There is huge difference between the general election 2014 and general election 2019. In the last Lok Sabha election, Narendra Modi, the then serving chief minister of Gujarat for a record third term, rode on a Modi wave and won the day for the NDA alliance by getting two third majority in Lok Sabha. As the nation goes to poll yet again, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking another mandate from people, we take a look as to why the task is much more difficult for him than the last time. Why the magic woven around Modi seems to have evaporated into thin air and why the charisma seems to have disappeared?
There is no denying the fact that what happened in the last election was nothing short of magic. He rode on the development plank, made all the more effective by the beautifully created Gujarat model, by a media that danced to his tunes.
Supported by a mean election machine created by Amit Shah by pouring millions and millions in social media and very effective media planning, Modi was the man to look for succour and Gujarat model was an ultimate model for development. But five years down the line, the road seems to have become unusually difficult and there seems to be clear desperation on the faces of BJP leaders who seem to have realized that riding back to power is unusually difficult, if not impossible.
Despite the aerial strikes in Pakistan in the aftermath of Pullwama terrorist attack and later the downing of a satellite by a missile, Narenra Modi and Amit Shah are finding to their bewilderment that their narrative is losing relevance and the national security is not becoming the talking point as they would have liked.
While the BJP is buoyed by the surgical strikes deep inside Pakistan and the recent shooting down of a satellite in outer space by a DRDO missile, the BJP’s chances don’t really look very bright at the moment. The saffron party that had surged on the anti-corruption plank and the personal image of Prime Minister Modi seems to have been left battered and bruised over Rafale and other allegations of corruption.
The party hasn’t been able to clear doubts among the voters’ minds thanks to incessant allegations by the Congress president, Rahul Gandhi. Expose by The Hindu newspaper too hasn’t helped the cause either, creating doubts about the credibility of the party and the apparent clean image of Narendra Modi.
The electoral arithmetic seems to be stacked against the saffron party also. While the BJP has invested heavily in southern states including Tamil Nadu and Kerala, besides of course in Karnataka, the fact that it has gone with AIADMK that is facing dissidence and anti-incumbency is not going to help the party either. Dinakaran, Sassikala’s nephew is expected to eat into the AIADMK votes substantially, helping DMK and Congress alliance to win overwhelmingly in the state.
The state sends 39 MPs to Lok Sabha. In the Lok Sabha election 2014 that the AIADMK fought under the leadership of its extremely popular leader, late Jayalalithaa, the party won as many as 37 seats, while the BJP and PMK won one seat each. But five year down the road, things seem to have been completely reversed now and DMK and Congress combination seems to be all set to win an overwhelming large number of seats from the state.
All the pre-poll surveys suggest a complete rout of the AIADMK led alliance in the state which also includes the BJP. The same is true of Kerala, where the Congress party is expected to improve its tally in the state. The state has 20 seats and in the last election, the party and its allies won 11 seats. Now the pre-polls surveys suggest a surge for the Congress and its allies.
Karnataka is also a different ball game compared to the last Lok Sabha elections. The state that sends 28 MPs to the Lok Sabha, elected 17 MPs on BJP ticket. Congress won nine seats while the JDS won two seats from the state. Here it is important to note that the Congress and the JDS fought the elections separately. Now as the two parties are in alliance, they are expected to perform much better compared to the last election. There was nominal difference in vote share of the Congress and the BJP. The BJP had secured 43 percent votes while the Congress had got 41 percent votes. On the other hand, the JDS had secured 11 percent of the popular vote. With the Congress and the JDS coming together, the combination is expected to win the majority of the seats in this important state.
Hindi heartland that had become impregnable for its opponents and used to be the BJP’s fief till very recently seems to be turning against it. In the assembly elections in Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the saffron party suffered humiliating losses, propelling the Congress party to come to power in the three Hindi heartland states.
A report by IndiaSpend says that in the assembly elections held in November 2018, the BJP lost as many as 180 seats that it won in 2013, while the Congress party gained as many as 162 seats across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In the assembly election conducted in the year 2013, the saffron party had emerged victorious in as many as 377 seats while the Congress party had managed to win merely 118 seats. This means the BJP lost 48 percent of the seats it won in 2013, and the Congress gained 137 percent. The IndiaSpend report goes on to add that “Of 678 seats in MP, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram--which account for a sixth or 15.2 percent of India’s population--the Congress won 305 seats, and the BJP won 199”. There is no denying that the assembly election results give clear insight as to how the electorate are going to vote in the parliamentary elections 2019.
In UP and Bihar, the BJP had completely decimated the opposition in the last Lok Saba polls. But this time, things are looking starkly different in both the states that together send as many as 120 MPs to the Lok Sabha. The coming together of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) has certainly queered the pitch for the saffron party. With a vote share of 41.3 percent, the BJP had won 71 seats. The SP and the BSP who had been completely marginalized had together polled 41.8 percent votes. Now the two parties have come together along with Ajit Singh’s RLD that has historically a strong vote base in Western UP.
Analyse a few seats and you will realize that things will be unusually tough for the BJP in the state. Despite the fact that the Congress party will eat into some minority votes of SP and BSP, it will also eat into upper caste votes of the BJP in much bigger way. The same scenario is going to be at work in Bihar. The BJP and the JDU alliance are going to face a resurgent opposition alliance that has given huge space to smaller parties, including those who have switched sides from NDA to the Mahagathbandhan. Upendra Kushwaha and Jitin Ram Manjhi are going to help the Mahagathbandhan in a big way in places where Dalits and most backward castes hold sway.
Will Dalit-Muslim-Yadav alliance stop BJP juggernaut in UP, Bihar?


WARSAW, Poland—Poland’s longest river, the Vistula, on Tuesday hit its lowest water level in more than 200 years because of a drought ravaging the country, a weather official said.
Its level in Warsaw fell to 50 centimeters (20 inches), the lowest since records began in 1789, according to Grzegorz Walijewski, a hydrologist at Poland’s IMGW weather institute.
He added that the water level, which usually averages 237 cm in the capital but reached a high of 787 cm in 1960, would continue to drop in the coming days.
The Vistula, which is the EU member’s longest river at more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles), splits the country in half and deposits in the Baltic Sea.
Warsaw officials have taken advantage of the drought, which has hit the farm sector hard, to hold an archeological dig on the Vistula that is turning up new objects every day.


Blizzard Entertainment's Overwatch is continuing to maintain its presence in the gaming market thanks to the consistent release of new DLC and the constant momentum held by the eSports division known as the Overwatch League. To keep that momentum flowing, Blizzard will allow gamers to play for free next week.
This was announced over on the official Play Overwatch website, where it was revealed that between November 20th and November 26th gamers would be able to play Overwatch for free on the Xbox One, PS4 or through Battle.net on PC. The free trial will gain you access to various modes, weapons, gear, and characters so you can see if the team-based hero shooter fits your gaming habits.
Yes, all 29 heroes will be accessible during the trial, this also includes the newly released cowgirl, Ashe, and her trusty Omnic sidekick, Bob. The duo were just recently introduced back during BlizzCon, where they were accompanied by two crowd-pleasing videos featuring the gameplay of Ashe and a backstory cinematic for McCree.
In addition to having access to the 29 playable heroes, gamers will also be able to hop into any of the 19 different maps that Overwatch offers for people to play. This includes all of the standard maps from back when the game was just getting up and out on the market, to the latest maps added to the game, including the Busan map that was themed around D.Va and her eSports competitive training facility.
Each of the game modes will also be accessible within the free trial over the course of the six days where gamers will be able to dabble in everything that Blizzard's Overwatch has to offer. The Quick Play will be available, along with Custom Games, and the Arcade mode. So, you can play through all of the different custom and standard modes, along with the option to play both ranked and unranked matches.
Also, one of the most important aspects of the game is the unlockable content. According to the news post, gamers will be able to unlock new skins for each of the heroes in the game, as well as level them up just like in the full version of the game. And yes, the loot boxes will also be present in the trial version of the game, but not if you live in the Netherlands or in Belgium, given that certain regions have set about banning loot boxes in their regions since they're labeled as gambling. And while Electronic Arts is fighting against this ruling, Activision decided to bite the bullet and simply remove loot boxes from Overwatch in regions where they're prohibited.
Now the best part about all of this is that whatever progress you make during the trial version of Overwatch will carry over into the full version of the game if you choose to purchase it. This applies to whether you play across Xbox Live, the Battle.net client, or the PlayStation Network. You will, however, need to keep using the same account across the same service for the progress to carryover. So, you won't be able to start the trial on the Xbox One and then attempt to pick up where you left off by purchasing the full version of the game on the PS4.


On the latest episode of the Talkhouse Film Podcast, we celebrate the 25th anniversary re-release of Wayne's World with a conversation between the film's director, Penelope Spheeris – who also made the legendary trilogy of Decline of Western Civilization punk documentaries – and Jeanie Finlay, a maker of music docs herself and also a big Wayne's World fan. Over the course of their highly entertaining chat, the two discuss: all things Wayne's World, getting Ozzy Osbourne to make eggs in Decline Part II, IMDb errors, Spheeris' accidental career as a studio comedy director, the two mysterious documentary projects she's working on, exactly what she thought of Donald Trump when he made a cameo in Little Rascals, and much more. For more filmmakers talking film and TV, visit Talkhouse Film at talkhouse.com/film.


