Pakistan is not shying away from a fight with the U.S. over Washington’s threat of sanctions if Islamabad continues to push ahead with plans for a gas pipeline to Iran.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar hit back hard after Hillary Clinton threatened Pakistan with sanctions.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton threatened sanctions if Pakistan goes ahead with the $1.5 billion pipeline, a project which Washington views as undermining its attempts to squeeze Iran to drop its nuclear program. The next day, Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar hit back hard.
For once, it appears Pakistan and India are taking a similar position. New Delhi, too, has argued that it needs Iranian crude oil to meet its energy needs, despite pressure from the U.S. to cut back.
But could it be that leaders from both countries are likely to talk tough in public and take a more conciliatory path behind the scenes as Washington attempts to get countries to back its attempts to cut-off Iran’s sources of foreign currency?
Well, this is exactly what Mrs. Clinton said she believed was going on – at least in India’s case -- in remarks to U.S. Congress this week.
"With respect to India, they are making steps that are heading in the right direction. In fact, I think in a number of instances, the actions of countries and their banks are better than the public statements that we sometimes hear them making," she said. India has reportedly begun to look for alternate supplies of oil from Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Still, Pakistan is likely to prove a more difficult ally to get on board. For one, Pakistan’s energy crisis is more dire than India’s. The country relies on gas for half of its energy needs and is already facing massive shortfalls and daily blackouts which have gutted industrial production. For sure, the planned pipeline wouldn’t come on line until 2014 at the earliest. But Islamabad views the project as a key medium-term strategy to get itself out of a hole.
The U.S. argues that Pakistan could do more at home to end the crisis, including stopping energy theft on its electricity grid and moving to upgrade domestic sources of energy, including developing renewable sources. The State Department has been helping Pakistan upgrade its existing facilities, especially thermal power plants, and to build dams.
U.S. Consul General in Lahore, Nina Maria Fite, made this point in remarks to Punjabi businessmen on Thursday. “You have other domestic programs which can be easily upgraded. You can work on them with co-ordination from us before considering the I-P gas pipeline to alleviate the country’s energy woes,” The Express Tribune newspaper quoted her as saying.
There’s another reason, though, that Pakistan isn’t listening. After U.S. helicopters mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on the border with Afghanistan in November, Islamabad froze diplomatic relations with the U.S. That means no delegations of senior Washington officials are coming through Pakistan. The country’s leaders remain furious the Obama administration has not officially apologized for the strike.
In this climate it seems unlikely Pakistan will do what the U.S. wants, especially when – for now at least – it is not taking talk of sanctions seriously, knowing the U.S. wants a stable and economically-vibrant Pakistan to ensure Taliban militants don’t carve out a larger toe-hold there.
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worked at DVI in Tracy supervising inmates in metal fab from 1985, retiring in 2006. He had a love for fishing, enjoyed spending time with family & friends. He had a personality out the of this world! Member of Abundant Life COGIC. He will remain forever in our hearts.
Leaving to cherish his memory his loving wife Germaine, 5 children William Jr., Alabama, Dominique, Damadre, Dante & Danisha. 5 Grandchildren & 1 God Daughter.
4 siblings, Joe Jr., Aza Lee, Earnestine Crum & Eddie Jean.
Preceded in death by parents Joe Brown Sr. and Julia Mae Brown.
Funeral Home. Services at Greater White Rose, 2340 S. Pilgrim St., Stockton Sept. 30, at 11:00 a.m.


June 29, 2012 Richard A. Schubert, 76, of Kaneohe, a general manager in the automotive industry and Army Reserves veteran, died in Kaneohe. He was born in Honolulu. He is survived by son Micheal A., daughter Wendy Anne, mother Dorothy Nacimento, sister Jean Perreira, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Visitation: 9 a.m. Saturday at Provincial House of Congregation of Sacred Hearts, Our Lady of Bethany Chapel, 45-713 Pookela St., Kaneohe. Mass: 10 a.m. Private burial. Casual attire. Online condolences: www.borthwickoahu.com.


Honduran and Nepali TPS Holders Sue Trump Administration | Democracy Now!
Back in the U.S., Honduran and Nepali immigrants filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in San Francisco over its efforts to end the immigration program known as TPS, or temporary protected status. Lawyers representing around 100,000 people from both communities argue that the move is motivated by racism. In a similar lawsuit affecting TPS holders from Sudan, El Salvador, Haiti and Nicaragua, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s plan in October, citing “discriminatory” motivation.


A DRIVER HAS been killed after two cars and a truck collided in Cork this morning.
The fatal collision occurred on the N25 Midleton to Castlemartyr Road at Two Mile Inn at around 10.45am.
The collision, which involved two cars and a truck, has resulted in the death of a man in his 80s who was the sole occupant of a car.
The occupants of the second car, a man and a woman, were brought to Cork University Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Diversions are in place to facilitate a Garda Forensic Collision Investigation.
Garda are appealing for witnesses to contact Midleton Garda Station on 021 462 1550, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.
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BAGHDAD — The Islamic State’s latest suicide attack in Baghdad, which killed nearly 330 people, foreshadows a long and bloody insurgency, according to American diplomats and commanders, as the group reverts to its guerrilla roots because its territory is shrinking in Iraq and Syria.
Already, officials say, many Islamic State fighters who lost battles in Falluja and Ramadi have blended back into the largely Sunni civilian populations there, and are biding their time to conduct future terrorist attacks. And with few signs that the beleaguered Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, can effectively forge an inclusive partnership with Sunnis, many senior American officials warn that a military victory in the last urban stronghold of Mosul, which they hope will be achieved by the end of the year, will not be sufficient to stave off a lethal insurgency.
“To defeat an insurgency, Iraq would need to move forward on its political and economic reform agenda,” Lt. Gen. Sean B. MacFarland, the top American commander in Iraq, said in an email.
A return to guerrilla warfare in Iraq, while the United States and its allies still combat the Islamic State in Syria, would pose one of the first major challenges to the next American president, who will take office in January. American public opinion has so far supported President Obama’s deployment of roughly 5,000 troops to help Iraq reclaim territory it lost to the Islamic State in 2014, but it is not clear whether political support would dissipate in a sustained effort to fight insurgents.
For American diplomats and commanders, the specter of an insurgency resurrects some of the most bitter memories from the United States’ involvement in Iraq over the past 13 years. Officials voice concern about how that type of mayhem — which was led by an earlier iteration of the Islamic State and nearly crippled the Iraqi government when the United States had more than 100,000 troops in the country — could affect the stability of Iraq and the broader campaign to defeat the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
The Islamic State is increasingly fighting less like a conventional army than “a more terrorist-type force,” Gen. Joseph L. Votel, the commander of American forces in the Middle East, said last week. On the battlefield, the Islamic State has redoubled its use of suicide bombers and ambushes to attack Iraqi security forces. Despite losing about half the territory it seized in Iraq, it carried out the suicide attack in Baghdad this month, one of the deadliest bombings in Iraqi history.
“When ISIS’s army is defeated in Mosul and elsewhere in Iraq, there will still be ISIS terrorist cells that will attempt to continue to carry out the kind of terrorist attacks we have seen in Baghdad and elsewhere in recent months,” Gen. David H. Petraeus, the former top American commander in Iraq, said in an email.
Senior Iraqi officials agree. “Absolutely, Daesh will remain a potential threat to Iraq,” the country’s foreign minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, told reporters in Washington last week, using an Arabic term for the group.
American military officials in Baghdad said that they had not seen the Islamic State mass more than 100 troops on the battlefield since December, when a group of several hundred attacked a base in northern Iraq. “We have seen more and more of their guys with vests on trying to run into Iraqi Army headquarters buildings or in the middle of a fight into a big group of soldiers,” said Col. Christopher Garver, the military spokesman in Iraq.
After losing battles to the Iraqis, some Islamic State fighters have tried to blend back into groups of civilians who have fled the violence, according to Iraqi commanders.
“We have hurt ISIS’ morale, but nobody can deny that ISIS still has its sleeper cells, and we expect anything from it,” said Lt. Gen. Abdul Wahab al-Saidi, the commander of Iraqi operations in Falluja.
The United States and other countries in the coalition countering the Islamic State are adopting a series of measures that they believe will help the Iraqis defeat the remnants of the group in the coming months.
In recent weeks, specially trained American explosives experts, including a three-star Army general, and new bomb-detection devices have been sent to Baghdad to help stem suicide and car-bomb attacks. The Danes, who are part of the coalition, have begun training border patrol agents.
The first class of 300 Iraqi border patrol agents completed a four-week training course on Wednesday, Colonel Garver said. The plan is to train five more similarly sized classes and use them to patrol the border with Jordan and Syria.
The American-led coalition has focused intensely for months on the military campaign to retake Mosul — a dauntingly complex task. But the dozens of defense and foreign ministers meeting in Washington last week were equally concerned with the aftermath of the fight for Mosul and the city’s security, reconstruction and governance.
Western and Iraqi officials are preparing plans to address the humanitarian needs of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians displaced by the violence, and the importance of restoring local government in Mosul and other areas controlled by the Islamic State for the past two years.
“The local governance plan has to be ready to go,” said Brett McGurk, Mr. Obama’s special envoy for combating the Islamic State.
Even if the operations to take Mosul are ahead of schedule, there will almost certainly be a new American president in office by the time that operation is complete. And although it is not clear how committed that administration will be to the fight in Iraq, American commanders are planning for an enduring presence of forces to help the Iraqis.
“After the defeat of ISIL in Iraq, the U.S. and our partners will need to retain a presence there that can help the Iraqis secure their borders and hunt the terrorist threats within them,” General MacFarland said.
Follow Michael Schmidt @nytmike and Eric Schmitt @EricSchmittNYT on Twitter.
Michael Schmidt reported from Baghdad and Washington, and Eric Schmitt from Washington. Falih Hassan contributed reporting from Baghdad.


