The last few years have proved challenging for offshore drilling major Transocean, which saw its day rates and contracting activity post significant declines. While things are likely to look up for the company over 2019, driven by a large number of planned offshore projects, the recent decline in oil prices and a continued oversupply of deepwater rigs could still prove a challenge. In this note, we take a brief look at what lies ahead for Transocean and the broader deepwater market in 2019.
We have also created an interactive dashboard analysis on the expected outlook for Transocean, which you can use to arrive at your own revenue and EPS estimates for Transocean.
Big oil companies are likely to approve about 110 offshore projects this year, up from 96 projects in 2018 and 43 projects in 2016, according to Rystad Energy. While this is likely to increase demand for drilling rigs and drillships over the year, the market is still meaningfully oversupplied, with Wood Mackenzie analysts estimating that about 30% of deepwater rigs could remain idled this year. That said, Transocean should be well-poised to take advantage of the growing activity, as it has been upgrading its fleet, by scrapping older, less sophisticated rigs while taking advantage of the depressed market to acquire newer rigs. In September 2018, the company announced an agreement to acquire Ocean Rig in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $2.7 billion. Ocean Rig has a fleet of 11 high-spec ultra-deepwater drillships (two of which are currently under construction) and two harsh environment semi-submersibles, which are currently much sought-after. Ocean Rig’s modern fleet, and its presence in important offshore markets including Brazil, West Africa, and Norway, could allow Transocean to better take advantage of an upturn in the market.
While Transocean’s day rates have taken a beating in recent years (Q3 ultra-deepwater rates declined to $341k from $449k in the year-ago period) the company noted that rates for ultra-deepwater drillships were likely to increase through 2019 and 2020. Contracting activity has also been picking up. In December, the company contracted a newbuild drillship to Chevron for five years in the Gulf of Mexico starting in the second half of 2021, adding a contract backlog of about $830 million.
Crude oil prices have declined by close to 40% over Q4 2018, driven by stronger supply and concerns of an economic downturn. However, it’s possible that prices could recover in the medium term amid potential production cuts by OPEC, Russia and several other producers early this year as well as weaker-than-expected production from existing shale wells in the United States. Moreover, as offshore and deepwater projects have long lifecycles, operators could push forward with investments to bolster their capacity over the long run after multiple years of subdued investments.


A study led by researcher Lisa Kellogg of William & Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science shows that a restored oyster reef can remove up to 10 times more nitrogen from Chesapeake Bay waters than an unrestored area nearby, providing additional evidence that reef-restoration can contribute to efforts to improve water quality in the nation’s largest estuary.
The study, “Denitrification and nutrient assimilation on a restored oyster reef,” is the feature article in this month’s issue of Marine Ecology Progress Series. Co-authors are Jeff Cornwell, Michael Owens, and Ken Paynter of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
To date, the justification for restoring oysters to Chesapeake Bay has focused on their capacity to clear the water, provide habitat for their own young and for other species, and to sustain both watermen and seafood lovers.
The new study, says Kellogg, aimed to quantify another potential benefit of restored oyster reefs—their ability to remove nutrients from the water. Input of nitrogen and phosphorous from fertilizers, wastewater treatment plants, and other sources is one of the main reasons for impaired water quality in the Bay, with reduction and removal of these excess nutrients a key goal of Bay restoration efforts.
In Maryland’s Choptank River, the team compared a restored oyster reef that had 131 large oysters per square meter to an adjacent unrestored site that was suitable for restoration. They carefully measured flows of nitrogen and phosphorous compounds at each site, along with salinity, temperature, oxygen levels, sediment characteristics, and the abundance of oysters and other marine life such as mussels, clams, barnacles, and worms.
Denitrification—the conversion of reactive nitrogen compounds back into the inert nitrogen gas that makes up most of our atmosphere—is a holy grail of restoration science. In its pure, gaseous form, nitrogen contributes little or nothing to the over-fertilization that plagues coastal waters worldwide.
Uptake into the tissues and shells of living organisms provides another way to remove nitrogen compounds from the water. The team’s research shows that the restored reef provided habitat for almost 25,000 bottom-dwelling organisms per square meter compared to just over 2,000 organisms per square meter at the control site. Nitrogen in shells of live oysters and mussels accounted for 47% of all nitrogen incorporated into living organisms at the site.
Kellogg says incorporation into shell is particularly important because “the shells of oysters and mussels can persist long after the organisms die, removing nutrients from the water for years, decades, or even centuries if the shells become buried.” Nutrients in soft tissues, on the other hand, can be quickly recycled back into the water, once again contributing to over-fertilization.
The researchers temper their conclusions by noting that additional work is needed to test whether their results from the Choptank apply equally to other parts of the Bay with different environmental conditions. They also stress that oyster reef restoration is not a substitute for reduction in land-based inputs, but rather a potential safety net to reduce additional downstream impacts. Most of the excess nitrogen in the Choptank River enters in low-salinity areas that do not support oyster growth, and will thus still have negative impacts upstream of restored oyster reefs.


Some 190 Nigerian schoolgirls remain missing after being abducted last week, their head teacher has told the BBC - far more than the official figure.
Asabe Kwambura said the parents of 230 girls had reported them missing but 40 had managed to escape.
Earlier, a local state governor said that about 77 of the teenagers had not been accounted for.
Islamist group Boko Haram is suspected to be behind the kidnapping but has not issued any statement.
Some 1,500 people are believed to have been killed in attacks blamed on Boko Haram this year alone.
What is Nigeria's Boko Haram?
The group, whose name means "Western education is forbidden", is fighting to establish Islamic law in Nigeria. It often targets educational establishments.
According to the AP news agency, parents from the school in the town of Chibok told Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima when he visited on Monday that 234 girls had been abducted.
When news first emerged of the kidnap last Tuesday, initial reports said more than 200 students had been seized but state officials soon downgraded the numbers, saying the correct figure was about 130.
The students were about to sit their final year exam and so are aged 16-18.
Ms Kwambura told the BBC Hausa service that about 43 had fled their captors.
"None of these girls were rescued by the military, they managed to escape on their own from their abductors," she said.
Asked about the conflicting reports on the number of students kidnapped, she said: "Only reports that come from us is the truth and based on the register we have on paper."
She has previously called on the kidnappers to "have mercy on the students".
Before visiting Chibok on Monday, the Borno state governor said that eight more girls had escaped over the weekend, meaning a total 52 had fled.
Mr Shettima did not give details of how the girls had escaped, for security reasons.
The confusion over the numbers comes after the military last week said that all but eight of the students had been rescued before withdrawing its claim a day later.
It is thought that the militants took the girls to the Sambisa forest near the Cameroonian border.
Parents and vigilante group have gone there to help search for the teenage girls.
Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states in north-east Nigeria have been under emergency rule since last May.


Out with the old, in with the new. Earlier this week in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the Florida Power & Light Co. demolished one of its power plants with 450 pounds of dynamite to make way for a cleaner and more eco-friendly plant that's slated to open in 2016. The Port Everglades plant had been in operation since the '60s.


Rabiah Hutchinson is used to being talked about.
She was born as Robyn Hutchinson in the Australian Outback. Her mother left her violent father when she was three and took the children with her.
Religion played an important part in her life. Rabiah converted to Islam and decided to renounce her 'wild child' past and try to live the best life she could.
In the 1970s and 80s, Rabiah travelled to Indonesia and studied with Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who had founded an Indonesian militant group opposing President Suharto.
Rabiah decided that she wanted to provide a proper Islamic education for her children. In the 1990s, she journeyed to the Mujahidin camps of Pakistan. It was during the Afghan holy war and Rabiah worked in a hospital.
Civil war broke out and Rabiah moved back to Australia, then on to Egypt and finally to Afghanistan.
The Taliban was establishing what Rabiah felt could be a 'true Islamic state'. Although she had some reservations, she was keen to offer her help and wrote to the Afghan-Arab's benefactor Osama bin Laden, asking how she could assist.
Rabiah became well known in the Afghan-Arab world. Mustafa Hamid - known as Abu Walid al Misri - approached her, asking if she would become his second wife.
Rabiah is adamant that when she married him she didn't know Abu Walid was also a member of the governing council - or shura - of al-Qaeda and one of the senior leaders advising Osama bin Laden.
After the September 11th plane attacks on America in 2001, Rabiah and her family left for Iran. She lost her passport and belongings on the journey.
Abu Walid was already in Iran, living with his first wife. Rabiah divorced him because he'd converted to a branch of Islam she didn't agree with.
This meant that she could no longer support her family. Eventually, she went to the Australian Embassy, seeking help.
After extensive questioning by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Rabiah and her family were allowed back to Australia in October 2003.
In an exclusive interview for Outlook, Rabiah told Matthew Bannister that she thinks she's been labelled as an al-Qaeda operative because the authorities want someone to blame.
Rabiah's story has been turned into a booked called 'The Mother of Mohammed'. It's written by the respected Australian journalist, Sally Neighbour.


Another Japanese chain shows how it's done.
Chinatown's new ramen-ya keeps things focused.
Izakaya Yume and Sozai Banzai: two more reasons the northwest suburbs are where it's at for Japanese food.
The new Mount Prospect branch of a Japanese chain makes some of the best ramen in the region.