There is more risk than benefit to a gluten-free diet for people — especially children — who haven't been diagnosed with celiac disease or wheat allergy, according to the Journal of Pediatrics.
In a commentary that aims to separate fact from fiction, Dr. Norelle R. Reilly, of New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, says a gluten-free diet is not a healthy lifestyle choice.
"Parents should be counselled as to the possible financial, social, and nutritional consequences of unnecessary implementation of a gluten-free diet," said Reilly, who is a specialist in pediatric gastroenterology.
In 2015, 25 per cent of U.S. consumers reported consuming gluten-free foods, according to market research by the Mintel Group. The gluten-free industry more than doubled in size from 2013 to 2015.
Most of those consumers are eating gluten-free without checking with a dietitian or health professional, making it a fad that could be affecting thousands of children, Reilly said.
Books like David Perlmutter's Grain Brain and William Davis' Wheat Belly, have helped make the gluten-free food market a multi-billion-dollar industry, but dietitians are skeptical.
Reilly expressed concern about high levels of fat and sugar in gluten-free packaged foods, saying this could lead to increased caloric intake at a time when a high proportion of the population are struggling with obesity.
She also said a gluten-free diet may be lower in nutrients than one that includes wheat products, as ingredients are not fortified, leading to deficiencies in B vitamins, folate, and iron.
Rice and rice flours often substitute for wheat in gluten-free products, increasing the risk that people are consuming serum mercury and arsenic, which rice takes up naturally from the soil.
She also points to the higher cost of food and quality of life issues for children limited to a gluten-free diet, who would not be able to eat at a friend's home or to exchange treats with school friends.
Reilly said there is a misconception that gluten itself is toxic, which may be leading many people to adopt a gluten-free diet when they don't need to.
"Gluten, comprising gliadins and glutenins, is one of the many protein components of wheat and for the majority of people, gluten proteins pass through the gastrointestinal tract without leading to disease," she said.
Reilly said parents should be discouraged from putting their children on a gluten-free diet even where one member of the family has been diagnosed with celiac disease or a wheat allergy. Often the family will all eat gluten-free foods as a matter of convenience.
She acknowledges that celiac disease, which would warrant a gluten-free diet, is underdiagnosed in the U.S. and wheat allergy is rare. But she said there is little data about non-celiac gluten sensitivity in children.
However, putting a child on a wheat-free diet before celiac disease is diagnosed can obscure evidence of the disease, she said.
Parents may resist reintroducing foods with gluten which may be necessary to get a diagnosis, she added.
"Other conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, small bowel bacterial overgrowth, and fructose and lactose intolerance may be responsible for symptoms in those self-diagnosed with gluten sensitivity," Reilly said in her commentary.
There is no evidence that delaying the introduction of gluten to infants has any impact on later development of celiac disease, she said. Most literature recommends introducing wheat-based products between six months and one year.
She urged people who adopt a gluten-free diet to seek the advice of a health professional.
"Health care providers may not be able to end the gluten-free diet fad, but can certainly begin to play a larger role in educating patients, excluding celiac disease, and preventing nutritional deficiencies in those choosing to stay gluten-free," she said.


Northants captain Alex Wakely scored a century as their match at Derbyshire remained in the balance after day two.
Resuming on 74-3, trailing by 186 runs, Wakely built a 120-run sixth-wicket partnership with Steven Crook (60) before being caught at slip for 106.
Derbyshire's Tony Palladino and Matt Critchley took four wickets each as the visitors made 289 to lead by 29 runs.
The hosts reached 147-4 in their second innings by close, a lead of 118 runs, with Wayne Madsen 52 not out.
Seamer Ben Sanderson took the wickets of Derbyshire skipper Billy Godleman and nightwatchman Dan Wheeldon to add to his five-wicket haul earlier in the match, as Northants ended the day on top.


The bone was found by two teenage girls who handed it in to rangers at Rossall Point.
Two teenage girls found a piece of human bone while walking along the beach at Fleetwood.
Although the bone was not initially thought to be human, tests showed it belonged to Brice Veevers, who was reported missing in September 2013.
Mr Veevers, from Nottingham, was staying at a Blackpool guest house when he vanished. He was 27 at the time.
Despite a police appeal at the time, he was not found – until the grim discovery last year.
Detectives say two girls – who they are keen to trace – handed the bone in to rangers at Rossall Point in either September or October last year.
Police only became aware of it in January and testing has since shown the bone belongs to Mr Veevers. His death is not being treated as suspicious.
Det Insp Jason Richardson, of Blackpool CID, said: “This is a very sad set of circumstances for the family and friends of Mr Veevers and my thoughts are very much with them at this time.
“We are keen to find out exactly whereabouts on the beach the bone was discovered so that we can begin a search of the area and we would urge the two girls who handed the bone in to the Rangers to come forward.
Anybody with any information can contact police on 101.


A woman who entered a "Miss Hitler" beauty pageant was obsessed with "ethnic cleansing", a court has heard.
Alice Cutter has denied being a member of a banned neo-Nazi organisation.
The 22-year-old is standing trial alongside her partner, Mark Jones, who is accused of being a "leader and strategist" for National Action.
Birmingham Crown Court heard they shared an "obsession with knives, guns and the ideology of violent ethnic cleansing".
Mr Jones, 24, and Ms Cutter, both of Mulhalls Mill, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, have pleaded not guilty to being members of National Action between December 2016 and September 2017.
Garry Jack, 23, from Heathland Avenue, Birmingham, and 18-year-old Connor Scothern, of Bagnall Avenue, Nottingham, have denied the same charge.
Prosecutor Barnaby Jameson QC told the jury Ms Cutter "was a central spoke in the National Action wheel", having been photographed giving the Nazi salute on the steps of Leeds Town Hall in May 2016.
Mr Jameson said that, in a private chat group with a convicted National Action member, she said she wanted to play football with the head of a Jewish person.
Meanwhile, Mr Jameson said Mr Scothern "came to Nazism via a circuitous route".
"He was drawn apparently to communism at one stage, and for a short time when he was 12 or 13 practised Islam.
"But make no mistake, however, that when Scothern found Nazism he never looked back," he said.


UFO claims and stories of extraterrestrial visitors to Earth need to be considered without blanket scepticism, a physicist and former NASA researcher has shockingly claimed.
NASA’s hunt for proof of alien life is at the forefront of the space agency’s deep space exploration. But here on Earth, many conspiracy theorists and self-appointed UFO-hunters are already certain aliens visit Earth on a regular basis. Most of these alien claims, supposed UFO sightings and stories of mysterious crop circles appearing overnight are immediately dismissed by the scientific community. A former NASA researcher and physicist at the University of Albany, however, has argued immediate scepticism to all UFO-related theories is counterproductive.
Life on Mars? Did NASA Curiosity Rover photograph alien UFO on Mars?
Kevin Knuth, an associate professor at Albany, argued in an opinion piece for Cosmos Magazine, the odds of life existing outside of Earth are pretty high.
The “unsettling and refreshing” possibility is exactly why, he argued, more attention needs to be paid to what is happening in the skies.
Dr Knuth said: “I think UFO scepticism has become something of a religion with an agenda, discounting the possibility of extraterrestrials without scientific evidence, while often providing silly hypotheses describing only one or two aspects of a UFO encounter reinforcing the popular belief that there is a conspiracy.
“A scientist must consider all of the possible hypotheses that explain all of the data, and since little is known, the extraterrestrial hypothesis cannot yet be ruled out.
“In the end, the sceptics often do science a disservice by providing a poor example of how science is to be conducted.
The main reason why scientists are exhorted about the prospect of alien life, outside of questionable UFO footage, is the so-called Fermi Paradox.
Nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi explored the probability of life developing outside of Earth after he considered some 300 billion stars exist in the galaxy, many of which are billions of years older than our own Sun.
READ MORE: Does a 1960s NASA photo show a 'TWO MILE structure' on the Moon?
Aliens on Mars: Is NASA photo of ALIEN statue proof of UFOs on Mars?
Even if intelligent life was to develop on a small fraction of these planets in the near 14 billion-year-long history of the universe, tens of thousands of alien species should technically exist outside of Earth.
Dr Knuth said this might in and of itself does not prove aliens do exist somewhere in the Milky Way but the prospect is nonetheless exciting.
The biggest problem faced by human explorers today is the lack of speedy and efficient interstellar travel technology.
The scientist said: “With the rocket-based technologies that we have developed for space travel, it would take between 5 and 50 million years for a civilisation like ours to colonise our Milky Way galaxy.
READ MORE: Is Sphinx statue found in NASA photo evidence of aliens on Mars?
“Since this should have happened several times already in the history of our galaxy, one should wonder where is the evidence of these civilisations?
Unfortunately, Dr Knuth said, there has been no “smoking gun” evidence, which could once and for all prove the existence of UFOs.
But the topic remains an area worthy of interest, study and serious debate for as long as even the slightest possibility of alien life exists.
Dr Knuth said it would greatly benefit the scientific community to try and better understand alien visitors should they ever arrive.
Does NASA expect to find alien life outside of Earth?
One of the US space agency’s principal goals in deep space exploration is to find evidence of extraterrestrial life.
Current life hunting missions are focused on the discovery of distant exoplanets with habitable conditions similar to those of Earth’s.
Pink Moon 2019: Why is the moon pink today? What does it mean?


