Did dinosaurs have really small brains?
Dinosaurs, like Winnie the Pooh, have traditionally been depicted as having very small brains, and therefore not being very intelligent creatures.
It is true that, in general, dinosaurs' brains were much smaller than the brains of mammals possessing heads of comparable size. Whereas in a human skull, most of what is under the immediate bone surface is brain matter, a dinosaur skull's key facet is its jaw structure; much of the available space was occupied by powerful biting muscles, with the brain being buried under a thick casing to keep it well protected.
A rough system of estimating dinosaurs' (and other creatures') intelligence is known as the Encephalisation Quotient, or EQ. Developed by the American palaeoneurologist Harry Jerison in the 1970s, a dinosaur's EQ is the ratio of its brain weight relative to the brain weight of a "typical" animal of similar body weight. Typically, warm-blooded mammals and birds have much higher EQ ratings than cold-blooded reptiles of the same size, and there is a wide variation in the estimated EQ ratios of different dinosaur types, which reflects their differing lifestyles and (possibly) metabolic rates.
Most dinosaurs have an EQ similar to those of modern reptiles. Typically, herbivores such as the large sauropods, armoured ankylosaurs and stegosaurs are at the lowest end of the scale. It is often said that Stegosaurus had a brain the size of a walnut - in fact it was more like the size of a lime, or a dog's brain, but still relatively small for a dinosaur that grew up to nine metres long. Later ornithischian herbivores of the Cretaceous period, such as Edmontosaurus, possessed slightly bigger brains, but still smaller relative to carnivorous dinosaurs.
Predatory theropods are thought to have relatively larger brains (and excellent eyesight), evolved because of their need to hunt prey at speed. T. rex, for example, had a particularly large brain even compared to other dinosaurian predators its size.
However, at the top of the scale (by a distance) are those theropod dinosaurs most closely related to modern-day birds - small- and medium-sized carnivorous dromaeosaurids such as Velociraptor, and troodontids such as Troodon.
Troodontids' brains were comparable in size to those of today's flightless birds, and they had large eyes that pointed forward to give them binocular (three-dimensional) vision, and also an acute sense of hearing to help locate their prey.


Soprano Hila Plitmann and pianist Hagai Yodan perform in Tel Aviv.
A special concert will take place on July 20 at the Einav Center in Tel Aviv. Three friends, artistic personalities, will join forces to perform a program with joie de vivre written all over it: soprano Hila Plitmann, an Israeli vocalist who has made it big abroad (she won a Grammy in 2009 for Best Classical Vocal Performance, for starters); successful composer Sharon Farber; and pianist Hagai Yodan who, in addition to his professional dexterity, knows how to turn every concert into something more than just a performance because he and his guests (mostly singers) are there to share. The concert will include a chamber ensemble.
The Jerusalem-born Juilliard School graduate Plitmann, who lives in Los Angeles with her composer husband Eric Whitacre and their son, is known mainly for performing contemporary music.
Plitmann’s first success came when she was still a student at Juilliard.
In February 2009, Plitmann won a Grammy for Best Classical Vocal Performance for her recording of John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan.
“Corigliano took songs by Bob Dylan and composed his own music to his words. Both his piece and my performance were awarded with Grammys. So this recording won two Grammys. But again, a Grammy is just a prize. Granted, it is nice that your work is appreciated and I was very happy. But it is work that counts and not a prize. It’s like music contests: All the participants are excellent; there’s no such thing as ‘the best performer,’” she says.
The concert takes place on July 20 at 8:30 p.m. at the Einav Center in Tel Aviv. For reservations: http://kupatbravo.co. il/announce/52531.


Hello, good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to today's Ruth's Hospitality Group First Quarter 2011 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Bob Vincent, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you, and good morning. We need to remind everyone that part of our discussion today may include forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and therefore, undue reliance should not be placed upon them. We refer all of you to our recent filings with the SEC for a more detailed discussions of the risk that could impact future operating results and financial conditions. Finally, I would like to remind you that today's call may not be reproduced in any form without the express written consent of Ruth's Hospitality Group Inc.
I would now like to turn the call over to Mike O'Donnell, Chief Executive Officer of Ruth's Hospitality Group.
Thanks, Bob, and good morning, and thank you all for joining us today as opposed to watching the wedding of the century. Our first quarter sales performance at Ruth's Chris Steak House underscores the positive momentum we have experienced over the last several quarters, and these improved sales volumes have allowed us to expand our restaurant operating margins despite the commodity pressure we faced during the quarter. Comparable sales at Ruth's Chris Steak House increased 5.2% versus the first quarter of 2010, while comparable sales at Mitchell's Fish Market decreased by 2.7% versus the prior year. Our Mitchell sales performance was negatively impacted by approximately 50 basis points, as Easter was celebrated in late April this year. The calendar shift resulted in three fewer Lenten Fridays in March, and those Fridays are typically fish-eating opportunities for those observers of Lent. Currently, comparable trends in April are positive at both brands. Ruth's Chris sales are up in the mid-single-digit range and Mitchell's sales are flat, and the Easter shift I just mentioned is reversed.
By geography, Ruth's Chris two largest markets, Florida and California, both generated positive sales, as Florida sales rose 1.1%, while California sales improved by 6.8%. Across the entire Ruth's Chris portfolio of 64 company locations, we were pleased that a full 54 restaurants reported positive comparable sales during the first quarter.
Entrées, which serves our proxy for traffic, increased by 3.9% during the first quarter. And we have now been positive for five consecutive quarters. Our average check was also up 1.2% in the first quarter. Compared to the Knapp-Track index benchmark for the Steak House segment, Ruth's Chris sales were lower relative to the index by 250 basis points and 388 basis points in traffic. We continue to believe the gap is driven by competitive discounting.
Private Dining at Ruth's Chris Steak House increased approximately 13% during the first quarter, continuing the momentum we've experienced during the holiday period. Although we did not employ any major new initiatives during the quarter, we continue to benefit from the interest in our Catering business, the use our professional services and the hard work of our people. Within the Ruth's Chris franchise system, domestic comparable franchise-owned restaurant sales increased 8.8%, while international comparable franchise-owned restaurant sales increased 11.7%. Systemwide, our franchisees had a blended comparable restaurant sales increase of 9.3%.
Turning to Ruth's Chris brand. We've begun testing TV spots late in the first quarter as part of our new experience-focused advertising campaign. We believe that the TV campaign, combined with an improved social media presence, will create even more enthusiasm from our broader customer base. To the extent that we get traction some TV compared to other media alternatives, we are likely to devote more resources to television in the second half of the year.
In terms of the menu, our Ruth's seasonal classics prefix remains our feature promotion and continues to comprise roughly 30% of our sales mix. We believe that our diverse guest base appreciates the outfit [ph] of the prefix classics, and this strategy's supported our five consecutive quarters of traffic growth. With renewed enthusiasm for high-end dining, this pricing strategy only reinforces the value that Ruth's Chris offers its guests.
At Mitchell's, we continue to work on fine-tuning our brand positioning. While sales trends were disappointing, we continue to be positive on the concept, and new menu innovation is one of the factors in determining our long-term success. We currently are featuring a lobster duo for $24.95, which consists of cold water rock lobsters served with a choice of lobster pot pie, lobster mac and cheese or sautéed lobster and shrimp cake. Given the seasonality of seafood, we are using prefix features and time-limited offers, so that our guests always have something new to experience when dining with us.
Our marketing efforts at Mitchell's are primarily focused on online and social media, although we have also increased our grassroot campaign through greater community involvement. More broadly, we're also working on developing and continuing to define a new brand campaign. With respect to company restaurant development, we remain active in evaluating real estate opportunities for 2012. I would say active and aggressive but do not have any signed leases at this time. Our Ruth's Chris Franchising business is projected to have two openings in the second half of the year. Inclusive of these locations, we currently have 17 commitments for future franchise restaurants over the next several years. And this pipeline should allow us to continue to generate consistent franchise income of $11 million to $12 million annually.


A man was caught on camera taking a diner's bag and walking out of a Jollibee outlet at Square 2 at Novena on Jan 17.
The owner of the bag, Andi Rizal, posted a video of the man caught in the act on his Twitter page, appealing to others to help identify tha man and his female companion.
The man was seen walking out of the food outlet and grabbing the bag on his way out, without pausing or taking a second look.
Andi said that his bag contains personal items and his company laptop which contains "highly confidential data".
He told Stomp that he was ordering food with his girlfriend when the incident happened.
"My mistake would be to leave it unattended," he said.
He added that he has since made a police report.
If you know this man or his companion, kindly contact Stomp at stomp@stomp.com.sg or WhatsApp 9384 3761.


File Art -- Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed legislation Friday that would have required Calif. middle and high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A new California law signed Friday by Gov. Jerry Brown ensures access to counseling, hormone treatment and surgery for transgender foster youth.
The bill "will empower transgender foster youth to live authentically and simply be themselves," said Democratic Assemblyman Todd Gloria of San Diego, the law's sponsor.
Such treatment would be covered by Medi-Cal, the state's health insurance program for low-income Californians and those in foster care.
All Medi-Cal recipients already have access to hormone and surgical treatments if they are deemed medically necessary. But the law more clearly states "gender affirming" health and mental health care as a right for foster youth and allows them involvement in developing their case plans.
The socially conservative California Family Foundation said such treatment is dangerous. Michael Laidlaw, an endocrinologist for Sutter Health, testified against the bill earlier this year.
"Doctors and psychologists have absolutely no way of diagnosing with certainty who is a true trans child and who has gender dysphoria confusion," he said.
The American Psychological Association says many children who experience gender dysphoria do not continue it into adulthood.
Several dozen LGBT, children's rights and health care groups backed the legislation.
Gloria spokesman Nick Serrano said case workers, special advocates and health care providers would be closely involved in the counseling and treatment process for foster youth.
Foster youth older than 12 may consent to mental health counseling and treatment under California law, while medical and surgical care requires consent from a foster youth's parent, social worker, licensed caregiver, a judge or, in some cases, the youth, according to the law.
California is the first state to explicitly affirm the right to such treatment for foster youth, said Gloria's spokesman, Nick Serrano.
"No young Californian should be denied gender-affirming health care simply because of who they are," Rick Zbur, executive director for Equality California, said in a statement. "Our transgender and gender nonconforming youth in foster care will now have life-saving -- and historic -- protections."
The state Department of Health Care Services must develop guidelines and best practices by Jan. 1, 2020.