Care support worker required ASAP to join us in one of our care homes.
You will be a bright bubbly person who enjoys making the life of others better in every way.
ensuring that they are all well looked after and entertained throughout the day.
All have their own vehicles and will need driving around.
This is a fantastic opportunity to join a fun loving young group of carers.


The lease was agreed at Rs 3.07 crore, instead of ₹113.22 crore, which would have incurred upon the HSVP Rs 110.15 crore in losses.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Haryana Shahri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) to remove a tent house erected at the HUDA Gymkhana club, officials said on Saturday.
Petitioners had alleged that HSVP officials had leased 11,221 yards of land in the club, without floating any tenders, to the tent house in September 2017, for a nine-year period at a much lower rate than the actual cost of renting the ground.
In July last year, the HSVP had sealed the tent house upon the directions of D Suresh, then division commissioner of Gurugram and president of HUDA Gymkhana Club.
However, no action was taken against any HSVP officials at the time.
“The high court has directed the removal of the seal from the tent house, and asked the tent house’s owner to remove all his possessions from the club’s ground by May 9, or the same will be seized by the HSVP. As per the agreement between the HSVP and the tent house, Rs 45 lakh compensation was to be paid to the owner if the tent house was removed before the nine-year tenure of the contract ended. After adjusting electricity bills and other dues, amounting to Rs 25 lakh, Rs 20 lakh compensation has been paid to the tent house owner,” Abhay Jain, a petitioner and member of the club, said.
Virender Yadav, the owner of Billu Tent House, said he will remove all his possessions from the club before May 9, but said he would submit a claim to recover the Rs 25 lakh adjusted as dues.
“The high court has also left us with an option to reclaim the remaining Rs 25 lakh from HSVP, as part of the agreement signed two years ago by submitting a claim. We are working towards filing a claim to collect the remaining sum once the handover process is completed,” said Yadav.
Anu Sheokand, estate officer of the HSVP, said that if the tent house owner does not vacate his goods by May 9, the same will be confiscated by the civic body.
“The high court has given the tent house owner nearly a month to vacate all items from the club. If the same is not done, we will seize all materials. As per the court’s order, it is only once the tent house owner hands the ground back to HSVP that he can raise any objection. If the same is received, we will take the next course of action as per the existing rules,” Sheokand said.


This article was published 15/9/2013 (2042 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Christians have been part of what is today Syria since the first century. In fact, it was in the ancient Syrian town of Antioch that followers of Jesus were first labelled Christians. Today, of the country's 22 million population, approximately 10 per cent are Christians. Most belong to three streams of Christianity, the Syrian Orthodox, the Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church.
However, Syria's Christians now find themselves in a very conflicted situation. Many have been supporters of the Assad government which, despite its repressive reputation, offered protection to Christians that Islamist governments are not inclined to give. For that reason, many Christians who fled Iraq during the Iraq war went to Syria. In turn, an estimated 500,000 of Syria's some two million Christians have fled their homeland because of the civil war.
Christian communities in the Middle East find themselves in a very difficult situation these days. For one, the Christian population generally has declined dramatically since the beginning of the 20th century. Then about 25 per cent of the population of the Middle East was Christian, today it is closer to five per cent.
This has been the result of events such as the killing of the Armenian Christians and pressures on Christian groups in countries across the region. But a good deal was brought on by the actions of western nations. After the U.S.-led Iraq War, of the 3.5 million Iraqis forced from their homes, a quarter were Christians, though they made up only three to four per cent of Iraq's population. Something similar is likely to happen in Syria.
A commander of the Ghurabaa al-Sham brigade earlier this year in front of a church shelled by mortars, at Judeida, one of the first Christian villages to be taken by the rebel Syrian army.
In Egypt, in August, the day that the Egyptian military cracked down on the pro-Morsi supporters may have been the worst single day of violence against the Egyptian Church since the 14th century, according to Samuel Tadros of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom. On Aug. 14, 60 churches throughout Egypt were destroyed, along with 11 schools, an orphanage, a hospital and two Bible Society bookshops, as well as many homes and businesses, the Barnabas Fund reported.
Quite simply, much of it happened because of the connection that pro-Morsi supporters made between Coptic Christians and the West, even though in Egypt too the church has been present since the first century.
This linkage, then, appears to be a factor in making the situation of Christians in Syria so difficult. But Christians also find themselves caught between Syria's Sunni majority and the Alawite minority who have political control. "Today, Christians are targeted by both government and rebel forces," says Cesar Chelala, a Middle East Times correspondent.
The Syrian opposition generally assumes that Christians are supportive to President Assad, though there are Christians on both sides of the conflict. The head of the Syrian National Council, for example, George Sabra, who recently travelled Canada, is a Christian, as are other prominent dissidents.
Christians throughout the country participated in the early demonstrations against the Assad government, according to a recent report from Open Doors International.
That report says that one of the main features of Syria's Christian population is its mix of ethnic and Christian identities. Ethnically, most would be Armenians, Syriacs or Arameans, and religiously, be found in one of the three streams noted earlier. More importantly, the Christian communities tend to be concentrated in all the areas of the country that are strategic to both the government and the opposition groups, areas such as Aleppo, Damascus and Homs. That's why tens of thousands have fled, becoming either internally displaced or refugees outside the country.
Syrian Christians are afraid of the Islamizing of the opposition and of its increasingly jihadist character, the Open Doors' report says. The result has been that their communities too have gradually been "militarizing," as they are drawn into Assad's National Defense Army. The report adds that even though some Christians have taken prominent roles in the opposition Syrian National Council, "the Christian community inside the country would have no tangible benefit in vocally calling for the removal of the Assad government and will not likely do so in the near future."
The report's assessment is that Christians face a grim future in Syria. If the country is to reach a more just future, a process must be found that recognizes the concerns on all sides in the conflict. The Assad government has much blood on its hands (as the use of chemical and napalm bombs testifies), but so do the jihadist fighters who have streamed in from all over.
For the Americans to attempt to work a solution by lobbing missiles into the country is a bankrupt response.
All the major players, Russia and the Arab League included, need to be invited to a peace table without pre-conditions except the desire to achieve a peaceful and just resolution, an approach that American Secretary of State John Kerry signalled early in his mandate he wanted.
Harold Jantz is a retired editor and Christian journalist.


Ryan Loflin, of Colorado Hemp, funnels his hemp seeds into a baggie in Crested Butte in April.
Ryan Loflin, of Colorado Hemp, handles a batch of a particular kind of hemp seeds that produce vast amounts of hemp oil.
Ryan Loflin, owner of Colorado Hemp, examines his hemp plants last month.
Springfield farmer Ryan Loflin on Monday planted the nation’s first industrial hemp crop in almost 60 years.
Loflin’s plans to grow hemp already have been chronicled, and Monday’s planting attracted the attention of more media in southeastern Colorado and a documentary film crew.
Hemp is genetically related to marijuana but contains little or no THC, the psychoactive substance in marijuana. Hemp has dozens of uses in food, cosmetics, clothing and industrial materials.
Its cultivation in small test plots became legal last year under a Colorado law. The passage of Amendment 64 in November allowed commercial growing, even though hemp, like marijuana, is illegal under federal law.
Loflin is planting 60 acres on acreage previously used to grow alfalfa. He and business partner Chris Thompson also are installing a seed press to produce hemp oil.
Collaborators in the documentary include the Colorado-based advocacy group Hemp Cleans and hemp-products company Hemp Inc.


Heavy rain and hailstorm, preceded by thundersquall ripped through Bhopal on Saturday, throwing life out of gear for about an hour. Branches of trees broke and hoardings were damaged at several places in the city.
Heavy rainfall and hailstorm, preceded by thundersquall ripped through Bhopal on Saturday afternoon, throwing life out of gear for about an hour.
Though Saturday morning was sunny, clouds started gathering in the sky since afternoon and by 3pm, dense clouds had covered the city sky. Later, the weather changed drastically and Bhopal witnessed dust storm, thunder and lightning. Soon, hailstones lashed some parts of the city, followed by heavy showers.
Branches of trees broke and hoardings were damaged at several places in the city. A tree branch fell on a car in front of Betwa apartment as a result of high-velocity winds, although no damage was reported. An official at the Meteorological office in the city said that winds blew at a speed of 30-35km per hour.
The rainfall that lasted for just about half-an-hour was so heavy that most of the roads were water-logged within no time, impeding traffic in major junctions like Jyoti Talkies Square, Board Office Square and Habibganj underbridge among other places.
Power disruption was also reported from some areas, though conditions normalised by 6pm when the rainfall and thunderstorm ceased.
Pedestrians rushed for shelter as hailstorm accompanied the heavy rain. The hailstones that hit the city initially were about 2 to 3mm in size, but their size reduced as the rain intensified.
The Arera Hills observatory of Regional Meteorological Centre recorded 35mm of rainfall in Bhopal city in half-an-hour. The observatory at Bhopal airport, however, recorded only 8mm of rain.
The thunderstorm activity was attributed to local conditions spurred by presence of an upper air cyclonic circulation system over southwest Madhya Pradesh. "The system was over northeast Rajasthan but has now moved to MP. This would lead to thunderstorm activities and rainfall in isolated places of southwest parts of the state," director of Regional Meteorological Centre, Anupam Kashyapi told HT.
He added that such activity, particularly during the afternoon or evening hours, was expected in some parts of Madhya Pradesh including Bhopal for the next one or two days.