SACRAMENTO (CN) A longstanding scrap between a court clerk and one of two judges in a rural courthouse in California has spilled into an unusual federal lawsuit against the judge and the overall court administration in California.
The court clerk in Lassen County, in the northeastern section of California, filed a complaint last week in U.S. District Court in Sacramento against Superior Court Judge Tony Mallery as well as the California Judicial Council and the Administrative Office of the Courts.
In Lassen County, with a population of 32,000, Barone has been working in the courthouse for almost twenty years, while Mallery was elected to his judgeship just three years ago.
In addition, says the complaint, the judge hugged a defendant in open court.
Mallery and other officials at the superior court did not respond to interview requests this week. A spokesman for the judicial council also declined comment.
In the three years the judge has been on the bench, the clerk has submitted 30 reports on his behavior to various officials, including members of the Judicial Council staff, formerly known as the Administrative Office of the Courts.
“Plaintiff submitted a written report to AOC Administrative Director Martin Hoshino notifying him of ongoing issues that had arisen since Defendant Mallery assumed the bench,” said the complaint.
Mallery attended the private Cal Northern School of Law in nearby Chico and was admitted to the bar in 2000. He is a longtime Lassen County resident and ran a private practice with his wife Tami prior to running for an open seat on the superior court bench in 2012.
While Mallery initially fell short in the county primary, the unexpected death of another candidate elevated him to the November runoff.
He took the place of candidate John Nakanishi who died on Father’s Day in a rafting accident on the Truckee River. In November he then beat out Lassen County District Attorney Bob Burns and earned a spot on the bench in his home town county.
The clerk’s attorney, Mary-Alice Coleman, said in an interview that her client’s whistle blowing had no effect, as Mallery’s behavior deteriorated over time.
Coleman said she’s never tried a similar case in court and that a court employee suing a sitting judge is uncommon. The lawyer said she was not sure whether the defendants would be represented by county counsel or private attorneys.
Mallery is one of two judges in Lassen County Superior Court, in Susanville, in far northeast California, 215 miles northeast of Sacramento. The court has just 24 employees.
The presiding judge is Michele Verderosa who was appointed by Judge Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2010 and ran unopposed in 2012, the same election that put Mallery into office.
Coleman said the small size of the court in effect amplifies the effect of the judge’s conduct.
“The impact is exceptionally larger in a smaller court,” Coleman said.
The effects of the judge’s conduct were particularly felt by the court’s female employees, according to the complaint. Several asked to stop clerking for the judge, two reported migraine headaches and other stress-related symptoms while working for him and one employee was sent to a hospital emergency room.
After three years of formal complaints, said Coleman, the clerk finally secured a meeting with a representative for the Judicial Council in January, but the discussions led nowhere. So, on behalf of Barone, Coleman filed a federal action for retaliation against a whistleblower and discrimination under Title VII. The complaint asks for both compensatory and punitive damages.


Attendees to the 27th annual Game Developers Conference, held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, check out the vintage game exhibits featuring playable versions of early games on March 26th 2013.
Dreamcast Controler at the 27th annual Game Developers Conference, held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, in the vintage game exhibits featuring playable versions of early games on March 26th 2013.
Dreamcast at the 27th annual Game Developers Conference, held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, in the vintage game exhibits featuring playable versions of early games on March 26th 2013.
San Francisco’s annual Game Developers Conference is one of the largest gatherings of the electronic gaming industry in the United States. This year’s event kicked off yesterday and continues through Friday at the Moscone Convention Center. Visitors today checked out an exhibit featuring playable versions of vintage video games.


Alec Baldwin might be full of great quips when he plays Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock, but in real life, he’s not always quite that smooth. Just a day after wedding Hilaria Thomas, a beautiful, twenty-eight-year-old yoga instructor, the actor reminisced about the first time he met her and his lack of an exciting pick-up line. She was apparently standing with some friends at Pure Food and Wine when he noticed her and decided he needed to approach. Without any idea of what to say, he simply walked up and blurted, “I must know you.” After some light chit-chat, he handed her his business card and went on his way.
She called a few days later, a first date was arranged and within weeks, they were seeing where it might lead. Luckily for both, the chemistry was there and remained there when they exchanged I-Do’s this weekend. The whole backstory was laid out this morning in the New York Times wedding announcement, and apart from two brief references to Baldwin’s failed marriage to Kim Basinger, the feature focused entirely on the positives and offered fans a few random facts about the newly married couple. Here’s my favorite: she’s never owned a television.
Raised partially in Boston and partially in Spain, the new Mrs. Baldwin apparently isn’t overly excited about keeping up with the popular culture, though it’s unclear whether that might change given she just married a network television star.
Pop Blend’s congratulations go out to Baldwin and Thomas.


It has been interesting to read the opinions of columnists and letter writers about the Amendment 2 stem-cell issue. Most of the writers appear to be deeply concerned with the religious or medical implications of stem-cell research, and I do respect their line of reasoning. However, these writers do seem to be missing the main point of the amendment. It's not if the research will occur, because it is already being performed at several research centers around the world, but simply if some limited stem-cell research will flourish in Missouri. So, the main question is this: Do we want these potential high-paying jobs and businesses to develop in Missouri, or are we ready to ship a bright future in life sciences to others?


Citigroup is going one step further in solidifying what looks to be the firm's most significant strategy shift in more than ten years, announcing two sets of financial results for the banking behemoth's second quarter this year.
Second quarter earnings will be divided between Citicorp, comprising 56 percent of the firm's assets, and Citi Holdings, which is focused on areas such as consumer finance, retail broking and maintaining the bank's toxic assets.
Friday, Citi also provided historical data for the two divisions which showed markedly different past performance for the businesses. Last year, while Citicorp earned $6.14 billion on revenue of $60.56 billion, Citi Holdings lost $35.64 billion, on negative revenue of $6.7 billion, mostly due to massive writedowns.
The newly separated earnings results, to be released Friday, lend further credence to the idea that chief executive Vikram Pandit is aiming to split Citi up and focus the bank on more traditional investment banking activities. That idea was posited here at BNET Finance on Thursday.
Citi Holdings chief executive Michael Corbat still insists that there may be some life in the problematic assets.
"Sure, we are working through our troubled assets, but we've also got the ability to generate new assets where it makes sense," Corbat told the Wall Street Journal earlier this week.
In particular, Corbat expects that Citi's consumer finance division CitiFinancial will survive intact and continue to grow, while divisions more closely tied to the subprime meltdown such as CitiMortgage will need to be modified in order to remain competitive.
As the Wall Street rumor-mill has it, one of the increasingly likely ways in which Citi Holdings might be able to make those kinds of modifications is by raising its own capital on the open market in an initial public offering or being sold to a more appropriate buyer sometime in 2010.
That solution would serve the prevention of further diluting the equity stakes of existing investors, who have had a rocky time with the bank's massive reliance on billions in government support and a lagging valuation.
Relative to its peers, Citigroup shares have had a pretty disastrous first-half 2009. Shares of Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs -- all of which paid back their TARP loans in June -- are in positive territory year-to-date, while Bank of America and Wells Fargo are down 15 percent and 22 percent, respectively. By comparison, Citigroup has shed more than 60 percent of its value in the same period.
"The problem is that analysts can't get their arms around what's going on in the company," Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist of Virginia-based Windham Financial told BNET Finance Thursday. "You know that the government is not going to let them go under, but that doesn't mean shareholders won't get wiped out."


