Mikayla Minton pitched a pair of complete-game wins as the train that is McKinleyville High softball kept rolling Tuesday afternoon, picking up a pair of Big 5 Conference wins over visiting Fortuna, at McKinleyville High.
McKinleyville 10-run-ruled Fortuna in both games by scores of 13-2 (5) in game one and 15-5 (6) in game two.
Minton, McKinleyville’s second pitcher behind McKenzie Gonsalves, got the start in both games and performed admirably in each. In game one the junior allowed two runs, none earned, on five hits and six strikeouts and in game two, five runs, one earned, on four hits and two strikeouts. Minton gave up just four walks on the day, two in each game, as she showed that her still-undefeated Panthers (9-0, 14-0) are not solely reliant upon Gonsalves and can get wins on days when she doesn’t take the circle.
McKenna Turner had an extremely proficient day at the plate for McKinleyville, going 6-for-8, including a 3-for-3 performance in game one, with a pair of RBIs on the afternoon.
Jaycee Morais went 2-for-4 with a trio of RBIs in game one and in game two, recorded another two hits for McKinleyville and scored three runs as well.
Ashley Ballew had a memorable game two for McKinleyville, batting 3-for-5 with three RBIs and a run scored.
Renee Metz put together a quality opening-game performance for Fortuna, going 3-for-3 with a run scored while Paige Johnson and Lexi Roby each had a double in the loss. Morgan Murray and Roby both hit well in game two as each went 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI.
McKinleyville will take a step back from conference play for the rest of the month before concluding its regular season with a 3-game series against Eureka (1-0, 7-2). Eureka, its season slowed by all-too-frequent cancellations due to rain, has yet to really break into its Big 5 schedule. It will need to win at least six of its next eight conference games before seeing McKinleyville at the end of the season if it wants to have a shot at passing the Panthers up in the Big 5 standings — otherwise, McKinleyville may have its first conference championship since 2011 locked up before it even plays its final conference series of the season.
Fortuna (0-6, 3-10) will look to snap its current eight-game losing streak today when it takes on Eureka.


Democrats who lead the New Jersey Assembly have introduced legislation that would provide sales tax rebates to property owners and small businesses rebuilding after Sandy.
Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver and Majority Leader Lou Greenwald introduced the bill Monday to provide sales tax rebates on construction supplies and services bought between Oct. 30, 2012 and Jan. 1, 2014.
Oliver says the Legislature's top priority is finding ways to help New Jerseyans affected by Sandy and the bill would help move the recovery forward.
The legislators say a similar rebate bill became law after Tropical Storm Floyd in 1999.
The measure allows for sales tax rebates with receipts on construction materials, carpeting, appliances, vehicles, contracting services and more.
Rebates would be offered only on goods and services for primary residences.


Outnumbered on Fox News to feature four female hosts, one man. We’re gonna need a bigger glass desk.
New Fox News Show Outnumbered Will Have Four Female Hosts and One Man. Get It?
Kimberly Guilfoyle and Andrea Tantaros will host a new show on Fox News, in which they and two other women will gang up on one man.
Roger Ailes is an evil genius. In the midst of a nationwide debate over whether Republicans are waging a war on women, Fox News is launching a new show called Outnumbered at the end of April. Outnumbered because the show will feature four female and one male host. The man will be “outnumbered,” meaning that even though Outnumbered is supposedly a female-centric show, the male point of view is still so central that it gives the show its title.
Really, the word outnumbered should apply to the rest of Fox’s programming, where only 36 percent of anchors and correspondents are women. But you know, that’s the natural order of things. (Except on MSNBC and CNN, where women make up 48 percent and 58 percent, respectively, of anchors and correspondents.) Gender imbalance is only noteworthy when women outnumber men.
Still, you have to hand it to Ailes for mastering the art of having it both ways. On the one hand, there’s no reason to think this show will be anything but excruciatingly sexist, starting with that condescending title that treats female anchors like a novelty. Mediaite reports that the show will feature Kimberly Guilfoyle and Andrea Tantaros, two women who have built careers out of reassuring cranky old misogynists that there are hot young women out there who agree with them.* On the other hand, the very setup of the show inoculates it against this accusation, since hey, Fox is giving women jobs on TV. It’s the same trick Republicans pull by putting female faces out front when pushing abortion restrictions or undermining equal-pay efforts.
So, will I tune in for Outnumbered? Absolutely, if only to see how the set designers create a desk that can show off four pairs of legs at once. Maybe, once given a show of their own, the second-tier ladies of Fox will start throwing their weight around like Megyn Kelly does. Kelly, who actually kicked Sean Hannity out of his time slot, has enough power to occasionally push back a little against the overwhelming tide of sexism spewing forth from her network. Then again, Kelly has a unique presence on the network, and she knows it, whereas many of the other women likely understand that someone else open to wearing 6-inch heels and shellacking on the makeup can probably replace them. For now, I’m just training for the Outnumbered drinking game: Every time the male host faux-complains about how disempowered he is around all these ladies, take a shot.
Correction, April 17, 2014: This post originally misspelled Mediaite.


Princess Leia, played by Lily Grisafi, left, Will Bangs, Sam Cast, and a generic stormtrooper, get photographed together at the gala. The Boulder International Film Festival kicked off it's 10th anniversary year with an it's traditional opening night gala Thursday. There were bands, food, drinks and costumed movie characters, as people celebrated the opening of the festival.
For more photos and a video of opening night, go to http://www.dailycamera.com.


Every year, people count down the days until Starbucks unveils one of their most-popular offerings, the Pumpkin Spice Latte. The espresso-based concoction of pumpkin flavorings, spices, and sweet cream signals the coming of fall, and to some, there is a McRib-like fascination that only comes with products that aren’t available year-round.
And you can help make sure that the Pumpkin Spice Latte debuts in your city first. All you have to do is interact with Starbucks on Facebook.
For the second year in a row, Starbucks is holding the Pumpkin Spice Latte Challenge on Facebook. Beginning today, the challenge sees Starbucks fans competing to earn points for their city through shares on Facebook and Twitter, and various mini-games including word searches, trivia, and artistic contests.
Starbucks currently has over 31.4 million likes on Facebook.
Get your game face on, #pslchallenge starts tomorrow!
The city with the most points will be the first to receive Starbucks’ famous beverage. The company picks one U.S. and one Canadian city as winners. Last year Chicago and Calgary were the lucky locations, with Chicago garnering 7.3% of all the points in the U.S. and Calgary taking 16% of the Canadian points.


With prom season underway, it's time for some pampering.
Local makeup artists and hairstylists gathered inside Foster Kinship in North Las Vegas to give underprivileged girls a free makeover for prom.
Organizer Paz Ramirez says it's all about using her craft to give back.
"I want them to feel loved, I want them to feel fabulous," she said. "It's just a loving experience on both sides."
The event ran from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on April 7 at Foster Kinship at 4344 West Cheyenne Avenue. More events are planned for April 14, 21, and 28. Click here for more details .


All Greater Farmington Founders Day Festival activities, except for the parade, will be held at Shiawassee Park in 2019.
Dennis Page is banking on bands, dinner specials and his famed ox roast sandwiches to help draw patrons to his restaurant during Greater Farmington Founders Day Festival, July 18-21.
Drumming up business for Page’s Food & Spirits always has been a breeze during the event in previous years since it sits right downtown. But with nearly all of the festival action — from the beer tent to entertainment — moving to Shiawassee Park in 2019, Page is brainstorming ways to keep up momentum.
“In the past years it’s been the busiest week of the year for my business,” said Page, from his seat at the bar on a recent afternoon. “People would come here to eat before going to the beer tent, after going to the beer tent. If you’re going to take it to the park it’s obviously not going to help businesses here if it’s a mile away in the park.
Page, whose restaurant is located on Farmington Road approximately a half-mile to the park, is among business owners who oppose the decision to move the festival from downtown. The Greater Farmington Chamber of Commerce, which runs the festival, held children’s events and Fido Fest dog activities at Shiawassee Park last year, while maintaining musical entertainment and a beer tent in the parking lot at the Downtown Farmington Center on Grand River Avenue and Farmington Road. Art and crafts vendor booths were stationed on Farmington Road, south of State Street.
Next year all but the parade on Grand River will be held in the park. A section of Shiawassee Road from Power to Farmington Road will be closed.
Farmington City Council unanimously approved the Chamber’s special event application earlier this month.
Mary Martin, Chamber president, said the park is “logistically good” for a full festival, including entertainment and a beer tent. She told city officials that the children’s activities and canine events were successful last year and that sponsors were interested in concentrating all activities at one site, strengthening the festival’s exposure. She also noted that public safety costs would decrease with all activities in one place and parking would be freed up in the downtown shopping center. Farmington Road downtown also would remain open.
“Certainly, the beer tent is a draw in the evening, but in the day people are looking for entertainment. People are looking for things to do, not necessarily to buy things,” she said, during a recent phone interview.
At Joe’s Headquarters on Farmington Road north of State Street, hairstylist Brandy Gregg voiced her support for moving the festival to Shiawassee Park. She said some of her clients cancelled appointments during the event when it was held downtown because they couldn’t find parking in the area.
Joe and Kendra Mantey, owners of The Cheese Lady, located on the east side of the Downtown Farmington Center, said the festival neither helped nor hurt their business.
“One the one hand you hopefully have some new people come in and that theoretically leads to more business later. But on the other hand there was no place to park. They used up an awful lot of the parking lot to hold the festival,” Joe Mantey said.
Kristy Libby has worked festival weekends at Farmington Center Florist, which is located on the west end of the shopping center. She said the event generated new customers for the store.
“We get a lot of people coming in that didn’t know we were here,” she said,.
Greg Cowley, a former DDA member, former councilman, and owner of John Cowley & Sons Irish Pub & Restaurant, criticized the move in a statement posted on the restaurant website. He wrote that holding the festival in Shiawassee Park would cost downtown businesses revenue and over time would downgrade the event.
“My biggest objection is restaurants are going to pay the price for the moving of the beer tent to the park. They’ll fill the place with food trucks. All that revenue going to food trucks. That is not economic development," he said.
He accused the city council and Downtown Development Authority of abdicating their responsibility by allowing the Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with an events production company, to produce the festival.
According to DDA Director Kate Knight, a nonprofit organization ran the festival before the DDA took it on in 2009, handing management to the Chamber in 2014. She said the event became “overwhelming” for her predecessor and DDA staff.
“There are no downtown development authorities that run big events. That’s not the way it works any more. It’s not part of what DDAs do. Either you’re going to do economic development and downtown development, capital projects or you’re going to be a party planner,” she said.
Knight said the festival is a perfect time for downtown businesses to create their own special activities, such as a sidewalk sale or party tent. Miller encourages restaurants to participate in the park or run shuttle buses from the park to downtown.
Miller said the Chamber is in discussion with Our Lady of Sorrows and Farmington Public Schools for use of parking lots at the church and Farmington High School. Final plans will be announced closer to the event.