Former President Bill Clinton speaks during a campaign stop for his wife Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton, Jan. 7, 2016, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Campaigning in Iowa for Hillary Clinton, former president Bill Clinton told a packed room of Iowa voters that the former secretary of state would protect the Obama administration’s economic gains while finding ways to advance them.
He promised progress on the economy — headlined by requiring paid family leave, enforcing equal pay for women, subsidizing childcare, and cracking down on Wall Street.
The event at the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library was the first of two events by Clinton in his first solo campaign jaunt to the state since 2008. He’s scheduled to make a second appearance in Dubuque this evening.
Former president Bill Clinton tells the story of the time he met his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Clinton, for his part, refused to take the bait when asked about Trump’s attacks before his speech in Cedar Rapids.
During his speech, he offered an extended retelling of how he first saw his wife at Yale Law School in the library and “just kept kind of ogling her,” afraid to say anything, until she walked up and introduced herself.
“[She] said ‘Look if you’re going to keep staring at me, and I’m going to keep staring back, we ought to at least know each other. I’m Hillary Rodham, what’s your name?’” Clinton recalled.
The direct approach was an example of her “early leadership,” Clinton said.
Clinton’s appearance came a day before his wife’s top rival Sen. Bernie Sanders is scheduled to tour the same part of the state, including multiple appearances in Cedar Rapids. Polls show Clinton holding a solid lead over Sanders in Iowa with three weeks to go until the caucus.
The former president made no mention of Sanders in his speech, but alluded to the importance of electability — a key part of Clinton’s closing argument — by stressing the dangers of losing the White House. Among the risks under a GOP president, he mentioned Supreme Court appointees, repealing the Affordable Care Act, reversing Obama’s climate change regulations, and pushback on gay rights.
“We cannot afford to allow the other party to be in control of the presidency,” Clinton said.


A number of Warriors players actively recruited DeMarcus Cousins to the Bay Area, but the newly-signed Warrior can definitely state which one of them presented the worst pitch.
During an interview with ESPN's Chris Haynes, Cousins stated that Draymond Green "had the worst pitch" of anyone he talked to.
"Draymond probably had the worst pitch,"Cousins said. "He was like, 'Cous, I'm pretty sure me and you are going to fight.' I'm like, 'Draymond, Come on. Whoa. Whoa.'"
Cousins said that he's a fan of the fiery Green, and is looking forward to playing next to him.
"But Draymond, that's my guy. I respect him as a player, I respect him as a competitor," he said. "He's one of the top in this business and just his approach to every game, I want that guy on my team every day. So, we talked, we kind of communicated about what we both wanted, which was winning games."
Green also talked about the potential lack of touches Cousins will receive as a member of the Warriors, something that Steve Kerr said he made very clear to the former Pelican.
"He openly said he knows I wouldn't get as many touches and I don't give an [expletive]. I don't care," Cousins said. "And the same thing for me. It's about winning the games. I think me and Draymond will mesh well. I think we have a lot of similarities and the same way that he's appreciative, hopefully I can receive the same thing."
Cousins also discussed some of the backlash he's received after signing with the Warriors.
"I didn't really care, honestly," he said. "I don't really care... It trips me out to just see. It's crazy like how angry people were."
A number of people accused Cousins and the Warriors of "breaking the NBA" after the signing.


Kanye West does it again. After wowing fans at Madison Square Garden for Yeezy Season 3, Mr. West presented his Season 4 show today, kicking off New York Fashion Week with yet another grand display.
Overlooking New York, surrounded by greens, and backed by regal strings, Season 4 proved to be another extravagant, stylish, and momentous event, held at the Smallpox Hospital on Roosevelt Island in Manhattan.
The Vanessa Beecroft performance, presented by adidas, was also star-studded. Chanel Iman and Teyana Taylor both appeared on the catwalk, the latter continuing an impressive hot streak following her stunning “Fade” music video performance. Elsewhere, Justin Bieber’s rumored girlfriend Sofia Richie, daughter of Lionel Richie, made her runway debut.
A smiling Kanye also popped up at the end of the show. Bowing to his audience, strutting down the walkway in all black, ‘Ye suddenly began running in the opposite direction. He would not appear onscreen again.
On Wednesday, that vision came to fruition, as women of various shades walked and stood on grass, wearing Yeezy’s latest creations, a mixture of sportswear, under garments, dresses, boots, and high heels that ranged in shades from black to brown to white.
If there was one major hinderance at the show, it was the heat. Models standing on the grass were handed water to avoid dehydration. Others sat down mid-show. There were even reports that some models may have fainted due to heat exhaustion.
Another hiccup in the show came when model Amina Blue nearly fell. It wasn’t heat exhaustion that almost did her in though, it was heel exhaustion. The model took her shoes off and closed out the show in shower slides.
So, how did this extravaganza end? Aerial shots of New York launched the show and aerial shots of the city closed it out.
But that might not be all for Kanye today. G.O.O.D. Music just announced an impromptu show at the Highline Ballroom this evening, featuring Travis Scott, Migos, Desiigner, Pusha T, and Tyga. Although Kanye isn’t on the bill, he just performed back-to-back shows as part of his “Saint Pablo Tour” in New York and could very well show up as a surprise.


The Supreme Court Tuesday agreed to hear a plea seeking permission for Muslim women to enter mosques to offer prayers and asked the Centre to respond to it.
A bench of justices S A Bobde and S A Nazeer told the petitioners' counsel that it would hear the matter only in view of the apex court's judgement in the Sabrimala temple case.
The bench then asked the counsel about a matter before the Bombay High Court regarding the entry of women in the Haji Ali Dargah. The counsel replied that women were allowed to enter the Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai.
He said in a similar matter related to the entry of women in mosques, the Kerala High Court had dismissed a plea, saying, "let a Muslim person come forward" on this issue.
The plea also said that there was nothing in the holy Quran or the Hadith that required "gender segregation" and there were no records stating that the holy "Quran and Prophet Muhammad had opposed women entering mosques and offering prayers".