Which of these automaker stocks is the smarter pick right now? Find out here.
The auto industry has seen some exciting times lately, and Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Volkswagen (NASDAQOTH:VWAGY) have largely been on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to investor sentiment. Tesla has revolutionized the electric vehicle industry, and its luxury offerings have made it a credible new force among automaker rivals with much longer histories. Volkswagen, meanwhile, has been embroiled in controversy concerning allegations that it deliberately sought to evade emissions-testing standards for its diesel vehicles. Both stocks have performed poorly, and some investors wonder if now might be a good time to see Tesla or Volkswagen as a value play. Let's take a look at how Tesla Motors and Volkswagen compare on some key metrics to see which deserves your attention right now.
Both Tesla and VW have lost considerable ground over the past year. Tesla is down 21% since the end of June 2015, but Volkswagen has taken an even bigger hit, falling more than 40% over the same period.
When it comes to conventional valuation metrics, Volkswagen and Tesla are difficult to compare because they're in such different stages of their corporate existence. As an upstart, Tesla hasn't yet reached consistent profitability, spending huge amounts of money on research and development and building out its production capacity. Volkswagen, on the other hand, has historically been profitable, but the charges that it has taken to pay for potential legal liability from the diesel emissions scandal have wiped out its bottom line over the past year.
On a forward basis, the difference in investor perception is even clearer. Tesla trades at a forward earnings multiple of more than 60, reflecting the fast growth investors expect along with the continued emphasis on building up business at the expense of short-term profitability. Meanwhile, investors in Volkswagen are more hopeful that the German car company will rebound from its woes, and their projections imply a multiple to forward earnings of just 7. Volkswagen clearly fits the traditional value mold more closely, although as we'll see below, there's a lot of uncertainty about whether it can actually deliver on an expected turnaround.
The fundamental difference between Volkswagen and Tesla also shows up in how the companies are handling their capital. Tesla has never paid dividends, and it hasn't made any other efforts to return capital to shareholders in its short history. Indeed, the company continues to raise capital through stock offerings, pulling in more than $850 million from such moves in 2015.
By contrast, Volkswagen has traditionally paid a sizable dividend to investors. However, the legal crisis it faces led Volkswagen to reduce its planned distribution dramatically. For the year, Volkswagen said it would distribute just 0.11 euros per share as its dividend, which represents a dividend yield of just 0.1%. That represents almost a complete elimination of the payout compared to the previous year's distribution of 4.8 euros per share, which at the time represented a yield of 2% to 2.5% even with the stock being much higher. At least for now, neither Tesla nor Volkswagen looks attractive on a dividend basis.
Both Tesla and VW have the potential to grow, but both face challenges. For VW, the obstacles to growth are much clearer. The company did settle with the U.S. government, committing more than $15 billion to create a settlement fund for vehicle owners, contribute to clean-air projects in various states, build out zero-emissions infrastructure, and settle claims by various state and local governments. However, even that huge agreement doesn't eliminate Volkswagen's potential liability entirely. It only covers vehicles that have a specific 2.0-liter engine, leaving other models open to further litigation. The U.S. Department of Justice could also still decide to seek civil or criminal penalties.
Volkswagen will now also have to deal with skepticism about its ability to innovate, along with the slowing economy in Europe, which could take a further hit from the U.K.'s Brexit vote. Both will make growth difficult for the German carmaker in the near term.
For Tesla, meanwhile, demand for its new vehicle lines has been strong. Yet the upstart is going through the growing pains of building out its manufacturing capacity, especially as it seeks to ramp up production volumes on its Model X SUV line. The company is working to improve quality to avoid product flaws, but the physical constraints on growth are still substantial.
Moreover, as Tesla shifts its attention toward the Model 3 mass-market vehicle, further challenges await. Tesla has set an ambitious schedule to get the Model 3's design and engineering completed and the production details for its body and battery systems ironed out. Combine that with the company's offer to buy out residential solar specialist SolarCity, and it's easy to see why shareholders aren't entirely certain whether Tesla can make good on its huge potential.
Overall, the biggest question in comparing Tesla and Volkswagen is whether the German automaker can regain the confidence of customers worldwide. That's a tall order, and even at low valuations, Volkswagen stock is currently a risky proposition. Even though Tesla has uncertainties of its own, its growth prospects have huge promise. As a result, Tesla gets my vote as being a better buy right now, despite the operational and corporate risks the electric-vehicle specialist has to manage in order to succeed.


Trevor is the founder & CEO of Chicago Helicopter Experience, the city’s first privately-owned heliport. His next major achievement will be the 2017 groundbreaking for the new, permanent home of Chicago Helicopter Experience. With this, the route for Chicago’s water taxis will be extended to actually dock at the heliport – allowing tourists to experience Chicago via land, water and air in a seamless fashion. Trevor has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Aviation Week, CS Modern Luxury, Chicagoist, and on every major television station, including ABC, NBC and WGN.
When he’s not brokering a deal with an exciting new partner, or soaring over the Chicago skyline, you can find him working on his family’s farm, playing the piano, boating on the lake, or riding horses.


The accident happened near the Long Level side of the river in York County.
Two Jet Skis reportedly collided on the Susquehanna River Tuesday evening, and one person was injured, according to Lancaster County 911.
The person who was injured was removed by a rescue boat, 911 said.
Dispatchers did not have details on the injuries.
The accident happened near the York County side of the river, near Long Level in Lower Windsor Township.


OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (TNN) - One Oklahoma City company is trying to change storm shelters forever with a new safe room that fits under your bed and raises up into the air when you need it.
You may have seen the company on the popular ABC show Shark Tank earlier this year. The safe room from Life Lift Systems, was created by Levi Wilson simply because he couldn't find a storm shelter that fit the needs of his family.
"I had this idea, there’s a lot of empty space under the bed, there’s something we can do here to make a shelter that goes right under the bed,” Wilson said.
Wilson partnered with Tim Todd and before they knew it, they had a product they believe will change the future of storm shelters.
"You’re getting three or four products in one, two it doesn’t take up any additional floor space and it’s in the comfort of your own home,” Todd said.
Working the safe room is simple, you just push a button.
"We’ve got a key shut off switch so you can lock the children out. The switch is a momentary switch, so you press the up button and it goes until you let off and if you hit the down button it stops immediately for safety. If it gets all the way into the up position or the down position it stops automatically to keep the bed level in both positions,” Wilson said.
The whole process only takes one minute.
"It raises in about sixty seconds from 19 inches up to 57 inches. It’s powered by a 12 volt battery or a 110 outlet in the wall,” Wilson said.
Once the shelter is up, it’s time to climb in.
"You’ve got USB ports in here, so you can plug in phones, lights, fans, whatever the case is,” Todd said.
There’s also a backup battery inside the shelter to ensure if the power goes out, the shelter still operates. The shelter is FEMA certified. It was tested at Texas Tech University.
"They do a lot of testing on the week points of this safe room so at 250 miles per hour they’re shooting two by fours and all that kind of stuff at it,” Todd said.
Passing that test is all that is required for the safe room to be certified, but it wasn't enough for this safe room.
"We actually dropped a five-thousand-pound car on this thing and it bounced off like a coin,” Todd said.
Well we know it’s safe, but what will it cost us?
"We want to offer all of the Oklahoma customers our best price. We’re from Oklahoma so we want to give them the best price. We’re selling direct here in Oklahoma,” Wilson said.
“In Oklahoma, you’ve got to look at anywhere between $6,600 and $7,100. When you go outside of Oklahoma, there’s going to be additional freight," Todd said.
In Oklahoma, that price also includes the installation.
"It’s all quarter inch steel plates, they weigh anywhere from 50 pounds to 110 pounds. We carry these in a piece at a time and build the unit right inside your bedroom,” Wilson said.
Once the shelter is installed, you can expect it to work for years. They anticipate the electronics inside the shelter won’t need to be replaced for 10 years. But as for the shelter itself?
"The lifespan of the steel shelter is well longer than any lifespan of a home,” Wilson said. The shelter was on Shark Tank and it was successful, with billionaire Mark Cuban investing in the company.
You can learn more about the product and how to get one in your home by going here.


Palladium has continued this year’s rally, surging to a new record on Tuesday amid rising worries about shrinking supply. It has continued to beat gold and silver as the best investment among precious metals.
Spot palladium was up around 0.5 percent at $1,591.5 an ounce as of 07:57am GMT, after touching its highest price ever of $1,594 earlier in the session. Tuesday’s gains followed a rise of 1.5 percent on Monday.
Palladium prices have been hitting new records almost each month, and in February it surged above $1,500 an ounce for the first time.
The metal has already gained about 26 percent for the year, having climbed nearly 90 percent from the mid-August lows. Palladium is in high demand by the automotive industry.
It is widely used in auto-catalysts, converting most of the harmful gases in automobile exhaust into less noxious substances, and its bull run is believed to be driven by supply concerns.
“The demand has been an ongoing narrative for a while. So, the fundamentals are strong and there is an ongoing supply deficit problem,” a senior currency strategist at DailyFX, Ilya Spivak, said as cited by Reuters.
Russia is the one of the leading suppliers of the precious metal, and its mining company Norilsk Nickel is the world’s largest producer of palladium. The firm recently predicted the deficit widening to 0.8 million ounces this year and subsequent rise in demand for the metal.
In December, the price of palladium overtook that of gold for the first time in 16 years.
Spot gold gained slightly to $1,306 per ounce on Tuesday as the US dollar dipped amid growing expectations that the Federal Reserve would change its policy stance.
“Gold has been edging up and the main driver is a softening dollar,” a market analyst with CMC Markets Singapore, Margaret Yang, said, according to Reuters.
The expert added gold can further firm against the backdrop of the Fed’s decision and Brexit.


In Auckland, the number of people cycling into the central city in Auckland has doubled in three years.
Auckland Transport puts part of that down to its pink lightpath, which it says 750 people cycle on each day. And there are more specialist cycling paths planned for our biggest city.
Auckland Transport's chief cycling planner Kathryn King joins Jesse in the studio on the push to get more Aucklanders out of their cars and onto their bikes.


"The Female Perspective," a solo exhibition by Waterbury CT artist Karen Bonanno that reflects an emboldened narrative of gesture, mark, and color. The exhibition opens with a free reception on Friday, January 19th from 5:30pm to 8:00pm. An RSVP is strongly suggested. For reservations, go to http://bit.ly/female_perspective The exhibition runs through April 20th.
@287 Gallery, a project of the Cultural Alliance of Western Connecticut, is open 12:00 noon to 4:00pm Tuesday to Friday, 12:00 noon to 3:00pm Saturday, and by appointment.