“Iran’s Alvand and Bushehr warships have been dispatched to the Gulf of Aden to protect trade vessels from piracy,” Tasnim reported.
The US military strikes were in response to failed missile attacks this week on a US Navy destroyer, officials said.
Iran’s 44th flotilla, comprising Alvand destroyer and Bushehr logistic warship, has been dispatched to the Gulf of Aden and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to protect the country’s trade vessels against piracy in the unsafe zone, the agency said.
It added that the Iranian fleet would head to waters near Somalia and Tanzania and through the Indian Ocean.
After making a port call in Tanzania, the 44th fleet will sail along the eastern coasts of Africa if the weather holds out, and is scheduled to sail for the western coasts of South Africa, in the South Atlantic Ocean.
The presence of the Iranian fleet in the Gulf of Aden comes after with the Pentagon announced late on Wednesday that it struck and destroyed three radar sites controlled by the Houthi militias in Yemen.
On Thursday, the US military launched cruise missile strikes to destroy coastal radar sites in Yemen in retaliation for an attacks on a US Navy destroyer launched from territories controlled by Houthis. Iran's key neighbors accuse Tehran of providing support to the Houthis.


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Whether considering our highly educated workforce, robust payroll numbers, jobs, or employers, the 495/MetroWest region continues to offer a high return on investment for the commonwealth, employers, and residents; a vibrant and diverse employment base; and an excellent quality of life," the report concludes.
BOSTON - Communities west of Boston and near Interstate 495 continue to enjoy commercial rents and home prices well below averages in the metropolitan Boston area despite steady population growth, according to a new report.
The 495/MetroWest Partnership's Economic and Commercial Real Estate Report, released Tuesday at the Statehouse, found an increasing gap in affordability between properties in Boston and those in the partnership's region. Lower costs, coupled with availability of real estate and below-average unemployment, indicate a strong economic climate in the MetroWest area, the report concluded.
Municipal officials, business executives and legislators from the region — which encompasses 35 communities along Interstate 495, as far north as Westford and as far south as Foxborough — gathered Tuesday for the group's annual advocacy day. Senate President Karen Spilka of Ashland, who delivered the keynote address, said the report reflects significant changes to an area that was once agrarian and spread out.
"So much has happened over these last 10 years to help make this region of the state — which I think is not only the best in the commonwealth but the best in the country — a truly wonderful place to live, work and raise a family," Spilka said.
Mean class A rents in the 495 belt were less than one-third the comparable rents in Boston in the fourth quarter of 2018, the largest disparity between the two metrics since at least 2010. Single-family homes are competitively priced, too: since 2008, the median price for a single-family home increased 23 percent in MetroWest and 92 percent in Boston and Cambridge.
The region continues to have hundreds of thousands of square feet available for businesses to lease at multiple locations, but job numbers appear strong in the report, too. MetroWest's unemployment rate of 2.6 percent is about half a percentage point lower than the statewide rate, and the lowest it has been since 2000.
"Whether considering our highly educated workforce, robust payroll numbers, jobs, or employers, the 495/MetroWest region continues to offer a high return on investment for the commonwealth, employers, and residents; a vibrant and diverse employment base; and an excellent quality of life," the report concludes.
Spilka pointed to significant growth in recent decades. The region's population increased about 50 percent between 1970 and present day, and the total annual payroll jumped from $2.6 billion in 1980 to $24.5 billion in 2018, she said.
"The data shows the growing importance of the 495 and MetroWest region, from the $24.5 billion in regional payroll to the growth in commercial real estate and lab space," said Paul Matthews, executive director of the Westborough-based 495/MetroWest Partnership, in a brief phone interview with the Daily News.
Despite the positive indicators, Spilka stressed in her remarks that the burgeoning region still faces numerous challenges, many of which are similar to those experienced across the state. Traffic can be suffocating. Affordable housing, even if better than Boston, is not as widely available as is needed.
"In MetroWest, we are clearly open to embracing and managing change, but our greatest challenge will be continuing to manage the growth," Spilka said. "We must be really careful to continue to carefully steward our growth."
She outlined several priorities she hopes to see taken up in the Legislature to improve quality of life in MetroWest and elsewhere. Lawmakers need to find consensus on addressing climate change, lowering prescription drug costs, and improving mental health services, she said.
The Senate President voiced hope that this session would finally see education reforms enacted, almost four years after the Foundation Budget Review Commission outlined crucial gaps in the existing formula that leave schools underfunded by as much as $1 billion. She also echoed House Speaker Robert DeLeo's interest in considering various options to raise new transportation revenues.
"We know what the problems are. We know roughly what the price tag is. We know the longer we wait to fix, the higher the price tag goes up," Spilka said. "Everything should be on the table."


In an interview, Kuldeep Yadav talked about the incident when the then skipper MS Dhoni got angry with him during a match.
Former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has gained the reputation of being “Captain Cool” because of his calm and composed behaviour on the field, even in tense situations. The 37-year old had led India to three ICC trophies over the years as captain and his ability to keep things cool has been regarded as the reason for the success. But, chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, in an interview, revealed that the wicketkeeper-batsman has an angry side as well.
Speaking to Vikram Sathaye in the web series What The Duck, the left-arm spinner revealed an incident when Dhoni lost his cool with him in the middle of the match. Yadav, who attended the show with fellow spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, narrated the incident which took place during the second T20I between India and Sri Lanka in Indore in December 2017.
“Wherever I pitched the ball, it went for six. The ground was so small. After every six, I would look at Mahi (Dhoni). He would say, ‘it wasn’t that far, you should keep it further’,” the 24-year old said.
“After hearing this, Mahi bhai got angry and said, “Kya main pagal hoon yaha pe, mai 300 ODI khela hoon (You think I’m mad? I’ve played 300 ODIs)’,” he said.
Coincidentally, Yadav managed to pick up the wicket soon after adjusting the field as per Dhoni’s instructions. In the match, the bowler gave away 52 runs with 3 wickets in his 4 overs. India managed to win the match by 88 runs with Rohit Sharma slamming a 35-ball hundred.
1 India vs England Live Cricket Streaming, IND vs ENG 1st ODI Live Streaming Online: When and where to watch IND vs ENG 1st ODI?


"The student left an In-School Suspension room without permission and entered the cafeteria yelling comments toward the other students," police wrote.
The words and actions of a 14-year-old Cedar Crest High School Student caused "great alarm" and an evacuation of the school's cafeteria during school hours on Feb. 20.
"School Officials contacted the police department after the student left an In-School Suspension room without permission and entered the cafeteria yelling comments toward the other students," South Lebanon Township Police wrote. "The student's actions caused great alarm to the students, staff and parents."
The unnamed boy was charged with terroristic threats and disorderly conduct, police said.
Amy Wissinger, the Cornwall Lebanon School District's community relations coordinator, clarified that some students evacuated the cafeteria but the building was not evacuated.
"The situation was quickly brought under control by high school administration and law enforcement. Some students left the cafeteria/evacuated the area (not the building) because people were in a highly anxious state following the events at the high school in Parkland (Florida)," Wissinger wrote in an email.
Also last Tuesday, Ceder Crest Superintendent Philip Domencic has posted a message to the district's website explaining that the school was working with police to investigate "reports of a social media post suggesting rumors of a possible threat." School continued as usual because the threat was not considered credible, but the district took additional security measures.
The two incidents do not appear to have been related.


The defendant and the victim were both in jail and available for trial, but five prosecution witnesses failed to show Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court, delaying for two months the trial of a 16-year-old city teen charged with attempted murder.
Maurice Davoughn McMillan, of 623 N. Locust St. in Hagerstown is charged with second-degree attempted murder, first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment in the Oct. 9, 2011, stabbing of Jarvel Fostion.
Fostion, 18, of 106 W. Bethel St., Apt. B, Hagerstown, was stabbed five times in the torso, according to city police charging documents.
Fostion was jailed April 20, 2012, for allegedly pulling a handgun on a Hagerstown police officer.
Assistant State’s Attorney Michele Hansen requested a continuance from Judge Donald E. Beachley because five state witnesses, all of whom had been subpoenaed, were not in court.
Beachley granted the motion and rescheduled the trial for July 5.
The missing people were all witnesses to the assault McMillan is alleged to have committed on Fostion, Hansen said after the hearing.
One of the witnesses apparently did not appear because she had not been transported from a state Department of Juvenile Services facility, Hansen said.
Beachley ordered “body attachments” against the missing witnesses — a court order that they be brought before a judge promptly to determine why they did not appear in court as required under the subpoenas.
The subpoenas will remain in effect, he said.
“This is really unusual,” said Beachley, who also granted a continuance in an unrelated case Tuesday morning because four prosecution witnesses, including two victims, did not appear to testify in the case of a man charged with assault with a handgun.
McMillan’s attorney, Robin Ficker, objected to the continuance, asking that the jury trial proceed.
He also complained to Beachley that another judge had quashed his subpoena for Assistant State’s Attorney Gina Cirincion to appear as a defense witness.
Police charging documents said that Fostion approached McMillan in front of McMillan’s home on Oct. 9.
The two had been arguing through text messages that night over McMillan allegedly stealing property from Fostion’s friends, the documents said.
An argument broke out that escalated into a fight, and Fostion was stabbed, the documents said.


