We don’t add antibiotics to baby food and Cocoa Puffs so that children get fewer ear infections. That’s because we understand that the overuse of antibiotics is already creating “superbugs” resistant to medication.
Yet we continue to allow agribusiness companies to add antibiotics to animal feed so that piglets stay healthy and don’t get ear infections. Seventy percent of all antibiotics in the United States go to healthy livestock, according to a careful study by the Union of Concerned Scientists — and that’s one reason we’re seeing the rise of pathogens that defy antibiotics.
These dangerous pathogens are now even in our food supply. Five out of 90 samples of retail pork in Louisiana tested positive for MRSA — an antibiotic-resistant staph infection — according to a peer-reviewed study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology last year. And a recent study of retail meats in the Washington, D.C., area found MRSA in one pork sample, out of 300, according to Jianghong Meng, the University of Maryland scholar who conducted the study.
Regardless of whether the bacteria came from the pigs or from humans who handled the meat, the results should sound an alarm bell, for MRSA already kills more than 18,000 Americans annually, more than AIDS does.
MRSA (pronounced “mersa”) stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. People often get it from hospitals, but as I wrote in my last column, a new strain called ST398 is emerging and seems to find a reservoir in modern hog farms. Research by Peter Davies of the University of Minnesota suggests that 25 percent to 39 percent of American hogs carry MRSA.
Public health experts worry that pigs could pass on the infection by direct contact with their handlers, through their wastes leaking into ground water (one study has already found antibiotic-resistant bacteria entering ground water from hog farms), or through their meat, though there has been no proven case of someone getting it from eating pork. Thorough cooking will kill the bacteria, but people often use the same knife to cut raw meat and then to chop vegetables. Or they plop a pork chop on a plate, cook it and then contaminate it by putting it back on the original plate.
Yet the central problem here isn’t pigs, it’s humans. Unlike Europe and even South Korea, the United States still bows to agribusiness interests by permitting the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in animal feed. That’s unconscionable.
The peer-reviewed Medical Clinics of North America concluded last year that antibiotics in livestock feed were “a major component” in the rise in antibiotic resistance. The article said that more antibiotics were fed to animals in North Carolina alone than were administered to the nation’s entire human population.
The answer is simple: politics.
Legislation to ban the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in agriculture has always been blocked by agribusiness interests. Louise Slaughter of New York, who is the sole microbiologist in the House of Representatives, said she planned to reintroduce the legislation this coming week.
That’s an almost universal view in the public health world. The Infectious Diseases Society of America has declared antibiotic resistance a “public health crisis” and recounts the story of Rebecca Lohsen, a 17-year-old New Jersey girl who died from MRSA in 2006. She came down with what she thought was a sore throat, endured months in the hospital, and finally died because the microbes were stronger than the drugs.
This will be an important test for President Obama and his agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack. Traditionally, the Agriculture Department has functioned mostly as a protector of agribusiness interests, but Mr. Obama and Mr. Vilsack have both said all the right things about looking after eaters as well as producers.
So Mr. Obama and Mr. Vilsack, will you line up to curb the use of antibiotics in raising American livestock? That is evidence of an industrial farming system that is broken: for the sake of faster-growing hogs, we’re empowering microbes that endanger our food supply and threaten our lives.
In January, I announced this year’s “win a trip” contest for a university student to accompany me on a reporting trip to Africa. After reviewing 900 entries, I have a winner: Paul Bowers, a sophomore at the University of South Carolina. I’ve listed the finalists on my blog, nytimes.com/ontheground.


SearchBoth, Corp., today announced the launch of SearchBoth.se; Sweden's first website that enables users to search both Google.se and Yahoo.se at the same time.
Both Google and Yahoo are placed side by side on a split screen in order for users to easily compare results of both websites. The company has also launched the same service for 17 other countries including the United States with SearchBoth.com, the United Kingdom with SearchBoth.co.uk, Belgium with SearchBoth.be, France with SearchBoth.fr, Russia with SearchBoth.ru and many more. All of the SearchBoth family of websites searches both Google and Yahoo or Google and MSN in their respective countries.
Online searchers no longer need to be tied to just one search engine. According to researchers and analysts, the majority of tech savvy and non-tech savvy Swedish search engine users are crossed between either Google or Yahoo. Each show the same results, but on different pages. Some results may come up on Google's first page, however, the same results could be on Yahoo's second, third or fourth page, or vice versa. Both search engines need to be checked in order to secure an accurate search result.
SearchBoth.se will be very useful for lawyers, doctors, students, researchers, and anyone that searches both Google and Yahoo can now do so on one page, side by side.


1 What Degree Do You Need to Become a Sports Reporter?
2 What Does a Graphic Artist Do in Journalism?
4 What Courses Should You Take in College to Be a Journalist?
The word "journalist" implies a single job, but there are many kinds of journalists working in different fields, from newspaper and radio reporters to broadcast news anchors. The initial preparation for a career in journalism is nearly the same for all fields, but as you progress you'll start to specialize in the type of media you intend to work in, and possibly a specific area, such as sports or science reporting.
A bachelor's degree is necessary in this competitive profession. Journalism or communications should be your major, but it's a also good idea to minor in a specialized subject, such as political science or economics. A broad liberal arts background is required for a journalism degree, and many journalism programs require a concentration, such as electronic news or public affairs reporting, but a minor degree can give you an edge over other job seekers. For example, a journalism degree with a concentration in environmental reporting, along with a minor in a physical science, can prepare you well for science reporting.
You need some experience to get a job as a journalist, but you don't necessarily need a job to get experience. Many employers won't even look at your resume unless you have an internship listed. Your school career center can help you find internships and you can list them on your resume. Even if you intend to be a broadcast journalist, it's a good idea to have a portfolio of writing clips to demonstrate you understand how to report on the news. Join your college newspaper staff and look for summer employment with small, local newspapers, television or radio stations. Try freelance writing for online publications or local media outlets.
Top-notch communication skills are mandatory for journalists. If you plan on entering broadcast journalism, polish your verbal communication skills. Regardless of the type of media you're interested in, your written communication skills need to demonstrate excellent grammar and spelling, and that you can write about a subject clearly and concisely. Journalists spend a lot of time researching subjects using a wide range of sources, so knowledge of electronic databases and archiving systems is helpful. Comfort with technology, such as computer software, cameras and recorders, can make the job easier.
The ability to think quickly and adapt to new situations is important in the fast-paced world of journalism. Being comfortable with people and able to conduct interviews, either on-screen or for a print article, is a necessity. Your interview subjects won't always be cooperative, so patience and tenacity are helpful. Logic and the ability to judge a potential story using critical thinking skills will help you avoid the mistake of publishing or airing an erroneous story that could land you and your employer in hot water. You'll have editors to help you avoid errors, regardless of the type of media you're working in, so be able to take and constructively use criticism.
Christensen, Maria. "What Are the Requirements Necessary to Become a Journalist?" Work - Chron.com, http://work.chron.com/requirements-necessary-become-journalist-12514.html. 29 June 2018.
What Are the Education Requirements for a Music Journalist?
What Training Do You Need to Be a Caption Writer?


The story drew a predictably scornful response from many in the media, however, including from people who complained that the Davos men were using claims of hypersensitivity as justification for longstanding sexist attitudes.
By refusing to take men’s concerns seriously, however, these critics do men and women a disservice. The concerns of men about the optics of spending one-on-one time with their female colleagues might be cover for sexism for a few, but for most in the post-#MeToo business world, hypersensitivity about the appearance of misconduct has become de facto business practice for good reason.
At a time when an uncorroborated allegation of harassment (amplified by social media) can potentially derail a career (or, say, a Supreme Court nomination), it would be foolish for men not to think twice before spending time alone with a woman in their office.
It’s disingenuous for feminist-minded critics to demand that men embrace the new post-#MeToo regime of awareness and sensitivity to women’s concerns and then turn around and attack them when they try to do just that. Remember the reaction to the so-called “Pence Rule?” After it emerged during an interview that the vice president made it a practice not to dine out alone with any woman but his wife, critics acted as if he had just announced he had joined the Taliban.
Some observers have theorized that expressions of confusion and dissatisfaction about male-female interactions in the workplace are the result of a broader problem they call “gender fatigue” (a real thing, according to corporate consultants and business school professors). The implication is that after decades of forceful “messaging” about equality for women in the workplace and the necessity of preventing sexual harassment, people are tuning out the gender noise. The rhetoric of female empowerment has become as ubiquitous and mundane a feature of the modern workplace as the buzzing of bad fluorescent lighting—and just as ineffective.
Gender fatigue plagues the political sphere as well. It can be seen in the public’s ho-hum reaction to the political posturing by Democrats in Congress this week. Taking a cue from freshman congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who wore white (a color associated with the suffragette movement) for her swearing-in ceremony, Democratic congresswomen announced that they will wear white to President Trump’s rescheduled State of the Union address next week to show solidarity with women across the country—or at least with the women who voted for Democrats.
Similarly, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that Democrats will once again introduce the Paycheck Fairness Act, a piece of legislation they have tried and failed to pass for twenty years (perhaps because equal pay for equal work is already the law of the land thanks to the Equal Pay Act of 1963). No one expects it to pass this year either, but that won’t stop Democrats from indulging in many such self-congratulatory displays of their feminist credentials.
If these performances of gender-equity theater become a more frequent feature of the left, “gender fatigue” might end up becoming a full-fledged syndrome, even as Americans–fed up with hearing that men are all inherently sexist, or potential predators, or toxically masculine–tune out.