Ballet Kelowna presents Boundless | media!
Ballet Kelowna kicks off the new year with Boundless, a mixed program of four distinct and breathtaking works, February 5 & 6, 2016 at 7:30pm at the Kelowna Community Theatre.
Ballet of Canada, partners with lauded Canadian composer Owen Belton to create a vital and potent new work. Also on the program, multiple award-winning choreographer Gabrielle Lamb’s expertly crafted work Glas, inspired by the relentless river flow. This work showcases the fluidity and physical interplay of the dancers in an abundance of intricate combinations. In Studies of Cash, Ballet Kelowna pays tribute to country legend Johnny Cash through a feast of styles: classical lyricism, folk-dance and rhythm n’ blues from Artistic Director Simone Orlando. Transporting audiences to Renaissance Verona, Kelowna’s own Joshua Beamish presents his fresh, classical interpretation of the breathtaking balcony pas-de-deux between Shakespeare’s two star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet.
Tickets from $35 available at balletkelowna.ca.
This operatic reimagining of Kayoi Komachi, a classic tale of unrequited love, will innovatively merge noh – Japan’s 14th century theatre art of highly-stylized movement accompanied by stirring chant – with Western classical music.


Speed hump on a section of Mokapu Street in Kahului. Photo by Wendy Osher.
Q: I’m just a concerned parent that lives on Mokapu Street in Kahului. I notice every other street around us has speed bumps except ours. Why is that so?
Are we gonna wait till a kid who plays on the street gets run over? Then a big lawsuit. I’ve been living on this street for 13 years.
South Mokapu Street / Lono Avenue intersection in Kahului. Photo by Wendy Osher.
A: County records show that while your street has a total of four speed humps (two between Lono and Makalii streets and two between Makalii and Laau), there are no speed humps on the stretch of Mokapu between Laau and Hina.
The existing speed humps were applied for in 1999; since then there have been no requests for speed humps on Mokapu Street.
You can request that speed humps be installed on your section of Mokapu, through the same process that residents went through when speed humps were requested for the other sections of the street.
The process involves getting signatures from neighbors, ensuring there is community support for it.
Visit www.mauicounty.gov/engineering to learn what happens during the application and approval of speed humps on County minor streets, which are usually not wider than 24 feet and feed into collector streets.
This webpage also contains instructions on how to apply for street lights, as well as information on current and future Public Works projects including road improvements, rehabilitation and resurfacing projects.
Ask the Mayor: How Can We Get a Speed Bump on Our Street?
Ask the Mayor: Is It Possible to Install a Four-Way Stop on Vineyard Street?


Jay Farber, right, 29, a Las Vegas VIP host originally from Santa Barbara, Calif., smiles after folding a hand against Ryan Riess, 23, a poker professional from East Lansing, Mich., during the final table of the World Series of Poker $10,000 buy-in no-limit Texas Hold ‘Em tournament at the Rio on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013.
What’s it like to live the moment?
Averaging more than 60 events and 70,000 entries over the past few years, the World Series of Poker annually produces great stories and surprises over the course of the summer at the Rio.
One of last year’s best came straight from Las Vegas. More specifically, he came out of Las Vegas’ hottest nightclubs.
Nightlife promoter Jay Farber went from having never cashed in a WSOP event to nearly becoming the 2013 world champion. The 29-year-old made it to the final day of the WSOP Main Event before eventually falling to Ryan Riess in heads-up play to finish second for $5.17 million.
With the 2014 World Series of Poker less than two weeks away — the first two tournaments are scheduled for May 27 — the Sun recently caught up with Farber to reflect on last year and look ahead to this summer.
You were resolute that the $5 million wouldn’t change your day-to-day life back in November. You were going to keep your job and stay living the same way. Has that turned out to be true?
It pretty much has. I do all the same stuff I did before; there’s just a little bit more money in my bank account. The lifestyle I live in Vegas was a pretty extravagant one to begin with. I’m very fortunate with what I’ve been able to do. Thankfully, no one has treated me much different and not much has changed. I still go out. I still take care of people when they come in to town.
Did the notoriety you gained help your business?
It helped a little bit. I’ve stopped actively marketing myself lately. I’ve just sat back and tried to focus on my existing clientele. I think during this series, it’s going to pick up a lot because every poker player knows who I am now.
Have you played poker more or less than normal?
I’ve played a little bit more. I was never really a big tournament guy, but now I have the opportunity to play in a lot of big cash games with a lot of interesting people. I’ve been trying to take advantage of that while I can. I played the ($125 buy-in) Aria daily tournament a couple times and went to play the (World Poker Tour) Bay-101 Shooting Stars, but no tournaments other than that.
Did people recognize you at Aria? What was their reaction to playing against you in such a low-buy-in tournament?
It was funny. I was killing some time before I was going out to dinner with a customer, so I jumped in the tournament. A couple people recognized me at first, a couple didn’t. It was interesting after everyone realized it.
How’d you do? Did you cash?
No, I got bad beat in a couple spots. It’s tournament poker, so you can’t complain too much. Getting your money in good is all you can ask for.
How much are you planning to play at the World Series of Poker this summer?
I’m going to see how the tournament fits with my work schedule. I want to play in the ($1 million buy-in) One Drop. I’ll play the Main Event again, and we’ll see if any other tournament comes up. I’m really not a tournament grinder, so I’m not going to spend every day trying to win a bracelet.
Do you really think you’ll play in the Big One for One Drop?
I’d love to. I’m definitely not putting up all of my own money to get into that. If I can sell enough of myself to whoever wants to buy a piece, I definitely want to play in it. I think it would be amazing just for the experience.
Do you have any sponsors for the WSOP?
Invisible Text approached me about wearing their shirt before the final table, and we’ve continued the relationship. It’s a really cool app. My buddy (poker pro) Dan Fleyshman was responsible for that. I’ve known him since the beginning of my career in Vegas, so I’m happy to work with him on anything. I currently don’t have any other real plans or sponsorships, but I’m in talks with a couple other people. It might come down to right before the World Series kicks off.
Everyone always want to ask what you’re going to buy right after cashing for so much in the Main Event. So I’ll amend the question: What did you buy?
I bought a house in December, closed on it right before the end of the year. I also said I was going to buy a Ferrari. I decided I wasn’t going to do that. I decided to pay taxes and put money away instead. Everyone’s big thing on Twitter is giving me grief because I just bought a Corvette and not a Ferrari. But some priorities are a little more important at this point in my life.


Six of nine. The priority primarily arrives next season as Giovani Bernard and Rex Burkhead enter the final year of their contracts. Plus, Jeremy Hill's contract will be up in two seasons. Interesting note when ranking out the draft needs that our four least pressing needs for the Bengals all come on offense.
After Ohio State’s Ezekiel Elliott, the top of the class doesn’t overwhelm. Value can be found in the later rounds with a number of backs with specific skill sets.
The Bengals traditionally go all out for running back or find a sleeper. Under Marvin Lewis, they have selected four halfbacks in the first or second round. They also selected four in the final two rounds. They didn’t select a back between Rounds 3-5. The team drafts either all-in or low-risk. This year falls into the low-risk category.
Bengals view on Bernard. If the front office believes in bringing him back, then there's no need to add another running back. Taking a swing at another back late in the draft or a premium undrafted free agent would be a more predictable move. Remember, practice squad backs James Wilder (Buffalo) and Terrell Watson (Cleveland) were plucked by other teams this offseason.
Daniel Lasco, Cal. Injured last season, but projected as a late-round pick. The versatile back gained 1,115 yards on the ground and another 356 through the air as a junior – his last full season. Showed well at the combine, setting a running back record for the long jump and finishing in the top five in both the 20- and 60-yard shuttle. Looking back at Bernard and Burkhead at the NFL Combine, both ranked in the top five in both the 20-yard shuttle and 60-yard shuttle. Fits into the third-down back mold.
The PFF elusive rating judges amount of missed tackles created by a running back against opportunities. When looking at last year in college football UCLA’s Paul Perkins (projected Day 2 pick) led the pack by a wide margin. Also, Alabama backup Kenyan Drake ranked third. Notable, considering he slots to be around in the late rounds.
Keith Marshall, Georgia. Want speed? You got it with his 4.31 40-yard dash. Plus, the Bengals always have the inside information on late-round UGA players. Marshall got buried on the depth chart during his career thanks to Todd Gurley and Nick Chubb, but he can play, too. Worth a shot in the late rounds.
Tre Madden, USC. Madden was dogged by injury throughout his career but when healthy showed he could be a dominant, bruising back. Plus, he comes with NFL bloodlines. His uncle, father and grandfather all played in the league.
Adding a couple undrafted free agents or maybe a sixth or seventh rounder on a running back will be in the cards this year for depth. More than likely, they wait until next year to make any decisions to use valuable picks on the position, pending how Bernard winds up in free agency. When filling the position three years ago, the strategy was to put a rookie into a rotation behind the incumbent. Bernard played behind BenJarvus Green-Ellis as a rookie, then took over. The next season, Jeremy Hill opened the year spelling Bernard as part of the rotation then took over the starting role last year. If Bernard got away in free agency next offseason, it would be a hole easily plugged with a back from next year's draft. On that note, the 2017 draft should be loaded at running back with LSU's Leonard Fournette, Florida State's Dalvin Cook, Stanford's Christian McCaffrey and Georgia's Nick Chubb all potentially in the mix as first-round backs.