Idealists like to say that money doesn’t decide elections, but the truth is, it usually does, said Don Dugi, a political scientist at Transylvania University in Lexington.
This isn’t news to Sellus Wilder, a Frankfort Democrat clobbered in this year’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary by millionaire Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, who was much better-financed. Wilder is now managing Kemper’s 6th District House campaign.
Money allows a candidate to hire campaign staff to reach voters on a personal basis across a large area, and it lets her promote her ideas through broadcast and digital advertising and social media, he said.
“And it’s the metric by which you’re deemed credible, or not, by everyone else — the news media, the party, other politicians, the donors. If you have some money, it’s easier to be taken seriously so that you can raise more money. But the reverse also is true if you don’t have very much,” Wilder said.
For all of the public debate over Congress — and its pitiful 13 percent job-approval rating as of last month — Kentuckians don’t show a great deal of interest in who speaks for them in the House of Representatives.
Only 44 percent of the state’s registered voters cast a ballot in a House race during the 2014 general election, when all six seats were contested, however weakly. Every incumbent was re-elected to another two-year term, including some, like Rogers and Ed Whitfield, R-Hopkinsville, who have spent decades in Washington.
Few vigorous House races are expected anytime soon. For one thing, the two-party system has eroded. Faced with Kentucky’s status as a deeply conservative red state, Democrats essentially have surrendered the congressional delegation, said Tres Watson, spokesman for the Kentucky Republican Party.
The focus of the Kentucky Democratic Party on Nov. 8 will be preserving the narrow Democratic majority in the state House of Representatives, a crucial check on the power of Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, said party spokesman Daniel Lowry. It’s not clear what help, if any, the party will be able to offer its congressional candidates who face an uphill climb, Lowry said.
However, in 2014, the Kentucky Democratic Party and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Washington did not provide much assistance to Elisabeth Jensen, the Democrat challenging Barr that year. Barr outspent Jensen by $3-to-$1 and beat her by 20 points.
Once they are entrenched in Washington, congressmen enjoy a huge fundraising advantage that discourages most people from challenging them. Wealthy donors with an interest in favorable legislation and government spending line up to write them checks “because they’re a sure thing and a known quantity,” Dugi said.
For example, Barr, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, collects hundreds of thousands of dollars from banks, payday lenders, investment firms and other businesses affected by his work. Roughly two-thirds of Barr’s campaign money so far this election cycle comes from outside Kentucky, including more than $600,000 from lobbyist-rich Washington and its suburbs.
Rogers, first elected in 1980, enjoys even greater fundraising clout as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, which decides how the government spends its money. Rogers’ campaigns have raised nearly $11 million over the last 25 years, although he seldom faces much opposition in his Southeastern Kentucky district.
Voters choose the names they recognize and feel good about, Dugi said.
“When you’ve got someone like Hal Rogers, who has been there forever and who has brought so much pork back home … the chances of anyone coming in and beating him are slim to none. You’re not even really holding elections anymore,” Dugi said.


Singers Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone of The Lonely Island perform onstage during the 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Nokia Theatre in L.A. Sunday night.
Jane Lynch became only the third woman to fly solo as host of the Emmys, serving with distinction as the MC of what was a mostly successful broadcast loaded with great bits, some potential drama that failed to heat up and, inevitably some low points. Here's a quick recap of the 2011 Emmys hits, misses and WTFs.
She was great. From her bit in the opening number when she discovered the joys of laugh tracks to her "gay agenda"—involving calling Rachel Maddow and changing her oil--to her skit as Donatella the Jersey housewife behind "The Jersey Shore" and 113 other TV shows, Lynch's jokes were tight and her timing was on point. But having the show's host be a nominee in the show's first category felt really awkward. Not her fault, but someone should've said something.
Baldwin had a joke about the News Corp phone hacking scandal cut from his opening bit. Baldwin asked that the bit be cut, allegedly not over it being censored, but because he felt the bit didn’t flow without the line. So Fox reshot the bit with Leonard Nimoy in his stead. With the knowledge that the bit had been edited and then lost Baldwin, there was no hope that it would work, and it didn't—fortunately, it was short and merely an intro to Lynch's opening number. It turned out to be a classic case of not being able to enjoy the sausage once you knew how it was made—kinda wish Baldwin hadn’t given a play-by-lay via Twitter.
In a year when women seemed to have made a great leap forward in the world of comedy, with films like "Bad Teacher" and "Bridesmaids" letting the ladyfolk take the lead, to see Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Edie Falco, Laura Linney, Martha Plimpton and eventual winner Melissa McCarthy brought up on stage for a faux beauty pageant was gross, and made grosser still when McCarthy was handed a tiara and a bouquet of roses. Watching it, we were hoping against hope that it was a set-up for making the men go through the same shtick, but alas… And then there was a bizarre echo to the moment when McCarthy and Poehler came out to present Best Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, making jokes about how men had to show a little skin to keep audiences interested.
Throughout the evening the action was thrown to a chorus comprised of Joel McHale, Wilmer Valderama, Zach Levi, Cobie Smulders, Tajari P. Henson and Kate Flannery singing introductions to different segments of the show. It was forced, incomprehensible and pointless, serving only to slow down the action. The highlight from the chorus was Zach picking his nose and trying to wipe it on Wilmer's coat, or maybe LL Cool J's cameo.
A mini-episode of the acclaimed show featured guest stars like Kim Kardashian ("'Work'? Am I pronouncing that right?") and "Breaking Bad" star Aaron Paul as Creed's meth dealer was hilarious and topped of with the perfect ending, as Ed Helms went in to confront the new boss, Ashton Kutcher, suggesting that maybe he was in the wrong place. It was our first look at the newly minted "Two and a Half Men" star in action, and he nailed it.
The rap trio Lonely Island ("Saturday Night Live's" Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Andy Samberg) sort of popped up out of nowhere, with Michael Bolton, Akon, Maya Rudolph and Bill Macy in tow. We're not sure what they were doing there, but they crushed it.
The will-he/won’t-he drama surrounding Sheen's rumored appearance made for some good gossip, but when the moment finally came, he was almost disappointingly gracious, wishing his former "Two and a Half Men" colleagues the best of luck. It was a bit of a letdown after all the shenanigans Sheen has perpetrated this past year, but it was the right thing to do.
Why were the comedy awards handed out, and then the reality and variety awards followed by the drama prizes? Awards bodies have dissed comedy forever, why implicitly enforce the impression that they're something lesser? Especially on a night when a sitcom, "Modern Family," won more awards than any other show. And any time you structure a show that invites viewers to tune out for 10, 20 or 30 minutes, you've done something wrong.
Any awards show that ends a minute early automatically scores at least a 6, and this show was decidedly stronger than that even.


I find it interesting that history has made it necessary for governments to bind their mouths shut during an election so as not to influence the course of the election while the politicians themselves make all sorts of promises.
What it does is stop the politicians from making use of public servants to help with their campaigns – once the writ has been dropped. Of course up until that moment, they can do just about whatever they want that looks like something the government might have done anyway – announce grants mostly.
My mother always told me to disbelieve 99% of what I heard and a percentage of what I saw with my own eyes as well. Doesn’t that just give you a warm fuzzy feeling about how much trust there is in the world?
With all due respect to our MLA, Premier and all those other people out there, I find it difficult to believe anything I hear at all. Reminds me of the old, old, old joke – How can you tell when a politician isn’t lying? His (or her) lips aren’t moving.
It’s enough to make me wish there was a law to force politicians to live up to their campaign promises even if they had to pay for it out of their own pockets. Of course, that would make it difficult when they found that the tax cuts they promised were shown to NOT have the effect desired on the economy or on the actions of industry. Industry mostly does what will help it make more money, though some are more risk averse than others, and thus less likely to try something new because they don’t know how well it might work.
I would try and keep quiet myself and not support either side, but then I might not be doing my job, which is sometimes to express an opinion, but only sometimes and when I do I’m supposed to make it clear that it is only my opinion.
So here is my opinion. The government that is in place is the one that I prefer. They have managed to put more money into the educational system and into the healthcare system, both of which I care about deeply. The previous government did a good job of talking about being fiscally responsible but, in my mind, failed to think far enough ahead into the future. Education is important. It’s not just a way of keeping kids off the street until they are old enough to find a job. The better the education system works, the better our economy will work because the people going into the economy as employees, employers, business people will have a better understanding of how to make life better for themselves and their families without making other peoples’ families suffer.
I don’t believe this has anything to do with any political agenda – in my opinion. People will vote the way they believe will do the most good – for themselves.


