You could tell just by looking in her fiery eyes that Princess Arva, regardless of the 600 years that had passed between her era and ours, was determined to renew her mission. She would eschew Christianity from the Baltics and reacquaint its inhabitants with their pre-crusader traditions. Amazing. She hadn't yet been "awake" for an hour, yet she was planning the greatest cultural revanche in modern history. To boot, she was under the impression that I, humble linguistic scholar, was going to help her.
My oh my, I thought as I lazily steered the Volkswagen, I had a clinical nutcase riding shotgun. Until I reached the nearest nuthouse, the least I could do was to show understanding. "So tell me, princess, are there any other missions of yours I might need to know about?"
Arva nodded. "Yes, after ridding the region of Christ and his followers, my legions and I will declare war on Germany."
I lost control of the wheel and nearly drove into an ash tree. I stopped the car to catch my breath. "Umâ€¦Arva, there's something you need to know. Some things have changed since you were last around."
She looked at me. Her eyes were electric, her light brown hair waxen. An hour ago she was sodden and emaciated; now her skin and gown radiated. She was transforming before my eyes. "Well, I guess they have after 570 years," she said matter-of-factly.
I didn't even know where to begin. Columbus? Martin Luther? Napoleon Bonaparte? Mick Jagger? "Yes, well, regarding Germany, the thing isâ€¦ ughâ€¦ Germany is our ally now!" I said gleefully.
Arva spat. "Shut thy filthy hole, foul American crusader! Don't speak such heresies in the presence of royalty."
I slumped against the wheel. This was getting to be too much. I retrieved a pack of Camels and lit up. In one puff I smoked half the cig, my mind struggling for ways out of this jam. When I looked at her, she was staring back at me as if I were an extraterrestrial with a wedding-cake head.
Then it dawned on me. Holding out the Camel, I said, "Yeah, I imagine you didn't have these things back in the 15th century. Guy named Columbus brought it back from the New World. It's called tobacco. Wanna try?"
Arva scoffed. "Tobacco?!? Are you kidding? We Balts wouldn't fool around with such frivolous things. We always go straight for the hard stuff."
Now it was my turn to be intrigued. "Oh yeah?"
"Sure. For instance, we have our ritual boletus. Would you like to try some?"
Child of the Sixties, I was all too familiar with magical mushrooms, and, I have to admit, my body twitched with an adolescent inclination to chew a bit of the ole' funny fungus. But I shunned the urge - my situation was precarious enough without pulling a Timothy Leary in southern Lithuania.
"Speaking of boletus, did you know that the English word mushroom comes from Latin musario, which is related to the Lithuanian word for fly [muse], and as you know the fly agaric--"
"Oh, Perkunai!" Arva looked utterly exasperated. "Are all the people from the New World as strange as you?"
I couldn't help but smile. "No. Believe me, there're much worse." My mind instantly did a roll-call: Tiny Tim, Ted Nugent, Dennis Rodman, Michael Jackson, Hillary Clintonâ€¦. "I'm one of the normal ones."
I revved up the car and started off. When I reached cruising speed, I said, "Germany is an ally, Arva."
"If I weren't a woman of high esteem, I would slap you," she said.
"Germany is a member of NATO - a security alliance that includes America - and the Balts joined last year."
Princess Arva recoiled in horror. "NATO?!? What is this NATO? Oh, Perkunai! It sounds like a papal plot!"
I allowed myself a laugh. "No, noâ€¦ It's not a papal plot, though the Italians are also members, if you want to know."
"Then it must be a plot!"
Then, to my own damage, I remembered one detail. It was all over the news this week. "I suppose it wouldn't do any good to tell you that the new pope is Germanâ€¦ first one in almost 900 years."
"Oh, Perkunai! The popes let the Teutons invade us back then, and they're continuing their nefarious agenda six centuries later! We must stop them!"
Now the exasperation belonged to me. "Great! So maybe you can declare war on Italy as well as Germany!"
"Good idea, American crusader. You learn quick!"