RANDOLPH COUNTY, AR (KAIT) - Randolph County officials are working to build a new health unit in the county, with the possibility of a grant helping to fund the project.
The Randolph County Quorum Court voted to approve allowing the Randolph County Health Department to apply for a $200,000 grant.
If the county receives the grant, the money will be used for the project.
A Van Buren County man was killed in a one-vehicle crash along Highway 263 at the Baxter County line.
The person at the other end of your 911 phone calls often goes unthanked, but that is changing this week.


Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, has been arrested in London.
The Metropolitan Police arrested the 39-year old this morning, on the basis of a European Arrest Warrant, as he voluntarily turned himself into a police station. He will appear in Westminster Magistrates’ Court later.
Assange is accused by the Swedish authorities of sexually assaulting two women. He has said the charges are wrong and are part of a campaign against him as Wikileaks reveals a raft of confidential government communications.
Last week, Assange said Wikileaks would reveal data demonstrating "unethical" behaviour at a top US bank. Large pharmaceutical and energy companies would also be targeted in leaks, he said.
Yesterday the British national security adviser ordered government departments to review their IT defences in the wake of the leaks.
Sir Peter Ricketts asked for assurances that all departments’ security technology is up to date.
The UK clampdown comes as US authorities take an increasingly strong stance against Wikileaks.
US Army Private First Class Bradley E. Manning has already been charged with mishandling and transferring classified information in connection with the leaks. He is believed by some to have passed the material to WikiLeaks.
President Obama has ordered an urgent of US government IT security, but Republican politicians have taken a tougher line. Sarah Palin, widely tipped as a potential Republican candidate for president in 2012, last week said Assange should be targeted in the way the US seeks out Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Wikileaks was also forced to set up alternative hosting after Amazon dropped its cloud services for the site, and after the domain also came under serious security attacks.


A&E Network, while looking to add new scripted series alongside The Cleaner, has fortified its unscripted roster with nine returning shows and seven new entries.
The network, which will hold an upfront party at Manhattan's Rainbow Room on Thursday evening, has been scoring well with its target of adults 25 to 54 and 18 to 49. The first quarter, with averages of 751,000 and 720,000, respectively, was the best in network history, according to network officials.
Since fourth-quarter 2003, A&E has grown versus the prior year for 17 of 22 quarters in adults 25 to 54, where it now ranks as cable's fourth-highest performer, and for 20 of 22 quarters among adults 18 to 49.
Network is unveils new tagline: "To ignite the power of dreams"


AMR Corp, the owner of American Airlines, posted a second quarter loss of $US390 million as capacity cuts and new revenue streams offset weak travel demand.
The second largest carrier in the United States says the recession and swine flu is draining demand for business travel, especially on international routes.
Operating revenue fell 20.9% to $US4.89 billion. Other revenues were up almost 10% as a results of new fees, including a $US15 fee per bag charge.
AMR shares were up 2.4% at $US4.28 on Nasdaq.


Verizon, the telecoms giant that is the parent of Oath (and therefore owns TechCrunch), has been through the re-organizational ringer in recent quarters and today it announced the full financial effect of that process. According to an SEC filing, the company will take charges of up to $6.7 billion as a result of a voluntary redundancy program (up to $2.1 billion pre-tax) and market pressures for its Oath business, which is primarily made up of the merger of AOL and Yahoo, two companies it has acquired in recent years (up to $4.6 billion pre-tax).
On the other hand, a reorganization of legal entities within its wireless business will give it a tax benefit of $2.1 billion.
Coming clean appears to be good business, it seems. The company’s share price is up by one percent in trading at the moment.
On the cost side, the company specifically said that its voluntary separation program, which will ultimately impact 10,400 employees by June 2019 (but will see the first tranche leave this month), will lead to a severance charge of between $1.8 billion and $2.1 billion ($1.3 billion to $1.6 billion after-tax) in Q4 2018.
Oath said it plans to write down $4.6 billion ($4.5 billion after-tax) in Q4 2018. This essentially is wiping out the benefits of the merger. Verizon said that the goodwill balance of the Oath reporting unit was approximately $4.8 billion prior to the incurrence of this impairment charge.
Verizon explained that under new Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg, who took over the role in August of this year, Oath finished a five-year strategic planning review of Oath’s business prospects, and this is why the write-down came to be.
There have been various reports questioning what place media content will have for Verizon longer-term, although for now strategic alternatives or sales do not appear to be something Verizon is discussing publicly. It’s a fair question, considering that Vestberg himself is a telecoms veteran who has doubled down on next-generation networking, and specifically 5G, as an engine for growth. It’s not clear how and if his predecessor’s strategy to focus on content and media will fit into that.


It's the tallest mountain in the world, but China has decided to cut down on climbers wanting to scale Everest for a pretty grim reason.
It's the tallest mountain in the world, and attracts around 800 people each year to climb.
But China has announced it will cut the number of people attempting to scale Mount Everest from the north by a third this year as part of plans for a major clean-up on the world's highest peak.
The total number of climbers attempting to reach the summit of the world's highest peak at 8850m will be limited to fewer than 300, and the climbing season restricted to spring, state media reports said.
Everest claims multiple victims each year, often in the "death zone" above 8000m, where the air is too thin to sustain human life.
Mountaineers have complained of a rise in dangerously inexperienced climbers attempting to reach the summit, while others have to wait in "traffic jams" and bottlenecks on busy parts of the mountain.


Charging our clothes to credit cards is nothing new. Now our clothes may be doing the charging.
Scientists at the University of South Carolina (USC) have devised a way to turn the material in a cotton T-shirt into a source of electrical power. They envision a future where electronics are part of our wardrobe.
A few years back, my daughter haunted me for a hoodie with built-in ear buds, a novelty garment that allowed her to look stylin’ and also stay connected to her ubiquitous digital music device. USC Professor Xiaodong Li, the tee-shirt project mastermind, takes tech fashion to new heights, anticipating an emerging need for flexible energy storage: new methods of juicing our technical tools in remote locations, off the grid, and on the go.
Modified fabric in tee shirts can store electrical charges.
Li and his associate Lihong Bao described how they converted a simple cotton tee-shirt into an electrical power source, in a recent report in the journal Advance Materials. The team soaked a conventional shirt in a flouride solution. They dried it, then baked it at super-high temperature in an oxygen-free oven to prevent the material from burning.
The altered material remained flexible; it could be draped and folded. Inspecting the cooked cloth via infrared spectroscopy, they found the resulting fabric fibers had been converted from cellulose to activated carbon, a natural repository for electricity.
Li and Bao then painted the individual fibers of the cloth with a nanometer-thick coat of manganese oxide, stepping up the fabric’s energy storage capability.
The researchers discovered that small swatches of the flexible material, which they named carbon textile, acts as a capacitor. Capacitors perform like tiny storage batteries that charge and discharge rapidly. They can be made from many different materials, and virtually every electrical and electronic system uses them.
Tests proved their hybrid supercapacitors were stable and resilient: after thousands of charge-discharge cycles, performance never decreased more than 5% below initial capacity. Their carbon textile boasts a particularly high energy storage density. “By stacking these supercapacitors up, we should be able to charge portable electronic devices such as cell phones,” Li said.
Maybe our clothes will become self-sufficient: power our irons and washers?


Wins don’t get much more lopsided than the one the Los Angeles Rams had on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals. Sean McVay and the Rams claimed their second victory of the season, this time coming away with a 34-0 win at home over their division rivals.
Outside of a scoreless first quarter, it was all Rams all game long. The Cardinals didn’t cross midfield until the second-to-last play of the fourth quarter, Sam Bradford didn’t eclipse 100 yards passing and David Johnson only had 51 total yards.
The Rams, on the other hand, moved the ball with ease. They had 432 total yards, including 354 from Jared Goff and 159 yards receiving by Brandin Cooks. Todd Gurley took care of the scoring with three touchdowns, while the defense held Arizona in check.
Catch highlights from the 34-point victory in the video above.
Predicting every game on Rams' 2019 schedule: Is 13-3 in the cards?
Jared Goff is now under contract through 2020.
Les Snead is up two spots from last year’s ranking.
Les Snead said the Rams’ draft board is just about done.