Amber Heard has opened up about the years of abuse she experienced at the hands of her ex-husband Johnny Depp, while referring to the latter as 'the monster'. The 32-year old further claimed that Depp won't remember the abuse for he is an alcoholic and a drug addict, Page Six reported.
He even dragged her to a bed and started punching her head. The couple started dating in 2012, a year after which Heard came to know about his drugs and alcohol abuse. They, however, tied the knot in February 2015.
Further elaborating the abuse she faced, Amber recalled that in May 2014, Depp started drinking heavily, threw things at her and abused her in a private flight. Depp, however, apologised to her via text and claimed he didn't remember whatever happened.
The couple, after getting married, went on a three-day bender on ecstasy. However, Depp resumed abusing and drinking, claimed Amber. Amber said he threw her on a ping-pong table, choked her and wrote messages on the wall with blood before being hospitalised.
"To this day, I still have scars on my arms and feet from this incident," Heard said. The last straw, Amber said, was in May 2016, when Depp threw a cell phone at Amber's face and she decided to quit the relationship and filed a restraining order.
The couple got divorced in January 2017. "I lost a part for a movie in which I had already been cast. People I have never met or spoken to threatened me with violence. I received so many death threats I had to change my phone number on a near-weekly basis," she said.


AARON RAMSEY was in "imperious" form yesterday as Arsenal swept to the top of the table, according to Garth Crooks.
The 24-year-old capped off a man-of-the-match display against Aston Villa by following up Olivier Giroud's opener to secure a 2-0 win.
Ramsey has returned to his natural position in the centre of the park following injuries to Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin and stepped up to the plate in Alexis Sanchez's absence.
The Welshman cut a frustrated figure on the wing at the start of the season but he has been crucial during a brilliant week for Arsenal that also saw them reach the Champions League last 16.
"I find it quite interesting that Aaron Ramsey is starting to look at his best again without the presence of injured pair Alexis Sanchez and Santi Cazorla," Crooks wrote in his latest BBC blog.
"There is no doubt in my mind that the Wales international features far more in Arsenal's build-up play when they are not around.
"And on this display, against an utterly outclassed Aston Villa, he looked imperious.
"When both Sanchez and Cazorla come back into the fold it will be very interesting to see if he can retain the commanding presence he showed at Villa Park."
Ramsey has scored three goals in 12 Premier League games this season.


Could Dorothy Dixers be cut from the ACT parliament's question time?
Question time is a key period where MPs can get information from ministers.
Up to half the time can be effectively wasted by government backbenchers' questions.
They're the scourge of question time in parliaments all around Australia.
But could Dorothy Dixers finally be eradicated from the ACT Legislative Assembly?
Speaker Joy Burch has indicated she would look at curtailing the practice in favour of encouraging backbenchers to ask constituency questions, after a $5040 trip to the Scottish parliament in June.
In a recently tabled report about her trip, Ms Burch appeared impressed with its version of question time - First Minister’s Questions - noting there did not appear to be any Dorothy Dixers asked and there was a category of questions specifically for advocating on behalf of constituents.
This stands in stark contrast to most Australian parliaments, where backbenchers from the ruling party ask stage-managed questions designed to promote the work of government and make the minister look good.
Those questions are referred to as Dorothy Dixers, a term that stems from American advice columnist Dorothy Dix's reputed practice of making up her own questions in order to publish more interesting answers.
There was a particularly excruciating example last sitting week, when Labor backbenchers used the last 10 minutes of question time to feed then city services minister Meegan Fitzharris pun-laden questions about the recent reversal of their decision to cull the feral peacock population in Narrabundah.
Ms Fitzharris assured the chamber "feathers have not been ruffled and there has been no fowl play" in the decision and even played a recording of a bird song.
Canberra Liberal Jeremy Hanson appealed in vain to Ms Burch to rule the questions out of order, given the use of props and ironical expressions was against standing orders. Ms Burch told him she would let the line of questioning "fly" as it was the last question of three sitting weeks.
Victoria promised to end the practice in 2015, replacing them with "ministerial statements" where ministers are granted two minutes during question time to advise parliament on new government initiatives, projects and achievements.
The Canberra Times asked Ms Burch whether her suggestion to ditch the Dixers was serious, given she is a member of the Labor-Greens government.
Ms Burch was also asked whether the people of Canberra would be better served if backbenchers could ask questions on behalf of their constituents rather than questions that made their ministers look good. She did not respond.
Australian National University Emeritus Professor John Warhurst said question time would be much "sharper" without Dorothy Dixers.
"They don't serve much purpose other than giving the government a chance to bignote itself basically," Professor Warhurst said.
"They're not probing questions, they're questions the minister has wanted someone on their own side to ask. They don't fulfil the purpose of question time, which is to keep the government accountable. They're really an advertising exercise."
Professor Warhurst said scrapping Dorothy Dixers could be a "small but positive" step towards restoring Australians' trust in democracy.
"I can see some virtue in [constituency questions] as an alternative way of doing things. Anything that looks like playing games between the government and opposition is bad for trust in the system. On the other hand anything which could increase the connection with the public and parliamentary system has got to be good," Professor Warhurst said.
The Scottish parliament is a decade younger than the ACT Legislative Assembly, formed after the 1997 referendum in which the Scottish people voted for devolution.
Professor Warhurst said because their parliament was relatively new, they were more inclined to experiment.
"I think it's good we can learn from innovation around the world's parliament and not get stuck thinking because we've always done things a certain way, we have to do them that way," Professor Warhurst said.


UK supporters of Concern Worldwide who give a fixed contribution to the charity each month had their bank accounts debited by up to 100 times the correct amount earlier this year as a result of computer problems.
The international humanitarian organisation said it moved swiftly to address donor concerns and apologised to them for the mistake.
The UK Charity Commission confirmed it has been in regular contact with the charity since it was contacted over the “serious incident”. A spokesman said it had been monitoring developments in recent weeks to ensure all the steps required to resolve the problems were being taken.
At the end of April, staff at Concern’s UK section made an error processing monthly direct debits of thousands of supporters, leading to increased sums taken from donor accounts.
Refunds were processed in early May after which auditing firm Deloitte was asked by the charity to carry out an independent investigation. It identified two factors which led to the processing issues.
It determined there had been problems with the installation of banking software used in direct debit collections which had led to the amounts due to be collected being increased by a factor of 100. It also found sufficient testing had not been carried out on the new software.
The auditors made a series of recommendations to Concern designed to prevent recurrences of this or similar incidents and to strengthen systems.
“We have accepted them in full and they are now in place,” a spokeswoman for the charity said.


My Philosophy Listen. Love. Laugh. Learn.
Quotation "The secret is not running after butterflies, but taking good care of your own garden so that butterflies will come to you..."


Urban areas have begun to outpace the growth of suburbs. Could that be good for America's social ecology?
New numbers from the Census Bureau suggest that America’s long love affair with the suburbs may be cooling off just a bit: In the year-long span from July 2010 to July 2011, in the majority of America’s largest metropolitan areas, densely packed urban areas grew faster than suburbs — reversing a trend that has held since the heyday of the Model-T in the 1920s. If this current trend holds, it could be good news for the environment, reducing the time commuters spend in gas-guzzling cars going to and from their jobs in the city. Could it also be good for America’s social ecology?
That’s one of the implications of a new paper by Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, which takes aim at something that many homeowners and would-be homeowners consider as American as apple pie and Apple iPads: the home mortgage interest deduction.
Glaeser argues that the deduction, as well as other governmental policies that encourage homeownership, effectively “bribe” the well-off to segregate themselves from poorer people by abandoning more diverse cities for more homogenous and affluent suburbs.
The most fundamental fact about rental housing in the United States is that rental units are overwhelmingly in multifamily structures. … More than 85 percent of single-family dwellings are owner occupied; more than 85 percent of dwellings in homes with more than three units are rented. When the federal government subsidizes homeownership explicitly, through the home mortgage interest deduction, and implicitly, through the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it is pushing Americans away from dense multiunit dwellings toward sprawling single-family detached homes.
Obviously there are plenty of single-family homes in cities. But dense urban areas can’t exist without a large percentage of multifamily structures, from 2-flats to giant residential skyscrapers.
And as more affluent Americans have moved to the suburbs, they have also moved away from poorer neighbors.
Because poorer people tend to live disproportionately in cities … bribing wealthier people to leave higher density apartments is increasing the physical, and possibly also the social, distance between rich and poor.
[T]he rich are way more likely to prioritize their own self-interests above the interests of other people. It makes them more likely to exhibit characteristics that we would stereotypically associate with, say, a**holes.
Some of the most interesting research on what New York magazine calls the “money-empathy gap” comes from another Berkeley psychologist, Jennifer Stellar. In one recent experiment, Stellar showed a group of ethnically and socially diverse students a video depicting a family trying to deal with a child with cancer; while the video tugged at the heartstrings of all those who watched it, lower-class students felt more compassion and empathy for the struggles of those in the video.
It’s not that the upper classes are coldhearted. … They may just not be as adept at recognizing the cues and signals of suffering because they haven’t had to deal with as many obstacles in their lives.
Dr. Karim finds that teaching his patients meditation and mindfulness are effective ways to develop what he calls the “empathy muscle.” I’m guessing not many of Karim’s patients follow the Buddha one step further, giving up their worldly possessions to live amongst the poor. But if the research of Piff, Stellar and others holds true, such practices could teach more than a few Scrooges a lot of empathy, very quickly.