Saboba (NR), Jan. 13, GNA - Mr Joseph Bukari Nikpe, Member of Parliament (MP) for Saboba, has advised the youth of the National Democrati= c Congress (NDC) to unite and embark on programmes that would win more votes for the party to retain power in 2012.
He expressed regret that vandalism, unnecessary agitations against District Chief Executives (DCEs) and other negative attitudes had become common acts among NDC youth and called for unity, togetherness and the zeal to help achieve the 93Better Ghana Agenda" to win the confidence of Ghanaians.
Mr Nikpe gave the advice at separate functions on Thursday when he toured some communities in his constituency for interactions and to explain the government's agenda to the people, as well as solicit their support t= o retain him and return the NDC to power in the 2012 polls.
Some of the communities the MP visited included Samboli, Kpalba, Nakpando, Labaldo, Nambiri and Tombu. The rest are Nanlindo, Jijado, Konli, Liwalbu, Kunjuli and Wallah, where he also appealed to the chiefs and peopl= e of the area to embrace peace for the development of the district. Mr Nikpe said the NDC was a caring government and would do everything possible to ensure that the people's problems and development of their communities were addressed to justify the confidence reposed in NDC in the 2008 elections.
He explained that the Better Ghana Agenda was to ensure that people'= s lives were improved and expressed fears that the numerous youth agitations within the NDC would derail the development agenda of the government. He also called for respect for the Presidency and the amicable resolution of problems in the local communities.
The MP expressed the conviction that the NDC would win the 2012 elections easily in spite of political distortions from its detractors and appealed to party members to galvanize support and win more souls to ensure a decisive victory.
He thanked the constituents for voting massively for him as MP during the 2008 elections and assured them that their efforts would not be in vain since the area would receive its fair share of the national cake.


Thérèse-De Blainville police have seized a truck in connection with a hit and run that injured a cyclist in Lorraine on Nov. 5.
Police have seized a truck in connection with a hit and run that injured a cyclist in Lorraine on Nov. 5.
The white truck was seized by Thérèse-De Blainville police from the driveway of a residence in Rosemère, on Montreal's North Shore.
In early November, the victim suffered serious injuries when he was hit late at night on de la Grande-Côte Road in the town of Lorraine.


They were once respected leaders of their towns, men of vision who campaigned on promises to do right by their constituents – but they got greedy.
They were once respected leaders of their communities, men of vision who campaigned on promises to do right by their constituents — but somewhere along the way, they got greedy.
Check out our gallery above to learn more about six of the most corrupt mayors of the Jersey Shore.
Stay on top of what’s happening in your local government. Consider a subscription to our award-winning watchdog journalism at the Asbury Park Press and app.com. There isn’t a better time to support local journalism. We need you and you need us.


MARTIN O’NEILL has dismissed any suggestion he does not have the fight to guide Sunderland out of the relegation zone, insisting there is still plenty of fire in his belly.
O’Neill is involved in his first relegation scrap at any level since becoming a manager at non-League Grantham Town in 1987.
It is uncharted territory for the Ulsterman, who has enjoyed almost three decades of success in a management career that has also taken him to Wycombe, Leicester, Celtic and Aston Villa.
But he now finds his team deep in the mire following a run of seven games without a win, and with Manchester United the next visitors to the Stadium of Light tomorrow.
The 61-year-old has been criticised in recent weeks by Sunderland fans, who have suggested his famed leadership powers may be dwindling.
But yesterday O’Neill dismissed any notion that he is on the wane having met supporters at a fans’ forum on Wednesday night.
“Am I still as determined and enthused about the game? I don’t think I analyse this every day but you have to have enthusiasm for the game otherwise don’t do it,” he said.
“If you ask Sir Alex Ferguson what keeps him going at the age he is – obviously going in to work with a brilliant team does help – but it is that incredible enthusiasm he has .
“You can talk about determination and everything else, but they are secondary to enthusiasm.
“I am what I am. If you are expecting me to step into a press conference after performing in the manner we did against Norwich two weeks ago and be jocular, then you would tell me I needed my head examined.
“As a player, I always concerned myself with losing matches, same as a manager. I don’t know who is saying I am downbeat. That’s their opinion but I heard some people saying our performance against Norwich wasn’t a Martin O’Neill team.
Remaining upbeat is part of my nature.
Sunderland supporters are certainly not seeing the funny side at the moment as their team spiral towards the drop zone having won just three points from a possible 21, leaving them just four ahead of third-from-bottom Wigan.
With skipper Lee Cattermole and top-scorer Steven Fletcher sidelined for the rest of the season, these are testing times for O’Neill, who has never been involved in such a desperate struggle before.
“No, I can’t remember one, certainly not in recent times,” he said.
“Last season, I came here with more games to play with, as the team had only played 14 matches and had dropped into the bottom three.
“You always felt you could get something going and we could pull out of trouble – and we did.
“There are tough games ahead but exciting ones to be involved in and we’ve got to get on with it.
“The injuries to Fletcher and Cattermole are a blow to us but that’s the nature of the game. I didn’t expect to get through all of the international matches unscathed but it is now about opportunities for other people.
Without a home league win over Manchester United since 1997 and shorn of their two best players, this is probably not the ideal time to be playing the champions-in-waiting.
Sunderland need O’Neill’s infectious enthusiasm and managerial pedigree to guide the club to safety now more than ever, otherwise their six-year stay in the top flight could come to an abrupt end on May 19 at White Hart Lane.


LinkedIn has responded to criticism of its "social ads" feature over its use of members' names and photos in advertisements on its website.
Many LinkedIn members have complained that the use of their details in this way constitutes a violation of privacy, particularly as they have to opt out of the feature rather than opt in.
Ryan Roslansky, director of product marketing at the professional networking site has conceded in a blog post that LinkedIn could have communicated its intentions around social ads more clearly.
While pointing out that members were notified via the official blog and banner ads on the site as early as June, he said the company had since learned that although members are happy to have their actions, such as recommendations, visible to their network as a public action, some of those same members may not be comfortable with the use of their names and photos associated with those actions used in ads served to their network.
Roslansky has promised that LinkedIn will be changing the look of social advertisements so that names and photos of members are not included. Instead, the ads will in future include a link to others in a users' network who follow the advertiser on LinkedIn.
However, the professional networking site has stopped short of switching to an opt-in approach, as Paul Ducklin, head of technology, Asia Pacific at security firm Sophos pointed out. "The company still seems happy with opt-out, though I must admit that it has made opting out of social ads fairly straightforward," he said in a blog post.
A better business standard would be to make this sort of new feature opt-in, he added. "Short-term sales goals might be easier to achieve with opt-out, but we know that opt-in would be safer for users," Ducklin wrote.
He said users with strong opinions about privacy would become strong advocates for a service provider which set this sort of standard, and that privacy regulators would also be impressed.
"So we feel sure that adopting an opt-in model would actually be better for a service provider's business value in the long term," he said.
Ducklin has called on all LinkedIn members to send e-mails encouraging the firm to take the lead on privacy by locking everything down by default and enabling it only if users specifically opt in.


The 2019 North American International Auto Show (AKA the Detroit Auto Show) is under way and things are already buzzing from the Motor City. Steve Grzanich checked in with Dale Buss (Contributor at Chief Executive Magazine, Forbes and Wall Street Journal) to talk about the EV movement, a new Volkswagen/Ford partnership, all with a lingering concern around the government shutdown impacting the auto industry. Steve then turned to Calvin Flowers (Executive Director at Chicago Inventors Organization) to dive into the state of inventions from around the world after the National Inventions Hall of Fame announced their inductees class for the 2019 Hall of Fame.


(CNN) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidelines for the first time on treating children with concussions, saying they will provide doctors with the “tools they need to ensure the best outcomes for their young patients” with mild traumatic brain injury.
More than 800,000 children seek treatment for traumatic brain injury every year, according to Dr. Debra Houry, director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. The issue has become more pressing as youth sports have grown in popularity and because research has shown that repeated blows to the head, such as from playing football or heading a soccer ball, can lead to long-term memory loss, dementia and other serious health issues.
The CDC said its guidelines were based on the “most comprehensive review of the science” over the past 25 years related concussions, which doctors and researchers refer to as mild traumatic brain injury, or mTBI.
Do not routinely image pediatric patients to diagnose a mild traumatic brain injury.
Use validated, age-appropriate symptom scales to diagnose a concussion.
Assess for risk factors for prolonged recovery, including history of concussions or other brain injury, severe symptom presentation immediately after the injury, and personal characteristics and family history.
Provide patients and their parents/caregivers with instructions on returning to activity customized to their symptoms.
Counsel patients and their parents/caregivers to return gradually to non-sports activities after no more than two to three days of rest.
The CDC published the guidelines Tuesday in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics.
In an accompanying editorial, Michael McCrea, a professor of neurosurgery and neurology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and Dr. Geoff Manley, vice chairman of neurological surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, praised the CDC for issuing the guidelines, saying that “clinicians have been hampered for years by the lack of an evidence base to inform diagnosis, prognosis, and management” of youth concussions.
“We applaud the CDC guideline’s recommendation for clinicians to counsel children and their parents as to the known acute effects of injury, expected course of recovery, and factors that may positively or negatively affect recovery and outcome after mTBI,” McCrea and Manley wrote.