Asked if India are favourites to win the World Cup, Clarke said, "Certainly one of the favourites with the kind of bowling talent India have at the moment"
That Virat Kohli is destined to be among the pantheons of all-time greats is an oft-repeated assertion but for former Australia captain Michael Clarke, the India skipper is already the "greatest ODI batsman to have ever played the game".
Kohli, the world's no.1 Test and ODI batsman, led India through a historic tour of Australia, during which the team won the Test and ODI rubbers and drew the T20 International series.
Kohli's India was the first team ever not to lose any series Down Under and along the way, he continued to add to his rapidly-rising count of international hundreds.
"To me, Virat Kohli is the greatest batsman to have ever played one-day cricket. I have no doubts after seeing what he has achieved for India," Clarke, himself a former World Cup-winning captain, told PTI in an interview.
An unabashed Kohli fan, Clarke said that the 30-year-old Indian's passion is unmatchable.
While Kohli's craft continues to evoke awe, his predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni's current form has the cricketing world divided.
Dhoni's style of batsmanship in ODIs, no longer as aggressive as it used to be, has been a matter of concern but for Clarke, the 37-year-old former India captain should be left alone to play his game.
"MS knows how to react to any given situation. He has played 300 plus ODIs so he knows how to go about his job," Clarke said.
"I think he would have played differently. It was 230 and he had a particular strategy and it would have been different if the target would have been bigger," he said.
"Look at his approach in the second game in Adelaide and the third game in Melbourne. It was different," Clarke said.
Asked what should be Dhoni's batting position in the World Cup, Clarke said, "Any position 4, 5 or 6. He is good enough to bat at any position and I believe Virat will use him accordingly."
"A talented player like Hardik is very necessary for the balance of the side. He can win games alone with his batting and I am confident he will be in that World Cup squad," Clarke sounded confident.
While he didn't speak about the Pandya-KL Rahul controversy but Clarke looked at the bigger picture about professional sportspersons being role models.
He stressed on the aspect of "respect".
"How much money you have earned is irrelevant because most important thing is to earn and give respect. I think it all starts with how you have been brought up.
"Respecting every individual is very important. It starts with respecting elders regardless of profession," Clarke, who has been a chip of the old bloc when it comes to traditions, said.
But former batting mainstay also spoke about the need to not make one "mistake" the focus of somebody's career.
"Professional sportspersons are role models, recognized and they have a responsibility. Having said that, everyone makes mistakes and one needs to move on and learn from them," said Clarke, who played 115 Tests and 245 ODIs for Australia.
Asked if India are favourites to win the World Cup, Clarke said, "Certainly one of the favourites with the kind of bowling talent India have at the moment. The batting was always strong and they also have wonderful young spinners.
What has impressed Clarke is the fact that India doesn't have any "apparent weakness in the bowling department".
"Jasprit Bumrah is a skillful bowler who is improving every day. He continues to get better with his seam, swing, and pace. He is the best death bowler in ODI cricket at the moment," said Clarke.
"England is a very good ODI side and will be hard to beat at home. Also, I would like Australia to be in the mix. Australia will get better when the frontline pacers including Nathan Coulter Nile come back," explained Clarke.
"There is plenty of talent in Australian cricket. We have good young players playing Sheffield Shield. They still believe Test cricket is the pinnacle," he said.
"A lot of hard work is needed and good leadership, which can select the right guys, back them and give them time to perform," he said.


The launch of the space shuttle Discovery will be delayed from May until at least July to allow engineers time to replace sensors in the craft's hydrogen fuel tank, NASA said Tuesday.
A malfunction in the sensors, which monitor hydrogen levels in the tank, could cause the shuttle's rocket engines to shut down prematurely, potentially endangering the mission. Problems with the sensors caused a delay in Discovery's last mission, and engineers said the defects might stem from a manufacturing problem that caused a loose connection between the 10-year-old sensors and their leads.
Replacing the sensors, which will require crews to enter the tank while it is in the upright position, will take about three weeks, and that "will move us out of the May launch window" and into the next possibility in July, shuttle program manager N. Wayne Hale Jr. said at a Houston news conference.
The delay will give NASA time to complete other tasks as well, such as wind-tunnel testing of changes to the foam covering of the fuel tank and repair of the craft's robotic arm.
The arm was cracked last week when workers bumped a platform into it while trying to clean up glass from a broken light bulb that fell into the shuttle bay. The delay allows for the arm to be sent to the Canadian manufacturer for repairs.
The wind-tunnel testing will measure airflow over the external fuel tank after the removal of a thick, manually applied foam layer designed to improve airflow around the tank's external cables and connections.
A big chunk of the foam came loose and struck the wing of the shuttle Columbia, leading to its breakup on reentry in February 2003. More foam came loose during Discovery's launch in July. Although the foam did not strike Discovery, the shuttle fleet was temporarily grounded until a solution could be found.
The solution was to remove the foam, but engineers have not yet tested the aerodynamics.


The father of missing girl Madeleine McCann has said that he wants to give evidence in a libel trial against the Portuguese detective who accused him and his wife of covering up her death.
Gerry McCann flew into Portugal for the trial, saying "I'm here for Madeleine, hopefully for justice," but conceded that he was not sure if he would be allowed to take the stand.
The McCanns are suing Gonçalo Amaral for €1.2m (£1m) in damages over a book he wrote, which their lawyers say was defamatory and helped poison public opinion against the couple. When the trial was abruptly adjourned for the day, Gerry McCann said he was disappointed, but that if he got the opportunity to come back he would take it.
Madeleine's mother, Kate, had previously attended the opening day of the trial against Amaral, who led the initial investigation into Madeleine's disappearance from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz in May 2007, shortly before her fourth birthday.
On the subject of the accusations made against against the family, Gerry McCann said on Friday: "Kate and I know better than anyone what we have experienced and what we have been through."
In his book Maddie: The Truth of the Lie, Amaral wrote that Madeleine died accidentally in her room and that the McCanns deliberately faked her disappearance in order to distract attention from her death. The McCanns strongly deny these claims and were cleared of any involvement in her disappearance when the Portuguese investigation was closed in July 2008.
A month later, Amaral, 56, who was removed from the investigation after criticising British police and has since retired from the force, published the book. In 2010 the McCanns succeeded in getting a court in Lisbon to ban it, but the decision was overruled later that year, and the book remains on sale in Portugal.
The court case has echoes of a previous trial in the UK. In March 2008 the McCanns won £550,000 in damages from Express Newspapers after what were described as "grotesque and grossly defamatory" allegations contained in more than 100 articles about their daughter's disappearance. The Express and Star newspapers ran front-page apologies to the McCanns for publishing the articles, some of which suggested the couple were involved in her death.
The McCanns' lawyer, Isabel Duarte, submitted a request for Gerry McCann to give evidence. The defence now has 10 days to say if they agree.


The U.S. posted its biggest monthly budget deficit on record last month, amid falling corporate and individual tax revenue and increasing federal spending.
The budget gap widened to $234 billion in February, compared with a fiscal gap of $215.2 billion a year earlier. That gap surpassed the previous monthly record of $231.7 billion set seven years ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
February’s shortfall helped push the deficit for the first five months of the government’s fiscal year to $544.2 billion, up almost 40% from the same period the previous year, the Treasury Department said in its monthly budget report March 22. The release was delayed a week by the government shutdown earlier this year.
Receipts dipped less than 1% to $1.3 trillion in the October-February period from the previous year, while spending accelerated 9% to $1.8 trillion.
The fiscal shortfall is widening after President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax-cuts package that’s weighing on receipts and raising concerns about the national debt load, which topped a record $22 trillion last month.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated his concern over the government deficit in a press conference March 20, saying that the nation’s growing debt pile needs to be addressed. At the same time, there’s a shift among some economists — led by proponents of Modern Monetary Theory — on the dangers of a growing deficit, with low inflation and cheap borrowing costs suggesting there’s room for additional spending.
The Treasury data show tax receipts declined for corporations and individuals in the five-month period, while revenue from customs duties almost doubled, boosted by income from tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.


Apparently undeterred by condemnation from religious and lay people of a recent Bush-Cheney appeal to Pennsylvania congregations to help Bush get re-elected, Republicans now want Catholics to invade the privacy of their friends and neighbors by sneaking copies of their parish directories to the RNC.
"The Republican National Committee has asked Bush-backing Roman Catholics to provide copies of their parish directories to help register Catholics to vote in the November election, a use of personal information not necessarily condoned by dioceses around the country."
"In a story posted Thursday on its Web site, the National Catholic Reporter said a GOP official had urged people who attended a Catholic outreach event in January to provide parish directories and membership lists to the political party."
" ... Parish directories often contain personal information about church members, including names of family members, home addresses and phone numbers. Iverson said she did not know if the GOP had sought similar directories from other religious organizations or how many Catholic directories it received in response to Gillespie's request."