At Chinn’s farm, which turns over more than 10 million pounds ($13 million) a year, the workers pick the premium asparagus spears that can grow up to 20 cm a day by hand. Sometimes they pick them twice a day before dispatching them to customers such as Marks and Spencer (MKS.L). and Britain’s biggest supermarket, Tesco (TSCO.L).
Britain’s asparagus season is short and early - traditionally running from April 23, known as Saint George’s Day, to Midsummer’s Day in mid-June. It will be the first big test of the 2019 seasonal labor crisis.
Britain’s fruit and vegetable sector relies on up to 80,000 seasonal workers from the EU each year. Having previously been inundated with applications, labor agencies say interest dropped off in 2017 and 2018 as workers from Romania and Bulgaria opted to go elsewhere in the EU.
Concordia, a labor agency charity that finds EU pickers for British farms, said it now has to work much harder to recruit.
“U.K. agriculture is definitely entering into a crisis. No labor means no harvesting, which means no fruit and no vegetables on shelves in British supermarkets,” Chief Executive Stephanie Maurel told Reuters.


A young mum with an 18-month-old son has talked about her terrifying experience of waking up at their Melton home to see her boyfriend’s car ablaze on the driveway after it was attacked by an arsonist.
Paige Harrison (20) was asleep with 22-year-old Mitchell Wood at her property on Bramley Close when the incident took place in the early hours of Saturday.
Melton firefighters were already battling another deliberately-started car fire just a few yards aways in Dieppe Way when Mitchell’s Vauxhall Nova was targeted.
The fire crew were arriving outside when Paige looked out the window to see the blaze close to the front of the property and she feared for the safety of her son, Coby.
She told the Melton Times: “I was asleep but randomly woke up around 2.30 and saw this orange glow at the top of my bedroom window.
“I could hear the burning and when I looked outside the flames were coming up to the window.
“I shouted to Mitchell to get up because the car was on fire and then we heard the firemen banging on the door.
Firefighters took 40 minutes to get the blaze under control and they managed to stop it spreading to the house.
Paige added: “It was very scary and I’ve been struggling to sleep since it happened.
“Whoever did this is stupid - people who do this don’t seem to understand the impact it has on people and the damage it causes.
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service is becoming increasingly concerned by the number of car fires being started on purpose in Melton.
In August we reported that a car was destroyed on The Crescent when a fire was started deliberately.
Arsonists went on the rampage on the Fairmead Estate on successive weekends last summer, when a total of nine car were either destroyed or seriously damaged after being set ablaze.
Simon Lee, who was fire service incident commander for the latest incidents, said: “We’ve had a spate of these car fires on the Fairmead Estate and we are tearing our hair out on how to stop them happening.
Firefighter Lee gave clear advice to anyone who is at home when a car is set alight outside their property.
“We would tell people to keep their doors and windows shut and move to the opposite side of the property,” he said.
“They shoould call 999 to tell us they are inside and stay there until it is safe to come out or the fire crews can come inside to get them out.
Leicestershire Police say officers were called to Dieppe Way shortly before 2.20am following a report that a BMW had been set alight and, just after 2.40am, they responded to a report of the Vauxhall Nova being set alight in Bramley Close.
Sergeant Paul Kear said: “Following these reports, an investigation has been launched and I would ask anyone who was in either Dieppe Way or Bramley Close in the early hours of Saturday morning to come forward.
“We have had a number of arson attacks on vehicles in Melton over the past 18 months.
“We need the help of the public to find out who is responsible.
“Maybe you were returning home from a night out or were working night shifts.
Witnesses are asked to call police on 101, quoting incident 44 (Dieppe Way) or 56 (Bramley Close) of October 6.


Dina Lohan had already gotten suspicious that her online boyfriend didn’t have the best intentions before they called it quits.
On Saturday, her ex Jesse Nadler told TMZ that the pair, who had never met in real life, had finally set up a time to meet, but broke up before that could happen due to a fight.
“This guy wants his 15 minutes of fame — he just proved her suspicions correct,” the source adds.
News of Dina’s relationship first emerged during her time as a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother earlier this year.
During one of the episodes, she revealed that she’s been talking to “a special someone” for five years, even though they’ve never actually met in real life — or even FaceTimed.
The New York-based star went on to explain that she hadn’t met her long-term boyfriend yet because he was currently living San Fransisco, California, taking care of his mother and he doesn’t use FaceTime.
While Dina seemed confident that her relationship was real, her fellow houseguests thought the star was likely being catfished — and apparently so did Nev Schulman, host of MTV’s Catfish.
In February, Schulman revealed the identity of the man who claimed to be Dina’s boyfriend: Jesse Nadler, a 53-year-old from Tiburon, California, according to The Blast.
“UPDATE: found @dinalohan’s boyfriend…but his story is way bigger than I could have ever imagined,” Schulman tweeted.
UPDATE: found @dinalohan’s boyfriend…but his story is way bigger than I could have ever imagined.
At the time, Nadler himself had been tweeting about his supposed relationship with Dina, insisting that he’s wasn’t catfishing her.
“I’ll be the judge of that…” Schulman replied.
Nadler, who said he works in commercial real estate, went on to tell Page Six that he had never met Dina in person due to his mother’s failing health, which she also noted on Celebrity Big Brother.


3:01 p.m. AP - John Edwards' defense seeks mistrial on most counts; judge weighs options with jury deadlocked.
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - The jury has reached a verdict on one of the six counts against former presidential candidate John Edwards.
The judge has sent the jury members back to deliberate further on the other charges; right now, it is a hung jury.


KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) says it is “tremendously saddened” at the tragic and untimely passing of a member of the cricket family, William Haye.
The former national representative played his part in advancing the best interest of the sport and would have inspired many of his contemporaries and many who succeeded him, JCA said in a statement today.
Haye, 69, was shot dead at his Four Paths, Clarendon home on Monday and his house set ablaze by gunmen.
“This is shocking news; our thoughts and prayers are with his family, close friends and associates in this their period of grief. The circumstances around his death as reported in the media are beyond unfortunate. We encourage anyone with information which may be useful to the police in their investigations to come forward,” JCA CEO Courtney Francis was quoted as saying.
Haye served the Jamaica team as a fast bowler in the 1970s and performed creditably at different points in his early cricket career for the parishes of St Catherine and Clarendon, the JCA said.
The JCA added that it will use the opportunity provided in the next round of the 2019 Senior Cup to show respect for the life of Haye.


A peaceful repeat vote at polling stations in Macedonia on Sunday confirmed the ruling coalition's landslide victory in parliamentary elections that had initially been marred by violence, election officials said.
Held under tight police security, the rerun had not been expected to change the overall result from June 1 elections. But it was meant to determine which of the two main ethnic Albanian parties would be invited to join the governing coalition.
State electoral commission spokesman Zoran Tanevski said the reruns, conducted at stations where violence and irregularities occurred during the earlier vote, showed Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's VMRO party had won 50.4 percent of the vote, with 97 percent of the votes from both rounds counted. The main opposition Social Democrats received 24.4 percent, he said.
Tanevski said the ethnic Albanian DUI party had garnered 11.5 percent of the vote and its archrival DPA received 7.6 percent.
The voting Sunday was held without any major irregularities in 183 polling stations, mostly in ethnic Albanian areas. Minor violations stopped voting in four polling stations. The country's total number of polling stations is 2,976. Overall turnout was 57.4 percent.
The two ethnic Albanian parties have no major political differences. Although the DUI has traditionally allied itself with the Social Democrats and the DPA with the center-right VMRO, whichever party led the voting was expected to form a coalition with Gruevski's party.
Both ethnic Albanian parties claimed victory late Sunday. The DUI said it won 18 of the 120 seats in the parliament, while the DPA said it secured 14 seats. DUI and DPA officials accused each other of minor electoral violations, but neither reported any serious incidents.


More than 500 police officers raided the Berlin city's Hells Angels chapter early on Wednesday morning – in a hurried operation after police sources tipped off the gang.
The Berlin state parliament banned the “Berlin City” chapter of the gang on Tuesday evening on the grounds that members were suspected of violent crimes as well as weapons and drugs offences.
The initial plan was to carry out raids during the day on Wednesday, but this had to be pulled forward after an informer tipped off gang members, and the police moved in to hand over the official banning notice on Tuesday night.
“Unfortunately we have to assume that people from our own ranks gave information to these criminals in return for money,” a police spokesman said, adding that the betrayal was shameful for the police force.
The city's police say there are more than 1,000 biker-gang members in Berlin, of whom more than 400 belong to the Bandidos. The Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper said just over 200 Hells Angels members are known to the authorities.
Rivalry between the two gangs can often be deadly and is usually over turf disagreements concerning prostitution and drugs business – but it was reported on Wednesday that many members end up changing sides, sometimes for very pragmatic reasons.
Der Spiegel news magazine said in its online edition that the Bandidos “Southside” gang had disbanded itself ahead of an anticipated official ban, and many of the members had switched to the Hells Angels in Potsdam. They had re-registered their motorbikes and hidden some, the magazine reported.
The Berliner Morgenpost online edition even said that the Berlin Hells Angels chapter had officially disbanded in order to avoid a possible ban.
A member of the Bandidos was on Tuesday shot to death in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia in what police believe could have been an attack by the Hells Angels.
Police carried out large-scale raids on biker gangs in northern Germany last week and police are now hunting for the body of a man they fear has been cemented into the floor of a warehouse.


Punk started as a sonic flipped bird to the Rock Inc. industry who many said had become bloated beyond repair — and like its Elvis/Beatles/Stones ancestors, punk's scenes and subcultures would ended up leaving its mark on the movies. From seminal concert movies to rockumentaries, the underground shock cinema that found fertile ground in its DIY aesthetics to the mainstream movies that smelled an exploitable trend, we're counting down the 25 best punk-rock films of all time. 1-2-3-4!