They Might Be Giants boast one of the most diverse and full catalogs of any band of the last 30 years. In March they released Nanobots, the 16th studio album in their three-decade career.
Though the band formed in 1982, it wasn't until the early 1990s that they broke out. Their third album, Flood, went platinum following its 1990 release and the band has been consistently pushing out further iterations of its quirky style of indie pop ever since.
Though casual listeners might know They Might Be Giants (primarily composed of members John Flansburgh and John Linnell) best for that album's songs "Birdhouse in Your Soul" and their rendition of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," in recent years the band has turned to making children's albums and indulging other musical pursuits outside the traditional album and tour routine. The band's second children's album, Here Come the 123s, got the band its second Grammy Award in 2009. The first was for their song "Boss of Me," the theme song for the TV show Malcolm in the Middle.
On Nanobots, the band's concise songwriting is on display, with none of the songs clocking in at more than 3:30 (there are also several musical ideas that stand as individual tracks).
Today, Mashable brings you an exclusive premiere of the new music video for the title track, "Nanobots." In the video, directed by Liam Lynch, we see the song's titular little yellow bots rise up out of the laboratory they've come from, overthrowing first the scientists that developed them and then taking over the world.
It's a grim plot for such a catchy song, but it works because it's delivered in a cheeky way. Check out the video above.


I had to get to the bottom of this Russia thing.
What better way to track their dealings than to go to Fort Ross on the Sonoma Coast, site of the southernmost Russian settlement in the U.S.? The Russians began building the fort and settlement in 1812, the result of explorations from their established territory in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands.
The fur trade in Alaska had thinned, and having little luck raising sufficient crops to feed their colonists in Alaska, the Russian-American Company, a trading arm of the Tsar, chose a small cove above Bodega Bay to moor their ships, build a fort and replenish the fur trade and food stocks for the Russian colonists.
There were plenty of cannons and sentries with flintlocks in those early days, but this was a commercial outpost, not a military one. Though the armaments remain, I don’t think we’re under threat: The California State Park system officially took over the fort in 1962, after it had stood as a state historical monument since 1928.
Today, the stockade grounds are still striking, with peak-roofed blockhouses at two corners and rough, but sturdy structures in its interior. The buildings have a solidity and, in the cool fog when we visited, a solemn feel. It’s perhaps not quite as sturdy as you might imagine: Only a few original structures remain, having undergone various renovations due to the recurring marine dampness and seaside storms.
I couldn’t detect any Russian listening devices in my tour of the settlement, probably because the Russians abandoned it in 1842, despite having had fair luck with agriculture, cattle, fur tanning and ship-building in and around the fort. The Russian-American Company sold all its assets to “Captain” John Sutter of Sutter’s Mill fame, and it changed hands a number of times before becoming a state property.
It’s good fun to walk outside the fort grounds and over the various trails of its 3,400 acres, with dramatic cliffside views of the coves and their roiling waters below. It’s easy to think that sentries in the wee hours might have stolen outside the fort walls to sneak a smoke while overlooking the waves. No one ever did invade the fort, other than the moon and stars.
Satisfied that there was no fake news circulating at Fort Ross, I thought I might catch some stealthy Russians off guard at lunch. And what better place than the Russian House #1? Just a half-hour or so south of the fort, this restaurant has giant picture windows facing out to the Russian River, and lots of interesting objects inside, from a large harp and a piano to colorfully illustrated Russian books.
The restaurant was founded by Tatiana Ginzburg, who holds a PhD in transpersonal psychology, among other mindful pursuits. That mindfulness is evident in the philosophical readings on the tables, and in the payment structure: patrons pay what they please for their meals.
That caused some discomfort among my companions and myself, whispering at the table about what was reasonable remittance for the good, hearty food, which included vegetable soup, a kind of tomato-y salad, goulash, earthy bread, a salmon and rice dish, potatoes and vegetables, tea and more, offered buffet style.
We were able to sort things out without too much trouble, helped by the gracious good cheer of our hostess, who also happened to be named Tatiana (and which I will now name my car). Odd as some aspects seemed, I liked the feeling of the place. Given all the community gatherings and spiritually-oriented meetings that take place there, so does its coastal community.
I must admit, we didn’t find any traces of suspicious Russian activity on the rocky Sonoma Coast. But judging from all the fun we had, we’ll need to return and look more closely.


Now is the summer’s discontent for some of us, when any moment not spent on a beach or a mountain, when instead you must tend to work or literally anything else, is some kind of vulgar torture that insults the grace of life itself. To you, we say: Stay strong, and perhaps rejuvenate your spirit with a visit to the old Ritz Five, and take in a showing of Lost In Paris, a movie so sublime it’s both a wonder it got made at all and it’s even more of a wonder that more movies like this aren’t there to softly catch us in these terrible times. And we can’t understand why we haven’t heard a single other person mention it.
The movie uses both of the only two plots John Gardner once famously said there are: A person goes on a journey, and a stranger comes to town. But through the premise of a Canadian librarian going to Paris to visit her long-lost (and busily senile) aunt, writers/directors/stars Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon wreak a kind of fun that’s simple and visual and universal. Lost In Paris plays with color in a way few movies have the guts to now — Wes Anderson does, and TV commercials do, but that’s about it — and goes all-in on a kind of elegant, sweet physical comedy that otherwise might not be present in contemporary cinema at all. Abel and Gordon are upfront that the film is an homage to Jacques Tati, but they’re also adapting so much of this stuff for today. A selfie on a bridge goes horribly awry and ends with some slapstick underwater; a homeless guy’s tent takes to dancing; a home-care hospice nurse gets fooled by the same PDA gag over and over. Meanwhile, there’s not even a lot of dialogue — so much is done with color and body movement that Lost In Paris is as much a dance performance as it is a movie. And boy, what a movie it is.
According to our latest info, Lost In Paris will be playing at the Ritz Five at least until August 9th. Check here for showtimes.


The mind of the libero in volleyball is something to behold. The libero — the only member of the team to wear a differently colored jersey — stands a breed apart. He is a defensive specialist, so he never approaches the front line at the net with the hitter/blockers he has to work with. He is usually shorter in stature than the hitters. Many times he is the high-spirited one on the floor, showing emotion, exclaiming on crucial points, pugnacious in diving after balls.
Alec Swanson of The Bishop’s School is one of these. In fact, though he has been starting libero all three of his years on the varsity Knight squad, he isn’t the only player in the rotation who is an experienced libero. His teammate, Scott McPherson, plays libero on his club team, though he plays a different position, hitter-blocker, for Bishop’s. In addition to all these other stand-apart factors, Swanson also has to swap out with a teammate, Pierce Schneider, in serving situations.
At this point in the season, as the Knights ready to enter the playoffs ranked number two in CIF Division II on maxpreps.com with a 16-4 record, Swanson’s pugnacity has helped pay off with an undefeated Coastal League North season (7-0).
“The mentality of a libero is to not let the ball hit the ground at all costs,” said Swanson, who calls the libero the “effort player” because “they sacrifice their bodies and dive for everything.” Liberos are responsible for making sure the team is in the correct defensive formation, depending on the hitter and the type of hit coming over the net.
Coach Jackie Bernardin’s Coastal League North champions feature plenty of weapons alongside their sparkplug. McPherson, their kill leader, rose to the occasion at key points in the team’s recent win over Cathedral Catholic High School in a home match. Another hitter-blocker, Chris Alleyne, showed power (20 kills) and passing skills in the 16-25, 25-19, 25-23, 28-30, 15-9 non-league vanquishing of the visiting Dons. Swanson had 17 digs. The small crowd roared as Bishop’s came back from the 1-0 first-game deficit to overcome Cathedral, ranked eighth in the San Diego CIF Section. Setter Eric Yu assisted impressively with both back and front sets to his hitters at the net.
“I am so proud of my team and the hard work they have been putting in this season,” Bernardin said. “I knew after game four (against the Dons) we would pull it out because of their confidence.” As the Bishop’s contingent got louder as the match progressed, Cathedral got quieter. Their coach, Paul Araiza, icily told his team, “I’m not going to say another word the rest of the match,” and threw something after Bishop’s won the second game 25-19. Cathedral was sleepwalking, whereas Bishops players were shouting, celebrating each point. The contrast was stark: The big, silent giant against the fired-up smaller unit.
Bernardin singles out middle blockers Noah Fales, Schneider, and Sheth for the biggest improvement this year. Owen Gallahue, a freshman, has made strides through hard work and a teachable spirit.