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03/26/2019 04:38:27 42292882 3 26 0 3412 1 1 Installation & Maintenance General Maintenance Automation Technician Automation Technician Full Time Berry Global | Richmond, IN 26 DAYS AGO Berry Global (NYSE: BERY) is a $7.9B global manufacturer and marketer of plastic packaging products. Headquartered in Evansville Indiana, Berry operates ov... 26 DAYS AGO Do you match?
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Stalwart of the local music scene, punk godfather, and the man who managed to persuade John Peel to turn his attention to The Undertones’ fabulous hit Teenage Kicks in 1978- which he liked so much he played twice in a row on his iconic radio show - Terri Hooley needs little introduction.
All throughout the Troubles he maintained his Good Vibrations record shop, moving location repeatedly to escape bombs and bullets and persisting in stockpiling and selling the very best tunes; when all about him were mired in conflict and bigotry he found consolation in the music and only wanted to spread the joy of locally crafted punk - The Undertones, The Outcasts, Stiff Little Fingers - Ulster artists like these had form in the genre.
His life was again the focus of much publicity with the release of wonderfully quirky 2012 Belfast-made movie Good Vibrations, which saw Northern Ireland actor Richard Dormer bring the intrepid muso and DJ to life, charting his peerless musical passions and his devotion to Ulster best acts. It was a quirky, heart-warming story of one man’s stuggle to spread those good vibrations in a city riven with division, violence, security checks and fear, and the movie even made film critic du jour Mark Kermode shed a tear - so brilliantly euphoric was its conclusion in celebrating the redemptive and unifying power of punk abandon and live gigs filled with jostling and ecstatic youths who just wanted to sing, dance and escape the surrounding turmoil that had become daily life.
Almost 40 years on and Terri shows no signs of abandoning the DJ circuit, despite having suffered a heart attack, pneumonia, triple bypass surgery and a stroke. This New Year’s Eve he will join Stuart Bailie and Ian Morrison on the decks at the Oh Yeah Centre for a Hooley-style hootenany.
“This time last year I had a three month stay in hospital, which meant I missed my birthday, Christmas and New Year,” he confides.
Hooley is relentlessly entertaining to talk to and explains that he is off to the doctor’s for another check-up after collapsing at a friend’s funeral in what his friends described as Terri trying to “upstage the dead”.
Since the release of Good Vibrations his fame has grown, with invitations to all kinds of festivals across the globe. The French loved the film so much he received baskets of cheese and wine. He drew a big crowd in Moscow. But he feels he doesn’t enjoy the same pulling power in his native city - ironic since he has played such an important role in promoting local music and has been DJing here since he was a teenager.
“I have to be careful after collapsing and after my heart attack last year but I do want normal service to be resumed as soon as possible,” he insists. “Once a hooligan, always a Hooleygan,” he quips.
His setlist for New Year’s Eve will entail what he calls a “wee bit of everything, from Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin onwards. Nothing too modern. A bit of 60s soul, punk, reggae and ska - my favourites, maybe some tacks by The Shangri-Las.
It’s time for local music lovers to get down and help Hooley spread those good vibes once more.
n Terri Hooley’s New Year’s Eve Hootenany, Oh Yeah Centre, Belfast, December 31, 9pm until late, also featuring Stuart Bailie and Ian Morrison. Call 02890 310845 or visit eventbrite.com/e/terri-hooleys-new-years-eve-hootenanny.


Shame on Janusz Glowacki for practicing diagnostic medicine without a license in ''A Playwright Is Free (So Now What?)'' [March 4] by implying that rain triggers the autoimmune response in rheumatoid arthritis, thereby causing inflammation of the joints. Mr. Glowacki speaks of rheumatism, the British term for arthritis, which encompasses more than 100 diseases. Mr. Glowacki's ''elderly emigrant'' super ''twisted by rheumatism'' whose legs and hands are inflamed is, furthermore, ironically portrayed with a joyful smile on his face when it rains because of the scarcity of precipitation in his native Malta.
The predisposition to rheumatoid arthritis is probably a genetic marker on the sixth chromosome and the triggering agent is probably viral. With Mr. Glowacki's erroneous belief and profusion of egregious rheumatological innuendoes, we might as well return to the pseudoscientific superstitions espoused by Lavater, Gall and Mesmer. Physiognomy, phrenology or mesmerism, anyone?


Creator/producer Chris Carter makes his directorial feature film debut as Mulder and Scully return to the big screen after ten years.
Creator/producer Chris Carter makes his directorial feature film debut as main characters Fox Mulder and Dana Scully return to the big screen in X-Files: I Want to Believe. It’s pretty tame when compared to most current thrillers and that’s the film’s strength. It's nice counter-programming that explores the familiar themes of science and God/religion in a mature, intelligent manner. The end results satisfy, they just don’t really entertain on a high level.
This solid film has some moments, but the low key results fail to capitalize on the show’s two main elements – “little green men” and fanatical conspiracy theories. It certainly could’ve used a dazzling plot twist or two to liven up the proceedings a bit, though some early references like pictures of George W. Bush and Herbert Hoover in a government office provide some referential chuckles.
David Duchovny stars as Fox Mulder and Gillian Anderson also headlines as Dana Scully. This duo has certainly endured many dynamics during the television show’s nine-year run. This installment occurs ten years after its predecessor hit theaters at a key point during the show’s run. The time separation offers filmmakers opportunities to shake up the establishment, but instead they stay the course.
Carter’s plot, co-written with X-Files producer/writer Frank Spotnitz, mostly concentrates on Mulder and Scully amid morbid drama and some disturbing and ideological themes while boosting the romance between this enduring couple. Scully’s profession as a specialized doctor and Mulder’s discreditation yields more suffering for the couple as they toil behind the scenes in their work.
The plot slowly builds on the meaning of life with very personal themes instead of personal redemption or closure. “Why bring a kid in the world just to make him suffer,” Scully says about one of her patients who is slowly slipping away. The bulk of the plotline arrives when a skeptic Scully teams up again with Mulder in the field for a federal investigation centering on a missing government agent and a psychic named Father Joseph Crissman, played by Billy Connolly.
Psychic events have occurred in the TV series before (see the 1995 episode "Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose" featuring the late Peter Boyle). In this film, the psychic links push Mulder and Scully’s relationship to new levels as they’re both thrust back into a world that needs their unique insight. “It could have been you or me,” Scully says to Mulder to justify their involvement. The deeper they get, they more they realize how simple their actions become. They don’t have to rely on their considerable intelligence, experience, or research, only their hearts.
Scully continues to help others in the face of doubt while Mulder continues to believe these “unexplained events” deserve honest, public explanations. These actions create a simple base of operations for the duo where they act on their beliefs of hope and goodness in the world. Every challenge usually has a sacrifice, in this case, stress on Scully and Mulder’s relationship. At a breaking point, Scully tells Mulder she fell in love with his stubbornness. “That's why we can't be together,” Mulder answers.
Ultimately, this relationship slowly discovers its own answers and impending plans after the pair escape the dangers that arise in their unique investigation. The action elements are reduced mainly because Mulder and Scully are not agents anymore. Even fellow agents played by Amanda Peet and Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner don’t get much gunplay.
The plot makes some turns, and then meanders into vague territories amid some impressive snowy settings set up by yet another X-Files veteran, cinematographer Bill Roe. Cameos and past plot mentions, namely Mulder's sister, Samantha, and their son, William, only get minimal exposure. The film never engages overly dramatic scenes while centering on the main characters’ beliefs and resulting choices. The film keeps the tone of the television series, especially by shooting in wintry Vancouver where the beginning television seasons were filmed.
The long wait between X-Files films diminishes chances for a wider audience, but still provides good memories and references for fans. As Scully and Mulder tire of “chasing monsters in the dark”, audiences seem to have tired of the characters as well by responding with a tepid 10 million dollar opening weekend that opened on more screens then Step Brothers, but made only about one-third of that comedy’s tally. The reported 30 million dollar budget, low by Hollywood standards, helps offset any box office risks in revisiting this successful television series.
More dramatic surprises, extended reconnections with the past or new revelations would’ve recharged some of the verve of this series’ apparent finale (see the ending credits… not sure if the helicopter was meant to appear). Recommended with reservations and rated PG-13 for violent and disturbing content and thematic material. The film is dedicated to former X-Files casting director Randy Stone who passed away due to heart failure in 2007.


BUDDING entrepreneurs in North Wales are being sought to join the world's largest non-food retail franchise business.
BUDDING entrepreneurs in North Wales are being sought to join the world's largest non-food retail franchise business.
Mail Boxes Etc (MBE) is an all-in-one postal, communication and business service - and a household name in the United States where there are more than 3,000 stores on high streets across the country.
The company is spreading rapidly across the UK with 80 stores already open, including sites in Chester and Liverpool. Now, it has set its sights on North Wales as the next prime area for development with Wrexham, Bangor and Llandudno among towns targeted for MBE start-ups.
"We're on the lookout for franchisees in the North Wales and the North West of England as we concentrate on this area as a key area for development," said Mike Olson, MBE area franchisor for the North Wales area.


• Wade, Caroline R. (Sparks). 1 p.m. Tuesday at Niebur Funeral Chapel in Barry. Visitation 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at the funeral home.
• Baer, Linda Sue. 11 a.m. Wednesday at First United Methodist Church in Beardstown. Beardstown City Cemetery. The family will meet with friends one hour prior to the services at the church. Colwell Memorial Home in Beardstown is in charge.
• Newell, Robert L. A funeral Mass 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Ashland. Burial and military honors at St. Augustine Catholic Cemetery, west of Ashland. Visitation 5-7 p.m. Tuesday at Buchanan & Cody Funeral Home in Ashland, preceded by a prayer service at 4:45 pm.
• Orr, Joe W. 11 a.m. Wednesday at Niebur Funeral Home in Barry. Akers Chapel Cemetery near Hull.
• Williams, Janice. 1 p.m. Thursday at Ashland Church of Christ. Berea Cemetery. The family will meet friends from noon to 1 p.m., prior to the service, at the church. Buchanan & Cody Funeral Home in Ashland is in charge of arrangements.
• Cunningham, Russel C. 10 a.m. Friday at Rushville Free Methodist Church. Interment with military rites at Rushville City Cemetery. Visitation 5-7 p.m. Thursday at Wood Funeral Home in Rushville.