communications, for example, does not offer its high-speed FiOS service in the city. Comcast Corp. does have some lower-cost offerings, but if cable is not already in the building, it can cost tens of thousands of dollars to wire up an office. The one erstwhile challenger, RCN Corp., is only in select city neighborhoods. Other companies that offer super-fast connections, such as Cogent Communications and Lightower Fiber Networks, often start at about $1,000 a month. Delivering Web access via radio waves is not all that new. A handful of companies around the country offer a service similar to netBlazr’s. But only recently have high-powered antennas capable of transmitting the Web over several city blocks become affordable, a few hundred dollars each for the off-the-shelf antennas that netBlazr uses. “We don’t have to dig up the streets or hang things on poles,” Turner said. “Basically what we are building around Boston is a network of antennas.” The antennas netBlazr uses can beam Internet connections as far as 15 miles without reductions in speed, Turner said, so long as they do not encounter interference. But in a busy city, those waves can be interrupted by Wi-Fi signals, baby monitors, even cordless phones. To preserve fidelity, netBlazr closely spaces its antennas, usually at less than one mile apart, with many of them 500 yards of each other. What has also helped netBlazr establish a foothold is a set of conditions unique to cities such as Boston where there are still older buildings that have not been rewired for the modern Internet. Those buildings, in Chinatown, the Leather District, and other neighborhoods, have drawn tech startups for their cheap rents and period charm. Yet if there is no cable Internet already in the building, businesses may face hefty construction costs to bring the service in from nearby streets. “The problem they are trying to tackle is that decent Internet can be expensive and sometimes not available,” said David Abrams, a former tech executive who teaches courses on the Internet and law at Suffolk University Law School. From his turn-of-the-century office building near Downtown Crossing, Ben Einstein paid $1,000 a month for a feed from Verizon running at 10 megabits per second, barely fast enough for two people in his office to video conference at the same time. “My cellphone is faster than that,” Einstein said. “I literally had to walk to the coffee shop to do Skype calls.” He found netBlazr by searching the Web. Einstein now pays $70 a month for a 40-megabit connection, plenty fast enough for his firm, Bolt, which provides tech startups with early-stage funding and work space. The big providers do not seem fazed by netBlazr. Verizon spokesman Phil Santoro had not even heard of the company until contacted by the Globe. “This is yet another demonstration of the highly competitive and dynamic nature of the broadband marketplace,” he said. So far, netBlazr’s service is confined to neighborhoods around downtown Boston and parts of Cambridge and Allston that are dense enough for its network to function. But it is adding about 30 customers a month and has antennas on some 35 buildings, where they also act as relay points to extend the network. In addition to the Hancock Tower, netBlazr taps directly into fiber connections in Brighton and North Cambridge. NetBlazr has some of the same challenges as its bigger rivals. For example, installation fees run about $200 for an apartment building and start at $300 for businesses, depending on the configuration and conditions. Comcast, by contrast, sometimes will bring its cable connections into a building for free if there are enough businesses or tenants willing to sign up. Comcast, Verizon, and other traditional providers do not have to worry about trees, either. A major limitation facing netBlazr’s expansion to outlying neighborhoods is that trees interfere with radio waves, which means the company has to be selective about where it expands. “It gets a lot harder when you get out to West Roxbury or Newton,” Turner acknowledged. One of its first customers was Carbonite, the provider of computer backup services in the Back Bay. It first used netBlazr in 2012 as a backup to its main service from Verizon. After netBlazr “ran months and months and months without a hiccup,” Carbonite’s chief executive, David Friend, elected to drop Verizon and use the radio waves for the company’s main Internet service. Friend is a fan in every possible way. He started using it at his Commonwealth Avenue home, and persuaded his neighbors to sign up, too. “The people in my building got it because I got it, and they figure if it doesn’t work, they can yell at me,” Friend said. Friend has also become an investor in netBlazr and holds a seat on its board. NetBlazr may not always be the cheapest option for fast Internet, though. Bigger customers may be able to negotiate lower prices directly from the fiber-optic providers that netBlazr uses to connect to the backbone of the Internet. Because of the way the big providers package their services, it is not easy to compare Verizon or Comcast to netBlazr; most plans do not have the same speeds for downloading and uploading information, as netBlazr does. For example, on the closest Comcast plan upload speeds are 5 megabits per second, compared with 15 megabits for netBlazr’s entry-level plan. The base price for that Comcast plan is $40 a month in the first year and $55 after the first year. What’s more, for a base price of about $80 a month, Comcast cable subscribers also get more than 200 TV channels. With netBlazr, it is just the Web. But that seems to be just fine with its customers, said Jim Hanley, chief executive. “All they want is a superfast, affordable Internet connection.”

For a guy trying upend the Internet delivery business, Brough Turner spends a lot of time tinkering with century old technology: the radio antenna. But that’s exactly what Turner and his fledgling startup, netBlazr Inc., are using to build a new kind of broadband network around Boston and Cambridge as an alternative to giants Comcast Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. “I’m looking for ways to build a business that someday could be a serious competitor to Comcast and Verizon,” said Turner. “I’m looking to do an end run around the monopolies.” That may seem like a lot of bluster. But netBlazr has a fast growing cadre of loyal customers who are spreading the word about its service. And even though it’s still little known, the company has become the No. 1 rated local internet service provider on Yelp, garnering a collective five stars. That’s a rarity for any company, let alone one in an industry that typically ranks at the bottom of consumer satisfaction surveys. “It’s a David and Goliath story,” said Jim Hanley, netBlazr’s chief executive officer. But, he said, “we want to be the best Internet provider in Boston.” NetBlazr is beginning to pick up steam. It is adding about 30 new customers a month and its subscribers range from South End residents to downtown tech startups to one of the one of the country’s largest seafood importers.