Although the laboriously negotiated and long-delayed Middle East "road map" received a diplomatic boost by the recent intervention of George W. Bush, the plan is replete with the same structural flaws that doomed the Oslo Accords.
Although the laboriously negotiated and long-delayed Middle East "road map" received a diplomatic boost by the recent intervention of George W. Bush, the plan is replete with the same structural flaws that doomed the Oslo Accords. It’s as if the players in this drama were cursed to a Nietzschean hell of eternal recurrence. As in 1991, the United States has just won a crushing victory in the Persian Gulf and promised vigorous action to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict. As in 1991, the United States, to satisfy its Israeli partner, has vetoed the recognized Palestinian leadership. And just as with the Oslo Accords in 1993–when Israel bypassed the Palestinian negotiators it had approved earlier and engaged its old bête noire, Yasir Arafat, because the recognized negotiators stubbornly insisted on bothersome details like compliance with the Geneva Conventions and guaranteed removal of illegal settlements–the Palestinians and Israel have agreed to a process that promises little peace. As with Oslo, it purposefully avoids all the fundamental issues, like settlements, Jerusalem, borders, refugees, international law and human rights.
If the architects of the new plan have been able to present their scheme as a road map rather than a cul-de-sac, they have been aided by the determined refusal of the mainstream US media to speak honestly about what Oslo involved and about what actually happened at the Camp David summit of July 2000, and why it collapsed. Even casual observers can recite the common wisdom–didn’t the courageous Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, make astounding concessions at Camp David, offering the Palestinians almost everything they had long demanded? Didn’t he go further than any prime minister before him? Didn’t the churlish and deceitful Arafat reject all offers while making no substantive proposals in return, and then launch an intifada, hoping to win through terror what he couldn’t gain at the negotiating table? Doesn’t this prove that Israel really has no peace partner? This was the refrain in almost every US newspaper and on every TV network, repeated ad nauseam as the bodies piled up and the hatred grew. This magazine, along with a few other outlets and commentators, said otherwise, but the big boys weren’t listening.
It was only many months after the intifada began–and long after Oslo was dead, if not yet buried–that a hint of reality began to creep into the mainstream. Deborah Sontag’s long July 2001 New York Times article, cautiously venturing that perhaps it wasn’t all the Palestinians’ fault, and especially the article that August by Robert Malley and Hussein Agha in The New York Review of Books, began to puncture the myth. Malley’s status as an adviser to the Clinton Administration at Camp David made his rebuttal all the more convincing. But after September 11, fearmongering and the facile equation of Palestinian terror with that of Al Qaeda–not to mention the declaration of near-permanent crisis and war by the Bush Administration–meant that most US media would resume their obedience to the received wisdom.
Now, with the US publication of Charles Enderlin’s Shattered Dreams, we have the most complete inside account yet of what actually happened at Camp David, as well as detailed accounts of many of the other key negotiations between the 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the February 2001 election of Ariel Sharon. Enderlin, a veteran correspondent and Jerusalem bureau chief for France 2 television since 1990, had unprecedented access to most of the top negotiators from the key countries involved. His book, a bestseller when published in France last year, is based on many hours of videotaped interviews with the participants, often taken at the time of the events in question, along with notes of those sessions furnished by the participants. Many of these interviews and negotiating sessions are transcribed verbatim in the book. The reader feels, at times, like a fly on the wall at these talks. Shattered Dreams is thus essential reading for any serious student of the last years of the Oslo era. It’s remarkable that so many different negotiators would be at once so bitterly opposed to one another and yet so willing to trust Enderlin with their version of events and then corroborate the accuracy of his rendering.
"Building Mistrust" is the appropriate title of Enderlin’s chapter on the beginning of Barak’s term. The new prime minister at first refused to meet with Arafat, preferring to pursue the Syrian track instead, against the counsel of his own advisers. He approved massive increases in settlement construction, and he refused to carry out redeployments of Israeli forces in the occupied territories that Netanyahu had agreed to the preceding year, eventually insisting that any further redeployments should occur at the final-status talks. Moreover, in an attempt to undermine an international legal standard long accepted by all the parties, he even argued that UN Security Council Resolution 242, which emphasizes "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war," should not apply to the West Bank. And yet Barak clearly staked his political future on a two-state solution that would require significant Israeli withdrawals.
The Camp David summit itself should stand as a model in future international relations classes of incompetent and dishonest diplomacy. Even though all the players knew that the two sides were too far apart and that the chances for success were very low, Barak and President Clinton decided together that there would be a summit; as Enderlin puts it, "the Palestinians, unpleasantly surprised, [were] informed by telephone." Clinton, disgraced by the impeachment scandal, wanted one final shot at glory and thus insisted on a rushed start, without the necessary preparation. And Barak’s government was already hanging by a thread–the three rejectionist parties had all quit his coalition before the summit began, leaving him with a minority and thus incapable of engaging in the high-stakes diplomacy that was necessary to pursue an agreement.
Enderlin’s day-by-day reporting on Camp David confirms the accounts immediately after its conclusion by Tanya Reinhart, Noam Chomsky, Edward Said and other commentators generally ignored by the mainstream. The US and Israeli teams, although sometimes differing on procedures, agreed that the baseline for serious discussion should be formulated around Barak’s "red lines": that a greatly expanded Jerusalem should remain under Israeli sovereignty, that there could be no return to the 1967 borders and that 80 percent of the settlers should remain in large settlement blocs annexed to Israel, with long-term Israeli control of a huge strip of land in the Jordan Valley. In other words, the Palestinians should be allowed at most a bantustan of at least four noncontiguous islands, with no control over their traditional capital or their borders. The best proposal the Israelis offered at Camp David–and this was after days of arduous haggling–would have allowed them to annex outright or continue long-term occupation of roughly 20 percent of the West Bank and all of Jerusalem apart from a few inconsequential Arab neighborhoods on the outskirts. Furthermore, only a token number of refugees would be allowed to return, under the guise of "family reunification," and even then only at Israel’s discretion.
It has been frequently argued, even by commentators sympathetic to the Palestinians, that although the Clinton/Barak offers were inadequate, the Palestinians missed a historic opportunity to put forward a substantive counteroffer. In fact, the Palestinians set forth a clear and defensible position at the start of the talks: The baseline of discussion should begin with longstanding principles of international law, enshrined in UN resolutions and reconfirmed dozens of times over the decades by almost every country in the world. Thus any discussion of borders should be based on the 1967 lines, as specified in UN Resolution 242, with any deviations requiring territorial exchanges. This meant East Jerusalem should go to the Palestinians and West Jerusalem to the Israelis, though the Palestinian side recognized that Israel had legitimate claims to portions of the Old City. As for the refugee question, the Palestinians insisted that UN Resolution 194 should be the baseline of discussion; this 1948 resolution, supported by the United States and reconfirmed by it more than forty times (until, notably, the Oslo Accords), specifies that "refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return."
The remarkable thing, in retrospect, is how flexible the Palestinians were in compromising these legitimate baseline positions. They were willing to concede Israeli retention of sizable settlement blocs in the territories as long as they received an exchange of land in Israel of equal size and value, and they agreed to Israeli sovereignty over large Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem–"the largest Jewish Jerusalem in the city’s history," as Malley, the US negotiator, and Agha put it in The New York Review of Books.
And far from insisting on flooding Israel with millions of refugees, as the Israeli government and influential US journalists like Thomas Friedman repeated endlessly after the intifada broke out, Arafat made it clear both before and during the Camp David discussions that while he insisted on the principle of the right of return, the implementation was negotiable. As Arafat told Clinton before the summit, "We have to find a happy medium between the Israelis’ demographic worries and our own concerns."
A common misconception about Camp David–one fostered by Barak, by US editorialists and even by many Israeli peaceniks after the intifada began–is that disagreement on the refugee issue was the central cause of failure. In fact, Enderlin’s account clearly demonstrates that while the sides didn’t come close to agreement on refugees and many other issues, it was the question of Jerusalem, in particular the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount, that was the most contentious. Neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis were willing to budge on the question of sovereignty over these thirty-five acres inside Jerusalem’s Old City, deemed holy to both peoples.
That’s not possible. This isn’t the Security Council here. This isn’t the UN General Assembly. If you want to give a lecture, go over there and don’t make me waste my time. I’m the president of the United States…. You’re not acting in good faith. You never submit a counter-proposal.
Clinton then made it clear to Arafat that if he didn’t accept Barak’s offer, "Washington’s doors will be closed to you." In a way, Clinton’s outrage was understandable–but only in the context of the extraordinary concessions Arafat had granted in the Oslo Accords years earlier. The text of those agreements, especially Oslo II of 1995, explicitly gave control over land, natural resources and borders to Israel and even stipulated Israeli veto power over Palestinian legislation. Although, in time-honored colonial fashion, Oslo farmed out to the Palestinians responsibility for suppressing resistance to the occupation (not incidentally, encouraging human rights abuses, most egregiously in the notorious State Security Courts championed by Al Gore), it enshrined "external security" as well as "overall security of Israelis" in the territories to Israel. Meron Benvenisti, one of the foremost Israeli experts on the West Bank and former deputy mayor of Jerusalem, referred to Palestinian self-rule under Oslo as "merely a euphemism for Bantustanization" and continued occupation, "albeit by remote control."
Even though he acknowledges the difficulties posed by settlement expansion during the Rabin years, Enderlin largely adheres to the conventional version of the early Oslo period, a fable at once nostalgic and misleading. He suggests that until Rabin’s assassination, "apart from the climate of violence maintained by the Israeli right, everything was going relatively well." Rabin "had wanted to usher in an era of adaptation to peace, a period of economic development and peaceful relations." It was the fanatical settlers, the Likudniks and Rabin’s assassin who destroyed his beautiful dream of a lasting Middle East peace.
This flies in the face of some fundamental facts. Oslo was a disaster for the Palestinians, one directly related to policies ordered by Rabin, chief among them the closing of Israel as a source of work for Palestinians, which began in earnest in the spring of 1993–long before any suicide bombings–and never really let up. These arrangements led to deep economic depression, with massive unemployment in the territories and a sharp decline in living standards, even as the mirage of peace led to an opening up of trade between Israel and the rest of the world and a booming Israeli economy. At the same time, Rabin continued the large-scale land expropriations and settlement expansion. As Enderlin acknowledges, the settlement population increased by 50 percent in the Rabin and Peres years (it almost doubled from the beginning of Oslo to 2000, a rate of increase that casts doubt, to say the least, on Israel’s willingness to cede control of the territories).
The key point here is that none of these depredations were explicitly forbidden under the Oslo agreements–Arafat’s PLO essentially abandoned longstanding international law and agreed that key pillars of the occupation were merely "disputed," to be resolved by peaceful negotiation between the parties (a "negotiation" the Palestinians were all but guaranteed to lose, given their overwhelming weakness relative to Israel and the United States). After conceding these crucial points in the Oslo agreements, Arafat and his team were faced with the moment of truth at Camp David: Now that Clinton and Barak were demanding that the concessions be made permanent, Arafat could no longer hide behind the "constructive ambiguity" of Oslo. It was time to either agree to final surrender–and thus face the wrath of his own people, who had been promised all along that the concessions made at Oslo were only temporary–or attempt to reassert the validity of international law at the final-status talks. No wonder Clinton was outraged–not unreasonably, he assumed that the Palestinians had capitulated, and that only the details of surrender remained to be worked out. Arafat, however, is a survivor, and he wasn’t about to sign his own death warrant.
Enderlin shows how, after the failure of Camp David, Clinton and Barak further poisoned the atmosphere, with Clinton breaking his explicit promise to Arafat that if the talks failed he wouldn’t blame the Palestinians. Barak, meanwhile, began a well-organized, carefully coordinated global effort to demonize Arafat, distorting what the Israelis had offered at the summit. The Palestinian leadership, in keeping with its long tradition of abysmal public relations, did very little to contest these slanders. These postsummit PR steps had a powerful effect on world opinion.
On the morning of September 28, 2000, Ariel Sharon made the first, and most important, appearance of his approaching campaign against Barak. Surrounded by about 1,000 police and soldiers, he paid a visit to the Temple Mount. This provocation led to rioting and a second, far more deadly, intifada. Enderlin debunks several persistent myths about this latest uprising: Far from being a rebellion launched by Arafat to wrest more concessions from the Israelis, the uprising was, in large measure, a spontaneous explosion of rage and frustration at the years of continuing occupation and settlement expansion, and a protest against the PA leadership as well as Israel. As Enderlin observes, the uprising was at first overwhelmingly nonviolent; only after the stone-throwing was met with wildly disproportionate lethal force did the Palestinian terror bombings start (the major Israeli daily Ma’ariv would later point out that the Israeli army fired over 1 million cartridges in the first three weeks of the intifada, with Palestinian casualties ten times greater than those of the Israelis).
Despite the public vitriol and the mounting casualties, the two sides continued to talk, finally agreeing to one last session, at Taba in January 2001. Enderlin gives a fine account of the Taba discussions, which will stand as the baseline for any serious future talks about a two-state solution. It was only there that Israel began to make realistic proposals, but by then it was too late: Barak had already resigned and carefully distanced himself from the Taba talks, and the polls showed that Sharon–who publicly announced that anything agreed to at Taba would be null and void if he was elected–had a near-insurmountable lead.
Although Barak was no dove, his record cannot compare with Sharon’s history of brutality, which is examined in Politicide, a timely and well-argued monograph by the Israeli sociologist Baruch Kimmerling. As a young commando officer in the early 1950s, Sharon headed the infamous Unit 101, which carried out numerous massacres, often in response to killings by Palestinian guerrillas. The most infamous of these was the 1953 border raid at Qibya, a Jordanian village in which sixty-nine civilians were killed in an attack that aroused worldwide condemnation. As IDF commander of the southern front in the early 1970s, Sharon ruthlessly repressed Palestinian resistance in Gaza, expelling thousands and assassinating more than 100. As Menachem Begin’s Defense Minister, he planned and carried out the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, in which approximately 17,000 Lebanese were killed, most notoriously the Palestinian refugees at Sabra and Shatila, which provoked massive protests in Israel against the Begin government, eventually leading to a commission of inquiry that would find Sharon both "indirectly" and "personally" responsible. His political career appeared to be over, but Sharon rebounded, serving in Cabinets later in that decade and for Netanyahu in the 1990s.
Contrary to the expectations of many longtime Sharon watchers, the "Bulldozer," as he is often called, has so far in his premiership shrewdly outmaneuvered his enemies at every turn, co-opting or isolating domestic opponents as the occasion demands, sounding alternately harsh and conciliatory. And whenever the Palestinians have observed or been on the verge of declaring a cease-fire, Sharon has promptly ordered an assassination to stamp out the specter of peace, most recently in the attempted killing of Hamas political leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, which was followed by a Hamas suicide attack.
The road map may represent the last gasp of the two-state solution. Even as Sharon cynically announces that he’s willing to make "painful concessions" for peace, he urges settlers to keep building, all the while seizing more Palestinian land and demolishing more houses and farmland. As George W. Bush prepared his first trip to the region to jump-start the road map, there was much excited talk about Sharon’s declaration that the occupation (even his use of that word, a no-no in Likud circles, kicked up a mini-storm) had to end, that Israel could no longer continue to rule over 3.5 million Palestinians. This was most likely a tactical feint by the old warrior to curry favor with the Bush Administration, to sound moderate while conceding nothing concrete. Yet Sharon for once spoke truthfully about the essence of the conflict: Israel’s continued insistence on ruling over millions of Palestinians can only lead to disaster–economic, political and moral.
If Israel continues much longer in this direction, the unavoidable reality will be one country from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, with roughly equal numbers of Palestinians and Jews. Against this backdrop, the once-taboo idea of a single, binational state–with constitutional guarantees not only of equal rights for individuals but also of collective rights for Jews and Arabs in terms of religion, language and culture–has won a growing, albeit still small, following among farsighted thinkers on the Palestinian and Israeli left. A sober defense of this option was made more than three decades ago by Noam Chomsky, in essays republished in Middle East Illusions, a collection that also includes more recent articles by the MIT linguist. In the earlier essays, Chomsky praised the venerable cultural Zionist tradition of Judah Magnes, Martin Buber and other great leaders of the Zionist movement, who warned that a Jewish state that oppressed the native population would destroy whatever was of moral value in the Zionist ideal. Chomsky’s support for binationalism elicited hysterical denunciation, particularly from Israel’s "defenders" among American liberals. Today, his perspective seems unusually prescient.
Another alternative, once the two-state option recedes from the horizon, is the secular democratic state model–a polity roughly along the lines of the American constitutional order. It’s hard for most Americans to conceive of living in any other system, but such an alternative would spell the end of political Zionism and is thus considered unacceptable to the overwhelming majority of Israelis.
And then, of course, there are the nightmare options: hard-core apartheid, with the inevitable long, grim night of repression and rebellion; or massive ethnic cleansing (the current euphemism in Israel is "transfer"), on a scale that would dwarf the recent events in Bosnia and Kosovo. With Sharon still in power, the nightmare scenarios seem ever more likely, given the support for expulsion, or some brutal variant, by powerful sectors in both the US and Israeli political leaderships. As Kimmerling points out, that would lead to the destruction not only of Palestinian society but of the moral foundation of Israel, and would thus constitute a double politicide. This is what is now at stake in the Israel-Palestine conflict.