Samsung Electronics reported its lowest annual profit since 2011 during its earnings call today as its smartphone sales continue to suffer from increasing competition. In 2014, the company’s profit was 25 trillion won, a 32 percent drop from a high of 36.8 trillion won in 2013.
Its 4Q2014 net profit fell 27 percent to 5.3 trillion won year-over-year, in-line with Samsung’s earning guidance earlier this month.
The Korean tech giant reported that its mobile unit’s earnings dropped 64 percent year-over-year to 1.96 trillion won, marketing its fifth quarterly decline in a row. Mobile sales accounted for just 58 percent of Samsung’s total operating profit last year, a significant decrease from 70 percent in 2013. The company said smartphone shipments fell in 4Q2014 and will continue to decline this quarter.
Samsung’s semiconductor business helped buoy up its profits, even though it didn’t make up for shortfalls in its mobile unit’s performance. The unit posted 4Q2014 operating profit of 5.3 trillion won and said its performance will continue to improve as more smartphone and tablet manufacturers order chips from Samsung, especially for high-end devices.
The performance of Samsung’s mobile unit stands in contrast to its arch-rival Apple, which yesterday reported that it had sold a record-breaking 74.5 million iPhones during the first quarter of its fiscal 2015 year. Apple gained ground thanks to the popularity of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, especially in China, where it competes with Samsung as well as domestic smartphone makers like Xiaomi and Lenovo.
In fact, research firm Canalys reported that Apple topped smartphone shipments in China for the first time last quarter. This means that Samsung is now in third place, behind Apple and Xiaomi.
During the earnings call, Robert M. Yi, the senior vice president of Samsung Electronic’s investor relations, said that he expected “the business environment in 2015 to be as challenging as in 2014,” due to economic recession as well as intensifying product and price competition and the increasing cost of developing new technologies.


Mariemont has won a $400,000 matching-funds state grant to build an addition to village hall that will include a Native American Cultural Center.
MARIEMONT – Construction has begun on an $800,000 addition to Mariemont Village Hall that will include a cultural center displaying Native American artifacts unearthed in the town.
The Mariemont Native American Cultural Center initially will exhibit artifacts it has on hand from digs at the Madisonville Site in Dogwood Park and the Wynema Village Site in the South 80 Gardens and Walking Trails Park.
But Mariemont officials later will ask organizations that have artifacts from the village – such as the Cincinnati Museum Center, Harvard University‘s Peabody Museum and the Smithsonian Institution – to return them.
“We will try to get some of the Madisonville Site artifacts back from those other places as soon as the cultural center is completely set up here,” Mariemont Mayor Dan Policastro said.
Mariemont is building a two-floor, 2,200-square-foot addition to the northeast side of its village hall at 6907 Wooster Pike.
The first floor will house Mariemont’s tax office, which currently is in leased space at the Mariemont Executive Building at 3814 West St.
“The second floor will become part of the council chambers and include the cultural center,” Policastro said.
The Madisonville Site was home to Native Americans from about 1400 to 1650. It’s near Mariemont’s community swimming pool at 6000 Mariemont Ave. in Dogwood Park, which is at 3721 Pleasant St.
The site’s name is a nod to Madisonville archaeologist Charles Metz, who worked at The Madisonville Site at the turn of the 20th century.
The Wynema Village Site is south of 6000 Mariemont Ave. in the South 80 Gardens and Walking Trails Park, which adjoins Dogwood Park.
“The new Mariemont Native American Cultural Center will include artifacts from the Madisonville Site, including those obtained from the late Dr. Charles Louis Metz who is responsible for the site’s scientific discovery and excavation as well as the involvement of Harvard University,” said Ken Tankersley, associate professor of anthropology and geology and curator of the Court Archaeological Research Facility – all at the University of Cincinnati.
“The cultural center will also include artifacts excavated by the University of Cincinnati from the recently discovered historic contact period Wynema Village Site located in the (South 80 Gardens and Walking Trails Park),” Tankersley said.
Artifacts will include, pottery, flaked-stone tools and weapons, plant and animal remains and European trade goods. “Additionally, items that were owned and used by Dr. Metz during his excavations in Mariemont will also be on display,” Tankersley said.
The Madisonville Site is the largest and most thoroughly studied village of the late Fort Ancient culture (A.D. 1450 to 1670), according to the website of the Ohio History Connection, a nonprofit organization formerly known as the Ohio Historical Society.
“Artifacts were so abundant here that local residents called this site the ‘pottery field’,” the website says.
Policastro said it has long been a dream of his to open a Native American cultural center in Mariemont without having to ask residents to approve a tax specifically for the center.
‘“I have been working on this project for about 10-plus years, trying to find sources of funding for the building,” Policastro said.
The mayor said the village has won a $400,000 matching-funds state grant to build the addition.
He credited Tankersley, state Rep. Tom Brinkman, R-Mount Lookout, and architects Dennis Malone, of Anderson Township, and Bob Rich, of Fairfax, with helping to make that happen.
“For a municipality to be able to fund this type of building addition without having to raise taxes is unheard of, but we did it,” Policastro said.
Tankersley, who has been documenting archaeological sites in Mariemont since the early 1970s, will serve as curator of the Mariemont Native American Cultural Center.
“Unlike other culture centers, which use casts and replicas, the new Mariemont Native American Cultural Center will have on display the actual artifacts from Mariemont’s rich historic past,” Tankersley said.
Want to know more about what is happening in Mariemont? Follow me on Twitter @jeannehouck.


Fans of Latin sounds will have plenty of reasons to mambo, samba and smile this week and beyond, as a season of music festivities gets under way with two noteworthy events.
In Grant Park this weekend, the Viva! Chicago Latin Music Festival kicks off its 18th year, with 14 hours of live entertainment ready to go Saturday and Sunday at the Petrillo Music Shell--and more music slated for a side stage.
Alacranes Musical (the Musical Scorpions) closes Viva! Chicago Sunday. Hailing from the Mexican state of Durango, the members ply a frenetic style known as Duranguense--which, despite its name, has roots right here. Think polka gone mad with synthesized tubas, techno beats and electronically altered vocals, and you'll get an idea what's in store.
- Viva! Chicago Latin Music Festival, 2:15 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Grant Park (Petrillo Band Shell), 300 S. Columbus Drive. Charanga America is 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Alacranes Musical is 8:30 p.m. Sunday. Free; 312-744-3370.
The series kicks off Wednesday with Havana, the Latin jazz group founded by Chicago bassist Richard Pillot. On Sept. 6, the wildly popular Chicago Samba takes over; the city's most sought-after Brazilian dance band will be joined by Shirley Vieira's Samba 1, which features Old Town Brazilian dance instructor Dill Costa.
La Pena starts at 8:30 p.m., but it's smart to arrive early, as it often draws capacity crowds.
- La Pena, 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Nov. 1, Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln Ave. Free (suggested donation $5); 773-728-6000.


Issues of cooperation in the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism discussed at a meeting of Regional Anti-Terrorist Structures of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO RATS), on Friday in Tashkent.
At the meeting of the RATS, which was represented by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, were approved the joint action of the competent authorities of SCO member states to counter recruitment in terrorist and extremist organizations of persons serving sentences in prisons member states, said in the announcement issued by the end of the meeting.
A single register of measures to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism, regulations, training materials and literature in the field of counter-terrorism was approved, as well as the accounting of explosives, arms, ammunition, and other toxic substances used by terrorist organizations.
In addition, plans of the experts on border issues and coordinate joint action against international terrorist organizations were approved.
The draft of the protocol between the RATS SCO and CIS Anti-Terrorist Centre of the organization of cooperation in the security of major international events held in the territories of the SCO and the CIS was approved to strengthen international cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
The meeting also decided to hold an international conference on strengthening cooperation in the field of information security.
At the meeting, a newly appointed director of the Executive Committee of the SCO RATS Zhang Sinfena's inauguration ceremony was held.
The meeting of the Council of SCO RATS was attended by SCO Secretary-General Dmitry Mezentsev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan Eldor Aripov and ambassadors of SCO member states in Tashkent.
The next meeting of the SCO RATS Council to be held in September 2013 in Russia.


Asparagus doesn’t have to be treated as a delicate, fragile thing, napped only with butter or creamy sauces, or served plain with olive oil and salt. That’s fine for the first week or two of the season, but then it’s time to dial up the interest factor and add some spice. Asparagus actually stands up quite well to aggressive flavors. A quick toss in a hot wok with garlic, ginger and chiles doesn’t overwhelm it at all, at least if you don’t overcook the spears. Instead, the vegetable’s sweetness becomes accentuated by contrast.
Featured in: Treated Well, Asparagus Will Stand Tall.
Snap off and discard bottoms of asparagus, then cut into 2-inch pieces (halve thicker pieces lengthwise first).
Mound asparagus on a serving platter and drizzle with sesame oil. Sprinkle cilantro, green onion and sesame seeds over the top.


Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show took a turn for the worst during its scripted, fifth anniversary special that featured guests such as Tina Fey and Robert Irwin.
The special featured a new format that was inspired by The Larry Sanders Show which starred late comedian Garry Shandling.
Fallon was featured as a disgruntled late-night host who grows frustrated with constant production issues and guests that hate him. Normal Tonight Show segments were intersected with behind-the-scenes moments and private conversations Fallon has with his guests and production crew when cameras are not rolling.
Fallon was first joined by Ben Stiller, who was unhappy about dressing up as Hashtag the Panda and who had trouble finding the exit backstage.
Tina Fey then appeared and whispered into Fallon's ear that he is a terrible person before she sat down for her interview. Fey and Fallon kept it professional until they given a private moment while a clip from her new Netflix comedy Wine Country played for the live audience.
"You know what you did," Fey says when Fallon asks what's wrong. "Trump got elected because of you," she says to him as they say their goodbyes.
Backstage, Fallon gets into an argument with Irwin when he is summoned to choose which animal he wants featured on the show. The host didn't realize, however, that his microphone was on, allowing the audience to hear him yell at Irwin.
Irwin's then has a tense interview with Fallon with the pair making light jokes about each other.
Robert De Niro also appears but quickly leaves the Tonight Show studio due to spotting cockroaches.