The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) had requested all accredited Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) to submit a list of all their foreign workers to determine how many of them are working legally in the country and to know if they are paying the proper taxes.
Foreign POGO workers on the list who do not have the required alien employment permit (AEP) will be recommended to the Bureau of Immigration for immediate deportation.
On Friday, the DOLE reported that a total of 76,936 individuals are currently working in 165 Service Providers of POGO.
“Out of this figure, 63,855 or 82.9 percent are foreign nationals, while 13,081 or 17.1 percent are Filipinos,” the DOLE said.
At least 87.9 percent or 56,180 of them are Chinese, Vietnamese – 1,862 (2.9 percent) and Indonesians – 1,586 (2.5 percent).
DOLE said the numbers could still increase in the coming days. A total of 27 licensed POGO firms have yet to submit their list of FN employees.
According to the DOLE, there are 138,000 foreign workers in the Philippines, most of them Chinese nationals employed by POGOs.
DOLE said 83,760 have Special Work Permits (SWP) and 54,241 have Alien Employment Permits (AEP).
An SWP is issued by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to foreigners who will be working in the country for less than six months, while an AEP may be obtained by foreigners at the DOLE if they will be locally employed over six months.
For visas, the DOLE said the Department of Justice (DOJ) and four economic zones were able to issue 84,010 visas to foreigners.
Bello admitted that DOLE has limited capability to thoroughly uncover labor violations since it only has 800 labor inspectors nationwide.
The labor department is still waiting for the submission of issued visas for other economic zones.
China has appealed to the Philippines to help investigate the possible exploitation of Chinese workers in illegal gambling operations in the country.
Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua sought the country’s cooperation amid concerns about the welfare of Chinese nationals during his closed-door meeting with Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo in Malacañang.
The Chinese diplomat paid a courtesy call on Panelo at his office Monday and tackled various areas of mutual concern. The meeting, which Panelo described as productive, lasted 50 minutes.
“On the Chinese workers in the country, Ambassador Zhao gave assurances that his government does not consent to any illegal entry or employment of its citizens in the country,” Panelo said.
“In addition, he expressed concern on the possible exploitation of Chinese citizens in illegal gambling operations in the country and called for cooperation in strictly monitoring the situation and swift investigation and prosecution of those responsible,” he added.
“According to Ambassador Zhao, it is the strong and robust economy of the Philippines that led the Chinese government to extend preferential credit terms for the country’s infrastructure plans,” Panelo said.
Panelo and Zhao also recognized the need for the peaceful resolution of the South China Sea issue as well as the responsible use of marine resources in the disputed territory.
“Both officials recognize the value of responsible utilization of the marine resources of the West Philippine Sea, including the rich fishing ground of the Scarborough Shoal,” Panelo said.
“Both officials likewise give importance to the existing bilateral consultation mechanism between China and the Philippines as an avenue to address possible issues in the West Philippine Sea and to resolve any conflict or misunderstanding that may arise therefrom,” he added.


Third, do not believe the Republican spin. The race was going to be close because there were 18 candidates with 11 of them mostly well known Republicans. But Jon Ossoff outperformed Hillary Clinton in an off year special election. That should bother the GOP. The Democrats were deeply motivated and mobilized. That spells trouble for 2018.
Fourth, do not believe the White House. There actually was a bit of a rebuke of the president. Consider that there were three well known candidates running as the friends of Trump.
One, Bob Gray, had actually vocally opposed the president in 2016, going so far as to call him the “GOP Obama.” While he hired some of President Trump’s campaign staff, most everyone knew he really was not as pro-Trump as he claimed. He came in third in the race.
Then there was Bruce Levell, who served as President Trump’s coalitions director in Georgia. He got 0.2 percent of the vote. That is what Amy Kremer got too. She served with a Trump related super PAC in 2016. The closer one had to legitimate ties to President Trump, the worse the candidate did.
This is not meant to insult Trump voters or the president. It is just a statement of fact. It is something the Republicans need to be mindful of. In suburban districts of highly educated, high income voters, the president does not play as well as he does elsewhere.
The GOP is going to need to find ways to campaign in those traditional Republican areas on a message of assistance for an agenda and accountability for a president. That was, in fact, the message Karen Handel ran on.
Handel claimed she would not run from the president, but she relied on her record of holding her own side accountable. She said she would support a conservative agenda, but would speak up when the agenda was not conservative.
Voters appreciated that. They also relied on her high name identification, which was her chief asset.
Lastly, it is worth repeating that none of us should read too much into this. Special elections are special creatures. The normal rules do not apply. But, with attention so high now, the runoff should operate more traditionally, which gives Handel an advantage.