Apr 23, 2019, 11:15 a.m.
Birimian Ltd. is a mineral exploration company, which holds mining tenements for gold, nickel and other base metals. It operates through the Australia and West Africa geographical segments. The firm's projects include Bougouni Lithium, Massigui Gold, Dankassa Gold and Basawa Gold. The company was founded in April 2005 and is headquartered in Subiaco, Australia.
Why Is B&G Foods (BGS) Up 2.6% Since Last Earnings Report?
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Minnesota State High School League has approved concussion insurance for student athletes starting this fall.
The plan will mirror a program about to kick off to protect kids playing school sports in Wisconsin.
MSHSL Board of Directors authorized the plan at a meeting in Brooklyn Center that would pay $1.50 per student-athlete to purchase Head’s Up concussion insurance, according to published meeting minutes.
The plan will cover athletes in grades 7-12, and is expected to cost the association $145,000 to cover the athletes.
Minnesota joins Wisconsin, Montana, Arizona and Michigan athletic associations to offer students free concussion insurance when injured playing school sports.
More specific details are expected towards the start of the school sport's season.
"We felt it was the right thing to do for young people right now in this day in age, with all the awareness of concussions," Dave Anderson, executive director of Wisconsin's Interscholastic Athletic Association, said.
Wisconsin’s plan will be put in place in August. The program will cover more than 80,000 students athletes in grades 6-12 with up to $25,000 in concussion insurance.
Wisconsin student athletes will have a zero deductive and no co-pay coverage if the injury is suffered in practice or a game.
Even if the family has insurance, the program can cover out-of-pocket costs not picked up by their primary carrier.
The WIAA paid for the plan – which cost around $125,000 total — with a raise in ticket prices at the state athletic tournaments.
"Creating that dialogue and educating your child so they know what to look for that will give them better outcomes for their health," Dr. Chris Nowinski, co-director of the Concussion Legacy Foundation in Boston, said.
Nowinski was a professional wrestler after playing football at Harvard University.
He said he suffers today from old concussions.
Nowinski, a nationally recognized concussion expert, suggests parents talk to their child before they take the field to remind them it’s crucial to share any blow, bump, or jolt to the head.
"They need to be honest, because if they lie about their symptoms, it could end their career," Nowinski said. "They could get post-concussion syndrome like I did, and they don't want that."
At Children’s Minnesota in St. Paul, staff say around 70 percent of their visits to the concussion clinic come from sports related injuries.
"Along with making sure kids are wearing good equipment and wearing it properly, it's important to also stress to student-athletes their personal responsibility in injury prevention,” said Robert Doss, co-director of the Pediatric Concussion Program at Children's Minnesota, said. “We see many injuries that are the result of horsing around in the locker room or at practice. In addition, making sure you are playing safely and avoiding big hits or contact when an opponent is in a vulnerable position is also very important."


The Patently-O blog this week took a look at how the number of pending patent cases is changing. With the number of patent cases filed falling – Lex Machina this week noted a 33% drop in October compared to October 2013, for example – Patently-O dug into the pending cases to give another perspective on the state of patent litigation.
Its findings are consistent with the conclusion that the number of patent litigations is declining, although it noted that the number of pending cases is still well above that in October 2010.
The Patently-O folks also had a look at how the USPTO is implementing Alice v CLS Bank in patent examination, in an article in the 2014 Patently-O Patent Law Journal. It ranked the top applicants with post-Alice allowance withdrawals. Unsurprisingly IBM, eBay and Microsoft were the top three assignees, named in 47, 19 and 15 applications respectively. Perhaps more surprisingly, gaming companies IGT and WMS Gaming are in the top 10. Also appearing are finance companies JP Morgan, American Express and Bank of America, which reflects the impact of Alice on financial services patents.
The Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of a dispute over the copyright on Sherlock Holmes. On November 2 it left intact a ruling that 50 works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the famous detective are in the public domain.
Doyle’s estate had been trying to get writer Leslie Klinger to pay a licence for using the Sherlock Holmes character in a compendium of new stories. A fee was paid for the first The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes but Klinger refused to pay a licence fee for the second installment.
In June, the Seventh Circuit ruled that the copyright on 46 stories and four novels featuring Holmes were in the public domain. In August, Judge Richard Posner ordered Doyle’s estate to pay legal fees to Klinger and branded its demands “a form of extortion”.
The past week threw up a bizarre copyright question: can you copyright a backside? As reported in a post on The IPKat blog, Kim Kardashian believes fitness model Jen Selter is copying her poses when posting pictures of her backside on Instagram. Kardashian has reportedly asked her lawyers to investigate whether there is a copyright infringement.
The IPKat blog gave a detailed analysis of the issues involved, from an EU perspective at least. It quickly establishes that you cannot copyright a body part because it is neither a work nor the author’s own intellectual creation.The issue gets less clear when breast or bottom implants are involved, which could be seen as an artistic work.
Regarding the question of whether there could be copyright in a pose, the IPKat blog said this is issue falls between unprotectable ideas and protectable expressions. “However, the pose of a subject may contribute to the overall originality of, say, a photograph [or, as Kim knows well, a selfie],” said the blog post.
LG Electronics and Google this week entered into a long-term patent cross-licensing agreement covering a broad range of products and technologies. The agreement covers the two companies’ existing patents as well as those filed over the next 10 years.
This agreement builds on the long-standing alliance between Google and LG Electronics, the companies said.
“LG values its relationship with Google, and this agreement underscores both companies’ commitment to developing new products and technologies that enhance consumers’ lives,” said J.H. Lee, executive vice president and head of the LG Electronics Intellectual Property Center.


The Seven Cs of Political Leadership!
As I sit down on the eve of my 40th birthday to write this editorial, I couldn't have thought of writing on a more important aspect -- as great political leadership is what India requires more than anything else today.
As I sit down on the eve of my 40th birthday to write this editorial, I couldn't have thought of writing on a more important aspect -- as great political leadership is what India requires more than anything else today. And though I have written considerably on leadership, it has mainly been about corporate leadership.
Leadership in corporations is massively different from political leadership, and therefore it requires a special model and a special line of thinking. While in corporations the final aim is profit maximisation in most cases, in politics the final objective is necessarily social welfare maximisation.
While in corporations the best leaders are often the best marketing guys, in politics the best leaders necessarily have to be the people who are the sincerest and most hard working. While in business you can make do without the knowledge of economics, in politics that can be suicidal. While in business being unethical can harm you and at most your stake holders, in politics the lack of ethics ruins an entire nation's future.
And most importantly, while in corporations leadership is about commitment to the strongest and survival of the fittest, in political leadership, the focus always is about commitment to the weakest and survival of the weakest. Thus, for me, political leadership is not just about having certain qualities but also simultaneously about not having various qualities. Rather, what is important is to ensure that one does not possess certain specific qualities first; if that is taken care of, the rest would then automatically fall in place.
Keeping all the above in mind, I believe the model of the seven winning virtues of political leadership (viz credibility, compassion, clairvoyance, camaraderie, commitment, charisma and competence) that I have developed is most suited for Indian politicians in particular.
Well, the difference in this model and any other such model is that in this model, each element or virtue is actually the opposite of one of the seven sins of life -- the seven deadly sins that we are supposed to avoid; to a large extent, as normal human beings and to an almost extreme extent, as a political leader! The first sin that a leader must avoid is that of greed. This is what seems to be the biggest problem with political leaders in India. The reason behind all the lack of development in India at the cost of swelling Swiss bank accounts. The second sin every politician needs to avoid is gluttony.
The next sin a leader must avoid is the sin of sloth. Sloth is being spiritually and emotionally apathetic and being physically and emotionally inactive. The fourth sin that leaders must avoid is envy. The fifth sin to avoid is the sin of lust. It refers to the way politicians have been doing things -- from threats to hide their lust filled deeds to even murders.
The sixth sin that political leaders need to avoid is the sin of pride! And that brings us to the final deadly sin that every political leader should avoid. The sin of wrath. This is what political leadership all about -- avoiding the seven keys sins and instead developing the seven winning virtues to lead their countries towards a better future. That's what great leaders were all about. Their lives are a lesson in avoiding the seven sins and delivering on the winning virtues! May a day come when Indian leaders are full of these seven virtues.