A Marana police officer shot and killed a man at a home on Sunday morning, after a confrontation between the two escalated, police say.
A Marana police officer shot and killed a man at a home on Sunday morning after a confrontation between the two escalated, police say.
Sgt. Chriswell Scott, a spokesman for the Marana Police Department, said police received a 911 call regarding "unknown trouble" at a home near 7400 West Crimson Ridge Drive around 8 a.m.
Scott said the officer got into a "confrontation" with a man in the home before fatally shooting the man. Another man and a woman, not harmed by Marana police, were taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition.
Police did not identify the people in the home or whether the man involved in the confrontation was armed.
Scott said the officer, who was also not identified, was placed on paid administrative leave, as is standard practice following a police shooting. He expected the department would have more information about the incident by noon on Monday.
The incident marks the 19th officer-involved shooting in Arizona for 2019.
March 30, 2019, 9:44 p.m.


The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has come under fire for spending $200,000 on an app that has been downloaded just 1,000 times, forcing staff members to post positive reviews in a bid to boost downloads.
In Parliamentary records revealed this week, the Steven Joyce led department forked out $198,067.30 to external provider Alphero to create and develop a New Zealand Regions mobile app.
Designed to promote Regional Economic Activity Report, poor initial downloads have prompted opposition from across the political landscape, chiefly the Labour Party who’ve criticised Joyce’s culture of extravagance.
“It was likely never intended to be used much, just to look good at Steven Joyce’s launch party,” claims David Clark, Spokesperson, Economic Development.
“This is classic Joyce. No one in the real world would download an app to look at information they can find more easily on the internet.
As Clark points out, it appears the makers and MBIE got so worried about lack of interest they rated the app themselves.
“The first three ratings are Nicholas Guthrie and Craig Eades, who work for the app maker Alphero, and Peter Ellis who works for MBIE,” Clark claims.
“Of course they all gave it five stars. Mr Joyce will be pleased with them. There is so much wasted money coming from agencies connected to Steven Joyce.
Clark adds that just last week another of Steven Joyce’s agencies, NZTE, was exposed for spending $30,000 on pounamu pendants for staff and as Tertiary Education Minister he is jointly responsible for the Ministry of Education’s $2.5 million Stairway to Heaven.
“If we want regional New Zealand to prosper, we need to support regional priorities,” Clark adds.


Can the Liberal World Order Survive Two More Years of Trump?
President Donald Trump delivers remarks about American missile defense doctrine at the Pentagon, Jan. 17, 2019 (AP photo by Evan Vucci).
In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and managing editor, Frederick Deknatel, discuss Prime Minister Theresa May’s latest Brexit defeat and the broader implications for the U.K. and European Union as the deadline for Brexit approaches. For the Report, Stewart Patrick talks with WPR’s senior editor, Robbie Corey-Boulet, about President Donald Trump’s foreign policy record after two years in office and the impact of his presidency on the liberal world order.


He ate with the rakish, wide-mouthed grin of Jack Nicholson – each bite a flash of theater. He loved to reach across and stab his fork into something on your plate. One night, leaning over a candle to pour the wine, he caught his shirt afire, a mishap that he laughingly shared with readers. A good many times, he took home a sample of the evening’s sauce on the sleeve of his jacket, a tendency that transformed him into an expert at stain removal.
– Franklin Avenue catches (and screen-captures) a glimpse of the Daily News site redesign, which looks a lot snazzier than the buggy status quo.
–LAist and blogging.la got into a fight. I love everyone, but I admit that the “lobotomized grandma” line made me laugh.


Chiawana opens district play against crosstown rival Pasco at 7 p.m. Saturday, while Richland travels to Southridge.Hodgins came out more aggressive from the get-go, hitting a free-throw jumper just 46 seconds into the game. She finished 5-of-12 from the field.
The Bombers had two objectives coming into Tuesday’s game. The first was to get the division’s No. 2 seed, but Walla Walla’s win over West Valley combined with the loss denied them that prize.
The second was to acquit themselves better than they did in the teams’ first matchup — a 53-36 Riverhawks rout.
On that count, the Bombers fared much better. They shored up their interior defense, holding Chiawana’s three posts to 17 points (half their total from the first game), and went toe-to-toe with the Riverhawks on the boards (only a 31-30 Chiawana advantage).
“The biggest thing we were playing for tonight was pride,” said Bombers coach Kristen Davis. “I think the girls were embarrassed with their performance the first time they played.
The Riverhawks trailed by six early in the second quarter but regained the lead for good at 20-18 on Erin Huisingh’s 3-pointer with 2:30 left in the first half.
They never trailed in the second half and led by as many as nine with 5:05 left, but the Bombers never let them feel comfortable.
Megan Sax led Richland with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Mikaela Rivard added 10 points for Chiawana.
RICHLAND — Megan Sax 11, Machinal 7, Caldwell 2, Ojeda 3, Mahoney 7, Croskrey, Von Oelhoffen 8. Totals 10-38 17-25 38.
CHIAWANA — Hayley Hodgins 16, Sparks, Ellsworth 7, Valdez 1, Rivard 10, Reynolds 4, Kelly, Huisingh 3, White 3. Totals 16-47 9-16 44.
Highlights — Ric 1x10 3pt, Chi 3x9; Ric 30 rbs, Chi 31; Ric 17 TOs, Chi 11; Sax 9 rbs; Hodgins 8 rbs; Shelby Ellsworth 8 rbs, 4 asts, 3 stls; Melanie Valdez 4 asts, 4 stls.


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Early attention to security issues might have given us a better internet today - or the project might never have taken off at all, says Robert Kahn.
The net's co-inventor tells BBC Click Online how it all began, when, as an assistant professor of electrical engineering at MIT, he took a leave of absence to brush up on his networking theory.
The work that we did was principally on designing what a network would look like.
It was me working alone writing memos on the subject.
I thought, at that time, that this was about as much practical experience as one would really need, to be a good theoretician back in the university.
But it turned out that an agency of the US government, the Defence Advance Research Projects Agency, known as Darpa (it was known as Arpa back then) actually had plans to build a computer network in the country.
At the time, many people didn't think this was a very practical thing to do because it clearly didn't look like a business opportunity and there weren't that many computers around.
But I thought it was an interesting technical challenge, so I was actually the system designer of the Arpanet - the very first computer network.
When I got to Darpa, I got involved in the creation of two more nets.
One was using satellites, a kind of Ethernet in the sky, on Intelsat-4, and the other one was a kind of a mobile network where the nodes were packet radios that broadcast to each other, so all the nodes could be in motion, in principle, or they could stay fixed as well.
The whole goal of that effort seemed pretty straight forward at the time: given that you've got the nets, put them together and get the machines on them to work together.
That was the genesis of the project itself.
When I first started the programme I was talking about what we were trying to achieve, which was netting these different computers and networks, so I called the project "internetting".
For computer communications, computers talk in little bursts. They're not continuous like speech.
So setting up circuits when you're only going to use it for a little bit of time would be about as inefficient as reserving a road from New York to Los Angeles to drive your car, and letting nobody else on that road.
So the idea that you could share it with little bundles of information that were separately addressed was an interesting challenge.
We had a few simple goals.
We had to find a notion of what we called a gateway - today they're known as routers - that would handle IP routing through the net.
[It was] an end-to-end protocol which we called TCP that also had to understand IP kinds of communication that would deal with end-to-end problems, putting information back in order, doing error checking, getting re-transmissions when things didn't arrive, getting rid of duplicates, getting things back in order when they arrived out of order and so forth.
I think we succeeded in those very significantly.
In terms of dangers, such as viruses, fraud or identity theft, I don't think we were thinking about that at all when we got started.
If we had been worried about that, the net might have been better today but we might not have even got there.
Certainly people have asked why we didn't build security in from day one.
We weren't worried about viruses because we were dealing with a very narrow research community that was "colleagular".
They were all friends and colleagues, and many of those systems had no protections on them whatsoever.
It was only many years later when the net became really a public utility of sorts that those things started to show up.
We were not really thinking about the dangers of that and perhaps we should have done.
I wish we had spent more time on that, but again, in the context of what we were doing, we might not have actually got the project off the ground.
We would have spent all our time trying to convince people to let us deal with security technology when we didn't even have the technology that could work without it.
We might not have got there.
Robert Kahn was interviewed for the BBC's Click Online programme.