A deep-dive comparison into Samsung's and Apple's depth of field effects.
The Galaxy Note 8 is the first Samsung phone to feature a dual lens camera system. Similar to Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus, it includes a telephoto lens paired with a standard lens. This allows both phones to deliver fun depth of field effects—but does one company do bokeh better? Let’s check out the differences between their approaches, and see if one phone can emerge victorious.
Apple's iPhone 7 Plus came out late last year while Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 launches in September.
Apple’s "Portrait Mode" and Samsung’s "Live Focus" use their dual camera systems to gauge depth in a scene and introduce bokeh, or blur, into a photo taken with the telephoto lens. This mimics high-end DSLRs and creates a stunning effect when done properly. But we're talking about smartphone cameras here, so let's first dig into the phones' not-so-DSLR-caliber specs.
On paper the differences may seem slight, but the two phones differ in some drastic ways. Both the Note 8 and the iPhone 7 Plus have dual 12-megapixel sensors. Both have an effective 2x optical zoom between each camera. And both sport optical image stabilization (OIS) on their main lens. But that’s where the similarities stop.
The iPhone 7 Plus is the first phone from Apple to feature a dual lens system.
The Note 8 features larger, dual pixel sensors (1.4μm vs 1.2μm). It also includes OIS on the telephoto lens—a first for any smartphone, and very important for handheld shooting. The Note 8 also features faster apertures in both lenses: The main camera is f/1.7 (Apple's is f/1.8), while the telephoto is f/2.4 (Apple's is f/2.8). A faster aperture allows more light to reach the sensor resulting in a less noisy image.
The Galaxy Note 8 takes what makes the S8 and S8+ great, and adds a dual lens system, a first for Samsung.
But specs only tell half the story, because great software can easily overcome inferior hardware. And if the experience of actually using the cameras is poor, I don’t care how great the camera is, I don’t want to use it.
Let's get into user experience first. Switching to the iPhone 7 Plus’ Portrait Mode is simple, but takes a second to kick in. Once it does, Apple's interface is really good in telling you how to reach the sweet spot of the mode. The software recommends that you be about 8 feet from your subject in order for the effect to trigger, and you’ll notice a box on the interface turns yellow when you can snap the portrait. If the conditions aren’t right, Apple tells you what you need to change in order to get the best results.
Apple makes Portrait Mode on the iPhone 7 Plus very user friendly.
Samsung? Not so much. After launching the camera, you just need to tap on the Live Focus option, which launches super quick. Once activated, you’re prompted to stay around 4 feet away from your subject in order for the effect to trigger. But when the effect doesn't trigger, I find the prompts to be too vague to be helpful.
The Live Focus mode on the Note 8 struggles to provide clear details about what you need to fix when it doesn't work.
Interface quirks aside, the Note 8 does have a couple nice tricks up its sleeve. First, you can adjust just how much bokeh is introduced into the scene. There’s a handy slider to see, in real time, just how much you’re affecting the shot. And to take it to another level, the same thing can be done after the photo is snapped! From the gallery app you can save as many different variations as you want since all the info is already embedded in the capture. The Note 8 also saves the photo from the main camera, just in case you want a different perspective of the scene you shot.
Samsung included some nifty features into it's Live Focus mode, including the option to see a photo taken from the wide lens.
Apple doesn’t have any of these options, but I’m hoping they come in a software update or appear native in one of the new iPhone models announced next week. For now, you can only select to have the 7 Plus save a second version of the photo with the effect turned off.
So how do the photos look? Let’s compare images of our fabulous model Cyndal, shot on the street in San Francisco. The light was changing rapidly that day so the exposures are a bit different from shot to shot. Nonetheless, both phones were able to capture pleasing images with a nice amount of depth.
Both the iPhone 7 Plus (left) and Galaxy Note 8 (right) add depth to the scene, drawing your eye to the model.
But we do see a problem already. The iPhone locks the face in focus and adds blur to everything, even objects that are in the same plane of focus as her face. You can see in the iPhone photo below that the detail on her top is lost.
Apple (left) blurs everything but the models face. Samsung (right) keeps items in the same plane of focus in focus—the way it should be. Click to enlarge.
I’ve noticed this quirk ever since Portrait Mode was introduced last year, and I’m still very confused as to why Apple makes this decision. It’s not how DSLR’s work, and it feels just sloppy. The Note 8 on the other hand has the model—top and all—in focus, with nice separation from the wall behind her.
iPhone 7 Plus (left) and the Galaxy Note 8 (right) both have a hard time with edge detection when it comes to hair. Click to enlarge.
Moving to a second street scene, we notice a couple more things. First, the Note 8 struggles with edge detection on hair just like the iPhone. But more importantly is what’s happening to the garage in the top right corner of the frame.
Apple says it takes a limited number of samples around a person's head and applies the same amount of depth to the rest of the scene. Samsung seems to gather even more depth info. Click to enlarge.
The iPhone is blurring the lines evenly, whereas the Note 8 is understanding the depth of the scene and blurring them in a gradient fashion. This suggests that the Note 8 is able to more accurately represent depth than the iPhone.
In such a complex scene both the iPhone 7 Plus and the Note 8 have a hard time knowing what should be in focus and what shouldn't. Click to enlarge.
Checking out this grassy location reveals some of the same quirks. Both phones continue to struggle with complex scenes, and as a result they keep some things in focus that should be blurred, and vice versa.
There is far more blur applied to the image coming out of the 7 Plus compared to the Note 8.
Zooming into the top left corner we also notice that at it’s maximum depth, the iPhone 7 Plus is far more blurrier than the Note 8.
This garage door proves to be an interesting test for both the iPhone 7 Plus and Galaxy Note 8.
This last example in front of the garage door again shows the weaknesses of both cameras. The Note 8 was trying—and failing—to gather what was supposed to be out of focus, resulting in weird patches of blur.
There's a halo effect around the model and the edge of the frame on the iPhone 7 Plus. But the Note 8 chose to only blur some of the garage door, making abstract shapes in the pattern.
And while the iPhone blurred everything, including her top, in equal amounts, it also put borders around the model (check out her hair in the shot above) and on the edges of the frame in an unnatural way.
So what did we learn from all these comparisons? We learned both companies still have a long way to go in perfecting their depth of field modes. Samsung has leapfrogged Apple in terms of features and does way better at gaging the whole depth of a scene. But Apple’s mode is easier to use and will most likely be updated soon with new hardware and software.
Either way, I’m super happy that both companies are continuing to push mobile photography forward. Because the best camera is the one you have on you, so why not have it be awesome!
The future of smartphone photography is tied to the future of machine learning. The more information a camera can gather from a scene, the more it can manipulate it.
This story, "Tested: Galaxy Note 8 Live Focus vs iPhone 7 Plus Portrait Mode" was originally published by Macworld.


MIDDLETON, Wis. (WMTV) -- The lives of people in Middleton were changed on September 19, 2018. Danielle Kimball is a part of the team that kept the terrible memory from being any worse.
At 10:26 a.m., a man began shooting his coworkers at WTS Paradigm. One minute, Kimball was laughing with her web technician, then next, she was answering calls from terrified people who heard gun shots.
"Your training kicks in, and you resort to what you know," Middleton Communications Dispatcher, Kimball said.
Kimball has been answering emergency calls since she was 19-years-old. All the training in the world couldn't have prepared her for how personal things got for her that day.
"It was one of the hardest things I have ever done," Kimball said.
Sending the officers she had gotten to know over five years into a situation with an active shooter was terrifying for Kimball. She says she couldn't help thinking about all the little things she knew about each and every one of them.
"I know their families, their kids, their wives, husbands; I couldn't ignore that," Kimball explained.
She never wavered in her focus. She had a mission she had to complete: answer the calls for help and give instructions to find safety.
"They all did so great. I was very impressed with how precise they were," Kimball said." Some needed help talking things through but I was impressed with them."
Kimball's time with the Middleton Communication Center is coming to an end soon. She will be moving to St. Louis the end of March. Helping save lives that September morning, is one of her most memorable experiences.
"I guess I have the satisfaction of doing it. I took care of my people."


The Brazilian vessel left Rio do Janeiro October 29 and will remain in Antarctic waters until March 7.
The twenty five research projects are concentrated in oceanography, meteorology and marine biology with most of the action taking place in the South Shetland, Biscoe, Joinville and Elephant islands.
"Ary Rongel" normally operates from the Antarctic base of Comandante Ferraz which next February 6 will be celebrating its twentieth anniversary.
Captain Joao Bandeira Leandro during a brief press conference in Punta Arenas said that the Brazilian Antarctic Program involves five main areas: atmosphere, solar exploration and its impact on the Earth, geology, education and logistic training, and live sciences.
Brazil first began Antarctic exploration in the summer of 1982/83 with the "Barao de Teffé", which in 1994 was replaced by the Norwegian built "Ary Rongel" that can carry a crew of 78, plus 27 scientists and operates with two helicopters.
According to Captain Bandeira Leandro during this first cruise of the 2003/04 season temperatures were lower than normal and there was a greater number of floating icebergs.


Shock therapy failed to produce the desired result at Tottenham as Spurs conceded two goals in the last 10 minutes to bow out of the League Cup in the quarterfinals after a 2-1 defeat to West Ham on Wednesday.
Tottenham, with Tim Sherwood in charge for the first time, flew out of traps and went close twice through Jermain Defoe and the lively Andros Townsend. Emmanuel Adebayor, restored to the starting line-up after being frozen out by Andre Villas-Boas, steered a header wide as Spurs continued to boss the opening period without truly testing Adrian in the visting goal.
West Ham were much more positive after the break but it was Spurs who broke the deadlock in the 66th minute when Defoe’s cross to the far post was superbly volleyed home by Adebayor. The Hammers drew level, however, with 10 minutes to go when Jarvis beat Hugo Lloris at his near post after good work by Modibo Maiga and Matt Taylor.
And Sam Allardyce’s men stunned the home faithful with five minutes to go when Maiga powered a header past Lloris to book their place in the semi-finals. With the selection of Adebayor and Defoe as two of six changes in a conventional 4-4-2 formation, Sherwood made a statement.
The former Spurs captain, wearing a tracksuit and trainers, showed more energy than Adebayor in Spurs’ opening attack, imploring Aaron Lennon to sprint down the right before Defoe dragged a shot wide. Townsend shot wide from the edge of the area before another Lennon cross caused danger in the Hammers’ box and Joey O’Brien headed too close to his own post for comfort in conceding a corner.
O’Brien conceded another set-piece when Adebayor attacked the right side of the area and then the Togo striker headed a Townsend cross wide. Defoe blasted over, much to Sherwood’s frustration, as West Ham struggled to break free of their own half.
Carlton Cole shot straight at Hugo Lloris as the visitors registered an effort on target for the first time after 36 minutes. The Hammers resumed on the defensive and registered a second shot on target in strange circumstances. James Collins kicked the ball back to Spurs following an injury to George McCartney, but instead of a tame pass to a member of the opposition, the Wales defender booted the ball from inside his own half and forced Lloris to back-pedal to save.
Townsend fed Defoe, who ran down the left before crossing to the back post where Adebayor did the rest, converting with a thunderous right-footed volley which went in off the underside of the bar. Adebayor has now scored three times in his last four Spurs starts.
Mohamed Diame, on for Joe Cole, forced Lloris to save low to his left as the Hammers sought a swift response. Townsend pulled up worryingly for Spurs and departed with 17 minutes remaining, with Nacer Chadli on in his place. Lloris saved a Matt Taylor effort from 25 yards before Adebayor made way with 12 minutes remaining to a rousing reception from the home faithful.
But instead of Tottenham closing out victory, West Ham equalized when Maiga flicked on goalkeeper Adrian’s long ball to Taylor. With his back to goal, Taylor turned and fed Jarvis on the left and the winger was granted enough space by Kyle Walker to fire in.
O’Brien made a fine challenge to deny Chadli after the midfielder broke into the West Ham box and shaped to shoot. The Hammers then struck again after substitute Ravel Morrison found Diame. Diame’s deep cross was met at the far post by Maiga, whose header found the corner for his first goal in a year.
Sigurdsson was denied by Adrian in the first of five minutes of added time as the visiting fans taunted Tottenham and Sherwood, exclaiming "You’re getting sacked in the morning". Maiga then struck the crossbar with a powerful drive and Jack Collison forced Lloris to save as West Ham finished the contest on top as they sealed their progress.