A handful of 2016 presidential candidates appear to agree on at least one thing: The cost of college is too much. Here's some of what they've said so far about how they want to fix that.
Free tuition, no fees: Sen. Sanders has sponsored a bill to award grants to states to eliminate tuition and required fees at public colleges and universities.
Student loans: He would like to guarantee affordable loans and let graduates refinance their federal loans to take advantage of lower interest rates.
Estimated cost: At least $470 billion over 10 years, paid for by imposing a securities transaction tax.
*Candidates will be added if their proposals become available.


Thomas L. Friedman became the paper’s foreign affairs Op-Ed columnist in 1995. He joined the paper in 1981, after which he served as the Beirut bureau chief in 1982, Jerusalem bureau chief in 1984, and then in Washington as the diplomatic correspondent in 1989, and later the White House correspondent and economic correspondent.
Mr. Friedman was awarded the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting (from Lebanon) and the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting (from Israel). He also won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for commentary.
Mr. Friedman is the author of “From Beirut to Jerusalem,” which won the National Book Award in 1989. He has written several other books, including “Hot, Flat and Crowded,” an international best seller.
Born in Minneapolis, Mr. Friedman received a B.A. degree in Mediterranean studies from Brandeis University in 1975. In 1978 he received a master’s in modern Middle East studies from Oxford. His column appears every Sunday and Wednesday.
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The problem with holding out for a perfect Brexit plan is that you can’t fix stupid.
Everyone is getting what they want, at the expense of the Jewish state.
Changes beyond the control of the region’s leaders are spurring a new Middle East.
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So far, no Democratic candidate is claiming to be ready.
The congresswoman and I have a lot in common — but not her stance on Israel.
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When it comes to safety in the workplace, organizational culture can be quite literally a matter of life and death. Look no further than the example of BP.
As one of the world's largest oil producers, BP has a troubled safety record. As Forbes reports, one of BP's plants has an unusually tragic past, including an explosion in 2005 that killed 15 workers and injured 180. This plant also reported 23 worker fatalities in the three decades that preceded the 2005 accident.
When Marathon Petroleum, the fourth-largest oil refiner in the U.S., bought the plant from BP, many in the industry thought it was a risky move. But Marathon had ideas for how to rectify the situation by instituting a culture centered on safety.
Remedying the culture required a review of the plant's existing safety procedures. Following the 2005 explosion, federal investigators pointed to BP's problematic safety culture -- for example, with managers who were "checking off boxes" rather than promoting best practices for safety -- as the cause of the plant's many safety problems. BP failed to respond and paid dearly for its inaction in 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, killing 11 and spilling more than 3 million barrels of oil. The incident cost the company $54 billion in damages.
As BP's record illustrates, organizational culture matters a great deal to employee safety. Cultures in which employees are engaged in their work are safer places to work. Gallup's 2016 meta-analysis study -- which examined more than 82,000 business units and 1.8 million employees in 230 organizations, across 49 industries and in 73 countries -- shows that business units with engagement scores in the top quartile of Gallup's employee engagement database have 70% fewer safety incidents compared with bottom-quartile units.
Their employees are committed to doing quality work. When workers are committed to a standard of excellence in all they do, it's natural for them to adhere to best practices that prevent safety incidents. When employees are dedicated to quality, they go the extra mile to do things right the first time. By taking the right strategic action -- for example, by holding employees accountable for quality -- leaders can develop a workforce that makes smart decisions throughout the day and promotes a culture of workplace safety.
The mission or purpose of the company makes employees feel their job is important. Many of the world's most engaged organizations maintain a purpose-driven culture. Their leaders know why the company exists and ensure that employees understand and identify with that purpose. When workers embrace the mission of an organization and connect with that purpose both personally and professionally, they are more likely to think "big picture" in all areas of their work. Employees who are aligned with the company's mission are also more likely to approach their work with thoughtfulness and attention to detail, which contributes to a culture of safety.
Employees feel that their opinions count. It's a simple notion: Listen to workers who are closest to the action. These individuals offer a front-line perspective on organizational problems and often are well-versed in preventing and overcoming them. Leaders should encourage employees to watch for hazards and should make it easy for them to share their feedback and concerns. Most importantly, when leaders act on the information they receive, it demonstrates to employees that their opinions matter -- and it can help companies avoid preventable safety incidents.
An unsafe workplace can have far-reaching effects on a company and its employees. Productivity can suffer, and insurance claims can significantly damage a company's bottom line. But no company can quantify the cost of the most serious accidents. Any expenses to the business pale in comparison with the infinite cost to the families of the individuals whose lives were tragically lost on the Deepwater Horizon or who were killed or injured in the BP refinery explosion.
Given the potential consequences of a safety incident, leaders can't afford to be haphazard about safety. Regardless of industry or company size, all businesses need to do everything in their power to develop an engaged workforce that is committed to avoiding safety incidents. This means ensuring that employees are committed to quality work, believe in their company's mission and purpose and are confident in expressing their opinions. To keep employees safe, leaders need to create a culture of safety.
For former BP employees, the Marathon Petroleum acquisition -- and the cultural changes that have followed -- may create a safer environment that is the difference between life and death. As CEO Gary Heminger put it, "We've taken our culture into that refinery. We're going to operate it with the best safety and environmental skills available."
Stephanie Plowman contributed to the research in this article.


DJ Premier will be the first artist to release a single on the newly-revived imprint, in a nod to its early-1990s roots.
Patrick Moxey, the founder of dance and electronic label Ultra Music, is going back to his roots with the relaunch of Payday Records, the classic hip-hop label he created in 1992 that served as the label home of artists like Gang Starr, Group Home, Jeru the Damaja and Showbiz & A.G., among others. As part of the company's revival, Moxey is teaming back up with DJ Premier for a new single, "Our Streets" feat. A$AP Ferg, set to drop tomorrow (Nov. 3).
When Moxey first launched Payday 25 years ago, it was at the center of New York's golden age of hip-hop, with Premier heavily involved as one of the go-to producers and, alongside Guru in Gang Starr, key artists in the scene at the time. In 1995, Payday also released the first-ever single from Jay-Z, "In My Lifetime," a year before his debut album Reasonable Doubt was released in June 1996, and released a slew of albums and singles from the likes of WC and the MAAD Circle, O.C. and UTD, Mos Def's first hip-hop group.
Alongside Premier, Payday has deals with New Orleans MC Pell, Atlanta veteran OJ Da Juiceman, U.K. rapper Yung Fume and NYC collective Gloss Gang.
"Hip-hop has become a global language, and I think the new Payday is here to reflect that and to help bring a bunch of diverse and talented new artists to the world," Moxey tells Billboard. "Our first signings are from four different cities: New York, Atlanta, New Orleans and London. That reflects the fact that we have one computer in front of us and that computer knows no borders."
Payday will operate as a standalone label with the backing of Ultra's sales, marketing and promotions structure, with product management and A&R staff in New York and the U.K. and flexible deals for its artists. And in another nod to the label's roots, Neale Easterby, the CEO of Empire Artist Management who helped manage Gang Starr along with Moxey, will serve as the label's managing director in the U.K.
"Payday the label came out of my warehouse parties in the early '90s; we did De La Soul's first show, we did Rob Base's first show, Q-Tip would DJ," Moxey says. "That was the excitement of that time. I think that still holds true today, but with a new generation. To have those moments to do the unexpected -- that's what we're looking to do."
"Patrick always had his ear to the street and it didn't take a lot of explaining the culture since he was so involved with so many aspects of it," DJ Premier said in a statement. "Our memories of growing together [are] monumental, so relaunching Payday brings it all back to the roots of where our flight to success lifted off."
Payday is also the latest legacy label to be relaunched this year, following Capitol Music Group's resurrection of Priority Records -- itself an early-'90s hip-hop institution, which started with a focus on the West Coast -- in June, and Warner Music Group's relaunch of Asylum Records earlier this week. Moxey sees Payday as both a global hub for hip-hop and one that will reflect the cultural aspects of its original era, beyond just music.
"It was a magic time in New York," he says about the company's origins, "at a moment when hip-hop was very cultural: it was about the music, it was about the photographers, it was about the video makers, Triple Five Soul, many different aspects of it. I think it's important that all of that gets emphasized, and we'll be paying special attention at Payday to not just music, but all the related strands of art that go with that real culture around it."