Kena Brown, 43, of Peoria, enjoys taking her teenage son to the local library, where both of them have homework to do.
Brown is studying to become a teacher in the Grow Your Own Teachers initiative that is rapidly expanding in Illinois.
"Now, I have an interest I can share with my son," Brown said. "I get a lot of encouragement. My co-workers encourage me. Sometimes, it’s hard to get the homework done. You have to focus on the light at the end of the tunnel and knowing that I am going to serve a much-needed purpose in life and it’s not just for me, but it’s also for my community."
Sixteen communities throughout the state, including Peoria, are participating in the program. Participants and organizers came together at the Capitol on Tuesday to rally for continued funding for the program. The group wants $4.5 million out of the budget for the fiscal year that starts in July, which would be an increase of $1.5 million.
According to a Grow Your Own Teachers news release, the $4.5 million would be used to support students who are enrolled in the program and already in college, and it would help recruit and enroll other prospective teachers.
The increase would help meet the organization’s goal of 1,000 teachers by 2016.
Madeline Talbott, organizer for GYO Illinois and the grass-roots organization Action Now, said the program was developed to help communities that struggle with staffing and low performance in school districts.
"We have identified a solution to the problem from within those same communities. We are working to train people from the community where hard-to-staff schools are located, to become fully certified and highly qualified teachers in those communities."
Ruthie Hamer, coordinator of the Grow Your Own Teachers initiative in Peoria, said that since its creation locally, 40 prospective teachers have enrolled in and begun classes.
"The community needs to know that there are plenty of intelligent, hard-working parents and people in the community that want to give back," Brown said. "We want to be more than another parent. We are here to help solve the problem. It’s a way of giving back."
Currently, the program has 545 prospective teachers statewide.


BOOKER'S Oakleigh Plate triumph was not only confirmation of Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra's outstanding skills, but a reminder of super sire Written Tycoon's enduring excellence.
Booker became the Woodside Park Stud stallion's latest Group 1 graduate with a superb performance at Caulfield on Saturday.
And with the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale starting at Oaklands on Sunday, the win also ensured Written Tycoon's stock will again be in heavy demand.
Woodside Park general manager James Price is bullish about how the market will react to Written Tycoon's draft of almost 30 yearlings.
"We're most excited by the offerings of Victoria's No.1 stallion in Written Tycoon," Price said.
"(Woodside Park has) some lovely colts and a filly by him, which we are looking forward to presenting to the market.
"The confidence comes with him because he averaged $290,000 at the Gold Coast in January.
"The market wants to buy them, and they want to buy them because he's getting champion two-year-olds in Capitalist and Written By."
Blue Gum Farm principal Philip Campbell was equally upbeat over the prospects of Brazen Beau progeny at a sale renowned for value.
"Year in, year old, the record for producing superior runners has been terrific," Campbell said.
The Inglis Premier yearling sale runs until March 6, with 786 lots catalogued.
There are 12 yearlings by 2008 Golden Slipper winner Sebring, who has died of a heart attack, aged 13.
The dual Group 1 winner was hailed as "the horse of a lifetime, as a racehorse and a stallion" by Widden Stud's Antony Thompson.
Winner of five of six starts, Sebring was trained by Gai Waterhouse for Denise Martin's Star Thoroughbreds syndicate.
Sebring was retired to stud as a three-year-old.
His best progeny include Amphitrite, Dissident, Egg Tart and Criterion.


NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / The founders of NewYorkMotorInsurance.com, a New York auto insurance brokerage firm, are pleased to announce that they have just posted a new article to their website that answers a common question: Is New York City The Worst City for Driving in America?
To read the new article in its entirety, please check out https://www.newyorkmotorinsurance.com/blog/new-york-worst-city-to-drive/.
As the article notes, New York definitely has a bad reputation when it comes to driving. While many people might believe this to be true, the team from New York Motor Insurance, a company that helps drivers save on their New York car insurance costs, wanted to take a closer look at the data behind this claim.
From accident data and insurance information to traffic congestion, travel times and more, there are a number of factors that can accurately determine if a city is ''bad'' for driving.
With these facts in mind, the founders of New York Motor Insurance researched a number of facts about driving in New York City. As they found out, New York State didn't make the Top 3 for the lowest percentage of drivers with insurance, the number of DUI arrests per 1,000 drivers and the fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.
''In fact, you've got to drop all the way to number 46 on the list of worst drivers before you find the State of New York, which has a 90.6% insured rate, 2.43 DUI arrests per 1000 drivers, and 0.83 deaths per 100 million miles traveled,'' the article notes.
As the article concludes, while New Yorkers have the reputation of being angry drivers who are quick to use their horn, in reality, they have probably waited a long time to travel a short distance, so they can get frustrated quite easily.
''Despite all of this, New York is one of the safer places to drive but even locals will warn you to avoid driving in the city as much as possible,'' the article notes.
New York Motor Insurance is an auto insurance brokerage firm located in the Soho neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. In business since 2010, New York Motor Insurance has helped millions of New Yorkers save on their auto insurance costs. Please visit https://www.newyorkmotorinsurance.com today for a free insurance quote to see how much drivers can save.


There aren’t enough Guy Pearce movies. You can see him right now in a small but powerful part in the Australian crime picture Animal Kingdom, and he’ll soon show up in the remake of Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. And now he’s been cast, along with four other actors, in a comedy called Mis-Fits.
THR says that Pearce, Seymour Cassel, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Cloris Leachman and Virginie Ledoyen are all in the film, which will be the feature directorial debut of playwright L.D. Napier.
Mis-Fits is based on a script by Napier, and ” tells the story of a “necro-detective” who goes in search of people’s lost, dead relatives.” Producer Doug Claybourne calls it “a wacky comedy in the tone of Harold and Maude,” and I invite you to spend a few contemplative moments reconciling that logline with Claybourne’s description. Got it? Good.
For the film, Ingrid Michaelson is writing a song with M. Ward. The movie’s romantic theme, which would score the romantic entanglement suggested by the producer’s invocation of Harold and Maude? Perhaps. Regardless, that’s a rather wild cast. Always happy to see Mr. Cassel working alongside other good actors, and Cloris Leachman as well. And Virginie Ledoyen — don’t see her in a great many English-language films. I never did catch The Army of Crime, but I liked her well enough in 8 Women and The Beach.


In the wake of large-scale data breaches against retailers such as Target, Neiman Marcus and Michaels, the Retail Industry Leaders Association has launched the Retail Cyber Intelligence Sharing Center in an effort to strengthen defenses against cyber-attacks and protect consumers.
Companies participating in the initiative include Target, Lowe's, Nike, Safeway and Walgreens, according to a statement from RILA.
Through the R-CISC, retailers will share cyberthreat information among themselves and with public and private stakeholders, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Secret Service and FBI. The R-CISC also will provide advanced training and education and research resources for retailers.
Recent data breaches have caught the attention of retailers' senior executives to the need to share cyberthreat information. "Even though a firm may be able to weather a data breach in the long run, it's now something that can affect the careers of senior management in the short run," says Allan Friedman, a research scientist at the Cybersecurity Policy Research Institute at George Washington University, where he works on cybersecurity policy issues.
Picking up Friedman's point, David Navetta, co-founder of the Information Law Group, sees the initiative going beyond security "to improve the perception of the retail industry when it comes to consumers. That perception issue is certainly more prominent due to these high-profile incidents."
Al Pascual, fraud analyst at Javelin Strategy and Research, says retailers have gotten significant heat from not replicating information sharing forums found in other industries. "Given the federal government's recent rumblings regarding the need for greater cybersecurity oversight, everything has coalesced to make this the right time to get a program like this off the ground."
Michael Bruemmer, vice president of Experian Data Breach Resolution, sees the sharing of information and resources in all industries as being in the "best interests" of consumers. "Recent incidents in different sectors have heightened the awareness of data breaches and the urgency to address security," Bruemmer says. "We will continue to see movement in this area to educate on data breach preparedness and advance protection capabilities at all levels from the federal government to the small business space."
The R-CISC was developed with the insight from more than 50 of America's largest retailers, in consultation with key stakeholders including federal law enforcement, government agencies and subject matter experts.
The center has also consulted with other organizations including Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center and other ISACs, the National Cybersecurity and Communication Integration Center and the National Cybersecurity Alliance, among others.
The R-CISC will consist of three components, a Retail Information Sharing and Analysis Center, education and training and research.
The Retail-ISAC will identify real-time threats and share actionable intelligence to mitigate the risk of cyber-attacks, RILA says. The ISAC will allow retailers to share cyberthreat information among each other and share anonymized information with the American government via a cyber-analyst and a technician embedded at the National Cyber Forensics and Training Alliance.
Around education and training, RILA says retailers will be able to learn from key stakeholders and advance leading practices on cybersecurity, cyber risk mitigation and data privacy in a trusted environment.
Additionally, the R-CISC will collaborate with academia to provide research on emerging technologies and potential future threats.
Phyllis Schneck, DHS deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity and communications, says the Retail Cyber Intelligence Sharing Center will further enhance DHS's collaboration by providing information and resources that can help companies keep their networks and information secure. "We have seen a sharp increase in the number of malicious actors attempting to access personal information or compromise the systems we all rely on, in the retail industry and elsewhere," she says. .
In December 2013, Target reported a massive data breach that exposed 40 million credit and debit card accounts, along with personal information on 70 million customers. Following the breach, Gregg Steinhafel resigned on May 5 as the company's chairman, president and CEO (see Breach Aftermath: Target CEO Steps Down).
On April 17, arts and crafts retailer Michaels confirmed its stores were hit by a data breach that potentially compromised account information for 3 million payment cards (see Michaels Confirms Data Breach). The breach involved "criminals using highly sophisticated malware."
Neiman Marcus in February reduced its estimate of the number of payment cards compromised in its breach last year (see Neiman Marcus Downsizes Breach Estimate). An investigation has determined that the number of potentially affected credit and debit cards was about 350,000, down from the original estimate of 1.1 million.