I read with amusement the concerns the Catholic bishop expressed over proposed health-care mandates requiring all employers to provide contraceptives and sterilization benefits in their insurance coverage. These mandates would include nonprofits as well as religious organizations. The bishop states such action would be against the church's teaching citing freedom of religion and freedom of conscience.
This same bishop had no problem suspending religious conscience when in 2008 he told his congregations that you can be pro-life and still vote for a pro-abortion president because "as Catholics, we are not single issue voters." This convoluted reasoning was in part responsible for a majority of Catholics voting for Obama. So if Catholics are truly upset with the Obama health-care mandates, they have no one to blame but themselves.


Remember when you were a kid and your dad deliberately drove over one your favourite toys because “you never let me play with it!” Well, that’s not the only way toys can inflict pain. Shares of toy maker Spin Master skidded after the company unveiled fourth-quarter results well below estimates, hit by the U.S. bankruptcy of Toys "R" Us and a big drop in sales of Hatchimals. With Spin Master expecting weakness to continue into 2019, investors are finished playing with this stock.
Current events quiz! The Canadian dollar tumbled this week after: a) China issued a news release mocking the currency as “the overvalued loonie poonie woonie”; b) Former attorney-general Jody Wilson-Raybould testified that she had been under pressure to talk up the dollar to cut SNC-Lavalin’s costs on foreign purchases; c) Citing a “more pronounced and widespread” slowdown in the global economy and expectations for a weak first half in Canada, the Bank of Canada held interest rates steady. Answer: c.
You want predictable returns? Buy a GIC. You want massive gains one minute and gut-wrenching losses the next? Try palladium stocks. Buoyed by soaring prices for the precious metal that’s used to make catalytic converters for automobiles, shares of North American Palladium had surged more than 130 per cent in the first two months of the year. But with some investors locking in their fat profits on the palladium miner, the thinly traded shares collapsed this week. It’s almost as much fun as investing in bitcoin.
The ticker symbol is HOT.UN, but American Hotel Income Properties’ units are suddenly very cold. Hit by higher operating costs and renovations that took longer than expected, the operator of hotels across the U.S. reported fourth-quarter results below expectations. With Industrial Alliance Securities cutting the units to sell from hold – citing the REIT’s elevated payout ratio, above-average leverage and expectations for cost headwinds in 2019 – investors should take a hard look at the 12-per-cent yield before they reserve a room.
Those smiling, clean-cut kids in the Abercrombie & Fitch ads? They must own a bunch of the company’s stock. Even as other bricks-and-mortar stores are struggling, the clothing retailer posted earnings above expectations as same-store sales rose for a sixth consecutive quarter, driven by a 6-per-cent increase at its Hollister brand that more than made up for a 2-per-cent decline at its namesake A&F chain. Seriously, though. A lot of their jeans have holes in them. Why would anyone buy such a defective product?


The US has to stand up to China's abusive trade practices like intellectual property theft. And we won't leave farmers to face Chinese bullying alone.
In 2011, a group of Chinese nationals dug up genetically engineered seeds from an Iowa corn field and planned to steal and send them back to China, so they could be reverse engineered. Those seeds, the result of years of research and millions of dollars of American investment, now stand as one of countless pieces of evidence in the case against China for intellectual property theft and unfair trade practices.
Now, President Donald Trump is standing up to China, which wrongly believes it can bully our farmers to get America to back away from defending our national interests. The president understands that our farmers feed, fuel and clothe this nation and the world, and he will not allow U.S. agriculture to bear the brunt of China’s retaliatory tactics.
American producers have benefited from the policies of the Trump administration, including historic tax reforms and reduced regulations. And farmers know that 20 cents of every dollar of their income relies on trade, which is why they are watching the situation with China closely. The simple truth is that when trading partners break the rules, there must be consequences.
To stop China’s predatory attacks on America’s innovation base, President Trump is instituting a program of tariffs and is considering investment restrictions and strengthened export controls. These tariffs will help pressure the Chinese to stop engaging in unfair practices and fully open up its markets to U.S. products, including U.S. technologies. The correct response from China would be to stop stealing from Americans and give American products a level playing field to compete in China, not to retaliate and reinforce its own position.
More: Donald Trump promised a trade war. Should we let his voters get what they asked for?
There is no denying that the disruption in trade relations with China is unsettling to many in agriculture, but if the president succeeds in changing China’s behavior, America’s farmers will reap the benefits.
In the meantime, the president has instructed me to craft a strategy to support our farmers in the face of retaliatory tariffs. At the U.S. Department of Agriculture, we have tools at our disposal to support farmers faced with losses that might occur due to downturns in commodities markets. To this point, we have not unveiled our strategy, as it is not good practice to open our playbook while the opposing team is watching.
But farmers should know this: They have stood with President Trump and his policies, and we will make good on our promise to stand with them as well. If China does not soon mend its ways, we will quickly begin fulfilling our promise to support producers, who have become casualties of these disputes.
Without question, there is much at stake for this nation in trade disagreements. A bullying and predatory China has made no secret of the fact that it seeks to acquire America’s technological crown jewels by any means necessary — through physical and cybertheft, forced technology transfer, evasion of our export controls, and state-directed and -funded investment in sensitive technology. And while it may seem outrageous, China has rejected American genetically engineered products, while sending agents crawling in corn fields to pilfer samples of our technology and even purchasing a company that provides U.S. farmers with key genetically engineered seeds.
President Trump has said correctly that if China captures the industries of tomorrow, America will not have an economic future to look forward to — and our national security will be severely compromised. Cutting-edge technologies — from artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles and biotechnology to aerospace, high-tech shipping and robotics — are critical to our defense. We are faced with a decision: Will others determine our destiny, or will we control our own future?
China began raiding our economy long before a team of thieves infiltrated that Iowa corn field, but President Trump aims to stop the larceny now. The president is a tough negotiator, and I am confident that American agriculture will flourish because of trade relationships that are smarter, stronger and better than before. China might underestimate the strength and resolve of American farmers, but the president does not. And he will not allow our agricultural producers to suffer because of China’s continued bad actions.


Silsila Badalte Rishton Ka starring Drashti Dhami, Shakti Arora and Aditi Sharma is a Hindi TV series is about infidelity. Kunal and Mauli are leading a happy and love filled life when her best friend Nandini re-enters her life. Nandini and Kunal fall in love with each other leaving Mauli betrayed and hurt. The show also focussed on domestic violence but the focus has shifted to the love triangle.
Participating in dance reality show to hosting a cookery show, with a lot of daily soaps thrown in for good measure, Shakti Arora has been there, done that.
The recent episode of Silsila Badalte Rishton Ka starts with Ishaan delaying the engagement ceremony and waiting for a special person who is most important to him.
In the latest episode of Silsila Badalte Rishton Ka, Kunal is waiting for the lift and it is shown that Mauli and her family are leaving for her engagement.
The episode of Silsila Badalte Rishton Ka starts with Pari crying over the phone and calling Kunal home.
The episode of Silsila Badalte Rishton Ka starts with Dida noticing Mauli worried about Nandini's death.
Silsila Badalte Rishton Ka written update, November 16, 2018: Mauli and Ishaan to get engaged.
The episode of Silsila Badalte Rishton Ka starts with Mamma and Dida waiting for Mauli as they are tensed about her.
The episode of Silsila Badalte Rishton Ka starts with Kunal and Mauli having a face-off.
The latest episode of Silsila Badalte Rishton Ka starts with Mauli and Ishaan trying to give medicine to Mishti who is reluctant to have it.


TAKOMA PARK, Md. (WUSA9) -- A fifteen-year-old male from Takoma Park, Md. is being charged with possession of a stun gun by a person under the age of 18, Takoma Park Police Department said.
Police responded to the area of Houston Avenue at Brighton Avenue around 1 a.m. Sunday for the report of shots being fired.
The teenager was found with a stun gun, according to police.


We heard about National Cheesecake Day -- that would be July 30th -- not only from the Cheesecake Factory -- this must be like the company's national holiday -- but from the OC Super Fair and other sweet-minded sources around Web World. Which says to us that this thing has gone wide, gone big, is larger than most official "let's-celebrate-a-particular-food" days.
With frosting and whipped cream on top, to boot. We could spend the next six months writing a three-part study on why National Cheesecake Day has come up several times throughout our morning, or we could say this in two seconds: people love the stuff. Phew. Time saved.
The Cheesecake Factory is marking the grand occasion with a "Any Slice, Half Price" deal. Find a Cheesecake Factory -- there are 146 of 'em -- who knew? -- we suppose they knew -- and dine there (no taking-away-ing) on Thursday, July 30th. Any slice you'd like will be half off.
Any slice. Strawberry? Something veined, like an expensive slab of marble, with rivulets of chocolate-y scrumptiousness? Oh, and the dulce de leche caramel. You've been there. You know the choosing is hard. Good luck.


The Ippolito 1845 winery comes by its name honestly: Vincenzo Ippolito stamped his initials on the country house nestled in these vineyards back in 1845. The wines are honest as well, boasting purity and precision. Especially the Ippolito 1845 Mare Chiaro “Cirò” 2017 ($18), which is also seriously delicious, with a fruit cocktail of flavors. The aromas on this white gem are floral and fruity, the finish surprisingly brisk. The Calabria region in southern Italy is not renowned as a major wine source, but with stellar offerings such as this, made with the greco bianco grape, maybe it soon will be. Anything from the ocean, lake or stream will sing with this, and seasonally it’s a nice match for tomatoes and corn.
Available at Vinfera, Thomas, North Loop, Lake Aire (Duluth), Mount Royal (Duluth) and Tessa’s Office (Rochester).


63, of Hilo, died in Hilo on January 17, 2019. She was born in Waialua. Private services to be held.


It is distressing to realize that The Times has descended into tabloid sleaze in Mike Penner's March 11 story on skater Nicole Bobek. Characterizing a 17-year-old girl as having a "voracious sexual appetite" who is said to have "entertained" male skiers is rather putrid journalism unworthy of The Times. Would such unsubstantiated claims be published about a 17-year-old male athlete?