Christian Jones can spot a Texan from across the locker room. They’re borderline cocky, but they’re not loud about it.
Jones is all that separates the Bears from starting an all-Lone Star State inside linebacker duo Sunday night at the Taj Majal of Texas football, AT&T Stadium outside Dallas. Depending on matchups, the Bears figure to play Jones or Jonathan Anderson — a Corpus Christi native who went to TCU — alongside Waco’s Jerrell Freeman, from Mary Hardin-Baylor.
It might be hard to Anderson to stay that way. Sunday could be a watershed moment: a primetime start in his adopted hometown to replace Danny Trevathan, the Bears’ big-money free-agent acquisition who had surgery Wednesday to reattach a thumb ligament.
Less than two years after getting his diploma, Anderson hopes his former TCU teammates will make the trek from nearby Fort Worth to watch the game. His family is coming up from Corpus Christi, about six hours south.
Anderson played two years of safety in college; his coverage skills helped the undrafted free agent make the Bears last season, starting three games and finishing with 40 tackles and one interception.
He feels more prepared this time around.
It will probably take two players to replace Trevathan. At 6-3, 251 pounds, Jones is two inches and 15 pounds bigger than Anderson. He could be a better fit against the Cowboys’ bruising run-blocking offensive line.
The Bears played the Florida State alum at both inside and outside linebacker in the preseason — “I wasn’t really sure what my role was, to be honest with you,” he said — but were impressed by his preseason finale performance against the Browns.
Though he’s yet to play a defensive snap this year, Jones is experienced — he started 13 times at inside linebacker last year and was second on the team with 98 tackles.
His Texan teammates, Jones figures, will be accommodating.


It’s always great to think about Christmas, even though it’s the summer or spring time. Most of the times, people prepare for this holiday and try to find the best places for them to shop. Moreover, if they’re visiting another country during the Christmas time, it’s great to know what places are most suitable for them.
In this following article, we will be talking about the best Christmas markets that you can find around Geneva and what can you find around these places. If you are interested in this subject, keep on reading and maybe it will be useful for you.
One of the most beautiful markets that you should definitely visit is Place de la Fusterie that is actually an international market. There, you get buy various things, from the local traditional food to the most interesting international dishes. It’s a great place to be during the holidays, because there are a lot of activities you can do, from enjoying the area generally, to going from shop to shop.
Another Christmas market that is definitely recommended in Geneva is Chateau de Coppet. This place is actually a village that is surrounded by beautiful big mountains. While being at this market for the five days, you will instantly feel the Christmas spirit. Even though it’s not in Geneva, but around it, you can easily access it directly from your arrival, by taking a Geneva airport taxi. It’s an easy way to get there and of course, comfortable for you and your family to fully enjoy.
Moreover, Carouge is another small country just around Geneva that also has a beautiful Christmas market. This one is a little bit different as it has a lot of Italian influence to it. Here you would see a lot of beautiful shops where you can by handmade crafts for you home and delicious food. It is always fun to try new stuff while being in a new country.
We have to mention Montreux in this article because it’s one of the largest Christmas Markets in Geneva and it shouldn’t be missed at all costs. While being at this market, you will definitely be surprised by the most beautiful views with the Alps and beautiful lakes. In order to get here faster, it is recommended to get Geneva airport transfers as you would get directly there with a little bit more ease and enjoy the 150 market stalls this place has to offer.
The last market we’re going to mention in this article is Lausanne, another small town just around Geneva that is really suitable for children and is definitely family friendly. You have the chance to enjoy great beer, cheese and wine. Moreover, if you’re interested in buying clothes or maybe jewelry you can definitely do it here as it is a really complex market that has almost everything. Even music and playgrounds for the children to enjoy, while you’re sipping a beer and enjoying the general atmosphere.


You deserve only the best. Whatever your preferred style of exercise, we can accommodate you. With top-quality name brand equipment from Cybex, Hoist, Nautilus, Precor, Star Trac, and TRUE you can be assured a quality workout.
We offer 5 treadmills, 6 ellipticals, 4 bikes (including one spinning and one recumbent), 2 rowers and 2 Adaptive Motion Trainers - which can be used as a stairclimber or stride adapting elliptical.
Most equipment includes a heart rate monitor, several machines have built-in fans. There are 3 televisions on the cardio side that you can listen to with a walkman.
We offer 16 Cybex resistance machines, 2 benches and one Nautilus weight-assisted chin dip. We also have a Max Rack seen in the center of the right-hand picture. It includes adjustable safety bars, is plate-loaded and unlike most Smith machines, allows both horizontal and vertical motion for a flexible workout.
We also have a free weight area with dumbbells from 5 to 75 lbs, a curl bar and an incline bench.
Squash is one of the most popular sports at the University of Rochester Medical Center and we are proud to boast one of the largest player bases in all of Rochester. Our RSRA Box League donates used equipment so that new players can try the sport out for free! They even provide free instruction to new Fitness & Wellness Center members. A novice group meets almost every Friday afternoon.
Our air-conditioned studio is open 24-hours-a-day for stretching and floor exercises. It is also where we hold many of our classes. We have Resist-a-Balls, hand weights, medicine balls and a balance board for members to use.
Our gym is open 24-hours-a-day and is where we play volleyball, soccer, badminton and basketball. There are pick-up basketball games at lunchtime on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.


For this season, no: the defender has pledged to stay at least one more year at the French club. Next season, however, he would be available. £10-14M would probably be enough.
What kind of player is he?
A commanding centre half standing at 6’2, the Football Manager fanatics among you will be well aware of his attributes. Ubiquitous in France U20’s World Cup win this summer, Zouma impressed with his strength, aerial prowess and reading of the game. Having broken into the St Etienne side, the youngster has established himself as one of the most promising players in Ligue 1, leading to interest from the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.
Age: 18. Club: Real Betis. Position: Winger.
Is he available? Betis have shown this summer that they’re not averse to selling their prized assets, with Swansea snapping up both Alejandro Pozuelo and Jose Canas. A bid somewhere between £5-10M could do the trick.
While headlines such as “the new Ronaldo” may be a little premature, there is no doubting the Spanish U19 international’s potential. Linked in the past with Manchester United and heavily this summer with both Arsenal and Tottenham, the winger was one of the stars of the U19 Championships in Lithuania. With a physique similar to a young Cristiano, the tall and lanky winger possesses pace and skill in abundance. Playing on the left wing as a right footer, he is able to maintain an element of unpredictability, with opponents not sure if he’ll go round the outside and get a cross in, or cut inside and either shoot or lay it off to a teammate. His quick feet and composure on the ball are particularly impressive, enough for him to become the second youngest player ever to have played in La Liga, making his Betis debut at just 16 years of age.
The youngster, who is known simply as Oliver, is one of the hottest talents in not only Spain, but Europe. It would take a sizeable fee to prize him away from Atletico, but one that would be totally worth it. Something in the region of £15M could tempt the Madrid club. According to Guillem Balague, however, his future lies at Barcelona; the Catalan giants apparently negotiated a first option to buy him agreement as part of the David Villa deal – the reason his fee was so low.
Quintessential of this generation of Spaniards, Oliver possesses technical ability in abundance; his touch, skill on the ball and speed of thought are exceptional. The way he dictates games from central midfield, seen particularly for Spain U20s, is reminiscent to Xavi. Yet he is equally as comparable to Andres Iniesta in the way he glides past opponents with his elusive dribbling ability, as well as his posture and balance when on the ball.
Despite having only signed for Lille in January 2013 on a 4 and a half year deal, and having never played for the club – he was immediately sent on loan to Bastia – there has been strong speculation over a move away from the French side. Arsenal have been strongly linked and it is reported a bid between £8-13M could be enough to secure his services.
A left footed winger with a low centre of gravity, the youngster has phenomenal close control and a dangerous shot on him. The star of France U20’s World Cup victory in Turkey this summer, he tormented defences with his dribbling skills and vision, chipping in with an impressive 3 goals. He is most dangerous when cutting inside from the wide right position and unleashing a shot towards goal – as Ghana found out this summer.
The Frenchman has been heavily linked with moves to the likes of Arsenal and Real Madrid this summer; it is reported a bid of £13M would be enough to prize him away from the Spanish club.
At 6’3, Kondogbia is a significant presence in the centre of midfield. His strength and power would help him settle in to the physicality of the English game, if he were to move. However, make no mistake, he is not merely a midfield brute; the youngster is technically sound and good on the ball, as one would expect from one of the brightest talents in La Liga. Having impressed consistently for French youth sides, he made his full international debut this August, and with Arsenal seemingly in desperate need for a player of his mould, it would be no surprise to see him in the Premier League by the end of this month.
Yes, at the right price. PSV, like Ajax, are resigned to their existence as a selling club due to their lack of funds; indeed this is what leads to their focus on youth development. A bid of around £10M could be enough.
Those with a special interest in youth football will have been aware of Bakkali for a while; his seven goals in 9 games for Belgium U17s – a formidable return for a winger – gave a taster of what he could do. But for most, the teenager only appeared on the scene recently, scoring a superb treble for PSV. In doing so, he became the youngest ever player to score a hat trick in the Eredivisie. Poached from Standard Liege at a young age, Bakkali is part of a formidable generation of Belgians. The speedy winger is remarkably good on both feet for a man so young and has a bag of tricks, a dangerous shot, and a whole lot of confidence. Set to shine this season, he is certainly one for the future.


Ernest R. Jodoin, 64, of 14 Ericsson St., died Monday, May 28th in St. Vincent Hospital. A funeral service will be held at 11 am., Thursday, May 31st in CASWELL-KING FUNERAL HOME, 474 Grove St. The full obituary will appear Thursday.


North: Samantha Taylor, Jr. (honorable mention, all-GWAL); Becca Davison, Soph. (honorable mention all-GWAL).
Southeast: Maddie White, Soph.; Brea Fields, Sr.
Note: West and South do not field girls golf teams.


Barakula: First National Chilika Bird Festival 2018 begins at Manglajodi . It was inaugurated by Tourism Minister Ashok Chandra Panda. The festival attracted tourists, bird watchers, wildlife photographers, painters and researchers from across the globe.
Starting from ornithologists to amateur birdwatchers and bird lovers took part in the maiden event and enjoyed flocks of migratory birds in the beautiful lake. “Despite its unique biodiversity and ecology not many people across the world are aware of Chilika lake. The festival will not only make this spot popular among tourists but will also help in boosting local economy,” said tourism minister Ashok Chandra Panda.
The festival will be jointly organised by the tourism department and the forest and environment department.