A large fire broke out at the Ethridge Small Mill in Lawrence County.
According to WLX Radio, multiple crews responded to the fire. Traffic on Highway 43 was slowed due to the response.
Drivers were urged to use caution if traveling in the area.


ST. MICHAELS, Md.- Talbot County sheriff's deputies have arrested a man accused of assaulting his ex-girlfriend and her mother.
Police said that on March 20, deputies were called to the 100 block of Miles lane for an assault in progress. They said that when they arrived, the incident was over and the suspect, 21-year-old Carl David Mealey III, of Centreville, had already left the area.
Deputies said that in addition to the assaults, they determined Mealey damaged his ex-girlfriend's vehicle, attempted to puncture her tires, broke the vehicle's windows and caused dents.
After being contacted by deputies, Mealey returned and was arrested and charged with first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, malicious destruction of property and harassment by electronic mail. He was ordered held on $20,000 bond.


Autism spectrum disorder affects 1 in 68 children in the U.S. Challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communications are some of the issues people with autism may experience. But what many don’t know is that those with autism often struggle with an array of other health problems, too.
A new report from the advocacy group Autism Speaks looks at how and why the neurodevelopmental disorder may be linked to other health problems, including difficulty sleeping, digestive distress, epilepsy, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), eating challenges, depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety.
“We now know, beyond doubt, that for many people, autism is a whole-body disorder,” the report authors say in their introduction, and the issues can extend throughout a lifetime.
More than half of people with autism have trouble sleeping, according to the report. Thirteen-year-old Colby Rosenblatt is one of them; he has difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep.
“It has gotten progressively worse and couldn’t get him to bed because he was scared to be alone,” Colby’s mom, Stephanie Udell-Rosenblatt, told CBS News’ Weijia Jiang.
Epilepsy, for example, affects 20 to 33 percent of people with autism, compared to an estimated one to two percent of the general population.
Children with autism are nearly eight times more likely to suffer from one or more chronic gastrointestinal problems — abdominal pain, gas, diarrhea, constipation and painful stools — compared to typically developing children.
“Co-occurring conditions may be due to just sort of the interplay of autism and the environment. Others are definitely related though to biology,” Dr. Thomas Frazier, chief science officer of Autism Speaks, told CBS News.
While children with autism are much more likely to have chronic gastrointestinal issues, the report reveals there is little evidence that special diets, such as going gluten-free, will help with symptoms.
Mental health issues such as anxiety and ADHD are also common in children with autism, Frazier said.
“We have to really think about them not as just having autism, but autism and whatever else is going on for them. Addressing those other things can make a huge difference in their lives,” Frazier said.
Could early intervention reverse autism?
For kids like Colby, doctors recommend exercise, limiting screen time and setting a good bedtime routine.
Colby’s room is cheerful, with painted blue walls decorated with a poster of a world map, and pictures, stuffed animals and photographs on the bureau. A blue tent covers his bed. His parents say the sleep tent helps.
“On a night where Colby gets great sleep, he’s happy. He feels like he’s in control of his body and his emotions,” said his mom.
They also use white noise and nature recordings to put him at ease.
The new Autism Speaks report also stressed that “autism itself is not a cause of premature mortality.” It’s just linked to many other health problems, most of which are treatable or preventable.
The report is the first in a series of in-depth annual reports on special topics related to autism.


A woman in a sport-utility vehicle was killed early Sunday when the SUV hit a semi-truck pulled over on the 5 Freeway north of Castaic, authorities said.
The accident occurred about 4 a.m. on the northbound freeway, according to the California Highway Patrol. The unidentified victim died at the scene.
It was not immediately clear whether she was the driver of the vehicle or a passenger, authorities said.
A portion of the freeway was closed while workers cleared debris.
The driver of the truck had pulled over and was asleep at the time of the accident, authorities said.


CNN’s town hall on gun control and safety following the Parkland shooting received “fake news” backlash after Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor Colton Haab claimed CNN tried to script his question. CNN denied these claims and said that the student’s father, Glenn Haab, sent doctored email exchanges between CNN and himself to media outlets. When the dust settled from this back-and-forth, it turns out Haab did, in fact, alter the emails.
Haab admitted to deliberately leaving out words in emails to CNN producer Carrie Stevenson that he sent to Fox News and Huffington Post, according to the Associated Press. After cries of “fake news”, CNN released the email exchanges between both parties as proof.
“It is unfortunate that an effort to discredit CNN and the town hall with doctored emails has taken any attention away from the purpose of the event,” the network said in a statement. According to Glenn Haab, he didn’t have any “malicious” intent by omitting the words.
As reported over the weekend, Colton Haab proposed questions to ask which included arming teachers. His father then emailed a four-page document with a roughly 700-word speech as well as a series of questions for his son to ask.
In the CNN version of the email, Stevenson states, “This is what Colton and I discussed on the phone that he submitted. He needs to stick to this.” Glenn’s altered version deleted the words “that he submitted” making it seem as though he was being fed a question.


One boy and five girl students of a college here have been suspended by its management after a photo of theirs emerged on social media showing the boy lying on the lap of the girls in their classroom.
The matter, which the college said has “created emotional outbursts” amongst the student community, has also seen the boy being thrashed by unknown persons, leading to his hospitalisation.
Also, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarti Parishad (ABVP) members have submitted a memorandum to the college’s principal asking him to debar the students after the photo, according to sources at the college, was uploaded on Facebook on February 22 and went viral online.
“The incident, the photo and its circulation on social media has created emotional outbursts among the student community and the public,” the college, which is situated at Suratkal here, said in a letter to Mangalore University.
The boy was thrashed by a group of people on Sunday after the photo appeared on Facebook and he has been admitted to a hospital for treatment, police said.
The college authorities informed the parents of the students of the matter and a committee was formed to look into it. Now, after a preliminary inquiry, a decision was taken to suspend the students, the sources said.
The student welfare officer at Mangalore University has also been informed of the incident, they added.
A probe is on to find the person who had posted the photo on Facebook. The college authorities said that the girls had not told them about the photo having been uploaded on social media.


The Pixel 3 camera is about to get a lot better at couples portraits.
Google's Pixel 3 camera is getting even smarter. The latest camera update adds new "kiss recognition" abilities to the phone, allowing it to automatically detect — and photograph — your smooches.
The new feature, part of the newest update to the Google Camera app, is part of the Pixel 3's Photobooth mode. Photobooth uses the front-facing camera to detect smiles and other expressions so you can snap selfies without actually physically pressing the shutter button.
SEE ALSO: Is Google teasing new Pixel phones for May 7?
With the new update, this now applies to photos where you're kissing someone (or something). Plant a smooch your significant other/pet/child/glass of wine, and the Pixel 3's camera should be able to snap your photo for you.
It's a fun update, but there's actually some impressive AI at work behind the scenes. In order to build the feature, Google had to teach its software to recognize people kissing, and when it's the optimal moment to shoot a photo.
"We’re excited by the possibilities of automatic photography on camera phones," Google writes in a blog post. "As computer vision continues to improve, in the future we may generally trust smart cameras to select a great moment to capture. Photobooth is an example of how can carve out a useful corner of this space – selfies and group selfies of smiles, funny faces, and kisses – and deliver a fun and useful experience."


With Round 6 team lists a lot more stable than in previous weeks, the unique selections that you can pick up this week can be a bit more luxurious than previous injury-driven selections.
Rhyse has backed it up three weeks in a row now, with scores of 65, 70, and now 69. Martin is very much looming as a must-have across the byes, but with his price he won’t be dropping too much so you’ll need to fork it out for him.
While not the worst pick, the Bulldogs were very underwhelming on the weekend and, as part of that, Harawira-Naera suffered as well, only managing to score 39 points. His CTW/2RF dual position is very handy, but he is now at $468,400, which is a lot to fork out for a player who may not be a gun.
NRL: Take a look back at some of the best and worst moments of round five in the NRL.
Ryan Sutton looms to be the biggest beneficiary from Joseph Tapine’s unfortunate ankle injury. In the two weeks where Tapine was previously injured, Sutton scored 46 and 58 in base points, while playing 48 and 56 minutes respectively. With Tapine out for an extended time, the lock position should be Sutton’s, which should see him rise nicely in price heading into the Round 12 bye. View him as a stepping stone, where he can your 17th man each week, score a solid amount, rise in cash before moving onto the likes of Kikau or Martin for Round 12.
With Kieran Foran out for three months as well with an ankle injury, new recruit Cogger from the Knights has been called up to step into the vacated number 6 jersey. Cogger has only played 22 matches over the past four seasons, but Bulldogs were keen enough to steal Cogger from his hometown. Last week, while the Bulldogs got romped, Cogger quietly managed a solid 74 points, courtesy of a try assist and a few linebreak assists. If he can take a solid playmaking role, Cogger could be a possibility to run through until the Round 12 bye.
With one of the coolest names in the game, Ofahiki Ogden held a little-known record with the highest points-per-minute (PPM) last season. With a whopping 1.37 PPM, Ogden never got the minutes to be able to convert his PPM into solid SuperCoach scores, however with the loss of Dylan Napa in the Bulldogs’ forward pack, Ogden has the chance to step up. Price at higher than a cheapie with $271,700, if Ogden sees 40 minutes a match, his price will rise by around $150,000 by Round 12, to the either upgrade to a gun or cash in big time by dropping back to a Round 16 cheapie.
Waqa Blake’s SuperCoach scores have fallen off a cliff this season. He has already haemorrhaged $166,300, to now fall below $400,000. Last season, Blake averaged 68.9 in his final nine matches, but has only managed an average of 32.0 this season which has contained no line breaks or tries. In two weeks time, the Panthers’ draw becomes smooth sailing until the bye, so if you grab now, you could get ahead of the pack before others start to hop on-board.