Arsenio Hall and Paula Abdul are not giving love a second try.
Despite reports that former couple has rekindled their 20-year-old relationship, the former talk show host and actor told Access Hollywood that he is not romantically linked to the former "American Idol" judge after an online report last week suggesting the duo had started dating again.
"We are friends for life, and we love hanging out and laughing together, but we are not involved romantically," Arsenio told Access on Monday.
Last week, a report by ContactMusic.com claimed the two were romantically involved.
"Arsenio reached out to Paula because he thought she needed a friend to talk to, someone she could relate to. Arsenio knows what it's like to leave a hit TV show. One phone call led to another, and the next thing you know, they were making a date," a ContactMusic.com source claimed.


Stars of the new movie Bohemian Rhapsody Rami Malek, Gwilym Lee and Joseph Mazzello arrive at the Boston premier of the movie on October 1st at AMC Boston Common which attracted many area college students.
The Harvard Undergraduate Drummers (THUD) perform during the grand opening of the Smith Center on Thursday evening.
The formerly all-female Radcliffe Choral Society opened its membership to students of all genders in late April 2018.
The Glee Club made the decision to open their membership eligibility after consulting with the historically-female Radcliffe Choral Society, which also decided to make its membership gender neutral in April.
Cole Durbin '18 (center) taps out a rhythm during THUD's spring show, "THUDlash."
Solange Knowles accepted the Artist of the Year Award from the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations Saturday evening in Sanders Theater.
The Kuumba Singers of Harvard College celebrated and reflected on the week of events dedicated to creating and celebrating work by black artists.
88rising founder Sean Miyashiro and Chinese hip-hop group Higher Brothers came to campus Thursday afternoon to discuss Asian hip-hop and cultural appropriation.
The Boston Area Brigade of Activists and Musicians plays at the "Transit Not Traffic" rally in Allston.
Harvard students perform at the Jill Scott Masterclass, the second event of Kuumba's Black Arts Festival: Coming of Age.


"Last week we heard from members of Congress about Google's plans to update our privacy policies by consolidating them into a single document on March 1," Google director of public policy Pablo Chavez wrote today in a blog post accompanying the letter. "Protecting people's privacy is something we think about all day across the company, and we welcome discussions about our approach. We hope this letter, in which we respond to the members' questions, clears up the confusion about these changes."
"We're not collecting more data about you. Our new policy simply makes it clear that we use data to refine and improve your experience on Google--whichever products or services you use," Google said at the time. "This is something we have already been doing for a long time. We're making things simpler and we're trying to be upfront about it. Period."
But several lawmakers, including Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) and Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), saw things differently. And in their letter to Google, they said that "consumers should have the ability to opt out of data collection when they are not comfortable with a company's terms of service."
"If a user is signed in, she can still edit or turn off her search history, switch Gmail chat to "off the record," control the way Google tailors ads to her interests using our Ads Preferences Manager, use Incognito mode on Chrome, or use any of the other privacy tools we offer."
"There are two reasons why we're updating our privacy policies: to make them simpler and more understandable, and to improve the user experience across Google," the company wrote in its letter to the lawmakers.
According to Google, it collects three types of data from users: log data, account data, and service data. Log data, defined as a computer's interaction with the service, is anonymous, while account data is all the user information stored for each individual. Service data is information that relates to a particular product, such as Google Maps, but is "not necessarily associated with any users."
Updated at 7:20 a.m. PT to include more details.