An agreement to provide Georgia with $48 million for implementation of a project on improvement of the regional power supply network was signed within the framework of a visit by Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Xiaoyu Zhao to this country, the Ministry of Finance of Georgia informed Trend on Friday.
According to the information, the signing of the agreement took place with the participation of the Minister of Finance, Vice Chairman of ADB Management Board Nodar Khaduri, and Minister of Energy Kakhi Kaladze.
The project stipulates further improvements of the power supply infrastructure in Georgia, ensuring its reliability, durability and efficiency, as well as higher electric power transmission, promotion of export and transit. The purpose is for existing substations and construction of a new 220/110 KV substations are planned.
"Today we have signed an agreement to finance a very important project. It will be very helpful for the development of the country. I believe in the abilities of the Georgian government. I think this will be another successful project showing how efficient the government of Georgia uses financial resources provided by international financial institutions," the ADB vice-president said.
Minister of Energy Kakhi Kaladze also emphasised the importance of this project for the development of the power system and energy security of the country.
"We will use the allocated financial resources in order to construct a the Khorga-Jvari substation, as well as fund some other major energy projects that will develop our power system and the economy as a whole," the minister said.
The project will be implemented by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and the JSC State Power System of Georgia. Its implementation will be completed in 2016.
The parties also discussed their successful cooperation and possible new directions.
ADB has been working with Georgia since 2007. During this time, the bank has financed projects worth a total cost of $865 million. The cost of the current projects is $57.5 million.


There are at least 2 colleges in Saratoga, listed and described below. These schools represent 11,210 or more students (full-time and part-time), a combined student body equivalent to 5,715 full-time students.
Saratoga is notable for the large percent of its residents with college degrees.


Trump's preoccupation with getting allies to spend 2% on defense often misrepresents their NATO obligations.
BRUSSELS — President Donald Trump arrived Tuesday at the home of NATO headquarters with a seemingly singular preoccupation: allies who aren't sharing in the burden of providing for the collective defense.
His rallying cry: "2 percent." That's the amount NATO members are expected to spend on defense as a share of their economies. Only four of 29 allies meet that target.
The latest salvo came in two tweets from Air Force One, in which he misrepresented the arrangement by which allies contribute to their joint defense.
The squabbling over who pays for the protection afforded by the alliance has already set a combative tone for the two-day NATO summit in Brussels this week, as the allies discuss its response to Russia's growing military, political and cyber incursions into Europe.
"Many countries in NATO, which we are expected to defend, are not only short of their current commitment of 2% (which is low), but are also delinquent for many years in payments that have not been made. Will they reimburse the U.S.?" Trump tweeted.
A 2014 agreement did require members to increase defense spending, with a goal of contributing 2 percent of the nation's economic output by 2024. But more importantly, that spending is on their own defense forces — not payments to the United States.
But Trump is correct that only four NATO members — the United States, the United Kingdom, Estonia and Greece — currently meet the 2 percent expectation. A fifth country, Poland, fell to 1.99 percent his year, as faster-than-expected economic growth outpaced defense budgets.
Diplomats say Trump's singular focus on the 2 percent benchmark might be counterproductive.
European Council President Donald Tusk suggested as much Tuesday.
“Dear America, appreciate your allies. After all, you don’t have that many," he said in Brussels ahead of Trump's visit.
"We do have a lot of allies, but we cannot be taken advantage of," Trump responded. "We're being taken advantage of by the European Union."
Trump has tied the issue of defense spending to his larger trade wars, saying the United States should not be subsidizing nations with which it runs a trade deficit.
"The European Union makes it impossible for our farmers and workers and companies to do business in Europe (U.S. has a $151 Billion trade deficit), and then they want us to happily defend them through NATO, and nicely pay for it," Trump tweeted. "Just doesn’t work!"
One particular target of Trump's displeasure has been German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"Germany pays 1 percent. One percent," Trump said at a campaign rally last week. "And I said, you know, Angela, I can't guarantee it, but we're protecting you, and it means a lot more to you than protecting us because I don't know how much protection we get by protecting you."
Germany's actual spending is 1.24 percent of its gross domestic product.
But experts say Trump's focus on the percentage of defense spending only captures one dimension of an ally's contribution. Germany's government, for example, approved an increase in troops to serve in Afghanistan, to 1,300. And other countries include military pensions in its totals, which is effectively spending on past defense.
Trump's excessive fixation on defense spending ignores those contributions, argues Jeffrey Rathke, the co-author of a recent study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies on NATO burden sharing. He also said the NATO figures don't take into account civilian spending that helps boost defense, like diplomatic efforts and training of local defense forces.
Trump's frequent complaints about defense spending also obscure the fact that European defense spending is going up — even by Trump's own measure.
Nineteen of the 29 members spend more on defense than they did in 2014, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said half are on pace to meet the target by 2024.
There are a lot of reasons for that: New threats from Russia following its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, an improving European economy, and U.S. pressure under both President Barack Obama and, more pointedly, Trump.
"Trump can claim some credit for the increase," said Daalder, Obama's NATO ambassador. "The allies are certainly willing to give it to him if he were to recommit fully to NATO and collective defense."


Parents could be unable to attend free baby classes because a clutch of nearby parking spaces have been closed, it has been claimed.
Six free spaces on Oak Street have been shut off because of the development of 40 homes on the site of a former reclamation yard.
It is round the corner from Twinkle Toes Baby Café on Sussex Street, which offers a free programme of activities and classes for babies.
Now Ingrid Henry, who runs the cafe, fears the closure of the free parking spaces will put parents off visiting.
The parking bay was closed last week to allow building to start on the homes, with the temporary parking restriction in place until November 12.
Ms Henry said the already strained parking situation had been made unbearable by the closure.
More than 100 families a week visit the café and Ms Henry said she feared the looming closure of multiple Sure Start children’s centres would send even more to their door, without the parking spaces to cater for them.
Lianne Mills, who works at Twinkle Toes, launched an online petition calling on Norwich City Council to find a temporary alternative while the Oak Street bay is out of action.
Sussex Street has 21 permit only spaces available and Ms Mills said during the day most of them were left empty.
A spokesman for Norwich City Council said: ““It’s important that roads are kept moving, are safe and serve the needs of everyone. This includes the business owner of this café, the other businesses in the area, the developers carrying out work, the residents who live there, as well as pedestrians, drivers and cyclists.


(CNSNews.com) -- There is not a single, public Christian church left in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. State Department.
This reflects the state of religious freedom in that country ten years after the United States first invaded it and overthrew its Islamist Taliban regime.
In the intervening decade, U.S. taxpayers have spent $440 billion to support Afghanistan's new government and more than 1,700 U.S. military personnel have died serving in that country.
In recent times, freedom of religion has declined in Afghanistan, according to the State Department.
“The government’s level of respect for religious freedom in law and in practice declined during the reporting period, particularly for Christian groups and individuals,” reads the State Department report.
Most Christians in the country refuse to “state their beliefs or gather openly to worship,” said the State Department.
More than 1,700 U.S. military personnel have died serving in the decade-old Afghanistan war, according to CNSNews.com’s database of all U.S. casualties in Afghanistan. A September audit released jointly by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction and the State Department’s Office of Inspector General, found that the U.S. government will spend at least $1.7 billion to support the civilian effort from 2009-2011.
According to that report, the $1.7 billion excludes additional security costs, which the report says the State Department priced at about $491 million.
A March 2011 report by the Congressional Research Service showed that overall the United States has spent more than $440 billion in the Afghanistan war. Christian aid from the international community has also gone to aid the Afghan government.
Nevertheless, according to the State Department, the lack of non-Muslim religious centers in Afghanistan can be blamed in part on a “strapped government budget,” which is primarily fueled by the U.S. aid.
The report acknowledged that Afghanistan’s post-Taliban constitution, which was ratified with the help of U.S. mediation in 2004, can be contradictory when it comes to the free exercise of religion.
However, “the right to change one’s religion was not respected either in law or in practice,” according to the State Department.
Also, in recent years, the death punishment for blasphemy “has not been carried out,” according to the State Department.
According to the State Department report, the United States continues to promote religious freedom in Afghanistan--even though the country no longer has even one Christian church.
“The U.S. government regularly discusses religious freedom with government officials as part of its overall policy to promote human rights,” according to the report.
According to the State Department report, more than 99 percent of the population, estimated between 24 and 33 million people, is either Sunni (80 percent) or Shia (19 percent) Muslim. Non-Muslim religious groups, including the estimated 500 to 8,000 strong Christian community in the country, make up less than 1 percent of the population. Other non-Muslim groups in the country are Sikhs, Bahais, and Hindus.


FlyingBit Password Keeper offers a simple solution for the problem of remembering a lot of confidential information. For example, it may include passwords, serial numbers and all kinds of codes. Data is stored in a special encrypted database. Thus, even if someone gains access to the storage, it will be impossible to read information from it.