New Jersey lawmakers approved a plan to reinstate the individual mandate to try to stabilize the health insurance market.
TRENTON - Murphycare could look a lot like Obamacare.
Lawmakers Thursday sent to Gov. Phil Murphy a bill that will require nearly all New Jerseyans to have health insurance or pay a penalty, in a bid to stabilize premiums for consumers in the Obamacare marketplace.
They approved another bill that would set up a reinsurance plan that would be paid partly for by the federal government and cover some of the most expensive health care claims.
"It's a two-pronged attack to get at premium costs,” said Linda Schwimmer, president and chief executive officer of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, a research and advocacy group.
The mandate bill passed 23-13 in the Senate and 50-23 in the Assembly. The reinsurance bill passed 22-14 in the Senate and 46-22 in the Assembly. Health Commissioner Shereef Elnahal in the video above discusses the state's plans to protect Obamacare.
The bills would most directly affect consumers who don't get health insurance through Medicare or their employer. About 275,000 people in New Jersey were covered in the individual market, according to federal data released this month.
They are steps by the Democrat-controlled Legislature to protect the Affordable Care Act in the face of opposition from the Trump administration and Congress.
One of the biggest fights: New Jersey would reinstate the so-called individual mandate that requires most New Jerseyans to have health insurance or pay a penalty — either 2.5 percent of their household income or $695 per adult and $347.50 per child, whichever is greater.
The Trump administration eliminated the contentious provision for 2019 as part of the tax reform law, and it turned its attention to giving states more flexibility to offer less expensive — and less comprehensive — plans.
New Jersey long has required insurance companies to provide "essential" benefits that mirrored Obamcare: hospitalization, maternity care and preventive care such as colorectal screenings, to name a few.
The bill headed to Murphy would penalize consumers who purchase a plan that doesn't include comprehensive benefits.
Most New Jersey consumers buying health insurance through the Obamacare marketplace have an income that is low enough to qualify for subsidies. If they don't, the price is steep; a four-person family pays about $23,000 a year, according to New Jersey Policy Perspective, a left-leaning research group.
A recent Rutgers University poll found just 40 percent of New Jerseyans thought the state should continue the mandate, but health care experts have said it would help stabilize premiums.
Without it, they said, young, healthy people would drop out of the market, leaving older and less healthy people stuck with the bill, making health care even less affordable.
The result: Premiums in New Jersey were expected to increase up to 32 percent next year — and 90 percent over the next three years — because of uncertainty in the insurance market, according to a report released by California's insurance marketplace.
"Health insurance works when everyone is in," state Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, and one of the bill's sponsors, said last month.
The reinsurance bill would create a program to pay for high-cost patients. It would be funded by both the federal government and insurance companies. And the money would be kept in a newly created fund at the Treasury Department.
Minnesota created a reinsurance program for 2018. Its Blue Cross Blue Shield plan said it raised premiums just 2.8 percent this year.


Luis Suarez was distraught following Liverpool’s draw with Crystal Palace on Monday, but the Uruguayan can take a measure of solace in the fact that he made history.
Suarez scored his 31st Premier League goal of the season during the wild, 3-3 draw. He joins Cristiano Ronaldo and Alan Shearer, who hold the record for most goals in a 38-game Premier League campaign.
Suarez can break the record on Sunday by scoring against Newcastle United.
Shearer scored 31 for Blackburn Rovers in 1995-96, and Ronaldo equaled his tally in 2007-08.
Shearer and Andy Cole hold the absolute record for goals in a single Premier League season with 34, although they did it in a 42-game season. Cole set the bar with Newcastle in 1993-94, and Shearer matched him in 1994-95 (with Blackburn).
Suarez’s goal-scoring exploits helped him claim both of English soccer’s major Player of the Season awards. The 27-year-old won the PFA Players’ Player of the Year prize last week and scooped the journalists’ Footballer of the Year award on Monday.
But Suarez probably isn’t concerned with records and honors right now. Liverpool might have lost its chance at winning the 2013-14 Premier League title with the draw against Crystal Palace, and a heartbroken Suarez wept after the final whistle.


Around 20 years ago this wonderful matriarch in church brought a pie for one of the socials. She took care of a number of these elderberry bushes at home. It was a special pie in that I had never heard of elderberries. Personally, I still think that they taste a little like blueberries. This fruit was amazing. Don’t ever turn down an elderberry pie if you have an option to have a piece. I have found that these elderberries are not widely known, but everyone that I know that has tasted these berries has loved them. From what I can see over the years this elderberry is loved by a variety of different wildlife, which will provide some competition.
From my own experience I can seriously say to my reader who asked me for help with this wonderful plant a person who wants to grow them in Summit County will have success with a modest amount of effort. The only trial is that there are 25 different species around the world and at least six different cultivars of Elderberries and each of these have different requirements to some extent.
There are a number of different nurseries in the area that do raise elderberries. I have grown two different elderberries in my yard with success over the years. For me I think of this plant as more of a medium to tall shrub because it can grow from 5 to 12 feet tall. This compound leaf shrub does the best in moist soils but will tolerate dry soil, soil pH does not have much effect on this shrub, but grows suckers very well, because it grows stolons like strawberries.
You will have to prune this shrub regularly for this plant to do well. Over the centuries elderberry has been grown in hedges to access the fruit. Challenges to elderberry are a variety of borers, cankers and leaf spots, which can be serious to these plants. If you wanted more elderberry plants, you can propagate them by cuttings and seeds. Sambucus canadensis or American elder is considered a native bog plant found from Nova Scotia to Florida to Texas originally introduced in 1761 from Europe.
Sambucol a wonderful cold, cough and fever treatment an Israeli medication that we can find here in the U.S. has as the base Sambucus nigra leaves or fruit. What you can do is make a tea of the drupe or berry and some of the dried leaves as treatment even for the flu and other virus based diseases.
At the Kibbutz Aza in Israel many people in the Kibbutz came down with the flu so they tested Sambucol. Twenty percent of these flu sufferers showed significant relief of fever, muscle aches and other symptoms within 24 hours, 73 percent felt better after the second day, and in three days 90 percent were completely cured.
Many cultures have used this elderberry or sambucus nigra fruit as a juice for treating tonsillitis. This sambucol stimulates the immune system and has shown success against Epstein-Barr, herpes, and even HIV. If you make a tea out of the dried leaves you may find help for arthritis, inflammation, viruses and cancer. The flavonoids in elderberries are high in anti-oxidants such as vitamin C, which has 87 percent of the RDA, Vitamin A with 17 percent RDA, and includes iron, potassium, vitamin B6 and lots of beta carotene. Flowers from the elderberry can be used as an antiseptic wash or poultice to treat wounds or eye inflammations.
Elderberries are also a favorite among many birds for many reasons. Just think there are 120 different species of birds that have elderberries on their menus according to one author that is a great source of information. Robins will start eating elderberries early before they are ripe. You will need to cover this shrub with some form of fabric before they ripen. Warblers, grosbeaks, and goldfinches prefer to nest in Elderberry. When I have designed bird friendly gardens I have always included Elderberry as one of the plants I love for the birds.
Have a good stroll through your garden this week. It seems that my Soapwort and Voodoo Lily are about done. Some of my viburnum’s fruit are ripening into a red drupe. Elderberries should be coming on. If you have any questions as you walk through your garden email me at ewlarson546@yahoo.com, I shall do the best I can to help. Soon I shall begin posting these columns for comments and leave a link at my website www.Ohealthyfoodcoop.org. Thank you for your participation in my column.
Eric Larson, a Jeromesville-based landscape designer, writes the weekly A Stroll Through The Garden column.


An Operations Administrator is required for the digital team of a Media client.
Chosen candidate will need two years operations experience in either technology or Media with ideally SAP, Confluence or Jira, with great organisation and administrative skills.
The role involves tracking expenses, assisting finance and management teams within the central digital team, setting up new vendors, tracking timesheets assisting with video conferencing, document preparation and distribution.
Chosen candidate will need to start at short notice.