NAIROBI, Aug 14 2014 (IPS) - In the rush to save babies from HIV infection and treat their mothers, experts warn that a key element of HIV prevention is being neglected in Africa – contraceptives for HIV positive women.
Yet contraception is the second pillar of successful prevention of HIV transmission from mother to child (PMTCT), along with preventing infection among women and babies, and caring for those infected.
“The contraceptive needs of HIV positive women are often put on the background, the main focus is on keeping mother and child healthy,” Florence Ngobeni-Allen, a spokesperson with the Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric AIDS Foundation, told IPS. A South African, she was diagnosed with HIV in 1996, lost a baby to AIDS and now has two healthy boys.
Contraception is crucial in East and Southern Africa, where high HIV prevalence combines with high unmet needs for family planning, and where eight in ten HIV positive women are within their reproductive years, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Most modern methods of hormonal contraception are safe for women with HIV.
Some hormonal methods not recommended for women on ARV therapy due to potential for drug interactions.
IUD insertion is not recommended for a woman with AIDS, due to weakened immune system.
Spermicides and diaphragms are not suitable for HIV positive women.
Studies suggest that women living with HIV have equal “if not more desire to limit childbearing compared with HIV negative women. Reducing unmet need for family planning among these women is critical for meeting the target of reducing new child HIV infections by 90 percent,” says the United Nations report Women Out Loud.
Surveys of HIV positive women in Kenya and Malawi show that nearly three-quarters did not want more children within the next two years or ever, but only a quarter used modern contraceptives.
A study by Family Health International among HIV positive women in Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa showed that more than half did not plan their most recent pregnancy.
“Sometimes nurses forget that women are still sexual when they find out you are HIV positive,” says Ngobeni-Allen.
Kenya’s unmet need for contraceptives is 25 percent nationwide but 60 percent among HIV positive women, Dr John Ong’ech, assistant director at Kenyatta National Hospital, told IPS.
Low access to family planning for HIV positive women, who are six to eight times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications compared to HIV negative women, “is a weakness in health programmes,” he told IPS, although it is cheaper and more effective to provide contraceptives than PMTCT.
Mary Naliaka, who works in paediatric AIDS in Kenya’s health ministry, told IPS that family planning should be part of the HIV treatment package and offer a variety of contraceptive options.
But the health systems in East and Southern Africa often suffer commodity stock outs and many clinics lack adequate infrastructure.
“To insert an intrauterine device you need a sterile environment,” Ong’ech says.
Injection is the most popular method because women can use it without telling the husband, he adds.
Dorothy Namutamba, of the International Community of Women Living with HIV in East Africa (ICWEA), who is based in Kampala, Uganda, told IPS that women are raised to please husbands.
Stigma and domestic violence compound the problem. “Women fear to declare their HIV status because they may face gender violence, and this limits their access to family planning,” Anthony Mbonye, Commissioner of Health Services in Uganda, told IPS.
Given men’s power over decisions about pregnancy, couple-oriented reproductive health services are crucial, but “health facilities are too overcrowded to absorb the male partner,” Naliaka told IPS.
The coerced sterilisations of HIV positive women in Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia, with lawsuits pending, further cloud the issue of reproductive rights and needs and HIV.
Moving forward, experts recommend integrating HIV, family planning and maternal and child health care services, saving time for both users and health staff.
Seven Southern African countries have set up such “one-stop shops” for reproductive health, where a woman can get ARVs, cervical cancer screening, breastfeeding advice and family planning in one visit, under one roof, sometimes in one room with one health worker.
Linking services is cost effective and efficient, says UNFPA. It makes “people sense”.


India moved up a rung to fourth in the ICC Test rankings for teams replacing Pakistan, while veteran Sachin Tendulkar jumped three places to be 17th in the batsmen's chart announced here today.
Among the bowlers, off-spinner R Ashwin was rewarded for his match haul of 12 for 198 in the first Test as he rose to a career-best 11th.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni charged up 15 places to 21st courtesy his maiden double hundred at Chennai.
Other centurion of the Chennai Test Virat Kohli has gained 10 places and is now on a career-best 25th position.
South Africa consolidated their position on the top of the Test rankings after a thumping victory over Pakistan in the third and the final Test at Centurion.
There was no other change in the top 10 of the bowlers' table, which is headed by South Africa's Dale Steyn followed by his teammate Vernon Philander.
Hashim Amla continued to lead the Test batsmen chart followed by Australian skipper Michael Clarke.


A little-known provision of the Every Student Succeeds Act allows students who attend a "persistently dangerous school," or who become the victim of a violent crime on school grounds, to transfer to a safer school.
Now department wants to know how that's working. The department is planning to study state implementation of the provision, according to a notice scheduled to be published in the Federal Register.
"Given ongoing, cross-Federal-agency efforts to help ensure students are safe in school, it is essential for the Department to understand how State Educational Agencies (SEAs) are implementing the requirement," the notice says.
The idea isn't new under ESSA. States also had to flag "persistently dangerous" schools under the law that proceeded it, No Child Left Behind. But because states got to decide what "persistently dangerous" meant, very few schools got slapped with the label. In the 2005-06 school year, for example, just 41 schools across the country were flagged as "persistently dangerous." States also get to define the term under ESSA.
The provision is one of a handful in the law that deal with school choice, a huge priority for U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. Most states choose not to take advantage of the opportunities to expand choice under ESSA. And so far, DeVos has been unsuccessful at persuading Congress to create a new, federally funded private school voucher program, or allow federal funding to follow students to the public school of their choice.


Although it seems like the other day, it is already a year since Kenya’s last polls in 2017. The passage of a year justifies a reflection on recent electoral experiences and some thoughts on what the future might hold.
The 2013 elections were important as these were the first under a new Constitution that promised higher standards of electoral probity than had previously been experienced, and also because of the freshness of the violence that followed the previous elections.
However, the country emerged from 2013 with a clear sense that the management of the elections had largely failed to meet those standards. As a result, there was expectation that some kind of reforms at the IEBC, ahead of the next elections in 2017, would be inevitable. After 2013, the resistance to demands for electoral reforms was largely seen as an attempt to minimise the scope of possible reforms, rather than to prevent them.
After a traumatic year, in which the country faced an unprecedented two presidential elections, there is much less clarity about what needs to be done in response to challenges that were experienced during the elections last year. While, by summoning the courage to annul the presidential election, the Supreme Court achieved a massive atonement against its underwhelming performance in 2013, its action did not lead to greater political respect for the court, but has instead exposed the Judiciary to political denigration.
Further, no consequences were visited on the IEBC as a result of the annulled election, even though the invalidation was essentially a censure of the elections body. Instead, in a position similar to that of the political establishment, the IEBC asserted that the annulment was unjustified. While the fact of annulment created expectations of better performance in the fresh election, it became evident that the second election was of a poorer quality than the one that the Supreme Court had annulled.
Thus the 2017 elections created a full range of experiences for the country, starting with a poorly-run first election, a high pass mark for the Supreme Court in a test of courage over the contested first election, a re-assertion of control by the political establishment through its intimidation of the Judiciary and the subsequent violence against the population.
Through these experiences, the establishment signaled to the IEBC to ignore the Supreme Court and to citizens that legalities were optional niceties.
After the 2017 elections, the next course of action for the segment of the country disaffected about the elections crystallized in an increasingly-enthusiastic support for the short-lived movement towards civic resistance, which the opposition instituted.
The high point of the resistance was the swearing in of Raila Odinga as the “People’s President.” In all this, a pervasive feeling had emerged that people without a shared view on how to elect their leaders cannot live together. Out of the 2017 election, an understanding consolidated that since the country had been unable to hold elections that satisfied all sections of the population, the time had come to discuss separation.
The handshake between Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga, a result of the political grievances generated by the 2017 elections, disrupted those grievances. The handshake has dissipated the grievances, making it difficult for their sustained acknowledgement and undermining the possibility of mechanisms that would address them. Also, the frailties of the relevant public institutions remain unaddressed. For example, not content with the rock bottom position that its performance in the 2017 elections consigned it to, the IEBC has begun to drill, through infighting among commissioners and the dismissal of key staff members. It is difficult to say what should happen next. To the extent that the handshake has disrupted the political grievances from the last elections without offering solutions, it has done a disservice to the country and has let a crisis go to waste.
Unlike after the 2013 elections, when “electoral reforms” were conceived in technical terms that targeted the IEBC and the Supreme Court, for example, it is now clear that a change of personnel, even though necessary, is unlikely to solve the problems of elections in Kenya. What is needed is dialogue, as between opposing groups, since that is what contested elections have reduced citizens to. Under the framework of such dialogue, there would be opportunity for venting about the grievances, and an attempted to renew commitments to a shared set of values which repeat failure has displaced.
Unfortunately, the handshake arrangements do not acknowledge the urgency or the foundational character of electoral grievances. Also, a discussion of electoral grievances is likely to jeopardise the newfound amity between the promoters of the handshake. It is, therefore, also likely that within the handshake, any discussion of electoral grievances will be tolerated rather than welcome.
Given this reality, and on the occasion of the first anniversary since the elections last year, citizen groups must urgently start organizing for electoral reforms because nobody else will.


Technically, summer starts today , but Central Texas has been scorched by hot temperatures in a record-breaking spring.
This year had the hottest and 10th -driest March to May on record in Austin, according to measurements by the National Weather Service at Camp Mabry.
There has been no relief in June, as record daily highs have either been tied or broken at least nine times at Mabry since June 1, and 11 times at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Temperatures in June have been 7.6 degrees above average, suggesting the record-setting hotness will continue.
If Central Texas has felt to you like an oven, you're not imagining things: The temperatures have turned up to a low bake.
Meanwhile, the region continues to be parched.
Mabry has gone 30 days without measurable rain. More broadly, the period of October 2010 through May is the second-driest on record since 1856 , with only 8.96 inches recorded.
Compounding the problem, an unusually windy spring is increasing evaporation from soils and lakes, even as it makes the high temperatures feel slightly more bearable.
According to the National Weather Service, wind speed has been about 30 percent higher than average during the months of April, May and June. This June, for example, the average wind speed has been 10.3 mph; over the past 40 years it averaged 8.2 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
The reasons for the windy conditions are both horizontal and vertical. A dome of high pressure has hovered above Austin this spring, and low pressure systems moving to the north have drawn steady winds off the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, because of unrelenting dry, hot ground conditions, the warm air has been rising unabated, bringing stronger air currents from higher in the atmosphere down toward the ground.
"Usually it's windy in the afternoon, when temperatures are hottest," said Joe Baskin , a forecaster with the National Weather Service. "But it has been hot all day long for weeks."
This week could offer the best chance for seasonable temperatures, as a low pressure system could move to the south and create some instability, Baskin said. High temperatures through Thursday could fall to the mid-90s, and chances for precipitation are as high as 30 percent, Baskin said.


Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education members are pictured at Monday’s monthly meeting, from left, Tom Milbery, Beverly Rhoads, Bill Myers, Jerry Walker and Larry Lyons.
The hiring of a social worker to help elementary students deal with mental health and social issues was approved during Monday’s regular meeting of the Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education.
As of Monday’s meeting, the new position has not been posted yet, so it is still open, according to Superintendent Tim Davis. Davis said the social worker will likely be part-time, at least in the beginning, and will work closely with the school counselor. The exact duties of the job remain to be determined, Davis said.
According to Davis, the high school already has a social worker.
Davis said part of the reason why the school board decided to hire an elementary school social worker was to respond to requests made during a public safety forum the school hosted last spring.
“A lot of the response we got that night was dealing with mental health, so if that’s something we can help kids deal with at a young age, that’s what we want to do,” Davis said.
During his report to the board, Davis said staff members have been working on the school grounds in preparation for the upcoming school year, which starts Aug. 15 for Hillsboro students.
He said the school completed an irrigation project at Richards Memorial Field where football games are played, basically replacing a field cannon watering system with an irrigation system that has around nine watering heads, which can cover more of the field at any given time.
“We planted grass, it’s starting to come up, and hopefully it will be in good shape by the time football starts,” Davis said Tuesday.
He said some bushes have been removed from the front of the elementary building, some landscaping has been done and grass has been planted. He said the retention pond at the middle school/high school has some clogging problems that are being fixed, and that the hill between the middle school/high school and elementary school has been mowed and trimmed.
Board president Bill Myers asked about the food truck that provides summer meals to local children, and Davis said that the last time he checked, food director Jessica Walker said more than 400 meals were being served daily.
• Sixth grade – Wednesday, Aug. 8 from 4-6 p.m.
• High school/middle school – Thursday, Aug. 9 from 4-6 p.m.
• Elementary school – Thursday, Aug. 9 from 5-7 p.m.
• Preschool – Screenings will be held on Aug. 15, 16 and 17. Half the students will attend school on Aug. 20 and the other half of the students will attend school on Aug. 21. All preschool students will attend school on Aug. 22.
• Kindergarten – Screenings will be held on Aug. 15, 16 and 17. Girls only attend school on Aug. 20 and boys only attend school on Aug. 21. All Kindergarten students will attend school on Aug. 22.
On Monday, the board approved the following certificated positions, contingent upon a satisfactory background check and proper certification: Mary Lee Daugherty, middle school reading specialist; Elizabeth Denton, middle school intervention specialist; Tracey Staggs, middle school technology teacher; and Stella Wardlow, middle school math teacher.
The board also approved the following classified positions: Penny Carter, district secretary; and Michelle Clemons, aide.
A long list of sub certificated and sub classified positions was also approved.


Porter County Animal Shelter employee Kori Black leads Sebastian, a German Shepherd, to the yard Jan. 23, 2019.
As the weather heads into another deep freeze, animal shelter directors have some advice for dog owners: If you’re cold when you go outside, your dog is, too.
With subzero low temperatures and single-digit high temperatures predicted this week, shelter officials said furry friends need extra care and attention to avoid frostbite and other cold-weather hazards, and playtime should switch to treat-filled toys and other mental stimulation to take the place of long walks or games of fetch.
"Shilah" stands in the yard at the Porter County Animal Shelter on Jan. 23, 2019, as kennels and cages are cleaned at the facility.
Pets should be kept indoors except for bathroom breaks if it’s below 20 degrees out, she said, while her counterparts at the Humane Society of Hobart and the Humane Society of Northwest Indiana in Gary’s Miller neighborhood said the limit should be around freezing, at 32 degrees.
“You have to be careful because it takes no time at all to get frostbite on their pads,” she said, adding water bowls also freeze up, so dogs don’t have a source for fresh water, among other cold weather hazards.
She added that with “some really freezing temps” on the way, people have to prepare to bring their dogs inside.
Sebastian, a German Shepherd, plays in the yard with Porter County Animal Shelter employee Kori Black as kennels and cages are cleaned indoors.
Ice itself is a concern, said Rene Douglas, director of the Hobart shelter, because sharp pieces can slice the pads on a dog’s paws.
To minimize paw injury, the directors suggest putting booties on dogs when they go outside if possible. They also recommend using pet-friendly ice melt or sand on slick pathways, since traditional road salt can hurt dogs’ paws or at the very least, make them sick if they lick their paws when they come inside.
“If they’re going to walk their dogs in this kind of weather and there’s salt on the sidewalks, either use doggy boots, which some people understandably don’t want to use, or wipe off with a clean, dry towel so they don’t lick the salt off their paws,” Bianchi said, adding she prefers to use sand.
Like kids, dogs can get cabin fever when they’re housebound because of bad weather. Shelter directors suggest finding other ways to keep them entertained when outdoor time turns to indoor time.
Spike, a pit bull terrier mix, runs through snow in the yard at the Porter County Animal Shelter on Jan. 23, 2019, as kennels and cages are cleaned.
Bianchi said to turn to training or toys with treats hidden inside.
“If you can throw a ball in your house without tearing your house apart, that’s great,” she said, adding if that’s not possible, mental exertion can be as exhausting as physical exercise.
Likewise, Douglas noted enrichment toys, like filling Kongs with peanut butter, or hiding treats around the house.
“It keeps them occupied and it works their brains, too,” she said.
Kids also trapped indoors can play with pets to keep them entertained, White said, and quiet time can help keep pets content as well.
“Even if you’re sitting watching a movie and petting that dog, they’re still getting stimulated,” she said.


Without comment, campaign officials for President Obama this morning released to the Des Moines Register a transcript of an interview he had Tuesday with Laura Hollingsworth, president and publisher of the Register, and Rick Green, editor/vice-president of news. Initially, the White House had asked that the conversation be considered off-the-record and its details not shared with readers.
The Des Moines Register’s publisher and I spoke with President Barack Obama this morning — but we can’t tell you what he said.