The move toward an Internet of Things (IoT) world is already happening and it will be simplified, streamlined, and most importantly, cost-effective by the year 2018 thanks to the lowered cost of LTE chipsets and bandwidths, says Altair Semiconductor co-founder Eran Eshed.
The trend of a wide availability of cost-effective LTE modem chips and mobile carriers' moves to change their business model to offer low-cost bandwidth will allow the public to truly feel the advent of Interent of Things (IoT) by 2018, according to Eran Eshed, co-founder and VP of worldwide sales and marketing of Israeli firm Altair Semiconductor, which specializes in LTE solutions for IoT.
South Korea has one of the highest LTE penetrations in the world and local telcos SK Telecom and KT are planning to deploy an IoT-dedicated network within this year. "Korea is starting to really wake up in the context of IoT," Eshed told ZDNet in an interview in downtown Seoul following his business meeting with local telcos. "We announced together with KT demos for smart meter. There was also the bike-tracking. Whenever the bike moves, it wakes up the IoT module, and the GPS starts tracking."
KT and SK Telecom, as well as Samsung (ARTIK), are selling or handing out IoT modules for customers to toy with. "South Korea is at least a year ahead in some of the other carriers in the world [in committing to IoT], it is an excellent test bed," said Eshed.
Altair gained global notice when it was announced that Sony was acquiring it for $212 million in January.
The Japanese tech tycoon is a world leader in sensors -- the global number one in image sensors -- and said it plans to combine it with the Israeli's LTE modem competence, which could prove an interesting combination for deployment in the IoT.
"Sony has products in their portfolio that are IoT-targeted, such as sensors. Sony has one of the best GPS chipsets in the world. They have wearable SoC. So they were just missing that connectivity so we are in a position to offer that platform, or at least bundle some of components inside the solutions," said Eshed.
"We are already working on integrating this to products. They have some amazing things in development and they will be applicable to IoT. The name of the game won't be branding, but technology in IoT, and Sony has that," he added.
Altair currently offers IoT-optimized chipsets, LTE Categories 1, and plans to offer the lower quality M1 and M2 down the road. "The idea in offering lower Category LTE is to lower power, size, and [make it] cost-effective which will enable something simple and easy to integrate in every 'thing'."
The popularity of Altair's competent, cost-effective LTE chipset has to do with the carriers' need for them in the IoT. Because IoT will affect "everything", telcos are pressured to change their business models to offer consumers cheaper connectivity as they cannot charge $50 for every service as they did the smartphone. A business model change must happen, to install cost-effective networks that can offer cheaper connectivity to consumers while being profitable.
You needed to be very "brave and rich" to enter the cellular business because of the qualifications, certifications, and provisions, said Eshed. In the IoT space, most of it will be significantly simplified -- it is going to be much, much easier to integrate these "things".
"Service clients for the carriers were expensive -- you really had to have an application that could sustain paying $10 a month to carriers. But in the IoT space, people talk $1 per month.
"Our forte is providing solution in LTE only. Unlike our competitors that offer fallback to 2G or 3G connectivity, because you need coverage well," he said. "In IoT it's a different situation because of cost. It is just not economical to use 2G and 3G."
In line with cost, in IoT, the importance of slim chipsets is even higher than phones because it must be able to be applicable on anything, anywhere, hence the competitiveness of single model LTE. "There are a bunch of proprietary technologies that were built from the group-up to be IoT-optimized. So they don't carry the baggage of the complex cellular," said the co-founder. "There has never been a wireless technology that succeeds without having a strong ecosystem that is built around standards. In the case of cellular technology, the scale is there."
"Cellular is very secure and it has been proven reliable and used by billions. And standard bodies have a defined special, slimmed down version of this LTE that allows very low cost and small battery," he added. Altair's target is to lower the cost of its solutions as low as $5 from its current $10 to $15.
Once that connectivity is ubiquitous and in the hands of consumers, novel new use of them will appear, such as earphones with LTE modules that allow you to stream music or follow instructions, said the VP.
"There are a bunch of smart people out there. Just put the connectivity in their hands, they will figure out what to do with it. That is what we are trying to do, in a cost-effective way," said Eshed. "It is already happening. There are very cool enterprise applications."
"We have a customer that builds sensors for garbage cans, so waste collection and management. You can plan the route to what you have to empty and when," he said. "Connect to the cloud, and good things will happen."


This week I’m sharing a fabulous steak recipe and a light lunch salad option. I’ll chat about reaching your potential in your personal and professional life.
Part of my work is speaking engagements. I speak on various topics but generally the theme is how to be your best self – this is how I motivated myself to reach a high level as a professional athlete and now how I stay motivated to be my best in my life post-professional sport.
January is always a busy time for this type of work, workplaces are hoping to motivate their staff and in turn staff are planning for a big year ahead.
I recently did four speaking engagements in the financial sector. It was really interesting for me to be immersed in a totally different industry for a few days.
I studied business management for my masters in the Smurfit Business School which meant I wasn’t completely out of my depth but at the same time it was great to be back in this environment.
I took a lot of learning from the few days.
1. Pension planning – what is your health pension?
Pensions are not the most exciting topic but they are really important and an area that most of us need to engage with. Essentially you are long-term planning to give yourself more financial security in later years.
We all get so caught up in our financial health in every stage of our lives but yet we struggle to think of the little changes that make a difference to our long- term mental and physical health.
Planning to be financially secure into our later years is incredibly important but I feel its just as important to team this with a long-term ‘health pension’. What are the small ‘deposits’ you make each month that will give you a better chance at a healthier future?
When I retired from athletics one of the main questions I was asked was what am I training for now and I always found it really simple, I train to give myself the best chance at a long and healthy life.
I’m training for a great quality of life into my later years.
A theme that always comes up in the corporate world is hitting targets and being motivated. It’s one that is incredibly familiar to me after spending years as a professional athlete. In terms of work goals, I have my own ones but I always balance them with health goals.
Yes, I’m ambitious with work but it’s just as important I’m healthy and not burnt out.
I believe everyone should set themselves a yearly health goal and have markers every quarter (March, June, September, December) that will help to keep you on track to reach your annual health goal.
Take a few minutes to consider what is your health goal for the year ahead.
I’ve a lot of experience when it comes to healthy lifestyle and it’s an area I obviously love. I’m fortunate that lots of people engage with me about it and trust what I tell them.
However, there is a responsibility in that trust to make sure the information I give out is correct.
One of the skills I admire most in people is the ability to work with others and collaborate. No one knows everything and tapping into various experts is really essential whether that is for your work or personal goals.
In work it’s so useful to ask people who are more expert than you for their input.
Outside of work when it comes to your health make sure you are sourcing your information from people who are well qualified or work with a network of people.
Since launching my site, www.derval.ie, one of the main ways I’ve been building it is to bring in experts who contribute their knowledge.
For me that’s the best way to work.
My work is performance- and results-driven. I work for myself and if I don’t do certain things then I don’t get paid, it is really as simple as that.
A lot of workplaces will place high value on targets which I touched on in point two but I would encourage all work places to embrace a work culture that works to encourage healthy balance.
What I mean by that is when you are in the office make sure that you are doing the small things that make a difference to your work/life balance.
Get out for a walk with colleagues at lunchtime, if it is crunch time in the office make sure to ask others how they are doing, be mindful of the types of office snacks that you bring in.
Whether you are the boss or not you can really contribute to a healthy work culture so just be aware of the positive impact you can make on your own and your colleagues’ health.
Most people want to reach their potential in work and I really feel passionately that to do this it’s important to care of all of you.
Keep that health pension in mind.
Let’s be honest meat got a bit of a bashing in January with all the talk of veganuary.
I’m unashamedly bringing you a stunning steak.
I adore a good steak and I’m lucky in Cork to have a great butcher in the English Market called Tom Durcan where I can pick up quality meat.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Place sweet potato in a prepared roasting dish and put in oven for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a pan of water to the boil, add the parsnips and simmer for 30 minutes or until the parsnip is soft.
In a large frying pan heat the rapeseed oil until very hot and season the pan with the sea salt and black pepper.
Place your steak onto the pan (if you don’t hear a decent sizzle your pan is too cold) and sear for about 2 minutes each side until nicely caramelised.
Place the steak onto a tray and pour over any juices from your pan, then place into the oven for 5-10 minutes depending on how well done you want it.
Once cooked, remove from the oven, cover with tinfoil and allow to rest while you get the mash and butter ready.
Mash the cooked parsnip and sweet potato in a bowl together with the milk, half the butter and then season to taste with salt and white pepper.
For the garlic and herb butter simply blend the garlic, parsley and rosemary together with some olive oil to create a paste then combine in a bowl with the remaining butter.
From here on it is just an assembly job and let the sharing commence!
If you’ve had my steak recipe the night before this is a perfect light lunch option.
This is a tasty, high-fibre salad. The raw broccoli and peppers have a lovely crunch that’s offset by the feta, and the chickpeas pack a lot of extra nutrition.
If you want to increase your carbohydrates, serve wholemeal pitta on the side.
This is a salad that’s easy enough to pull together in 10 minutes, but nice enough to serve to friends.
Place the broccoli, chickpeas, peppers and feta in a large serving bowl and mix well.
Place all of the ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl and stir well.
Top the broccoli salad with dollops of the dressing and serve without delay.