MERCERSBURG, PA. ? A showdown between long-term incumbent state Sen. Terry Punt and the chairman of the Franklin County Republican Committee could be in the making as Jim Taylor will announce today that he is running for the GOP nomination in the April 22 primary.
Taylor is scheduled to make the announcement at 9 a.m. on the steps of the Franklin County Courthouse, according to an e-mailed announcement.
The Mercersburg, Pa., man "will run on the issues of state government reform, immigration, and lower taxes," the announcement stated. "Other issues he considers himself a spokesman for are the lives of the unborn, the Second Amendment, and preserving the open and rural nature of Central PA," the announcement read.
Punt, of Waynesboro, Pa., is entering his 20th year as the state senator representing the 33rd District, which is comprised of Franklin and Adams counties and a small part of York County. In a Dec. 3 appearance at a farewell luncheon for retiring Franklin County Commissioners G. Warren Elliott and Cheryl Plummer, he sounded like a candidate for a sixth term.
"I feel good, I'm ready to go and I'm excited about next year," Punt said at the luncheon. "I am planning to run again next year and with your help, we're going to win next year."
Punt, who did not return a telephone message Tuesday, is vice chairman of the Senate Community, Economic and Recreational Development Committee and serves on the Agricultural and Rural Development, State Government, Transportation and Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness committees.
In a November interview, Punt also said he was planning on running. He said at the time he felt healthy despite struggles with diabetes and heart bypass surgery in the past three years.
Prior to serving in the Senate, Punt was elected to five two-year terms in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
Taylor was educated at Swarthmore College and the Yale Institute of Far Eastern Languages, the announcement stated, and is founder and president of America's Political Action Committee, which donates to conservative candidates.
Taylor served on the transition team for the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission after Ronald Reagan's 1980 election. During the Reagan administration, he was an appointee to the President's Advisory Council for the Peace Corps and was vice president of the U.S. delegation to the United Nation's International Youth Year Commission.
A Vietnam veteran, Taylor is a member of the Minutemen, the National Rifle Association, the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation and Rotary International.
Because this is a presidential election year, the primary will be held in April rather than May.


Lowes of New Bern for donating 65 bags of red mulch, 20 bags of soil, 5 little hand shovels, 2 big shovels, 9 pairs of gloves, and 26 packs of marigolds and petunias. They also delivered everything to the school for free; Lowes of Morehead City donated a $100 gift card and free stepping stones, Ebron’s Small Engine Repair of Havelock donated four yards of red mulch, Tractor Supply donated lots of flower seeds and 4 flowering trees, and Rice’s Rent-a-land of Havelock donated the usage of a garden tiller. The school grounds have been restored to its original beauty. Part of Craven County School’s vision recites “invites all students, their families, and all members of the community to work together to support public education to the benefit of our students, our community, our nation and our world.” It is amazing what can happen when the school and community partner together for education!


According to you, it got more surprising from there. You recount how Grover Norquist, the feverish unsavory head of Americans for Tax Reform, waged a whispering campaign against you for “helping the other team.” You complain that Oliver North and G. Gordon Liddy wouldn’t have you on their radio shows. You reveal that Gary Aldrich, whose book Unlimited Access whines about excessive swearing in the Clinton White House, doesn’t like you because you’re gay. You grumble about not being taken seriously as an objective journalist, while at the same time crying foul because you were not invited to address a convention of conservative political activists. You even appear hurt that liberals, still sore about your Anita Hill book, refused to come to your defense. The whole experience, you explain in wounded tones, was shocking. When did professional political partisans become so … partisan?
The outrage you express at discovering something so obvious strikes me as disingenuous. So does your claim that you’ve suffered greatly for being truthful about Hillary Clinton. Let’s weigh the results of the controversy surrounding your latest book: You couldn’t go to a dinner party. You were attacked by a few marginal characters on the right, people most intelligent conservatives regard as ridiculous and embarrassing. And you got slammed by Garry Wills and Molly Ivins–hardly a career-killer.
On the up side, you’ve been able to keep your high-paying, low-obligation job at the American Spectator. You became rich from a book that didn’t sell. Your pieces are now running in Esquire. Last week you did the Today show. I admire and applaud all of these things. But do they amount to a “fall from grace”? Clearly the idiom must have a new meaning.
Maybe. On the other hand, you seem more marketable than ever.


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Posted by Amber L. on August 15, 2012. Brought to you by switchboard.