New information from a witness and an NGO report has shed new light on the practices and facilities of the mysterious Sujiatun Concentration Camp and its treatment of Falun Gong.
Interviews with the ex-wife of a surgeon involved in organ transplants at the hospital connected to the Sujiatun camp, which is said to be secretly harvesting organs from Falun Gong practitioners, show some of the brutal measures used by the camp in its treatment of the practitioners illegally detained there. This new information follows on the heels of an early March Epoch Times interview with a Chinese journalist, who first revealed the existence of the Sujiatun concentration camp and said that 6,000 Falun Gong adherents were imprisoned there and were killed for their organs.
The testimony of the Chinese journalist and this informant, along with ongoing investigations made by a U.S.-based human rights NGO, are the first reports detailing this type of camp since 1999, when the former leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Jiang Zemin, launched the persecution against the peaceful and popular Falun Gong meditation practice in China.
The witness said that most disturbing to her was that her ex-husband told her that organ removal in Sujiatun is often carried out while the victims were alive. This is to ensure freshness and maximum functioning of the organs for transplanting.
According to the witness, the hospital has removed many kidneys, livers, corneas, and skin from Falun Gong practitioners. After organ removal, the practitioners' bodies are thrown into an incinerator, which was converted from a boiler. Their ashes are dumped together with burned charcoal to conceal the evidence.
The witness stated that her ex-husband had a mobile phone specifically for this procedure. Whatever the time or place, as soon as the phone rang, he would go to perform the operation. During the two years of working at Sujiatun, he did several cornea removal operations per day.
She said that when her former husband finally told her the truth of his work in Sujiatun Concentration Camp she divorced him. She also said that her former husband was badly affected psychologically by what he had done.
“As a Chinese, I feel quite sad. This is Chinese killing Chinese. It's unlike the slaughter in Nanjing when the Japanese invaded China. This is killing our own fellow people,” she said.
The woman stated that out of the 6,000 practitioners first detained in the death camp there are now only an estimated 2,000 that remain alive.
“Only for Falun Gong practitioners, owing to the central Communist Party policy that the deaths of practitioners are 'counted as suicide,' the hospital can detain and remove organs from them live, without any procedures. Every surgeon knew they were Falun Gong practitioners. They were told that doing such things to Falun Gong practitioners were not crimes. Instead, they were 'cleaning' for the Chinese Communist Party,” she said.
When asked why the concentration camp could remain so secret, the woman said, “Because several people share the profit. So they won't tell others.” She also pointed out that Sujiatun is located in a rural area of Shenyang, and that although the hospital was quite famous, only patients seeking treatments for heart and thrombi diseases would go there, and therefore the location is not entirely public.
According to the woman, many doctors within the hospital know of the continuous murder of Falun Gong practitioners for their organs, but choose to remain silent. “A lot of people who work at Sujiatun are from families of high-ranking cadres. We have formed this habit since a very young age: do not ask anything that's not relevant to us,” she said.
The woman said the Falun Gong practitioners were first held in a one-story residential house, which was dismantled around 2003, adding that “we guessed that there was an unknown basement [in the hospital].” She understood that the basement was part of the Sujiatun Concentration Camp.
The camp, according to a report published by the NGO World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, is built underground in the remains of an unused civil air defence facility, and is connected through an exit to the Chinese Medicine Thrombosis Treatment Centre in Shenyang City in Northeast China.
Drawing on sources within China, the report released by WOIPFG stated the Sujiatun death camp is being steered by provincial-level Communist Party officials in Liaoning Province, as well as Shenyang City officials. Particularly involved are managers in health bureaus, who stand to gain the most financially. The report portrays an efficient machine driven by profit and a confidence born of state backing. The camp is described as running “a systematic procedural practice” that began as early as 2001.
According to WOIPFG president John Jaw, most of the Falun Gong practitioners believed to be held in the Sujiatun camp were likely arrested on extrajudicial grounds and administratively sentenced. “They have been detained for their affiliation with the Falun Gong, as opposed to having committed some sort of criminal act,” he said.
Numerous reports have been documented by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch of abuse and torture against Falun Gong practitioners inside China. According to the official Falun Dafa Information website, 2840 practitioners are confirmed to have been tortured to death within China's vast Labour Camp (Laogai) system. However, reliable sources inside China put this figure at 10,000 or higher.


It's a question many of us have asked ourselves: are we alone in the universe?
From flying saucers to balls of light rocketing through the sky, South Australia has had its fair share of reported UFO encounters.
One avid ABC reader has asked us to delve into the history of the state's major cases, as part of our Curious Adelaide campaign.
So we dusted off some of South Australia's oldest X-Files to find answers.
We'll start in the outback, where a traumatised family was allegedly lifted off the ground by aliens.
It was still dark in the early hours of January 20, 1988, when the Knowles family was driving along the remote Nullarbor Plain.
The seemingly mundane trip from Perth to Melbourne quickly turned to terror when they encountered an unidentified flying object that tormented them for 90 minutes.
A large glowing object "like a big ball" chased Faye Knowles and her adult sons Patrick, Wayne and Sean down the highway, before landing on their roof and plucking them into the air.
"It apparently picked the car up off the road, shook it quite violently and forced the car back down on the road with such pressure that one of the tyres was blown," a police spokesman told media at the time.
In a state of shock, Sean Knowles put his foot on the accelerator as his mother screamed but, according to reports, their voices distorted like time was slowing down.
"I wound down the window and I felt this thing on the roof... all of this smoke stuff started coming into the car, the car was covered in black stuff," Faye Knowles told reporters after the incident.
"It was a small light and all of a sudden it became big like this, like a big ball.
"We thought we were dying, then we got out the car and we hid behind a little tree and the bushes and it couldn't find us."
The family eventually made it to Ceduna and reported the bizarre events to police who took the report seriously, given the state of the car, which was dented and had dust over it.
The story made headlines around the world with sceptics and believers alike trying to make sense of what happened on that lonely stretch of road.
UFO reports in the state can be traced back to the beginning of the twentieth century but it wasn't until the early Cold War that they started appearing all over the place.
Rockets were a new invention, originally for military purposes, that made the stars seem closer than ever before.
It seems that, in an atmosphere of heightened political tension, people became spooked by strange lights in the sky.
UFO researcher Keith Basterfield said Port Augusta was home to one of the state's first sightings.
"Even in the beginning of the flying saucer era in 1947 when the whole thing took off, we had one of the earliest sightings in Port Augusta," Mr Basterfield said.
"Five metallic objects were seen by three people working at the Commonwealth railways there.
"Even the government astronomer — we had such a person at the time — couldn't explain that sighting."
Reports made the front pages of newspapers of strange objects sighted from Eyre Peninsula to the outskirts of Adelaide.
On January 22, 1954, The Bunyip newspaper reported three people had sighted a flying saucer over Gawler.
"As the object approached at terrific speed they could make out the perfect shape of a saucer — pure white," the report stated.
"It looked no bigger than an ordinary saucer because of its great height."
One case that still stumps Mr Basterfield took place outside the remote community of Kimba on the Eyre Highway on the night of February 4, 1973.
Four people in three separate cars all spotted it in a clearing they passed — an orange rectangle similar to an illuminated door in the scrub, with a strange figure standing inside.
Police were baffled, so Mr Basterfield and his team drove out to investigate.
"We had a look at the site, we took soil samples from the area, we had the samples analysed looking for something unusual there," he said.
"That's not your typical flying metallic saucer but it's a very, very strange set of observations by a group of independent people.
"And we never did get to the bottom of it."
Another strange happening, in South Australia's Flinders Ranges in 2006, was witnessed by scores of people many kilometres apart.
Service station owner John Teague was outside pumping tyres when something plummeted through the sky.
"For some reason I glanced up and I yelled, 'look at that Lloyd', and this thing was hurtling through the air," he said.
"Looked like [it was] about the size of a baseball just flying through the air rapidly."
Mr Teague made such a noise that a group across the street looked up and saw the same thing.
"Then all of a sudden, and this was quite some time later, a huge sonic boom rattled through the air," he said.
"I thought it might have been a meteor going through the air in daylight, I didn't know what it was, maybe space junk coming back.
"But it would have had to be pretty big for space junk for it to be that size way up in the air."
To this day, what it was remains a mystery.
So how common are UFO sightings in South Australia?
South Australia's Astronomical Society's Paul Curnow said it's pretty common.
"The average city person doesn't look at the sky very often and sometimes when they do look up and see something strange, they can't really explain it," Mr Curnow said.
Late last year, the Pentagon admitted that up until 2012, it had been running a secret investigation into UFOs, but it seems that Australia's aerospace and security agencies don't keep detailed records or data on UFO sightings — at least, that's what they told us.
When Curious Adelaide phoned SA Police to check whether it could shed some light on the matter there was a moment of silence, before some laughter.
"If you stay on the line, I'll transfer you to agents Mulder and Scully from our X-Files division."
When the ABC contacted the CSIRO there was a similar reponse.
According to Paul Curnow, it's still common to get several dozen to hundreds of UFO reports each year in South Australia alone.
But what's being reported is changing, he told us, with fewer sightings of flying saucers hovering over the land.
"Probably for every 10 cases you get, nine can be explained in mundane terms," Mr Curnow said.
The majority of cases, unfortunately for those hoping for an encounter with the extra-terrestrial, have a logical explanation.
"Quite often people report a little silver dot in the sky [and it] turned out to be an aircraft," he said.
"A lot of these things like planes, satellites, planets, even searchlights sometimes, can all add to what people are reporting."
So is the truth really out there?
UFO researcher Keith Basterfield was based in Adelaide when the Knowles family incident occurred.
"My first thought was 'here is a very interesting story that we can carry out some hard science on'," he said.
"We've got a vehicle, we've got reported unusual dust on a vehicle, we've got a number of witnesses.
"If we could document all that we'd have a very strong case for saying something unusual occurred."
However, the conclusion he reached was far from the extra-terrestrial encounter portrayed by the media.
The car had been forensically tested with nothing unusual found, and Mr Basterfield had a more ordinary explanation for the bright light.
"We figured it was potentially a mirage caused by a temperature inversion that night," he said.
That kind of mirage can make lights a long way in the distance curve over the Earth's horizon and appear to be much closer than they actually are.
"Although they saw the light approaching them, they never saw the [source of the] light reach them, so it never actually got to them," Mr Basterfield said.
"It disappeared at that point in front of them so we figured a mirage of a track light several kilometres away could explain that."
He also had a simple explanation for the car jumping and vibrating.
"If a tyre explodes under your car going at really high speed you're going to get vibrations, you're going to get brake dust entering the vehicle," Mr Basterfield said.
"It was simply a case of misunderstanding, of seeing a light in the distance, a tyre bursting and those things had built up into a story."
While it seems science offers an explanation for many of the sightings in the state, you'll need to decide for yourself whether it's more tale than truth.
Why is the name Brenton so popular in Adelaide?
Curious Adelaide: What are some of the unusual things Adelaide's famous Park Lands been used for?
Curious Adelaide: What's behind the rivalry between South Australia and Victoria?
What does the 'OG' stand for in OG Road?
Is it true that singer Kamahl was a great cricketer, and mates with the Don?