Take a look around each team in the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference.
Top returners: seniors Louis Culala and Patrick O’Reiley, juniors Andre Ruiz and Darius Baez.
Outlook: The neighboring programs formed a co-op this season under coach Patrick Clark. Ruiz will be the key building block (113 or 120) as a recent state qualifier, while the team's freshman class should make an immediate impact.
Top returners: seniors Luke Mazzeo, Zach Lewis and Jonah Schechtman, juniors Logan Mazzeo and Nick Babin.
Outlook: The Cavos remain a top contender in Bergen County after taking a perfect record to the Group 1 final last season. There's no shortage of talent under coach Stan Woods with five state qualifiers back and all three BCCA champions.
Top returners: seniors Derin Stitzer and Victor Jorge, sophomore Grayson Jurado.
Outlook: Longtime coach Scot Weaver is back for another stint with the Golden Bears and brings his son Dylan, a freshman state qualifier at Bergen Catholic. The co-op lacks much varsity experience, so it will lean on Stitzer and Jorge to stay around .500.
Top returners: junior Matthew Guerra and sophomore Tyler Knoll.
Outlook: The co-op had just seven wrestlers last season so its bigger roster is certainly a positive sign. The program brought in some athletes from the football team and will look to county medalist Matthew Guerra for leadership.
Leonia/Palisades Park also competes in this division.
Top returners: seniors Devin Trujillo and Izel Barragan, juniors Zak Martinez and Eddie Alfieri.
Outlook: Last season, Elmwood Park returned to the state tournament and finally went back over .500 with a 17-11 record. The Crusaders continued to increase their numbers and kept nine starters, which could lead the program to even better results.
Top returners: seniors Derek Abreu and Michael Filieri, juniors Michael Alfonso and Kacper Szuberski.
Outlook: Garfield goes for its fifth straight league title with a lineup that won't have much varsity experience. Abreu and Filieri are the captains and county medalists who will push the Boilermakers toward a state tournament berth.
Top returners: seniors Ben Or-Chen and Terence O’Toole, juniors Greg Schlett and Ryan Romeo.
Outlook: Glen Rock should contend on a number of levels, despite losing some top scorers from its 20-win team. The Panthers' balance gives them a good shot in the league and keeps them in the mix for a BCCA group title.
Top returners: seniors Dylan Guido and Ray Cruz Duran.
Outlook: Rutherford can pick up a handful of wins due to its experienced senior class. With six returning starters, the Bulldogs will be able to put out a full lineup for the first time in a while.
Lodi and Manchester also compete in this division.
Top returners: senior Kris Coya, juniors Adam Deitrich and Joe Aliano, sophomores Declan Smith and Liam McAllister.
Outlook: Hawthorne will lean on Deitrich and the middle part of the lineup in its push for another double-digit win season. The Bears will be somewhat young, but the experience in their freshman class will be an asset for coach Joe Mazzacca's club.
Top returners: seniors Ian Rink, Dennis Riordan and John Dammann, sophomore Drew Scuilla.
Outlook: Only three starters are back so coach Craig Messery will begin to rebuild around a new young core. The Aviators face a difficult challenge in replacing state champion Mickey O'Malley and medalist Matthew Dallara.
Top returners: senior Zachary Carlson, junior Paul Dimarco, Douglas Korzelius and Joseph Petrolia.
Outlook: The Knights must replace half the starting lineup so the development of their young wrestlers will be important during this rebuilding period. Carlson will be a bright spot after a 24-2 season, while Dimarco looks to build on a top-six finish at the region tournament.
Top returners: seniors Frank Negrini, Nick Secor and Ramone Hernandez, junior AJ DeVries, sophomore Ryan Almeida.
Outlook: Pompton Lakes was the runner-up in its conference and section last season and will eye a return trip to those finals. Two-time state qualifier Frank Negrini leads a good Cardinal lineup and returns at 195, where he went 35-8 a year ago.
Top returners: seniors Michael Deperi, Dean Setticase and Jakub Dmitruk, junior Michael Faustini, sophomore Jonathan Lau.
Outlook: The Falcons are determined to build off a 19-win season and use their strength up the middle. Though coach Wayne Rogers lost a few leaders, nine starters are back including heavyweight and state qualifier Dean Setticase.
Top returners: seniors Derek Fernandez, Sahil Nagpal and Samba Diallo, sophomore Daniel Ross.
Outlook: The program keeps making positive steps under coach Ed Roesing and now reaches for the .500 mark. That isn't out of reach this season if a few new starters take advantage of their shot in the lineup.
Top returners: seniors Hamza Chah and Adib Korabi, junior Michael Rodriguez, sophomore Izabella Frezzo.
Outlook: First-year coach Frank Siclari believes that Becton will contend in its league with the help of some motivated newcomers. Rodriguez (113) comes back as a county sixth and supports the Wildcats' fight for a winning record.
Top returners: seniors Ben Bariso, Steven Schubert and Zack Kareivis, junior Julian Amadio.
Outlook: Butler jumps into the NJIC with a good track record that includes 50 wins over the last three seasons. The Bulldogs can vie for a division title and more postseason success based on how well the roster adapts to graduation losses.
Top returners: seniors Kenny Spadaccini, Owen Ross and Jacob Hamburger, junior Tim Coffey.
Outlook: Cresskill relies on its middle weights and nice leadership core in the wake of an 18-12 season. The Cougars brought back a handful of top wrestlers so there's potential for another winning year.
Top returners: senior Jake Reiter, junior Bradley Mika and sophomore Tao Satchell.
Outlook: Wood-Ridge will depend on its middle to upper weight wrestlers as the rebuilding process continues. The Blue Devils got some positive news with the addition of seniors Evan West (145) and Drew Tomat (220) from the football field.
Weehawken also competes in this division.


ANC employee Errol Velile Present who was fired by the ruling party on Wednesday for his alleged involvement in a cash-in-transit heist in Soweto, Johannesburg. Date: Wednesday, July 18, 2018.
The wife of a former ANC employee arrested for a Soweto cash heist says she does not believe her husband is guilty.
“I was so shocked. I’m not even coping. I have lost weight because I can’t even eat. I can’t talk to him and ask him to explain what is going on‚” the woman told eNCA.
She said her husband’s lawyer told her that witnesses called for an identity parade did not point Errol Velile Present out.
“They said he was not there. No one was identified. I don’t understand why he is still being detained if they have nothing on him‚” the woman said.
Present‚ who until Wednesday was an ANC employee at the party’s Luthuli House headquarters‚ stands accused of being involved in a cash-in-transit heist in Soweto. The ANC confirmed he had been fired and would face disciplinary charges as an ordinary party member.
On Thursday police minister Bheki Cele said Present had been linked to at least three cash-in-transit heists.


Quality shoes, those Nikes. Kansas State was actually leading top-ranked Oklahoma until Wildcats forward D.J. Johnson had his shoe disintegrate in the middle of a play. It’s still close in the second half, but the Sooners hold a four-point lead.


A TALENTED student at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) Cheshire has been appointed composer in residence after the university announced its partnership with the Co-operative Funeralcare Band North West.
Adam Shilton, a current PhD student at the Crewe campus, will be working with the band to create bespoke brass scores for them to perform.
As part of the partnership with MMU, the band will also benefit from use of the university’s facilities, including state of the art recording studios, and will hold regular concerts and workshops at MMU venues.
The band’s musical director, Jef Sparkes, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Adam Shilton as composer in residence, having already worked with him when we premiered Through the Pink Mist at MMU’s centenary celebration concert in September.
Adam said: “I have really enjoyed working with Jef and the band over the last seven months, and my appointment is both a privilege and a fantastic opportunity.


New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) The Supreme Court Thursday sentenced former Congress minister from Kerala R. Balakrishna Pillai and two others to one-year imprisonment for abusing their position in the award of contract for the Edamalayar hydroelectric power project.
They were sentenced under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
An apex court bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and B.S. Chauhan reversed the Kerala High Court judgment which acquitted all the three.
Since the then Congress government in Kerala did not challenge the high court order, Chief Minister V.S. Achutanandan -- who was then leader of the opposition -- had moved the Supreme Court, challenging the verdict of acquittal.
The apex court allowed Achuthanandan's appeal and also imposed a fine of Rs.10,000 on each of the three convicts.


Authorities in Bexar County, Texas, on Thursday responded to reports of three individuals with fatal gunshot wounds inside a gated community.
A San Antonio man found the woman he had been dating and two teenage girls shot dead inside a luxury home within a gated community where they all lived, reports said.
Investigators in Bexar County said the two teenagers appeared to have been murdered. Family members identified the woman as 37-year-old Nichol Olsen, the San Antonio Express-News reported. Authorities are working to determine if she was killed or committed suicide.
"It's just too early to tell on the third person if that is a murder or a suicide," Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said. "We'll let the medical examiner take a look at it."
Police did not confirm the woman's identity. All three -- and the man who discovered the bodies -- lived at the home in Anaqua Springs Ranch. The unidentified man who found the bodies had a romantic relationship with the woman, reports said.
Olsen reportedly worked as a cosmetologist. She reportedly had children.
"I just can't see that she would do that to herself or her children because they were everything to her," a former client told the paper.
Authorities were called to the home at about 9:04 a.m. Thursday and found the bodies. The man who lived at the home did not sleep there that night, the report said.