Sen. Mike Lee Michael (Mike) Shumway LeeDems sound alarm over top DOJ nominee Restore Pell Grant eligibility to people in prison Former Democratic aide pleads guilty to doxing GOP senators attending Kavanaugh hearing MORE’s bid to enter the Senate Republican leadership next year came to an abrupt end Sunday when he announced to colleagues via email that he would suspend his campaign.
Lee, a rising Tea Party star from Utah, said he was ending his bid to be the GOP’s policy committee chairman to avoid further turmoil in the GOP conference.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellSenate Republicans tested on Trump support after Mueller Anti-smoking advocates question industry motives for backing higher purchasing age Former Bush assistant: Mueller report makes Obama look 'just plain bad' MORE (R-Ky.) effectively quashed Lee’s effort by arguing that the current chairman, Sen. John Barrasso John Anthony BarrassoOvernight Energy: Gillibrand offers bill to ban pesticide from school lunches | Interior secretary met tribal lawyer tied to Zinke casino dispute | Critics say EPA rule could reintroduce asbestos use GOP senator issues stark warning to Republicans on health care Judd Gregg: In praise of Mike Enzi MORE (R-Wy.), didn’t face a term limit until the end of 2018. As a result, Lee likely won't be able to run for a vacant leadership position.
Here are five takeaways from Lee’s failed bid.
The Senate Republican Conference last week proved itself largely immune to the restlessness of the party base.
Republican colleagues quickly rallied around McConnell’s argument that his leadership team has been doing a fine job and deserves another two years without having to run for new posts.
Had Lee’s argument that the partial term served by the leadership in 2012 should be counted under the term-limit rule succeeded, Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune John Randolph ThuneTelehealth is calling — will Congress pick up? GOP grows tired of being blindsided by Trump Hillicon Valley: Assange faces US charges after arrest | Trump says WikiLeaks 'not my thing' | Uber officially files to go public | Bezos challenges retail rivals on wages | Kremlin tightens its control over internet MORE (S.D.) and Vice Chairman Roy Blunt Roy Dean BluntGOP senator: 'No problem' with Mueller testifying The Hill's Morning Report — Mueller aftermath: What will House Dems do now? Graham says he's 'not interested' in Mueller testifying MORE (Mo.) would have had to step down this year.
“This demonstrates the faith of the Republican conference in Sen. McConnell as the Republican leader and should dissuade any other Republicans from throwing their hat in the ring until the appropriate time,” said Ron Bonjean, a former Senate GOP leadership aide.
Lee is a star among conservative activists. He is Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzMichael Bennet declared cancer-free, paving way for possible 2020 run Booker, Harris have missed most Senate votes O'Rourke sweeps through Virginia looking to energize campaign MORE’s closest friend in the Senate, something that’s now more of an asset as the party establishment rallies behind the Texan as an alternative to front-runner Donald Trump Donald John TrumpThorny part of obstruction of justice is proving intent, that's a job for Congress Obama condemns attacks in Sri Lanka as 'an attack on humanity' Schiff rips Conway's 'display of alternative facts' on Russian election interference MORE in the presidential race.
But inside the Senate, lawmakers and aides panned Lee’s bid as miscalculated and rash. They say he should have made sure a majority of his GOP colleagues agreed with his interpretation of the rules that Barrasso and others were term-limited this year.
“It’s always important to do a whip check of Republican senators before you actually announce a run, because if a senator doesn’t have much support then it’s going to be embarrassing to pull back,” Bonjean said.
It’s hard to imagine McConnell, who has a reputation for his ability to see the political chessboard five moves into the future, making the same mistake.
One veteran GOP lawmaker speculated that Lee knew his bid would fall short and launched it anyway to rally conservative groups behind him, building his power base for the future.
But in the short run, it antagonized colleagues who felt he was needlessly rocking the boat.
McConnell has been a piñata for conservative activists for years, which Cruz astutely realized when he called his leader a liar on the Senate floor during a debate over the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank.
Senate colleagues were shocked by Cruz’s breach of decorum, but it played well with conservative voters, who flocked to his presidential campaign instead of the establishment GOP favorites, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioSenate Republicans tested on Trump support after Mueller Cuban negotiator says Trump's efforts to destabilize Cuba's government will fail Freedom to Compete Act would benefit many American workers MORE (Fla.).
McConnell and Lee, along with Cruz, live on different ends of the GOP’s approach to governing. While McConnell has been a pragmatist throughout his career, stepping in at times to broker deals, such as the debt-limit accord of 2011, Lee and Cruz put a premium on sticking to conservative ideals.
If senators had embraced Lee’s candidacy, conservative activists say it would have helped bridge the divide between party leaders and the base. Instead, the opposite happened.
Although Lee has served in the Senate since 2011, he is still viewed as an outsider because of his election six years ago as a Tea Party insurgent and for his relationship with Cruz.
While the Tea Party, as represented by the House Freedom Caucus, wields significant power in the lower chamber, it barely registers in the Senate.
The House Freedom Caucus played a role in pushing former Speaker John Boehner John Andrew Boehner20 years after Columbine, Dems bullish on gun reform Dem says marijuana banking bill will get House vote this spring Trump appears alongside Ocasio-Cortez on Time 100 list MORE (R-Ohio) out of power in 2015 and sinking efforts to pass a House Republican budget this year, but there’s no equivalent in the Senate.
Cruz, arguably the biggest Tea Party star in the upper chamber, is spending all his time on the presidential campaign trail. Rubio and Sen. Rand Paul Randal (Rand) Howard PaulBooker, Harris have missed most Senate votes Trump vetoes measure ending US support for Saudi-led war in Yemen Bottom line MORE (Ky.), two big-name conservatives who were elected to Congress as Tea Party rebels, just got back from the trail and showed little appetite for a clash with McConnell.
Sen. David Vitter David Bruce VitterBottom Line Bottom Line Top 5 races to watch in 2019 MORE (La.), a conservative with a hearty independent streak, is still nursing wounds from his embarrassing gubernatorial loss, and Sen. Tom Cotton Thomas (Tom) Bryant CottonOvernight Defense: Senators show skepticism over Space Force | Navy drops charges against officers in deadly collision | Trump taps next Navy chief Senators show deep skepticism on Space Force proposal GOP senators introduce bill to reduce legal immigration MORE (Ark.), a conservative who’s shown a willingness to challenge the leadership, didn’t show much interest in an arcane rules fight.
Had they banded together behind Lee, the effort might have snowballed. Instead, they failed to coalesce while McConnell was circling Lee’s wagons.
“There clearly is not a very strong conservative caucus in the Republican Party in the Senate. The Tea Party caucus is very weak, and that’s a function of the fact that there aren’t enough conservative senators in the caucus to bring it more to the right,” said Brian Darling, a former Senate aide.
Thune and Sen. Lamar Alexander Andrew (Lamar) Lamar Alexander Embattled senators fill coffers ahead of 2020 GOP senators divided on Trump trade pushback Five things to know about the measles outbreak MORE (R-Tenn.) have called for a meeting to discuss the term-limit rules, which will take place Tuesday.
Expect senators to rally around McConnell’s interpretation that his leadership team should be kept intact.
In an election year when Senate Republicans need to protect 24 seats while Democrats only have to worry about 10, they see unity as the best defense.
During an acrimonious meeting last week, Sen. Bob Corker Robert (Bob) Phillips CorkerPollster says Trump unlikely to face 'significant' primary challenge GOP gets used to saying 'no' to Trump Democrats introduce bill to rein in Trump on tariffs MORE (R-Tenn.) complained that Lee’s staff on the Republican Steering Committee worked with outside groups to undermine legislation pushed by fellow Republican senators.
Others complained about outside groups targeting GOP incumbents and linking those efforts to Lee’s leadership bid.
Barrasso has been the consummate team player, GOP senators say. He sticks to the leadership’s talking points and has pitched in to individual senators’ reelection efforts, making him popular — or at least not controversial — with many colleagues.
The drama of a leadership race at a time when many lawmakers are worried about reelection was not well received. Had Lee announced his bid after the election, he might have done better.
— This post was updated at 11:19 p.m. Lee could choose to challenge Barrasso for the Republican Policy Committee chairmanship under McConnell's interpretation of the rules. Lee says he won't do so. An earlier version of this story included incorrect information.


LONDON (Reuters) - An Iberia Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing due to an issue with its Roll-Royce-made Trent XWB engine, sending shares in the British company lower.
Iberia Airlines flight 6252 made the emergency landing at Boston Logan airport, a representative of the airline said.
Shares in Rolls-Royce fell 3.2 percent by 0932 GMT as traders priced in the risk of issues with its Trent XWB engines, after the chief executive had said problems in other engines did not extend to them.
“We are aware of the issue and will be working closely with the airline to support them,” said a spokesman for Rolls-Royce.


This app could save your older Android phone from being hijacked. Specifically, the Installer Hijacking Scanner app from the Google Play store is designed to check for a vulnerability that was discovered over a year ago and still hasn't been resolved.
Palo Alto Networks revealed information Tuesday about a critical vulnerability affecting Android. The flaw was initially discovered in January, 2014. Palo Alto Networks has been working closely with Google and Android device manufacturers to resolve the issue since then. The flaw, dubbed “Android Installer Hijacking,” is estimated to impact nearly half of all Android devices.
The vulnerability affects the Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTTOU) function of Android. Exploiting the flaw allows an attacker to hijack app installation and replace or modify an otherwise benign Android app installation with malware without the user’s knowledge. According to Palo Alto Networks the malicious app is able to gain full access to the compromised device—including usernames, passwords, and other sensitive data.
The issue is a problem only when downloading apps from third-party repositories. Apps installed from Google Play are downloaded to a protected space within the file system. Third-party app stores, on the other hand, typically download files to unprotected storage and installed directly from there. The TOCTTOU flaw enables an attacker to modify or replace the file during installation without alerting the user.
The issue is mainly a concern for users that install apps from third-party app stores on older Android devices. Palo Alto Networks claims that the flaw exists in Android 2.3, 4.0.3-4.0.4, 4.1.x, and 4.2.x. Some Android 4.3 implementations have also been found vulnerable.
One of the primary benefits of Android is also one of its biggest concerns. The volume and diversity of Android devices leaves many Android users stuck with outdated versions of the OS. Androd 4.4 KitKat was released in October of 2013 and has already been supplanted by Android 5.0 Lollipop yet less than 40 percent of Android users have received that update. Meanwhile, Google has stopped supporting Android 4.3 and earlier versions—leaving more than half of Android users to rely on the Android community to patch vulnerabilities or just fend for themselves.
At the time the vulnerability was discovered, it affected almost 90 percent of the Android devices in use. Thanks to attrition and updates to more current versions of Android, that number has dropped to just under 50 percent. The Android device doesn’t need to be rooted to be vulnerable, but rooted devices are predictably more vulnerable, according to Palo Alto Networks.
Based on these facts, mitigation seems relatively simple. You should update your device to Android 4.3—or preferably 4.4—or later if at all possible. Regardless, you should stick to downloading apps from the official Google Play store.


Hundred Karnataka BJP lawmakers were flown to Delhi on the weekend. Sources say they checked into the ITC Grand Bharat at 5 pm on Monday.
The reason for the unexpected break was a boot camp before national elections, BS Yeddyurappa had said.
Surrounded by the Aravali forests where leopards are said to lurk, over 100 Karnataka BJP lawmakers have been sequestered at a luxe -- yet confining --resort in Gurgaon near Delhi. As two independent lawmakers withdrew support from the ruling Janata Dal Secular-Congress coalition in Karnataka on Tuesday, the mystery surrounding the activities of the Bengaluru club intensified. Sources say they checked into the ITC Grand Bharat at 5 pm on Monday, even though they were expected much later at night. No one's quite sure how long they will stay.
The official reason for their unexpected break, as their leader BS Yeddyurappa told NDTV yesterday, was a boot camp before the national election due by May.
They were flown to Delhi on the weekend, when the BJP had a two-day leadership conclave. Now 104 legislators have virtually taken over the entire resort, occupying 60 of its 100-odd rooms. The rooms cost Rs 30,000 each, though it is not known whether they paid this or were given a discount. Hotel insiders say since they arrived, the police have placed extra layers of security, which means hardly any other guests are left.
The five-star retreat has heated pools, golfing, villas and presidential suites overlooking lush greens. But while the Karnataka bunch was caught on camera catching a game of cricket, they have had little else for entertainment.
The lawmakers have occupied occupying 60 of the 100-odd rooms at the luxury resort.
Sources say the lawmakers are usually seen in two meeting rooms called the Prithvi and the Hub, where they spend many hours in discussions or braving the significantly colder weather. They have even been having all their meals together in those rooms.
Senior leaders like Shobha Karandlaje have been making regular visits. Senior BJP leader Murlidhar Rao told NDTV the exercise was simply one to "prepare the troops" for the 2019 campaign. They haven't had any separate meetings with BJP president Amit Shah, he said.
Police have placed extra layers of security at the resort which means hardly any other guests are left.
Mr Yeddyurappa, accused by Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy of trying to pull his government down and take power before the national election due by May, says he has brought the lawmakers to the resort because of fear of poaching.
The former chief minister emphatically denies that he is doing the poaching. "Neither me, nor our leaders have said we will carry out operation Lotus," he said, referring to the term used by rivals for the party's attempts to lure lawmakers and establish itself in power.
"Operation Lotus" was last executed in 2008, when Mr Yeddyurappa was chief minister and opposition legislators resigned and joined the ruling BJP.