Catholic priest: Trump's proposal 'prudent'; Men love Planned Parenthood?
GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump's call "for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on" has caused quite a stir in the media.
At least one Catholic priest is not fearful of making a public and politically incorrect statement in support of Trump's proposal.
There is no natural human right to enter the United States. Thus there is no 'human rights' case to be made against Trump's proposal. The legitimate purpose of immigration law and immigration policy is to promote the well-being of the American people.
The large-scale influx of alien Muslims and other foreigners is already manifestly dangerous to the American people. We have already experienced, in addition to the thousands killed on 9/11, the murder of scores of Americans by Muslim jihadists.
Trump's proposal offends against no principle of justice, and seems entirely prudent in view of the hostile invasion of the U.S. being encouraged by our government and by the profiteering U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Twenty-five Americans die each day, either murdered by an illegal alien, or killed by a drunk-driving illegal alien. These deaths – and scores of other deaths from exotic, virulent contagious diseases – are another phenomenon never noted by the bishops' conference.
[And] 80 percent of immigrants, regardless of national origin, vote pro-abortion. No one has the right to enter any country and proceed to vote for genocide. This fact has never been acknowledged by the U.S. bishops' conference.
A common misconception is that Planned Parenthood is only for young women, especially women seeking abortions. The myth is powerful and widespread enough for Senate Republicans to have passed a bill on Thursday to cut funding to any entity that 'provides for abortions,' which would effectively cut federal funds for Planned Parenthood. That men depend on Planned Parenthood (and love it) is often overlooked in this heated debate.
I asked Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, to comment on the article.
Of course they do. And aside from distracting people from their crimes against humanity by saying, 'Oh, we do a lot of good things,' one of the key services Planned Parenthood provides for men is to cover up their sexually predatory behavior.
Just ask Edgar Ramirez, a California man who benefited from Planned Parenthood. He has a lot of time to answer our questions, because he's sitting in jail for life. Among his crimes were sexual abuse of his minor-age daughters. In 2010, he impregnated his 13-year-old daughter not once, but twice. And both times, he took her to Planned Parenthood for an abortion.
So, sure – lots of men depend on Planned Parenthood, and they love it.


One of the nine bombers that detonated explosives on Easter Sunday was a woman, State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene has said on Wednesday.
President Maithripala Sirisena is reported to have informed Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and IGP Pujith Jayasundara to resign from their offices, sources said.
Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella yesterday called for the appointment of a parliamentary select committee to look into the failure of communication of the prior warnings that were made by foreign intelligence on last Sunday’s terrorist attacks.
Opposition MP Dinesh Gunawardane yesterday told the government that it should not by any circumstance allow foreign security forces to enter this country at this moment.
British Prime Minister Theresa May spoke to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday night over the telephone to express her condolences, the PM’s office said.
Opposition MP Wimal Weerawansa today said MP Mujibur Rahman, Western Province Governor Azath Salley and Minister Rishard Bathiudeen should be questioned for instigating extremism.
A team of the Federal Investigation Bureau (FBI) of the United States is already on the ground in Sri Lanka to conduct investigations into the serial bombings on Easter Saturday, a spokesman said today.
State Minister of Defense Ruwan Wijewardene today confirmed that most of the suicide bombers, who carried out a suicide bombing campaign on Easter Sunday are well educated and come from maybe middle or upper-middle class families.
Emergency Regulations which provides provisions to the armed forces to ensure peace was passed in Parliament without a vote today.
The Easter Sunday tragedy is a consequence of a weak government, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka told Parliament today.
The police curfew will be imposed for the fourth day across the island from 10.00 pm to 4.00 am tomorrow, the police said.
An all party conference would be convened at the Presidential Secretariat tomorrow under the chair of the President to discuss the current situation and future steps which should be taken, the President’s Media Unit (PMD) said.
MP Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe today wrote to President Maithripala Sirisena and requested him to immediately arrest Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and IGP Pujitha Jayasundara.
The Special Task Force (STF) personnel carried out another controlled explosion of a suspicious motorbike which had been left unattended at Gas Works Street in Pettah, police said.
US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina Teplitz has told the CNN that the US did not provide Sri Lanka with advance intelligence regarding imminent attacks prior to Easter Sunday.
The Special Task Force (STF) personnel carried out a controlled explosion after they found a suspicious parcel near a restaurant at Thimbirigaskatuwa in Katana this morning, police said.
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today said that they were not aware of any intelligence suggesting that Easter Sunday attack in Sri Lanka was in retaliation for deadly shootings on a mosques in Christchurch, Reuters reported.


Lucy P. Marcus, founder and CEO of Marcus Venture Consulting, Ltd., is Professor of Leadership and Governance at IE Business School and a non-executive board director of Atlantia SpA.
May 29, 2018 Lucy P. Marcus identifies shareholders' most urgent grievances about the way companies are operating.
May 1, 2018 Lucy P. Marcus argues that the company needs to go much further to address its governance failures.
Mar 20, 2018 Lucy P. Marcus argues that shareholder activism in the wake of the Parkland school shooting could bring meaningful reforms.
Feb 21, 2018 Lucy P. Marcus says that effective action to protect the rights and dignity of women and girls is becoming unavoidable.
Jan 17, 2018 Lucy P. Marcus argues that citizens and businesses must resist the temptation to disengage from current events.
Thanks. You've been to a lot of AGMs so you've seen this happen time and time again. We've got to create more opportunities for genuine dialogue. Also, we've got to move the conversation on from one that is adversarial to one that is more cooperative.


A plan backed by Escambia County to place dredging spoils from Pensacola Pass near Perdido Key could fight erosion on the key.
A plan backed by Escambia County leaders would shore up eroded sections of Perdido Key with sand obtained from routine dredging of Pensacola Pass.
The Escambia County Commission agreed to develop a new Pensacola Pass Inlet Management Program earlier this month.
Florida's Department of Environmental Quality must sign off on the local program and agree to provide matching funds before the project can move forward, said Tim Day, environmental programs director for the county.
County Commissioner Doug Underhill, whose district includes Perdido Key, said the program is a priority for the area.
"We will naturally replenish our beaches without having to spend millions of dollars," he said.
In the past, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has dumped sand from the dredging process in the deep water instead of strategically placing the sand in areas where it would be carried to beaches west of Pensacola Pass.
The Florida Legislature has encouraged the corps to instead place dredging spoils in areas that replicate natural sand drift whenever possible.
But Underhill said the Pensacola Pass plan is complicated because so many entities are involved including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Pensacola Naval Air Station, the National Park Service, the Florida Department of Environmental Quality and the county.
"All of the equity holders have to be on the same sheet of music for how the pass is dredged," he said.
Under the plan approved by the Escambia County Commission, the county would spend $103,000 to study the flow of water and sand through the inlet and figure out how to best use dredging spoils. The state would add $331,000 in matching funds to complete the project.
A large portion of Perdido Key's beaches have been listed as critically eroded by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection since Hurricane Ivan slammed the region in 2004.
Unlike Pensacola Beach, Perdido Key beaches are privately owned. According to state law, owners of beachfront property have private property rights to the water line. If the beaches are widened through a replenishment project, the state would own the extra width created by the project.
Some Perdido Key property owners have long resisted efforts to renourish the eroded beach because they do not want to expand public access to their properties. The inlet plan could add sand to the beaches without requiring the beachfront property owners to give up access rights.
Charles Krupnick, president of the Perdido Key Association of area homeowners, said many Perdido Key homeowners are opposed to a renourishment project like the one completed along Pensacola Beach in 2015.
"Those opposed have a number of concerns, such as that the new beachfront would belong to the state of Florida and that eminent domain may need to be used to accomplish the restoration," he said.
Krupnick said using the dredging spoils to benefit Perdido Key's eroded beaches appears to be a good idea.
The county said in its proposal for the project that a healthier beach would help support both tourism and wildlife habitat, including the habitat of the endangered Perdido Key Beach Mouse.
The mouse was listed as endangered in 1985 and government agencies have spent millions on the species' protection — doing everything from creating tunnels under roadways for the mice to safely cross to setting aside dozens of acres for mouse habitat. Under a habit protection plan agreement between the county and the federal government, new development allowed on the key hinges on mouse's continued survival.
"A robust beach mouse population is the key to the continued success of the Perdido Habitat Conservation Plan and the economic development that it enables," the county said in its proposal for the Pensacola Pass Inlet Management Program.