Washington--For the next 11 years, advancements in technology will continue to create jobs for workers in some occupations while reducing the demand for workers in others, the most recent projections by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate.
By 1995, the U.S. economy still will need workers with a wide range of job skills, but not all of the new positions will require college or specialized training, according to the bls However, employment opportunities are expected to increase "significantly" in each category, according to analyses by several bls economists in the November 1983 Monthly Labor Review.
A projected increase in the demand for medical services, for example, will require large numbers of nursing aides and orderlies in addition to highly trained medical practitioners, according to George T. Silvestri, John M. Lukasiewicz, and Marcus E. Einstein of the agency.
But other occupational areas will be negatively affected by technological changes at least through the mid-1990's, they predict. The growth in employment opportunities for typists and assembly-line workers will be slow as a result of the use of word-processing equipment in the case of the former group and industrial robots in the latter.
The demand for workers in some traditional occupations will grow despite widespread technological advances, the economists add. By the mid-1990's, they predict, more workers will be needed to drive trucks, to clean a growing number of buildings, to perform health and personal services, to provide police and fire protection for an increased U.S. population, and to maintain and repair a larger stock of automobiles, appliances, and factory equipment.
In the high-technology field, where employment already has grown at a rate faster than that of the economy, jobs for scientists, engineers, technicians, and computer specialists will continue to grow during the remainder of this decade and the first part of the next, the economists suggest. But jobs created in high technology will represent only a small proportion of all new jobs during that same period, they point out.
Two other bls economists, Howard N. Fullerton Jr. and John Tschetter, provide revised projections on the size of the workforce. It will increase from its current level of about 110 million people to 131.4 million by 1995, they write.
Two-thirds of the growth, the economists predict, will be among women workers and about one-fourth will be among blacks and members of other minority groups.
As more women enter the work force, they note, one of the occupational areas that will be most affected is the education field. The number of jobs for kindergarten and elementary-school teachers as well as teachers' aides is expected to grow "substantially" as the children born between 1976 and 1987 go through the education system.


The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) recorded the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi at 312 at 11 am.
Fire has been raging at the massive Bhalswa dump site since October 20.
Delhi's air quality on Wednesday dipped to 'very poor' barely two days after staying in the 'poor' category, even as firefighting operations continued at the Bhalswa landfill site.
An Air Quality Index between 0 and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.
The air quality in the capital had shown signs of improvement on Monday as it moved from 'very poor' to 'poor' category, but experts said it could deteriorate in the coming days due to toxic air coming out of the blazing fire at Bhalaswa landfill site.
A Delhi Fire Service official said firefighting was still on at the garbage dump site.
"Due to continuous discharge of methane gas from the landfill, fire erupts randomly. Two fire tenders are currently working on containing the fire at the site," he said.
The Centre-run System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) also reported an AQI in the 'very poor' category.
On Sunday, the AQI had oscillated between 'poor' and 'very poor' categories.
On Saturday, a haze had engulfed the national capital and the worst air quality of this season was recorded at 324.
North Delhi Mayor Adesh Gupta and NDMC Commissioner Madhup Vyas had visited the landfill site on Tuesday and the civic body had announced a slew of measures, both long-term and short-term for remediation of the site.
Anumita Roychowdhury of Centre for Science and Environment on Monday said, toxic air emanating out of such landfill fires is likely to affect the air quality.
"If the wind speed is lower and the temperature dips, the polluted air coming out of the landfill fires will get trapped, which would severely affect the air quality," she said.
The Supreme Court-appointed Environment Protection Control Authority (EPCA) Friday had held a meeting with officials of Punjab, Haryana and the Delhi governments to discuss the pollution situation in the national capital.