Would you rather work for an aggressive jerk or a spineless wimp? Unsurprisingly, employees do not like either management style. Instead a good manager has to walk the line between too assertive and not assertive enough.


It was only a matter of time: You can now run conventional x86 desktop apps on your ARM-based Windows RT tablet, such as the Surface RT. x86 games like Heroes of Might and Magic 3 (see the video below) and small utilities such as WinRAR are confirmed to work on Windows RT, with the developer promising to support uTorrent and some other games in the future.
The tool, which seems to be called Win86Emu, is essentially an x86 emulator or software abstraction layer for Windows RT. If you’ve used DOSBox, or some kind of game console emulator before, Win86Emu is very similar: You run Win86Emu, select which x86 app you want to execute, and then – if everything goes to plan – your x86 app will appear.
In essence, Win86Emu grabs the API calls made by the x86 app, converts them into the Windows RT equivalent, and then passes them along to the WinRT kernel. (See: Why you should upgrade your PC to Windows 8). As far as the x86 app is concerned, it’s running on a normal x86 Windows machine.
As with any emulator, though, there are caveats. As long as your x86 app uses the emulator’s supported APIs, you’re fine – but at the moment, Win86Emu only supports a limited subsection of API calls, and some translations from x86 to the WinRT kernel aren’t perfect. As a result, Heroes of Might and Magic 3 works under the emulator, but it doesn’t have any music. Emulation is a lot slower than native execution, too – and coupled with ARM’s wimpiness compared to the latest x86 silicon, don’t expect your Windows RT tablet to run Crysis.
This hack follows on from last month’s jailbreak of Windows RT, which gives you the ability to run non-Microsoft apps on the desktop. The original jailbreak has since been turned into an easy-to-use tool that executes every time you log in – and indeed, you need to run the jailbreak before you can use Win86Emu. If you own a Windows RT tablet, XDA-Developers has a nice list of desktop apps that you can run on jailbroken devices.
When Microsoft told the world that it was splitting Windows 8 into x86 and ARM versions, we made the bold prediction that Intel’s upcoming Atom processors would kill off Windows RT. You see, the only advantage that ARM SoCs currently have over x86 is reduced power consumption – but in the next year or so, Intel will catch up.
Couple that with the fact that Microsoft made the crazy decision to lock down Windows RT’s desktop, and that Windows RT lacks the native ability to run x86 apps (Microsoft could’ve easily included its own emulator), and it’s really rather hard to imagine Windows on ARM beating Windows on x86.
Now that a couple of hackers have jailbroken Windows RT and created an x86 emulator, it will be interesting to see how Microsoft reacts. Microsoft’s claimed reason for locking down Windows RT is stability and reliability – Windows RT is consumer-oriented, and it doesn’t want ma and pa to install jury-rigged x86 apps that will cause their system to crash.
Instead of a complete lockdown, though, Microsoft could’ve just buried the switches deep within the Control Panel, so that power users would have at least had the option of running x86 and desktop apps on their Windows RT tablet. Who knows: Maybe the locked-down desktop and lack of x86 emulation is actually the result of an internal, political struggle at Wintel’s hegemonic HQ.


ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Sunday said Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered Sindh government to launch probe into reports of abduction, forced conversion and underage marriages of two teenage Hindu girls and to take immediate steps for their recovery.
In a Twitter post earlier today, the minister informed that Prime Minister Imran has issued directives to the Sindh chief minister to look into reports that the girls in question have been taken to Rahim Yar Khan.
The incident came to light after the father and brother of the girls, in videos that went viral on social media, said that the two sisters were abducted and forcefully converted to Islam. In a separate video, however, the minor girls can be seen saying that they accepted Islam of their own free will.
"The minorities in Pakistan make up the white of our flag and all of our flag's colours are precious to us. Protection of our flag is our duty," the info minister added.
Chaudhry had also tweeted on Saturday that the government had taken notice of reports of the alleged forced conversion and underage marriages of the two girls in Ghotki.
His statement came in response to former Indian Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju, who had called out Prime Minister Imran Khan on social media.
"Sir! Notice has already been taken and ministry of Human Rights has been asked for an inquiry ll update asap, rest assure its Naya Pakistan we ll not allow it to become Modi’s India where rights of minorities have become a joke," Chaudhry had replied.
The incident was highlighted by various activists including civil rights advocate Jibran Nasir, who posted a thread highlighting the plight of the family in question and called on the authorities to probe and take action.
Last year, Prime Minister Imran during his election campaign had said his party's [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf] agenda was to uplift the various religious groups across Pakistan and said they would take effective measures to prevent forced marriages of Hindu girls.


ASIC and the Australian Federal Police have raided the Melbourne office of an online foreign currency broker accused by clients of harassing and pressuring them into losing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The raid is a further indication of concerns over practices within the massive online foreign exchange — or forex — brokerage industry.
Officers from the AFP alongside officials from ASIC executed a search warrant last week on the Melbourne office of ForexCT, one of 70 forex brokers licensed in Australia by ASIC.
ASIC also obtained orders in the Federal Court freezing the bank accounts of ForexCT and stopping its director Shlomi Yoshai from leaving the country.
ASIC would not comment on the raid, but the ABC has been told the warrant referred to a number of ForexCT employees.
Although it holds an Australian Financial Services license, ForexCT is wholly owned by a Vanuatu company.
The ABC spoke to two ForexCT clients who claimed employees of the company pressured them into investing hundreds of thousands of dollars with the company — money which was subsequently lost.
Forex trading is a highly complex and risky form of investment, which experts say is actually more akin to gambling.
It is legal in Australia, but ASIC warned forex trading "requires a huge amount of knowledge, research and monitoring" because currency markets were highly unpredictable and could be affected by so many factors.
Investors essentially speculate on whether a currency is going to rise or fall in comparison to another currency — this is called a "pair".
Brokers such as ForexCT link the investor with another party who takes the opposite side of the contract.
The ABC reported yesterday that another broker, Berndale Capital Securities, had been stripped by ASIC of its Australian Financial Services license and its colourful former director Stavro D'Amore banned for six years from offering financial advice. Mr D'Amore is appealing against ASIC's decision.
Fransisco Marques said he was cold-called by a ForexCT representative in April last year. Although he has no experience in forex trading, he was convinced to invest $500 with the offer that ForexCT would match it.
Within weeks, the 73-year-old former rigger, who lives in Melbourne's northern suburbs, was locked in a spiral that ultimately led to him investing $270,000 of his superannuation with the broker.
Mr Marques said he was bombarded with phone calls by ForexCT representatives, urging him to deposit more money. With the exception of a few small withdrawals, he lost everything.
Mr Marques' daughter, Diana Marques, told the ABC her father didn't tell anybody else what was happening to him until he lost $120,000 in a single night.
"My dad is so risk averse. This is a man who has worked his whole life seven days a week, 12, 15 hours a day, saved all his money, saved his superannuation, all of this and just being been really tight with money," Ms Marques said.
"They would have pushed him to just keep going and going and going, and invest more and more and more. I can see how my dad would have not known what he was doing and trusted what they were saying."
According to Mr Marques, when his trading account showed losses, it was impossible to get his ForexCT client manager on the phone, but as soon as he tried to withdraw money, the representative would call him and convince him he was doing well and that he should invest more.
Mr Marques lodged a complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), which is now considering the case.
Another ForexCT client, Port Macquarie resident Darrin Todd, also made a complaint to AFCA. His case has dragged on for more than seven months, leaving him angry and frustrated.
Mr Todd alleged that last year he lost $450,000 through a series of trades he was encouraged to execute by a ForexCT staff member.
In an initial finding, AFCA determined that ForexCT had offered personal financial advice to Mr Todd — breaching its license conditions — but it said that on the evidence of a handful of phone calls recorded by ForexCT and given to AFCA, Mr Todd had not followed the advice, and therefore did not need to be compensated.
"My dispute is, it wasn't around an individual trade, it was around a strategy and what I was told to do continuously to trade," Mr Todd said.
Mr Todd said a ForexCT employee told him to pursue a strategy called 'martingaling,' which is essentially doubling-down on every loss until your luck turns around.
"I was advised to martingale, to close or hold my positions until they were in a winning status, and then I was enticed and asked to put more money in," Mr Todd said.
"At one stage I couldn't get my money from overseas into Australia quickly, and they actually told me they would credit the money into the bank account until I got to the account on a Monday."
In a statement regarding both Mr Todd and Mr Marque's claims, ForexCT said it was "reviewing the allegations raised while working closely with ASIC".
"Our clients are always a key priority and we do our best to observe a strong duty of care. We are unable to comment on any individual matter," the statement said.
"However, we have a disputes resolution procedure in place and should anomalies arise we ensure our customers are compensated. We welcome any customers who are dissatisfied with our service to contact us."
In a second separate blow, Mr Todd claimed he lost $500,000 he had invested through another broker, Eightcap, after a pricing feed supplied by the broker showed a sudden and massive drop in the price of the New Zealand dollar over the course of a few minutes one day last October.
Mr Todd and some other clients of Eightcap — who also lost hundreds of thousands of dollars — claimed the drop was simply an error in the broker's price feed, and that it was not reflected in the official exchange rate or prices supplied by other brokers. They also asked for their losses to be reimbursed.
Eightcap strongly disputed that claim with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.
Eightcap initially told clients that the downwards spike was an error, but has now said the price was "true and accurate" and that it derived from a price provided by its "liquidity provider".
In forex trading, the liquidity provider is an entity that takes the opposite side to the investor in any trade, with the broker forming a "bridge" between the two parties.
Eightcap's liquidity provider is a company called GO Markets. However, the ABC has discovered that GO Markets and Eightcap are both part of the same corporate structure, which is headquartered in Singapore.
Mr Todd and other investors are now pursuing a case against Eightcap through AFCA.
Eightcap declined to comment for this story.
See more on this story on 7.30 tonight.