Natalie Imbruglia to perform at..
Natalie Imbruglia will be churning out some new songs soon.
The superstar is in town to perform at Derby Day, and she told Denis Walter she’ll be writing new material in the new year.
“Next year I have a mini-tour in the UK in February, and then I’m head-down writing,” she said.
Imbruglia is moving to the country to get the creative juices flowing.
“I find nature very inspiring so it’s going to generate some good new material,” she said.
Click PLAY above for the full interview!


WASHINGTON—The United States said on Wednesday that U.S. citizens were among the hostages taken when Islamists raided a gas facility in Algeria and that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had telephoned Algeria’s prime minister to discuss the incident.
“Beyond confirming that there are Americans among the hostages, I will ask you to respect our decision not to get into any further details as we try to secure these people,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news briefing.
Nuland said Clinton had spoken with both Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal and the U.S. ambassador in Algeria on Thursday, and that U.S. officials were also in contact with the security office of BP, which operates the gas field together with Norway’s Statoil and Algeria’s state company Sonatrach.
There were two reported deaths, one of them a Briton, in the early morning attack on the complex, which may be linked to France’s strike on rebel groups in northern Mali.
Algerian forces have surrounded the kidnappers and negotiations for the release of the hostages are ongoing, an Algerian security official based in the region said, adding that the militants had come from Mali. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
A group called the Katibat Moulathamine, or the Masked Brigade, called a Mauritanian news outlet to say they had carried out the operation on the Ain Amenas gas field, taking five hostages — three Norwegians, a Briton and an American.
The group’s claim could not be independently substantiated and it was not clear why the reports over the citizenship and the numbers of those kidnapped differed.
Reuters was reporting that the kidnappers claimed to be holding as many as 41 hostages.
The Algerian Interior Ministry said one foreigner had been killed. Algeria’s state news agency later said there was been a second fatality, a British citizen.
The identities of the hostages and their location were still unclear, but Ireland announced that a 36-year-old married Irish man was among them, while Japanese officials said their citizens could possibly be involved as well. A Norwegian woman said her husband called her saying he had been taken hostage.
The caller to the Mauritanian news outlet, the Nouakchott Information Agency, which often carries announcements from extremist groups, did not give any further details, except that the kidnapping was carried out by a group created to attack the interests of countries participating in the ongoing offensive against Islamist groups in Mali.
French President Francois Hollande launched the surprise operation in its former West African colony on Friday, with hopes of stopping Al Qaeda-linked and other Islamist extremists he believes pose a danger to the world.
The natural gas complex, the third largest in the country, is a joint venture of BP, Norway’s Statoil and the Algerian Sonatrach company located some 1,300 kilometres south of the capital near the Libyan border.
The site is typically occupied by about 700 personnel, the large majority Algerian staff and contractors. Fewer than 20 foreign staff are usually there at any given time.
Wednesday’s attack began with the ambush of a bus carrying employees from the gas plant to the nearby airport but the attackers were driven off, according to the Algerian statement, which said three vehicles of heavily armed men were involved.
“After their failed attempt, the terrorist group headed for the natural gas plant and took a number of workers with foreign nationalities hostage,” said the statement, adding that authorities were following the situation very closely.
Attacks on oil-rich Algeria’s hydrocarbon facilities are very rare, despite decades of fighting an Islamist insurgency, mostly in the north of the country.
In the last several years, however, Al Qaeda’s influence in the poorly patrolled desert wastes of southern Algeria and northern Mali and Niger has grown and it operates smuggling and kidnapping networks throughout the area. Militant groups that seized control of northern Mali already hold seven French hostages as well as four Algerian diplomats.
The natural gas field where the attack occurred, however, is more than 1,000 kilometres from the Mali border, though it is just 100 kilometres from Libya’s deserts.
BP, together with Norwegian company Statoil and the Algerian state oil company, Sonatrach, operate the gas field. A Japanese company, JGC Corp, provides services for the facility as well.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the kidnapped foreigners possibly include Japanese employees of JGC.
“We are certain that JGC is the one affected,” Suga said, adding that the government is now negotiating with local officials through diplomatic channels, asking for safety first to protect the lives of the Japanese nationals.
Statoil said that it has 20 employees in the facility. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry said it could not confirm that any Norwegian citizens had been abducted. The Norwegian Newspaper Bergens Tidende, however, said a 55-year-old Norwegian working on the site called his wife to say he had been abducted.
Algeria had long warned against military intervention against the rebels in northern Mali, fearing the violence could spill over its own long and porous border. Though its position softened slightly after Hollande visited Algiers in December, Algerian authorities remain skeptical about the operation and worried about its consequences on the region.
Algeria is Africa’s biggest country, and has been an ally of the U.S. and France in fighting terrorism for years. But its relationship with France has been fraught with lingering resentment over colonialism and the bloody war for independence that left Algeria a free country 50 years ago.
Algeria’s strong security forces have struggled for years against Islamist extremists, and have in recent years managed to nearly snuff out violence by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb around its home base in northern Algeria. In the meantime, AQIM moved its focus southward.
AQIM has made tens of millions of dollars off kidnapping in the region, abducting Algerian businessmen or political figures for ransom and sometimes foreigners.
French President Hollande said on Wednesday he was liaising with the Algerian government over the attack.
“As I am speaking to you, a hostage-taking is under way in Algeria at an energy facility, with a number of people taken hostage whose exact details we don’t know, not even for the French nationals who may be involved,” Hollande said in a speech to lawmakers.


POMONA — Tattoo enthusiasts and the merely tattoo-curious converged on Fairplex for a three-day tattoo show this weekend.
The Pomona Body Art Expo and Music Fest brought together more than 300 tattoo artists and body piercers at Fairplex. Although tattoo artists came from as far away as Las Vegas and Provo, Utah, most of the booths belonged to Southern California shops.
Once mostly the province of the counterculture, tattoos have gone mainstream in recent years.
“It probably all started with (the television show) ‘Miami Ink’ and crept up from there,” said Amber Anderson, co-owner and artist at Brave New World California in Upland.
Benjamin Hook, one of her partners at Brave New World California, pointed to the popularity of heavily tattooed West Coast musicians from Los Angeles and Seattle in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the start of the growing acceptance of tattoos.
But things really exploded in 2005, when cable TV channel TLC began showing “Miami Ink” and its spin-off reality shows.
“I think television had a lot to do with it,” said Ryan Koscielski, an apprentice at Ink’d Chronicles Tattoo and Piercing in Pomona.
The stars of one of the “Miami Inked” spin-offs, Ruthless from “LA Inked,” was scheduled to appear at the expo.
Still, rebellion remains a part of it.
“This generation wanted to separate from the Baby Boomers,” said Brave New World California partner Andrea Evrard.
“It also has to do with taking ownership of our bodies,” Anderson said.
But the mainstream acceptance and popularity of tattoos has a downside as well.
“It’s a really bittersweet thing in the tattoo industry,” Koscielski said.
People giving tattoos at home – “scratchers,” in industry parlance – were a source of concern for several local shops at the expo. They pointed to the uneven economic playing field where unregulated and unlicensed home businesses don’t face the same financial obstacles professional shops.
There’s also health dangers for customers getting a tattoo in someone’s home, according to the professionals.
“You could have the cleanest home, but it doesn’t mean it’s a good tattoo environment,” Koscielski said.
The expo included live music from tribute bands covering the Doors, No Doubt, AC/DC, Rage Against the Machine and, perhaps showing how much tattoos have penetrated into the mainstream, the Beatles.
The Pomona Body Art Expo and Music Fest continues from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. today. A one-day pass costs $20. For more information, visit BodyArtExpo.com.


"They recalled that intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the UN, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict, constitutes a crime under international law."
So if a member of the FIB is attacking to "neutralize" armed groups, can he or she be " entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict"? The answer appears to be no.
For weeks Inner City Press has asked the UN to clarify its understanding of the applicability of the international law of armed conflict to its FIB, without success. In a UN basement conference room an expert, on camera, told Inner City Press it is not a war crime to shot at a combatant. Click here. And that is what the FIB has become. But how far does the slippage go?
The Mission reports that it can confirm firing incidents into Rwanda territory originated by M23 positions between 22 and 29 August. The Mission further reports that it has not witnessed any FARDC firing into Rwanda territory during this period.
While the UN deploys attack helicopters in Eastern Congo, and bombs from inside the DRC have reportedly killed a woman in Rwanda, France has called an emergency UN Security Council session on the DRC on Thursday.
The idea is to strong-arm Rwanda on a draft press statement France proposed. Actually, Rwanda is proposing adding the fact that the "repeated mortar shells and bombs landing in Rwandan territory" come "from the DRC." How controversial. Without that change, Inner City Press has obtained the draft and puts it online here.
The modus operandi is to hand information to Reuters.
At last Friday's noon briefing, video here from Minute 10:15, Inner City Press asked the UN's outgoing deputy spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey about the answer, when Inner City Press and another journalist asked UN Peacekeeping acting chief Edmond Mulet Thursday if the M23 rebels had entered the security zone established around Goma.
So is Reuters' "senior UN official who asked not to be named" someone junior to Mulet, or as another journalist suggested, no one at all?
On Friday, Del Buey said he knew what Mulet had said, and has "seen other reports." He said he'd have to check. But last Friday was his last day at the UN (the Free UN Coalition for Access wished him well, video here at Minute 9:55). So we'll see. Watch this site.