And, perhaps more intriguingly, it will be set immediately after Toy Story 3. Which means we'll be reunited with the trilogy's original characters: Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Bullseye, Rex and the rest. Toy Story 3 ended with Andy's remaining toys being donated to Bonnie Anderson, a little girl who lived in the neighbourhood.
However, it's likely that the cast will be boosted by Bonnie's toys, some of whom we met in the last film: the Shakespearean hedgehog Mr Pricklepants, Buttercup the friendly unicorn and old timer Chuckles The Clown.
John Lasseter revelaed the latest in an interview with LA Times. The original Toy Story director and Pixar chief creative officer said: "We only make sequels when we have a story that's as good as or better than the original."
Toy Story fans may have thought they said goodbye to Woody, Buzz and Jessie after Toy Story 3 in 2010 but now Disney has announced that a fourth film is to be made.
Disney said Toy Story 4 is being created by the original Toy Story director John Lasseter alongside Lee Unkrich, the director of Toy Story 3, Pete Docter, the director of Up, and Andrew Stanton, the director of Finding Nemo. The film, which is set to be another blockbuster, will be released on June 16th, 2017.
The screenplay will be written by actress Rashida Jones, who has starred on Parks and Recreation and The Office, and Will McCormack, who previously wrote 2012 romantic comedy Celeste & Jesse Forever alongside Jones. Galyn Susman, who has been producing Toy Story shorts for Pixar, is producing the film too.
"We love these characters so much; they are like family to us," Lasseter said in a statement. "We don’t want to do anything with them unless it lives up to or surpasses what’s gone before.
"Toy Story 3 ended Woody and Buzz’s story with Andy so perfectly that for a long time, we never even talked about doing another Toy Story movie. But when Andrew, Pete, Lee, and I came up with this new idea, I just could not stop thinking about it. It was so exciting to me, I knew we had to make this movie — and I wanted to direct it myself."
Lasseter is said to be one of the major forces responsible for Pixar's dominance in animation and high quality story telling. He is currently both Disney and Pixar's chief creative officer, and he previously directed both the first and second Toy Story films.
Pixar had previously brought the the Toy Story characters back for a pair of TV specials and a number of short films, which have been generally well received.
Toy Story debuted in 1995 and starred Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and Don Rickles. It was famously touted as the first computer-animated feature film. The third Toy Story film grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.
The series has progressed in somewhat close to real time, with the original trilogy having the toys' owner grow from a boy in 1995 to a college-bound teenager in 2010.
Disney bought animation studio Pixar for $7.4bn (£4.7bn) in 2006.
There are least three other Pixar films in the pipeline. Next year will see both Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur, and 2016 will have the Finding Nemo sequel, Finding Dory.


Sri Lanka’s bowlers saw India run through Australia this summer with swing and seam and now they want to do the same.
Having never won any of their 13 Tests in Australia, the tourists are eying the two-Test series as their best shot at victory down under against the wounded hosts.
Australia’s batsmen failed to score a century in their 2-1 series loss to India, suffering collapses as they dropped a Test trophy at home against a team from Asia for the first time in their history.
Jasprit Bumrah produced one of the best performances by an overseas quick in recent years as he claimed 21 wickets at 17, while Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Sharmi offered no width to the hosts and took away the cut shot in the victory.
And it’s that game plan Sri Lanka want to bring to Thursday’s Warne-Muralitharan Trophy opener at the Gabba with the pink ball.
“It’s one of the major things we looked at and the areas which they had bowled at,” bowling coach and former Sri Lanka quick Rumesh Ratnayake said.
“It’s just making the bowlers believe that whatever other teams can do we also can do.
“I think it is certainly one of the better chances (to win in Australia), but I wouldn’t say the best chance.
Sri Lanka are reeling from a resounding defeat in New Zealand earlier this summer, but have received a boost with Kusal Mendis expected to play in Brisbane despite suffering a thumb injury in last week’s tour match.
Mendis’ role in the series will be key, given the tourists are already without Angelo Mathews through a hamstring injury.
Veteran Rangana Herath has also retired since spinning Sri Lanka to their first series victory over Australia in 2016, while up-and-coming tweaker Akila Dananjaya is suspended with a suspect action.
NSW Blues coach Phil Jaques joins the Follow On podcast to discuss the Kurtis Patterson call-up to the Test squad, and all things cricket. Listen below!
Suranga Lakmal and 21-year-old Lahiru Kumara will lead the charge for the quicks, with Dilruwan Perera now their most dangerous spinner.
“(Kumara) is an exuberant young boy, he’s quick in our terms ... because he sometimes touches 148kph but he hits it at a pace of 140 on a more regular basis,” Ratnayake said.