ANKARA (AFP) - Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Argentina next week, a spokesman said on Thursday (Nov 22), amid tensions over journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder.
Such a meeting would be the first face-to-face encounter between Erdogan and the crown prince since the grisly killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month, which has tainted the image of the kingdom's de facto ruler.
"There could be" a meeting, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said.
"We're looking at the programme," Kalin said, according to state news agency Anadolu.
Seeking to rally support from Arab allies ahead of the summit, Prince Mohammed on Thursday embarked on a regional tour starting with the United Arab Emirates, his first official trip abroad since Khashoggi's murder tipped the kingdom into crisis.
The former court insider and Washington Post contributor was killed and dismembered in what Saudi Arabia said was a "rogue" operation, but CIA analysis leaked to the US media pointed the finger at Prince Mohammed.
Saudi Arabia has said that 21 people are in custody, with death penalties sought against five men, but attention remains focused on whether the crown prince ordered the murder despite the kingdom's denials.
The European Union on Thursday called for those "really responsible" to be held to account.
Calling for a "completely transparent and credible investigation", the EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said: "For us accountability does not mean revenge."
Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from "the highest levels" of the Saudi government but has stopped short of directly blaming Prince Mohammed.
Erdogan and the crown prince spoke for the first time on the phone on Oct 24 about the case, discussing the joint efforts needed to shed light on the murder.
But Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has criticised Saudi officials over their lack of cooperation.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday glossed over the CIA's reported conclusion that the crown prince had authorised the killing, saying Washington would not slacken its support for the kingdom.
Trump has admitted that the prince may have been behind the murder.
Prince Mohammed, meanwhile, set off on a visit to a "number of brotherly" Arab states at the request of his father, King Salman, the royal court said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, without naming the countries.
Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed welcomed him on his first stop in the UAE, a close ally that is part of a Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-aligned Huthi rebels in Yemen, according to the Emirati state news agency WAM.
The prince is also set to travel to the Tunisian capital on Tuesday, a presidential source in Tunis told AFP.
"It's hard not to see this regional tour as a victory lap" after winning Trump's support, said Kristin Diwan, of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.
"Travelling to friendly countries effectively compels them to demonstrate their support for the crown prince, and rallies regional support ahead of the G-20," Diwan told AFP.
The Saudi prosecutor last week absolved the crown prince of blame for the murder of Khashoggi, a US resident since 2017 who had written critical articles and once compared Prince Mohammed to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A spokesman for the Saudi public prosecutor said Khashoggi was drugged and his body dismembered, but Turkish officials say he was strangled. The whereabouts of the body remain unknown.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Wednesday said criticism of the crown prince is a "red line", and that calls for him to be held accountable for the murder would not be tolerated.
"In Saudi Arabia our leadership is a red line. The custodian of the two holy mosques (King Salman) and the crown prince are a red line," Jubeir told the BBC.
"And we will not tolerate any discussion of anything that is disparaging towards our monarch or our crown prince."
But keeping up the international pressure on Riyadh, Denmark on Thursday suspended arms sales to Saudi Arabia over the murder, the second country to do so after Germany.
"I hope that the Danish decision can create additional momentum," Denmark's Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said.
Separately, the French foreign ministry said Thursday that it would impose sanctions against 18 Saudi citizens over Khashoggi's murder.
"These measures... aim to prohibit these individuals from entering national territory and the entire Schengen area" of Europe, the ministry said in a statement.


Beijing Jury President Rob Minkoff: "Film Brings Us Together"
With the U.S.-China trade war looming in the background, the Beijing festival's international jury members emphasized the value of cross-border ties and collaboration in today's film industry.
The U.S.-China trade war may be raging unabated, but the international jury at the 9th Beijing Film Festival struck a distinctly globalist tone Thursday when meeting the media for the first time.
Jury president Rob Minkoff, best known for co-directing Disney's The Lion King, noted that the fest was established a decade ago with the primary goal of bringing attention to China's growing film industry, but that the event has "a very global vision."
"What's interesting is that this is an international competition with films from all over the world, from filmmakers with very different concerns and sensibilities," said Minkoff. "Film is something that ties all of us together, and to have the opportunity to celebrate that here in this city, which is the heart of the Chinese film industry, is a wonderful opportunity."
A total of 261 films are set to be screened over the course of the festival, which is set to kick off Saturday night with the world premiere of the Chinese-Kazak period drama The Composer.
Joining Minkoff on the six-person jury, which will decide this year's winners of Beijing's Tianjin Awards, is Russian filmmaker Sergei Dvortsevoy, whose most recent film Ayka earned the best actress award at Cannes last year for Samal Yeslyamova.
Dvortsevoy used his remarks to further emphasize the value of cross-border collaboration. "Now, it's almost impossible to make films with financing and support from only one market," he said, explaining that Ayka involved five different co-production partners, including China's JuBen Pictures.
"My experience with my Chinese partners was great," he said, adding that "it's obvious that you must collaborate internationally" in today's industry.
Fellow juror Simon West, director of the 1997 action pic Con Air, addressed a question about the jury's aesthetic criteria by saying that he would approach the competition titles like "any ordinary viewer who bought a ticket and walked into the cinema off the street."
"The only criteria for us is whether it's a good film or a bad film," added West. "I'm going to be watching as an audience member, not a professional," he added.
The other members of Beijing's jury this year are Chinese director Cao Baoping, Hong Kong screen icon Carina Lau, Iran's Majid Majidi and Chilean helmer Silvio Caiozzi.
The festival, which opened over the weekend, is taking place at venues across the Chinese capital through Saturday.


UCLA researchers and colleagues have designed a new device that creates electricity from falling snow. The first of its kind, this device is inexpensive, small, thin and flexible like a sheet of plastic.
The researchers call it a snow-based triboelectric nanogenerator, or snow TENG. A triboelectric nanogenerator, which generates charge through static electricity, produces energy from the exchange of electrons.
Findings about the device are published in the journal Nano Energy.
Snow is positively charged and gives up electrons. Silicone — a synthetic rubber-like material that is composed of silicon atoms and oxygen atoms, combined with carbon, hydrogen and other elements — is negatively charged. When falling snow contacts the surface of silicone, that produces a charge that the device captures, creating electricity.
“Snow is already charged, so we thought, why not bring another material with the opposite charge and extract the charge to create electricity?” said co-author Maher El-Kady, a UCLA assistant researcher of chemistry and biochemistry.
About 30 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by snow each winter, during which time solar panels often fail to operate, El-Kady noted. The accumulation of snow reduces the amount of sunlight that reaches the solar array, limiting the panels’ power output and rendering them less effective. The new device could be integrated into solar panels to provide a continuous power supply when it snows, he said.
The device can be used for monitoring winter sports, such as skiing, to more precisely assess and improve an athlete’s performance when running, walking or jumping, Kaner said. It also has the potential for identifying the main movement patterns used in cross-country skiing, which cannot be detected with a smart watch.
It could usher in a new generation of self-powered wearable devices for tracking athletes and their performances.
It can also send signals, indicating whether a person is moving. It can tell when a person is walking, running, jumping or marching.
The research team used 3-D printing to design the device, which has a layer of silicone and an electrode to capture the charge. The team believes the device could be produced at low cost given “the ease of fabrication and the availability of silicone,” Kaner said. Silicone is widely used in industry, in products such as lubricants, electrical wire insulation and biomedical implants, and it now has the potential for energy harvesting.
Co-authors include Abdelsalam Ahmed, who conducted the research while completing his doctoral studies at the University of Toronto; Islam Hassan and Ravi Selvaganapathy of Canada’s McMaster University; and James Rusling of the University of Connecticut and his research team.
Kaner’s research was funded by Nanotech Energy, a company spun off from his research (Kaner is chair of its scientific advisory board and El-Kady is chief technology officer); and Kaner’s Dr. Myung Ki Hong Endowed Chair in Materials Innovation.
Kaner’s laboratory has produced numerous devices, including a membrane that separates oil from water and cleans up the debris left by oil fracking. Fracking is a technique to extract gas and oil from shale rock.
Kaner, El-Kady and colleagues designed a device in 2017 that can use solar energy to inexpensively and efficiently create and store energy, which could be used to power electronic devices and to create hydrogen fuel for eco-friendly cars. This year, they published research on their design of the first fire-retardant, self-extinguishing motion sensor and power generator, which could be embedded in shoes or clothing worn by firefighters and others who work in harsh environments.
Kaner is among the world’s most influential and highly cited scientific researchers. He was selected as the recipient of the American Institute of Chemists 2019 Chemical Pioneer Award, which honors chemists and chemical engineers who have made outstanding contributions that advance the science of chemistry or greatly impact the chemical profession.