Stanford tennis player Mallory Burdette will skip her senior season and turn professional, the school said.
As a wild card, Burdette advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open before losing to third-seeded Maria Sharapova. Earlier this summer, she won two USTA singles events, the Hospital Tennis Classic and the Odlum Brown Vancouver Open.
"I am very sad to leave my coaches and teammates at Stanford, but excited to build upon my recent summer success by shifting my focus to a professional tennis career," Burdette said.
-- Five-time major champion Martina Hingis, 1991 Wimbledon winner Michael Stich and doubles star Helena Sukova are among the nominees for the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Others nominees for the hall's class of 2013 are Thelma Coyne Long, a Grand Slam champion in the 1930s to 1950s, and three nominees in the contributor category: ESPN broadcaster Cliff Drysdale, Charlie Pasarell and Ion Tiriac.
As a wild card, Mallory Burdette advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open.
The Angels confirmed that right-hander Jered Weaver, who's dealing with tendinitis, will miss his turn in the opener of a home series against Detroit on Friday.
The club will announce Weaver's next start this weekend, indicating he probably won't be out long. Ervin Santana will start Friday for the Angels, who were off Thursday.
Weaver (16-4) was struck by a liner from Seattle's Dustin Ackley during a 2-1 loss to the Mariners on Sunday. An MRI exam on Weaver's right shoulder revealed tendinitis apparently unrelated to the line drive.
-- Two minor-league players have been suspended 50 games each for violating drug policy. Leonardo Rojas, a catcher on the Giants' Arizona League rookie team, was banned after testing positive for metabolites of Nandrolone.
Alan Ahmady was suspended after a second violation for a drug of abuse. He was on the roster of the Cardinals' Class A Palm Beach team in the Florida State League.
The penalties will begin at the start of next season. There have been 92 suspensions under the minor-league drug program this year and five in the big-league program.
Colleges: The University of Oregon is implementing random drug testing of all its athletes, after a report this year that estimated from 40 to 60 percent of the football team smoked marijuana.
Oregon's previous drug policy allowed for testing when there was reasonable suspicion. A recent decision by the general counsel gives temporary permission for random testing effective this month. The policy still faces a public hearing in early October.
ESPN the Magazine's April report was based on interviews with 19 current or former Oregon players and officials, and it accompanied a piece that looked at marijuana use among college football players nationwide.
In July, Oregon's athletic department proposed the changes to strengthen its drug policy. Under it, student-athletes will be subject to random tests year-round, even in the summer.
Oregon has not changed its penalties for positive tests.
-- A hospital spokesman said Texas Tech men's basketball coach Billy Gillispie has been discharged from the hospital after a six-day stay amid an investigation into alleged player mistreatment. Gillispie told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal last weekend that he felt like he was having a heart attack or a stroke.
-- Redshirt freshman cornerback Jonavan Griffin and freshman linebacker Jeremiah Tshimanga will miss the season for No. 18 Oklahoma State with knee injuries.
Cycling: Overall leader Alberto Contador moved closer to winning the race for a second time, and Daniele Bennati won the 18th stage of the Spanish Vuelta. Bennati edged Ben Swift to win the 127-mile leg to Valladolid in 4 hours, 17 minutes, 17 seconds. Contador leads Alejandro Valverde by 1:52 and Joaquin Rodriguez is 2:28 behind in third place.
Soccer: Ukraine goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy announced his retirement from international soccer, ending an 18-year career that included 92 international caps. He was the first goalkeeper in World Cup history not to concede a goal during a penalty shootout, saving two kicks against Switzerland at the 2006 World Cup.


If she runs for president in 2016, Hillary Clinton would bring a number of potential strengths to the race, from her tenure as secretary of state to her perceived toughness and honesty. Fully 67% of Americans approve of the job she did as secretary of state, while majorities say she is tough (69%) and honest (56%).
The public also rejects the notion that Clinton is unlikable – a change from the 2008 Democratic primary campaign. In a memorable moment from that contest, then-candidate Barack Obama turned to Clinton during a debate and said sarcastically, “You’re likable enough, Hillary.” Today, just 36% say Clinton is “hard to like”; a majority (57%) says that phrase does not describe her. During the 2008 primary season, about half of voters found Clinton hard to like (51% in March 2008).
However, the new national survey by the Pew Research Center and USA TODAY, conducted Feb. 27-Mar. 2 among 1,002 adults, finds that Clinton is not widely seen as having new ideas. About half (49%) say the phrase “having new ideas” describes Clinton, while 40% say it does not; 11% offer no opinion.
And while Clinton’s performance at the State Department is viewed positively, her handling of the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate at Benghazi, Libya registers as a negative aspect of her background.
When people are asked to name in their own words the most negative thing about Clinton’s career, “Benghazi” is the most frequent response, cited by 15% of respondents. Among Republicans, 28% volunteer Benghazi as the most negative aspect of her career.
On the other hand, Clinton’s tenure at the State Department is mentioned most frequently as her biggest positive (by 12%), while 8% cite her role as Bill Clinton’s wife or the way she dealt with the Monica Lewinsky affair.
The survey finds that about half of Americans (51%) want to see Hillary Clinton run for president in 2016, while 43% say they would not want to see her run. If Clinton decides to run, however, most say they would consider voting for her. Nearly six-in-ten say there is a good chance (35%) or some chance (24%) they would vote for Clinton. About four-in-ten adults (38%) – including 74% of Republicans – say there is no chance they would vote for her.
Among Democrats, an overwhelming share of liberals (87%) want to see Hillary Clinton run and nearly as many (83%) say there is a good chance they would vote for her. Fewer conservative and moderate Democrats want Clinton to run (69%); 60% say there is a good chance they would vote for her.
Opinions about the potential impact of Clinton’s gender on her candidacy have become more positive since her first try for the presidency in 2008. Currently, 33% say that if Clinton runs for president, the fact that she is a woman would help her; 20% say it would hurt her and 44% say it would make no difference. In early January 2008, when asked a slightly different question (would Clinton’s gender hurt her if she were the Democratic nominee), more said it would hurt than help (35% vs. 24%).
Both women and men are more likely to say that Clinton’s gender is an asset than did so in the 2008 survey. Currently, 39% of women and 45% of men say that Clinton’s gender would help her; 19% and 14%, respectively, think it would hurt her. In January 2008, far more women thought that Clinton’s gender would hurt rather than help (38% vs. 22%). Men were more evenly divided at that time (27% help, 31% hurt).
Clinton’s involvement in her husband’s administration also is viewed more positively than negatively. In the current survey, 42% say Hillary Clinton’s involvement in Bill Clinton’s administration would help her, compared with 17% who think it would hurt her; 39% say it wouldn’t make a difference. In January 2008, during the Democratic primaries, 42% said her involvement in her husband’s presidency would help, 29% said it would hurt, while 25% said it would not make a difference to voters.
Republicans and Democrats offer similar views of the impact of Clinton’s gender on a possible presidential run. Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to think that her involvement in Bill Clinton’s presidency would help her (52% vs. 34%). But even among Republicans, only about a quarter (26%) view Clinton’s involvement in her husband’s administration as a possible negative.
When asked an open-ended question about how old Hillary Clinton is, 57% of respondents offer an age in the 60s and 31% give an age in the 50s; very few think she is 70 or older (3%) or under 50 (6%).
In fact, the public tends to underestimate Hillary Clinton’s age (she is 66). About eight-in-ten (83%) give an age of 65 or younger, 2% volunteer her exact age, and just 12% give an age of 67 or higher. The median age offered is 60.
Younger adults (under age 30) are the most likely to underestimate Hillary Clinton’s age: fully 53% think she is in her 50s while another 16% say she is under 50. Older adults are more accurate, with majorities giving an age in the 60s.
There are only modest divides in views of Clinton’s age by party, though Democrats are somewhat more likely than Republicans to give an age in the 50s (32% vs. 22%).
Nearly seven-in-ten say Hillary Clinton is described as tough (69%) and 56% say she is honest. In addition, most reject the notion that she is hard to like – just 36% say this. Her image is not as strong when it comes to the concept of having new ideas: 49% say this trait describes Hillary Clinton, while 40% say it does not.
While Republicans hold a negative opinion of Clinton generally, most (55%) say that she is tough. Far fewer Republicans view Clinton as having new ideas (31%) or honest (30%); 60% say she is hard to like.
Nearly seven-in-ten independents say Hillary Clinton is tough (68%) and 52% say she is honest; somewhat fewer (44%) say she has new ideas. About four-in-ten independents (39%) say she is hard to like.
Democrats hold positive views of Hillary Clinton across all the traits tested in the survey: broad majorities see her as tough (81%), honest (81%), and as having new ideas (69%); few see her as hard to like (20%). Liberal Democrats are especially likely to associate positive traits with Hillary Clinton.
Women express significantly more positive views than men of Clinton on two dimensions: 54% of women say she has new ideas, compared with 43% of men. And 74% of women say Clinton is tough; a smaller majority of men (64%) say this trait applies to Clinton.
Overall, 67% approve of Hillary Clinton’s job performance as secretary of state, while just 25% disapprove. Fully 91% of Democrats approve of the way she handled her job as secretary, as do a majority (64%) of independents. About half of Republicans (53%) disapprove of her job performance as secretary of state while 39% approve.
But Clinton’s tenure at the State Department also brings to mind some negative feelings among the public, particularly about the Benghazi attack. Overall, 15% of the public say Benghazi is the most negative thing about her career, with nearly three-in-ten Republicans (28%) and 8% of Democrats stating this.
When it comes to other views of Clinton, 11% of Democrats and 4% of Republicans mention her husband or her handling of the Monica Lewinsky affair as a positive. But 7% of Democrats and 10% of Republicans view Bill Clinton as the most negative thing about Hillary Clinton’s career.