Sunday, March 24, 2019, 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Roberto Carlos is the number 1 artist in Brazil, with a career spanning 59 years, a Latin American song idol and revered in many countries throughout the world. He needs no introduction and is a living example of world success in Brazilian pop music. He has inspired affection, admiration and adulation among his millions of fans who follow him throughout Brazil and the world. Singer and composer of over 600 songs and the greatest example of the Jovem Guarda (Brazilian musical movement of the 60s) consolidated his success in the 70s with romantic songs and unequaled charisma. He did not follow the trends but built his career around songs that speak of love, solidarity and faith in tomorrow. His greatest inspiration is love, from the innocence and youth (songs from the 60s), moving on to tumultuous loves and sensual awakening (in the70s), to intense, earth shaking loves (in the 80s) and finally the discovery of true, mature, balanced love and full of passion (from the 90s until today). He is an icon of credibility, romanticism, religion and family.


TULSA, Oklahoma -- There are new developments in a Tulsa police officer's lawsuit against his superior and the police chief.
Captain Walter Busby says his commanding officer, Major Walter Evans, ordered him to attend the Martin Luther King Day last year parade because he's black. He claims it was a violation of his civil rights.
The suit says Major Evans said it was embarrassing that so few African American officers participate in department-sponsored events, like the MLK parade.
Tulsa police major Walter Evans says he wants people to know he does not discriminate, wouldn't condone discrimination and doesn't work for place that has discriminatory policies. And, he doesn't like to be accused of it.
But, he says his job has taught him to put personal feelings aside and focus on the business at hand.
He says it was a matter of business when he assigned Captain Walter Busby as one of 10 officers to attend the Martin Luther King, Junior parade in 2010.
"In terms of African American participation, there were three African Americans, including myself, Captain Busby and a Sergeant," said Evans. "The rest were white, male and female."
Major Evans was the department coordinator for the parade and says having a strong showing was no different than assigning officers to Cinco de Mayo or other community events.
He says a department presence at such events is key to community policing, which is key to the department's overall mission. "That was my whole purpose for doing that, not because he was black."
He says moving Captain Busby to a 4 p-m to two a-m shift was not in retaliation for Captain Busby filing a complaint with H-R, but, was done because of the department's recent reorganization.
"That was a business decision made out of business necessity," said Evans.
Captain Busby also claims he received the worst job evaluation of his career after filing the complaint and believes it too, was a matter of retaliation.
Major Evans denies that. "The performance evaluation is what it is. There are specific things I have to evaluate and I don't go outside of that."
Since the police chief is also named, we asked him to respond. He said no, since it is ongoing litigation.
Busby's attorney had no comment.