The Flinch author Julien Smith is giving his book away for free. Something for nothing? That's the idea. The co-author of the 2009 book Trust Agents is so intent on sharing his work that he wants readers to access it as soon as they unwrap their new holiday Kindles.
The Flinch will be available for free via Amazon until the end of June 2012. A print version will follow - for a price - but Smith, 32, said he's more focused on getting his words out than on making a buck or two. He hopes this short work will help readers overcome their primitive instinct to flinch when a risky opportunity presents itself.
In an interview with International Business Times, Smith discussed his new book, overcoming inhibitions, and the prospect of (eventually) turning a profit after giving his intellectual property away for free.
Your marketing strategy for this book is...unusual. Do you have a background in business?
Actually, I work in online media. I've worked and written some of the earliest work on social media and building platforms, like blogs. I've been in the social media space since it existed. Before that, I did online radio. I've been involved with Web communities since my teens, and I've managed online communities since I was 15 or so. Now I'm a professional writer and public speaker and a consultant, specifically as it relates to how people are interacting with new online technologies.
How would you describe The Flinch?
The Flinch is a physical manifestation of a series of psychological walls that we have put around the behavior that we are allowed or not allowed to do. It comes from the fact that as humans, our job is to continue to survive and avoid predators, and not really to push boundaries at all. Now we're in an environment very different from the one we've evolved to work in. In some ways, the flinch is still useful. However, in most circumstances, the flinch is hindering you from the way you need to behave to succeed at what you do.
Is The Flinch an evolutionary relic we need to discard completely?
It's not possible to entirely get rid of it. We just need to transform this reaction into something that rewards us when we have a barrier to cross.
And you provide readers a series of homework assignments to help in this process.
The homework assignments are extremely simple. One is, I tell people to immediately volunteer for something before they resist. The purpose is to simply break your programming. In many cases, it's very valuable. We flinch at being able to talk to a person we might like. We end up limiting our opportunities because we are unable to talk to strangers. We need to break this tendency in order to get the best possible scenario.
You published your book electronically. And for free.
The idea is that there are so many Kindles being wrapped right now for Christmas. You want to be in front of as many people as possible. To me, that's priceless. This is a very small sacrifice to make in order to spread an idea that matters. Most people aren't taking advantage of it. If you're writing a book with profit as the motive, that's not going to work.
And you didn't want to flinch.
It seemed like a very quick window of opportunity. To me it's an expression of an idea in its purest form. There is no price you can pay for that. In some ways it benefits my career. But on a larger scale, it's something that genuinely allows me to feel like I've contributed. For someone who is normally a business writer, that is very valuable.


How did postal worker pull off a $100K money order scheme?
Details from affidavit explains how postal workers and accomplices pulled off money-order scheme.
As a result, Bannon suspected a postal employee had stolen the machine from New Lisbon and was repeatedly changing its ZIP ode setting to divert attention from that branch.


“The Unruly Mystic: John Muir” explores the remarkable life and influential works of a patron saint of environmental activism. This inspirational documentary examines the connection nature and spirituality, using the life and wisdom of John Muir, ecological preservationist and founder of Yosemite National Park, as a catalyst for how being outside in nature affects the lives of everyday people right now. Muir’s writings have profoundly shaped the ways in which we understand and envision our relationship with the natural world today, and his work has become a personal guide for exploring nature for countless individuals. The film interviews noted psychiatrists, therapists, theologians, writers, and every day people, and asks them to discuss their relationship with nature and its transformative effect in their lives.
If you’re looking for even more Earth Day-based movie events, Guild Cinema (3405 Central NE) is bringing back the documentary The Unruly Mystic: John Muir on Monday, April 22 (Earth Day itself). The films screens at 3:30, 5:45 and 8pm. Directed by Michael Conti, The Unruly Mystic explores the remarkable life and influential works of Muir, considered by many to be the patron saint of environmental activism. Besides being the driving force behind the founding of Yosemite National Park, Muir was a mystic, prophet, poet, conservationist and naturalist. In addition to Muir’s biographical history, the film interviews noted psychiatrists, therapists, theologians, writers and others, asking them to discuss their relationship with nature and its transformative effects on their lives. You can secure advanced tickets for any one of the screenings by going to guildcinema.com.


LOEB-Henry A. The officers, Board of Directors, and staff of UJA-Federation of New York express our deep sorrow upon the death of Henry A. Loeb, noted philanthropist, who leaves a legacy of compassion and caring for the community. As chair of the 1964-65 fund-raising campaign of our predecessor organization, the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, and as a very significant leader for many years, he improved the quality of life for thousands of people in New York City. He has left a rich legacy. His devotion to children was reflected in his service as a Trustee of Ramapo Anchorage Camp, a UJA-Federation beneficiary. A leader committed to the concept of reaching out to the less fortunate as a private and public duty, he fulfilled the spirit of the teaching: ''As previous generations planted for me, so do I plant for the future.'' His dedication to these principles is carried on through the exemplary activities of his daughter, Betty Levin, a former member of the UJA-Federation Board of Directors and the founding chair of our Building Arts Committee. We express our heartfelt sympathy to his wife, Louise; his daughters Betty Levin and Jean Troubh; his sister Margaret Kempner; his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and all members of the family. May you be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. Judith Stern Peck, Board Chair Louise B. Greilsheimer, President Stephen D. Solender, Exec. V.P.
LOEB-Henry A. The Officers, Board of Directors and staff of Ramapo Anchorage Camp mourn the passing of Henry A. Loeb, our distinguished past-president and Board member, who for more than fifty years served needy children with great care and dedication. Henry was a kind, wise and gentle man who touched the lives of all those fortunate enough to know him. To his wife Louise, his daughters Jean and Betty, and the entire family, we extend our deepest condolences. Nina P. Freedman, President Bernard Kosberg, Exec. Dir.
LOEB-Henry A. John A. Levin & Co., Inc. mourns the passing of our esteemed colleague and founding director, Henry Loeb. We will forever be grateful for his strong support and guidance over the years. He will be remembered by all who knew him as a generous, loving and patient person. John A. Levin & Co., Inc.
LOEB-Henry. The Members of The Board of Directors and The Officers of Caryle House Inc., mourn the passing of their colleague, friend and neighbor. Heartfelt condolences to his wife and family.


ADRIEN RABIOT will not feature for Paris Saint-Germain in Tuesday's Champions League clash against Manchester United despite an injury crisis crippling the French champions.
The midfielder remains frozen out of the squad after he refused to sign a contract extension with the Parisians.
Rabiot has not played since December 11 and, according to L'Equipe, that will not change on Tuesday night when PSG face Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's United at Old Trafford.
The 23-year-old midfielder hoped his stand-off with the club would end after he was included in the French champs' squad for the Champions League knockout stages.
But PSG chief Thomas Tuchel left Rabiot in Paris - despite his side being decimated by injuries with Neymar, Edinson Cavani and Thomas Mounier all sidelined for Tuesday's tie.
Rabiot is planning to leave Parc des Princes on a free transfer in the summer as several Premier League sides are competing for his signature with Barcelona.
But the midfielder's decision to see his contract out backlashed as Rabiot has been isolated from the squad despite being fully fit.
The Frenchman is reportedly banned even from his team's dressing room having frustrated PSG's top brass - although he was pictured training alongside his team-mates ahead of their trip to Manchester.
Meanwhile, Solskjaer is brimming with optimism ahead of the Champions League clash.
He told reporters at a press conference ahead of Tuesday's match: "Going into this game I do not think we could be in a better frame of mind with the confidence and form we have.
"We have a playing style and we all agree on how we should approach games. So if ever we had a chance going into big games it's now."


So you're renting a car? It's no big deal, unless something goes wrong. Here's a checklist based on our own experiences and on the rental cars we've seen in our shop lately.
Have all your IDs with you. This includes drivers license and the credit card you used to make the reservation. Check cards are dead on arrival. You say you're well-to-do and don't carry a major credit card with you? BIG MISTAKE. You will not be rented a vehicle if you do not have one. Too bad if you are a millionaire, ALL of the rental companies are very strict on this.
Read your automobile insurance policy before you rent, paying special attention to any sections pertaining to rental vehicles. Bring your insurance card in case you're asked to prove you have insurance.
Read your credit card documentation. Most cards provide some kind of insurance on rental cars when charged to their card. Check limits and exclusions. If in doubt pay for the additional insurance. I know of one driver who owes $10,000 for a wrecked rental auto when on vacation in Alaska, with no valid insurance coverage.
Make sure you're old enough. Just married at age 21 ... on your honeymoon? Sorry, most companies will not rent to drivers under age 25 without prior approval from the mother ship or verifying your driving record history. Visit DMV for a copy. Ask questions in advance so you're not stranded at the airport.
Read the fine print about tracking devices (location and speeding), out of state driving fees, mileage limits, fuel return policy. Paying for a full tank in advance saves time and aggravation so you can return it empty. Also if the tank is half full when you first get the vehicle make a note of it. Ask now or pay later.
Before you put those keys in the door make sure they work the trunk -- and gas cap, if it has one.
Eyeball the tires for low pressure and tread wear. If you're unsure check them with a gauge. Check the sidewall for the psi. If wear bars are showing or tread is missing anywhere on the tire or there are any bulges or what you would consider abnormal indicators do not take the auto.
Make sure there is a jack and a spare with lug wrench.
Ask for any phone numbers to call should the car get stuck or break down. Write them down on the back of the rental envelope if they are already not on there.
If you have to have any repairs while underway keep all documentation, repair orders, towing bills, etc. and maybe a picture or two. In general, you should call before having any work done. The company may prefer to bring you a replacement car.
Check the windshield for bug guts, mud or crud. In fact if the car looks like a demo from a movie set in the Amazon (I have seen a lot of these lately), check under the seats for critters, refuse the vehicle and ask to speak with the manager. Nothing worse than a filthy or bad-smelling driving experience.
Check the brakes. Remember, you're not used to this car. You should know how hard you have to press on the pedal to gauge your stopping distance. If the pedal is soft, goes to the floor, creeps under steady pressure, or if the brakes make grinding noises upon application, get another vehicle.
Adjust all your mirrors. If any mirrors are missing do not take the auto.
Do one last walkaround to note any damage before you take the vehicle. Drive back to the ticket window and make sure they make a note of any problems, dents, cracked lenses, missing hubcaps etc. Turn on your headlamps and indicator lamps. Note now or get charged later.
Drive with care. It's not your car! You don't want to spend your vacation or travel time picking up the pieces from I-95.
Automan operates an independent auto repair shop in North Carolina.