Brian Cookson, the UCI president, has insisted the uncertainty surrounding the 2015 Track Cycling World Championships will be resolved soon.
The calendar for the 2014-15 Track World Cup series is still to be revealed and the venue for next year's world championships is unknown. London's Olympic Velodrome will host the 2016 event.
It is understood a return to Melbourne, the world championships hosts in 2012, is possible, depending on whether the state of Victoria offers its financial support, and Aguascalientes in Mexico is another potential host. Its velodrome, which is at altitude, hosted last December's Track World Cup meeting at which a host of world records were smashed.
"We have a number of proposals now on the table and we'll be making a decision very shortly," Cookson said. "It's not ideal, but it's a real-world problem. The real-world problem was that there weren't any bidders coming forward.
"The ones that were interested originally had withdrawn, so we are now proactively looking and talking to people and I'm optimistic that we'll get a solution in time so everyone will be able to book their flights."
The concern is not about the world championships themselves, but the lead-up to them, as the World Cup series carries qualification points for the event and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Riders must also qualify for World Cups through lower-profile meets throughout the summer.
Meetings in the next two months will determine the full calendar but federations have expressed a desire for the 2014-15 season schedule to be known in full by May at the latest.
Cookson hopes to ensure the uncertainty does not happen again. "We are going to look at the process by which we have been inviting tenders and bids for world cups and world championships, particularly on the track, where we seem to have had a problem of getting sufficient people interested," he added. "That's clearly something we've got to address. The track commission and myself and the senior staff at the UCI are going to be reviewing that and trying to make some changes."
The Track World Championships, which concluded in Cali, Colombia, on Sunday, were a resounding success. The Velodromo Alcides Nieto Patino has a roof suspended over the track but no walls – meaning the elements have an impact – and there were concerns last Monday, when wind blew rain water on to the track.
Cookson is determined it remains a truly global event. "There's a clue in the name – it's a world championships, so there's got to be an opportunity of travelling from place to place," he said. "It can't always be in the easiest places in Europe.
"What we've got to make sure is when it does travel around the world, it's in venues that are suitable, facilities are accessible and all the rest of it. I'm determined that that's what we'll do in the future."


New and old politicians have no choice but to contend with the fact that gone are the days where people in power could make pronouncements, or even do anything publicly at all - without the immediate reaction and blow-back from the body politic.
Welcome to an era where voices are going to be heard. Do strap in and become comfortable with a hand-held device being a more powerful tool than a day off work to join an organised physical march.
This new reality means politicians should have three-dimensional thinking and response process at any and every moment. This quality needs to kick in when - for instance - taking pictures with a downtrodden elderly person. Attention needs to be paid to what the background says about the elderly person and the government you represent.
Political parties now need entire war rooms to handle any imminent situation arising from content that emanates from digital media. And the traffic is particularly high during election time.
Some public assertions may not be correct or fair given our shared internalised trauma.
One such example of narratives that must be challenged is the recent outrage over an ANC election advert that featured an attractive young woman.
The lady's testimony created a stir and was the subject of some colourful opinion pieces.
The crux of the argument seemed to very conveniently downplay the fact that it is indeed the ANC that created a conducive environment for the young lady in question, to be who and what she is at this point in time, both as part of the larger body politic, and indeed in her own lived experience.
Because of the platforms that we all have at our fingertips, and the "social media mob mentality", we are now peer-pressured into forgetting and even questioning that a great many highly influential and successful ground-breakers, artists like Hugh Masekela, Lindiwe Mabuza and many lawyers, doctors, scholars and professionals who identified with the ANC, came to become great because of efforts by the ANC.
As an NEC member of the ANC, I am duty-bound to inform you that the ANC's election manifesto for 2019 has not forgotten anyone. High on the agenda on the ANC's manifesto is the aim to continue to "grow South Africa together". We also need to refine policies that will not only address the plight of young people born and growing in poor communities, but to also help people such as the lady in the ANC advert to attain their goals.
Let's not forget that it is those ANC policies that have given birth to world-class artists, athletes, award-winning journalists and scientists. The ANC has ensured that the atmosphere of free expression on any medium is not only possible but also protected.
In the debates we continue to have, we should also not forget to feature the important gender aspects contained in the ANC manifesto.
There really does exist a "new dawn" in the ANC, and it is for all segments of society.


Shared world shooter Anthem won't have loot boxes because they serve no purpose. Developed by Mass Effect and Dragon Age studio BioWare, the game will instead have optional cosmetic micro-transactions rather than loot boxes. Replying to fan feedback on Twitter, Anthem Producer Michael Gamble stated that the cosmetics and micro-transaction plan for the game has no place for loot boxes at this juncture. In addition to this he mentioned that progression through the Anthem demo would be easier than the full game. Reason being, BioWare wants to give players the chance to "earn stuff and feel what it would be like."
"Oh, before I forget: the progression (xp curves) as well as general in-game economy balance will be a bit easier in the demo," Gamble tweeted."We want you to earn some stuff and feel what it's like. We will also give you 100 coins to blow on some fancy cosmetics."
He followed this up by explaining why Anthem won't have loot boxes.
"We aren't going to add loot boxes," he said. "It serves no purpose. The cosmetics and mtx [micro-transactions] plan is what we've outlined. Legion of [D]awn is 4 new armour packs. They aren't just skins. Each javelin has 4 armour bits. You get 16 with LOD [Legion of Dawn] + wpn [weapons] + other goodies."
Earlier in August last year, Anthem executive producer Mark Darrah said that the game is designed as a co-op experience and works best with four players, with each server also supporting four players. Anthem Producer Thomas Singleton also revealed that the sci-fi shared world shooter won't be as fun alone as it would be when you're playing with friends. Thankfully, it will have matchmaking so you don't have to align your schedules with three other friends for co-op play.
As for the Anthem release date, the game is out on February 22. Before this, there are a couple of demo events. The Anthem VIP demo begins on January 25 and ends on January 27. It will be open for all from February 1 to February 3. To access the VIP demo, you'll need to either pre-order the game or join Origin Access for PC or subscribe to EA Access on the Xbox One.


Britain has a new tallest mountain.
Mt Hope, which is sited in the part of the Antarctic claimed by the UK, was recently re-measured and found to tower above the previous title holder, Mt Jackson, by a good 50m (160ft).
Hope is now put at 3,239m (10,626ft); Jackson is 3,184m (10,446ft).
Dr Peter Fretwell from the British Antarctic Survey spoke with our science correspondent Jonathan Amos.


Actor and musician Yossi Banai, one of Israel's greatest artists, died Thursday at the age of 74 following a serious illness. He was survived by his wife and three sons.
Banai's funeral will take place at 11 a.m. Friday at Kibbutz Givat Hashlosha.
"The State of Israel today lost one of its culture legends, an Israel Prize laureate, and a man of Jerusalem," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said. "Yossi Banai was an example of multidisciplinary talent in stage-managing, playwriting, satire, cinema and singing."
"Yossi's unique voice was a key part in the story of the renewed Jewish state in the Land of Israel and in Jerusalem," Olmert added.
President Moshe Katsav and his wife Gila expressed their sorrow over Banai's death: "Banai was a multidisciplinary artistic personality who left his mark on the theatre, cinema and singing stage. His performances were an experience for any Israeli."
Banai was born in 1932. In the mid 1950s, he joined the Habima Theater, where he worked most of his life. In the mid 1960s he was already well known as a talented actor, a satirist and an entertainer.
Throughout his life, Banai participated in dozens of plays, entertainment shows and movies, and particularly stood out as a gifted writer – for himself and others. He also developed a signing and writing career, releasing a number of albums and publishing several books.
In 1998, he won the Israel Prize for theatre.
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The death penalty, inmate sentencing and conditions of confinement are just a few of the topics that John Roberts will face now that he has been sworn in as the new Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. And while many have questioned exactly which way Roberts will vote on inmate rights issues, it is almost impossible to guess definitely whether Roberts will stay conservative or become a moderate vote.
According to Senator John Cornyn (R, TX), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Roberts has been widely known for his wise contributions in the courtroom over his career. Cornyn described Roberts as "an exceptional judge, brilliant legal mind and a man of outstanding character" in a release.
But despite his reputation, David Fathi, of the American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project simply sees Roberts as a one-for-one replacement for Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
Critical Of Roberts? Not yet.
Berman has a similar view of Roberts' confirmation to Rehnquist's seat, and notes that the court does shift depending on the Chief Justice.
So what does the confirmation of John Roberts mean for the Supreme Court  and inmate rights?
According Berman it's hard to tell because Roberts hasn't argued many cases that dealt exclusively with inmate rights.
"Roberts is very much a blank slate because criminal justice is not his practiced area," Berman said. "While he has done pro-bono work, and he is a wide-ranging practitioner, he only has a smattering of experience in criminal justice."
While Roberts has worked on a number of cases  more than 30 - before the Supreme Court, his beliefs concerning inmate rights are hard to gauge. Roberts has spent time arguing cases for both the state and the individual  and has argued for both the liberal and conservative angles of legal cases.
For many legal analysts, Roberts' limited experience with cases concerning inmate rights raise questions about what his future rulings will be in this area.
Although Roberts has argued before the Supreme Court on prisoner-related cases, he was working as an Assistant Solicitor General or a Deputy Solicitor General for some of them. Because he was usually working for the government  making it hard to determine what his personal opinions are on these issues.
The analysis of Roberts gets even more complicated once these cases are examined.
While Roberts did argue on Hudson's behalf, his arguments were amicus curiae for the Department of Justice in support of Hudson's case.
Larry Spalding, Legislative Staff Counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, believes that these cases like Hudson vs. McMillian don't necessarily indicate anything about Roberts' ideology in particular even though he once worked on a death-penalty case for free.
or was he assigned to those cases?" Spalding said. "Law firms do pro-bono work in that area all the time."
Roberts was employed as a lawyer at the Hogan & Hartson law firm while working on many pro bono cases. In particular, Roberts argued one pro bono death penalty case involving John Ferguson, a man accused of killing eight people in Florida. The Ferguson case has been touted as one of the most infamous mass murder cases in Florida, and Spalding notes that although Roberts worked on the case, he spent a miniscule amount of time on it compared to the other attorneys.
"He has only served 25 hours on a death penalty case. I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter if you believe in the death penalty or not," Spalding said. "Because once you serve on a death penalty case, you realize the system is still faulty. No matter what your personal beliefs are, you have that epiphany  but I just wonder if you can have that epiphany in 25 hours."
For Berman, however, he will watch Roberts closely and hope that he makes fair choices in criminal cases.
"Part of this whole thing is that we need to be particularly attentive to his first sets of cases so we have more insight into his approach to criminal justice issues,” Berman said. “He may start very conservative  and who knows? The one thing I want to keep an eye on is his past record with the elaborate and complicated jurisprudence around the 8th Amendment and the death penalty."
Roberts adds that it's possible Roberts could make fair decisions because of his limited experience with criminal rights.
Despite the speculation surrounding the confirmation of Roberts, it no longer matters now that he holds a lifelong seat on the bench.
"Right now," said Berman, "It's a lot of speculation  it's somewhat remarkable. It's hard to imagine that they could have picked someone with less criminal justice experience. All we can do is hope that he is fair and balanced  and not an ideologue as many fear."