College Basketball Power 10: Who Runs The Pac-12?
A look at the top 10 teams in college basketball after the NCAA released a preview of their top 16 seeds.
For the first time in college basketball history, the NCAA released a preview of their top 16 seeds in the NCAA Tournament if the season ended on Saturday. Of course, many people had many disagreements.
No Big Ten teams made the top 16, while undefeated Gonzaga was just the fourth No. 1 seed.
It shows that the Big Ten is going to have a harder time getting bubble teams in because of its down year, plus top teams like Wisconsin and Purdue have a lot of work to do to even receive a No. 4 seed. Their potential is also likely a No. 3 seed at best.
Even though Gonzaga still earned a No. 1 seed, it’s telling that the committee, at least before their win over Saint Mary’s on Saturday night, isn’t overly impressed with their undefeated season.
There is still a month left of the regular season and every conference tournament left to be played. With upsets happening following the preview’s release, like Florida State and Butler losing, there’s no doubt that these seedings are even close to cemented.
Here’s a look at the top 10 teams in college basketball this week.
It seemed like a matter of time before the Wisconsin Badgers would suffer their second loss in the Big Ten. Wisconsin only beat Indiana by five and Nebraska by one in overtime before hosting Northwestern on Saturday.
The Wildcats got the best of Wisconsin, seemingly punching their NCAA Tournament ticket in the process, and won 66-59. It ended Wisconsin’s eight-game winning streak and gave the Badgers their first home loss of the season.
The last time Wisconsin lost at home was Jan/ 9, 2016, against Maryland, 63-60.
Wisconsin is still searching for a quality win, but the teams behind them also lost which helped them stay in the top 10 this week. Besides, the Badgers have responded with 20-plus point wins after all three of their previous losses this season.
With six games left in the regular season, they can prove a lot if they bounce back from this loss and win out. They still hold a game lead over Maryland and Purdue, so the Big Ten is Wisconsin’s to lose.
Wisconsin travels to Michigan and hosts their last ranked team on their schedule, Maryland, this week.
West Virginia almost won its first game ever at Allen Fieldhouse. It would have also moved them just one game behind Kansas in the Big 12 standings, while also giving them a win over the third-ranked team in the nation after already beating No. 1 Baylor and No. 2 Kansas earlier this season.
West Virginia imploded at the end of the second half, though. In a game they had won, they did everything wrong. From turning the ball over to missing free throws, West Virginia simply did not play well down the stretch and let the pressure and crowd noise get to them.
Then in overtime, West Virginia couldn’t recover, losing 84-80. It took them almost four minutes to score their first points and had a rebound bounce off Nathan Adrian’s hands down 82-78 with 13.8 seconds left after Landen Lucas missed two free-throws to keep the Mountaineers alive.
West Virginia still has three wins over top 10 teams this season, they’re one of the best defensive teams in the nation, and tied for third in the Big 12. Although, West Virginia is still trying to bounce back from a loss to Oklahoma State a couple of weeks ago.
This would have been a huge resume booster, but instead, the Mountaineers are just 5-4 in their last nine games.
West Virginia hosts Texas Tech and Texas this week.
It was not an easy week for Louisville. They only beat Miami by five, 71-66, and needed overtime to take down Syracuse on the road. The Cardinals survived, though, and are now just a half game behind North Carolina for first in the ACC.
The Cardinals also got back guard Quentin Snider, who is their second leading scorer. Snider returned with 13 points against Miami and 14 points, six assists and four rebounds on the road at Syracuse.
Louisville’s success will come on the defensive end, but returning Snider after he missed six games should improve their 95th nationally ranked scoring offense. He gives a mediocre offensive team another playmaker as he also leads the team in assists per game.
Despite a loss to Virginia a couple of weeks ago and two close wins, a bright spot for Louisville is the play of Deng Adel. He has scored in double-digits in each of his past seven games to solidify himself as Louisville’s third option on offense.
Louisville is hard to figure out this season, but they haven’t lost to an unranked team this season and are tied for second place in one of the toughest conferences in the nation.
Louisville’s only game this week is at home against Virginia Tech.
It seems like an eternity ago since Baylor was the top-ranked team in the country and one of the last undefeated teams. Baylor is just 2-3 in their last five games after losing to Texas Tech on Monday night.
Kansas, Kansas State and Texas Tech, their last three losses, aren’t bad teams, but they are games the selection committee expects Baylor to win if they want to be considered a legitimate contender in the Big 12 and nationally.
With their chances of ending Kansas’ historic regular season championship streak already looking slim before this week, it looks near impossible for Baylor to do it now.
Texas Tech held Johnathan Motley to an uncharacteristic 11 points, five rebounds and four assists. It ended his eight game streak of scoring at least 15 points and nine game streak of grabbing at least seven rebounds.
It’s evident that when Motley doesn’t play well, especially on offense, Baylor stalls. Although, in their loss to Texas Tech, it was their usually good defense that couldn’t stop the Red Raiders.
Baylor topped 75 points for just the second time in the past nine games, but Texas Tech shot 51.1 percent from the field and 40 percent from three.
Right now, Baylor is not a good team. They still lack any consistent scoring outside of Motley and their scoring defense has fallen to eighth in the country.
Baylor’s only game this week is at home against Kansas. It could be an embarrassing home loss if they play like they have been over the past couple of weeks.
Everyone went from saying Oregon is the team to beat in the Pac-12 to not being sure they’re even the second-best team in the conference. Following their dominating win over Arizona, Oregon led UCLA by nine at halftime in Los Angeles and controlled most of the game.
After UCLA took the lead with 4:04 left in the game, Oregon had no answer and ended up blowing a 19-point first half lead. The Ducks led by as many as 15 points in the second half, too.
Oregon ended the week with an 11-point win over a good USC team, but the loss to UCLA is what looms over their head. They’re still second in the conference, but it’s their second loss in the past five games and it came with Dillon Brooks in the lineup.
Brooks and Tyler Dorsey combined for 37 points, while Jordan Bell grabbed 15 rebounds. Both are good signs moving forward, as well as their huge leads. Losing the lead and their focus in the second half shows the amount of work they have left to do, though.
Their offense stalled in the second half, ending the game shooting just 42 percent from the field, and their 34th nationally ranked scoring defense fell apart, too, allowing UCLA to shoot 50.8 percent from the field.
Oregon is still a very good team, but outside of their 27-point win over Arizona, the Ducks have struggled over the past couple of weeks.
They host Utah and Colorado this week.
Since their back-to-back losses panicked everyone in the nation, UCLA has responded with four straight wins by an average of 19.5 points, including a comeback win from 19 points down against Oregon last week.
The Bruins defense is still something to worry about going forward, but only three teams this season have proven to be able to outscore the Bruins for a whole game. They’re so dangerous this season because they can catch fire at any time and become impossible to stop.
That became evident against Oregon.
After trailing 64-49 with 14:17 left in the game, UCLA shot 12-of-21 (57.1 percent) to end the game. Five Bruins ended the game with double-figure points, including Lonzo Ball who scored 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting and had arguably the shot of the year.
Leading 77-75, Ball nailed a step-back 30-foot three to give UCLA a five-point lead and seal the game. Considering the stakes and the difficulty of the shot with a hand in his face, it’s arguably the biggest shot of the year and could help continue turning UCLA’s season around.
With the amount of talent they have, especially offensively, UCLA could still win the championship without a great defense simply because they’re near impossible to slow down for a whole game.
UCLA hosts the USC Trojans this week.
A week after being embarrassed in Eugene, Ore., by the Ducks, Arizona bounced back with wins over Stanford and California. The Wildcats only won by a total of 12 points, but Arizona regained the top spot in the Pac-12, nonetheless, due to UCLA’s comeback.
Despite Arizona being widely considered a top-10 team in the nation, they still don’t seem to be playing their best basketball yet, as they continue to try to implement Allonzo Trier into their rotation.
They have failed to score 75 points in any of their past four games. They only failed to reach that mark in three of their first nine conference games.
At the same time, Lauri Markkanen has scored fewer than 10 points in each of the past four games after only doing so once in the first 22 games of the season.
On one hand, Arizona struggling could lead to them blowing their small one-game lead in the Pac-12. Although, it also indicates how good this team can be this season.
If Trier, who is shooting just 42.2 percent this season and only scored three points against California on Saturday, returns to close to last year’s form, Arizona could have a Final Four run in them, especially when considering how good of a defensive team they are.
Arizona travels to Washington State and Washington this weeks.
Kansas was on the verge of losing its second straight home game for the first time since 1988-89, when Roy Williams was their head coach. Somehow, trailing 14 with 2:48 left in the second half, Kansas turned West Virginia over multiple times and forced overtime.
In overtime, the Jayhawks exploded. They held West Virginia scoreless for the first 3:55 and they started to get to the basket. Frank Mason and Josh Jackson became the stars Kansas needed the whole game.
In fact, Jackson recorded his fifth double-double in the past six games. Over the past month, Jackson has started to come into his own. Mason is the frontrunner to be named the National Player of the Year, but Josh Jackson will be the difference maker this postseason for Kansas.
Despite their miraculous win, Kansas is still trying to get back to playing the basketball that got them to no. 2 in the nation for multiple weeks. The Jayhawks have not won by double-digits in their past five wins and haven’t won by more than 15 since January 14.
Part of it is due to closer games in conference play, but Kansas has failed to score 75 points during regulation in three of their past five games, too.
Still, Kansas has a comfortable two game lead in the Big 12 and should win another regular season championship. The Jayhawks have still played well over the past couple of weeks, but not to the level that we’ve become accustomed to this season.
Kansas travels to Baylor this week.
Villanova beat a stingy Georgetown team by 12 and controlled the whole game against Xavier in their 73-57 road win last week. Plus, on Monday, they demolished DePaul for their 25th win of the season.
Their win over Xavier gave the Wildcats their third straight ranked win, helped them improve to 6-1 against ranked teams this season and gave Jay Wright his 500th career win.
Senior guard Kris Jenkins also had his first good three-point shooting game in a couple of weeks. He made 4-of-7 from behind the arc, as he finished with 12 points against Xavier. It ended a five game stretch of him failing to make more than two threes.
Jenkins shot a miserable 7-of-33 (21.2 percent) from three during that stretch, too.
For as good as Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson are, Villanova needs a third scoring option if they want to repeat as national champions. Jenkins is comfortably third in scoring on Villanova, plus his 6.9 threes per game is 1.8 more than anyone on the Wildcats.
After a small rough patch, Villanova is seemingly back and once again hitting their stride with three straight double-digit wins. That’s a scary thought for the rest of the Big East.
Villanova travels to Seton Hall this week.
It seems inevitable that Gonzaga will finish the regular season undefeated after beating Saint Mary’s, 74-64.
Their best opponent left in the regular season is BYU at the end, but even the Cougars have been up-and-down this season and lost by 10 at home last time they played Gonzaga.
Aside from Gonzaga playing in the West Coast Conference, there’s no reason to doubt the Bulldogs anymore. They demolished a good Saint Mary’s team at home and beat them in prime time on Saturday.
If there was a time the national pressure or crowd noise would have gotten to them, it would have been on Saturday. It didn’t, though. Instead, Gonzaga led by nine at halftime and as many as15 with 2:41 left in the first half, despite Nigel Williams-Goss being in foul trouble.
They controlled the tempo of the game from start to finish. The only player on St. Mary’s to score more than 10 points against Gonzaga was potential All-American big man Jock Landale who had 24 points and eight rebounds, but even he had four fouls early in the second half.
A mark of 30-0 is quickly approaching. Gonzaga’s last four teams have a combined record of 56-51. The Bulldogs are arguably the most focused team in the nation, resulting in them being the least susceptible to an upset loss. It might happen, but I doubt it.
Gonzaga hosts San Francisco and Pacific this week.


PARIS (AP) PSG coach Thomas Tuchel needs Adrien Rabiot back in his team - and soon - because an injury to Marco Verratti has left the French league leader seriously short of options in midfield.
PSG's budget this window is reportedly around 30 million euros ($34 million) in total, which falls considerably below the amount required for a standout holding midfielder. At the highest end of the scale, Chelsea's N'Golo Kante - arguably the best in his position in world football - is rated at 100 million euros ($114 million) by website Transfermarkt.
As the bitter feud between Rabiot and PSG escalated, Veronique Rabiot said the French champion turned down an offer from Barcelona last summer. Henrique replied to that by saying Barca's offer for Rabiot - made on Aug. 29 and just before the close of the summer window - was so low it was dismissed as "ridiculous."
Yet with Verratti possibly missing for the United game and no January signing on the immediate horizon, it appears paramount that Rabiot is reinstated - and fast.
But for that to happen Rabiot needs games now - if the club's hierarchy loosens its stance and accepts his return.


When a Parent Dies...What Then?
NFL safety Shemarko Thomas shares how the death of his parents changed his life.
Read more about When a Parent Dies...What Then?
The founders of “Grace & Lace”, Rich & Melissa Hinnant, will share how they started their business and ministry after the loss of their baby and went on to win a partnership on Shark Tank.
Technically their baby was dead, no heart beat. Doctors tried to revive her for over an hour. Do you need encouragement and faith to believe that God is the healer? Watch this video!