A gentlemen, allegedly, in Pennsylvania on Monday October 10.
Dear Donald — I was delighted to hear your declaration at Sunday night's debate that you are, in fact, a gentleman. That is exactly what I advised, after the release of the tape in which you casually reported and advocated for actions that you now know, as a gentleman, constitute sexual assault.
I ended that column with a call for men to return to the values of gentlemanliness, and mean it — by treating all women with the respect they deserve at all times, even when there are no women present.
So let us for a moment do the gentlemanly thing and take you at your word, or at least believe it to be an intention to begin to behave like a gentleman. Because I think you'd agree, as a gentleman, that your conduct in the election thus far has been significantly less than gentlemanly.
The complete list of ungentlemanly conduct thus far would take up too much time, and gentlemen get to the point. So let's just use Sunday night's debate as an example.
Deeds matter more than words, as you rightly pointed out. Words still matter, as your opponent rightly pointed out at the first debate. We'll get to the words, but first let's look at your deeds.
I'm sure you would agree, as a gentleman, that gentlemen do not stalk menacingly near a woman, especially not behind a woman. A gentleman graciously avoids the appearance of physical threat, even when he does not intend it. A gentleman does not loom.
I'm sure you would agree that gentlemen do not sniff after every sentence if they can at all avoid it. Even if a gentleman has a cold, modern medicine can provide the gentleman with an array of preventative solutions to the all-too human problem of nasal drip. By one measure, you sniffed 93 times in 90 minutes.
I'm sure you would agree that gentlemen do not as a rule interrupt their opponent's allotted time in a debate, unless it is to say "excuse me, I think the house is on fire." By one measure, you interrupted your opponent or the moderator 24 times. Your opponent interjected once.
Gentlemen do not sniff after every sentence if they can at all avoid it.
I'm sure you would agree, as a gentlemen, that it is profoundly indecent for a gentleman to complain that a moderator is giving his opponent more time. Even if he feels moved to do so, a civilized gentleman would apologize profusely after the debate for misspeaking if it were to be revealed, by fair and scientific timekeeping, that the gentleman was wrong.
It is also polite, when asked questions by members of the audience, to direct your answer to the questioner. Gentlemen are never afraid to make eye contact or greet a person with their name, especially when they are the people the gentlemen intends to lead on the world stage.
On to your words. At the beginning of the debate, you were called on to make an apology regarding your prior sexual abuse comments. Now, I'm sure you know as a gentleman that apologies are serious undertakings.
The apologizing gentleman must express his soul-searched, heartfelt contrition. If anything, he should err on the side of too much contrition, the better to attain forgiveness. He must direct his apology to everyone he has wronged — which, in this case, let's just say the whole world.
On no account should he muddy up his apology. He should not offer a sort of cringing half-apology, followed by a repetition of his previous non-apology for "locker room talk." True gentlemen in locker rooms do not indulge in anything close to that egregious celebration of assault, as I'm sure you now know.
A gentlemen certainly should not quickly change the subject, or point in retaliation to accusations made against his opponent's spouse. This is irrelevant to a gentleman's solemn responsibility: his own conduct. To avoid that fact would make the supposedly apologizing gentleman look like a coward.
Regarding the second apology you attempted to make, to the family of the late Captain Humayun Khan: when a gentleman has avoided military service, he would do well to speak well of the honored dead. To use a soldier's death to claim you did not support the war he died in, when you are on record saying you did, to taunt his grieving family with "he would still be alive" — well, there's a special circle of hell for people who do that, and gentlemen do not go there.
You disagreed publicly with your running mate. You praised a dictator and besmirched the rule of law with a threat to jail your opponent. You made wild accusations about your opponent having "hatred in her heart." I'm sure I need not enumerate why these were the gravest of errors, because gentlemen just understand.
On top of all this, the falsehoods you uttered were so many that if there were a gentlemanly scale of truth, your performance would rate a solid "pinstripe pants on fire."
But do not despair. There are enough days before the election for you to issue apologies for each and every misstatement — just about. I'm sure that, having turned over a new leaf in the book of gentlemanliness, you are at work on this task already.
Especially for a gentleman like you, who legendarily does not require any sleep, fulfilling this gentlemanly duty should be a piece of chocolate gâteau.
I await your reply with considerable interest. As, I imagine, does America.


The Rays announced they will retire the radio call sign of slain Tarpon Springs police officer Charles Kondek in a ceremony prior to Sunday's game at Tropicana Field.
Kondek was killed in the line of duty on December 21, 2014.
His 285 call sign will be added to the leftfield wall that includes those of three St. Petersburg police officers who were killed in 2011: Thomas Baitinger, Jeffrey Yaslowitz and David Crawford.
Kondek's wife, Teresa, and children, Holly, Andrew, Charlie, Brandon and Aleena will attend the ceremony along with members of the Tarpon Springs pollice, led by chief Robert Kochen.
"On behalf of the Tarpon Springs Police Department and the Kondek family, we greatly appreciate the Rays organization for honoring and remembering officer Charles Kondek by having his name displayed inside Tropicana Field," Kochen said in a statement. "We cannot express how much this means to Officer Kondek's family, the Police Department, and our community. Once again, thank you to the Rays organization."


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KIDMAN, Ernest Ian Richard (Ian). MNZM. On 30 October 2017, as result of an accident, at Wellington Hospital, surrounded by his loving family, and supported by Cambodian monks and friends. Very dearly loved husband and companion of Fiona, for 58 years. Dear father of Joanna and Giles, and father-in-law of Vincent O'Malley, and of Vannessa Kidman. Devoted Grandpa to Amelia (Billie), Zach and Anna, Tobias, Reuben and Katie, Thomas and Raphael, and Great- Grandpa (GG) of Max and Darcie, Isabel and Hugo. Friend of Kate. Loved brother of Mabel Porter (Napier) and her family. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Wellington City Mission, P O Box 7477 Wellington 6242 or left at the service. Messages may be sent C/-The Wilson Funeral Home, P O Box 7123 Wellington 6242 or placed in Ian's tribute book at www.tributes.co.nz A celebration of Ian's wonderful life will be held at All Saint's Church, Moxham Ave, Hataitai, Wellington on Monday 6 November 2017 at 1 p.m. followed by private interment at Karori Cemetery.
"So sorry to hear of Ian's passing the loss well be very..."
"Id like to offer my sincere condolences to Giles and..."


Bloggers Jeff Ooi and Ahirudin bin Attan have been sued for defamation by the New Straits Times, an English language daily, and several individuals who worked or are currently working there.Several newswire agencies have reported that this is the first instance of bloggers being sued for libel in Malaysia.
Bloggers Jeff Ooi and Ahirudin bin Attan have been sued for defamation by the New Straits Times, an English language daily, and several individuals who worked or are currently working there.
Several newswire agencies have reported that this is the first instance of bloggers being sued for libel in Malaysia.
While this is true, if indeed the lawsuits are about libel, the real issue is whether libel has been committed. It doesn't matter whether it's a blog or printed media involved. Libel is the same online or offline.
Since details about the lawsuit are still unknown, we'll all have to wait for the court cases to happen to know exactly what they are about. This will happen by the end of the month.


The coming decade already threatens to be difficult for young people across the European Union. Now a new report suggests more reasons why they should worry. It says vacancies will rise, but the youth will not have the digital skills to fill them.
By 2015, 90% of jobs will need e-skills. The number of ICT practitioners in Europe was 4.7 million in 2007 and is forecast to reach 5.26 million in 2015. In more general terms, jobs for highly-qualified people are expected to rise by 16 million between now and 2020, while those held by low-skilled workers will decline by around 12 million.


I’ve never lived anywhere with less than 80,000 Jews, let alone 80,000 people, so when I moved to rural Northern California I was expecting some culture shock.
Jews! My initial reaction was to praise the God I don’t believe in though a Snoopy dance by the community bulletin board at Starbucks.
Upon closer examination, though, my ecstatic joy turned into flabbergasted confusion, which tripped up the aforementioned Snoopy dance and almost caused me to spill my dainty White Chocolate Mocha.
Is this what happens when the Tevyes of the world turn their backs on little Chavala? Fiddler-funded Messianic Mashups?
The theater staging the production ensures patrons that Fiddler is “rich in historical and ethnic detail.” Well, so is Williamsburg, or Pico-Robertson, but there at least you don’t have to buy tickets.