Without crossing the line into New Age pap his songs attempt to celebrate the potential of the human spirit.
East is East and West is West and never the train shall meet is how the saying goes. Often used to describe two diametrically opposed opinions, the sayings origins rest in the supposed separation between the philosophies of Western and Eastern thought.
Thankfully for the fate of the world there are people who refuse to buy into that statement, and attempt to bridge what was formally seen as an unbridgeable gulf. While in the past we have seen some Western performers either work with musicians from India or incorporate instruments into their songs, very few have successfully melded the two into one sound.
One musician who makes the integration of these supposed opposites seamlessly is Harry Manx. This Canadian based musician has mastered the intricacies of the multiple rhythms of the Indian ragas and blended them with Mississippi delta blues, and a touch of Gospel to create something funky and beautiful..
His CD West Eats Meet is chock full of examples of how successful this seemingly bizarre marriage works. The first track of the disc, “Help Me”, only shows hints of what is to come. Having established his blues credentials with some slick guitar work and aching harmonica, the sitar in the guitar solo near the end of the song comes as a surprise.
It’s not until the third track of the album, “Shadow Of The Whip” that the full implications of what we are hearing come clear. From the pulsing of the tabla drums in the percussion to the guitar lead that evokes the shimmering of the sitar, Manx is blurring the line that separates East from West musically.
I don’t know if you can tell from the picture above, but if you go to his web site you’ll be able to get a better idea of how he is able to generate the sounds he does with his guitar. He plays a Mohan Veena-a, 20-string guitar/sitar. The instrument was designed by Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, best known for his collaboration with Ry Cooder on the disc Meeting By The River. Manx studied with Bhatt for five years in the mid eighties, and at the end of that time he was given the guitar.
From what Manx says on his web site it sounds like it could have taken him the entire five years just to learn how to tune and play the instrument. The additional strings are what he calls sympathetic, which I would assume to mean that they resonate in relation to what is being done on the principal strings. He also describes the slide techniques used by Indian musicians as being a circular motion instead of the up and down the fret board style that we associate with the blues.
The fact that he spent five years of his life studying the playing of this instrument, and learning about the music that’s to be played upon it, lends creditability to his efforts. It sure makes it difficult to lump it into the novelty act type of thing that rock stars in the past have done. There is none of the “Oh wouldn’t a sitar sound cool here” attitude about his work.
Harry Manx’s music is a wonderful mix of gospel, delta blues and traditional Indian folk songs. In the hands of a less sincere sounding musician this melding of styles would just be an embarrassment. But Harry doesn’t waste this musical melange on traditional pop fluff, or even the regular topics associated with the blues.
Without crossing the line into New Age pap, his songs would defiantly qualify as spiritual, in that they attempt to celebrate the potential of the human spirit. On “The Great Unknown” he ruminates about what it takes to keep going in this world. What type of faith do we need to overcome the sadness and difficulties that surround us is what he seems to be asking?
Harry Manx is a gifted musician and songwriter. Whether he’s playing the standard guitar, banjo, harmonica or his Mohan veena-a, his playing is superlative. His voice is expressive and real, giving everything he sings about a down to earth quality missing from far too much acoustic music these days. He may sing about the ethereal on occasion, but there is nothing airy about him.
West Eats East is his fifth album and number six, Mantras For Madmen is forthcoming in November of this year on his own Dog My Cat record label. You can listen to a cut, “San Diego/Tijuana”, from his newest album at his web site. It begins to load automatically when you enter. (If you are on dial up like I am it will take quite a wait for the site to load) If you are looking for something new to listen too in the field of blues music, than you can’t go wrong with Harry Manx. This is great stuff.


In just over a month, one of the UK's biggest technology showcases, Misco Expo 12, will light up London's historic, Grade II listed Old Billingsgate exhibition and conference centre. Expo 12 boasts a number of selling points that make it an unmissable day for IT professionals, enterprise leaders, and more casual consumers alike.
Running on Friday, 28 September, the event will feature over 75 leading manufacturers, with the exhibitor directory reading like a who's who of influential tech firms: think Acer, Cisco, Dell, IBM, Microsoft, Panasonic, Samsung, and Toshiba and you're still missing out big names like Asus, Canon, Epson, LG and Sony.
Moreover, some 1,500 professionals - from small businesses to multinational corporations - are expected to be in attendance, presenting myriad opportunities for networking and knowledge sharing, not to mention the unfettered access to Misco's specialist Enterprise Solutions Provider team that attendees will be able to enjoy.
But for ITProPortal, Expo 12's biggest selling point is its seminar series – no surprise as we're proud to be Misco's exclusive partner in bringing you the series of keynote speeches. In fact, last year's speakers were so well received that the 2012 event has been given an earlier start time to allow for an extra talk - events this September will kick off at 09:30 and run until 15:30, leaving plenty of time to take in all the seminars and still meander around the distinctive venue.
Presented by a range of industry experts, the keynote series covers everything from Windows 8 to securing mobile, to the iPad's potential in both the classroom and the office. Centring on the tech world's most on-trend topics, enterprise and security are two of the day's recurring themes, and arguably the hottest ticket at Expo 12 will be Workbooks.com sales director Ian Moyse's talk on cloud computing.
Recently, cloud security has emerged as one of the most pivotal issues in the modern technology landscape: Wired journalist Mat Honan emerged as a bit of an industry martyr after he suffered a particularly high-profile hack, mere days after Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak predicted a "horrendous future" for cloud data storage.
Cloud expert Mr Moyse, however, looks to address Misco Expo 12 from a more empowering perspective, identifying ways both individuals and enterprises can make the cloud less overcast and endeavouring to cut through the hype and fear that have dominated the headlines recently.
"The issues tend to relate to where is the datacentre, how is my data stored, who has access to it and how easily can I get it back when I choose. Increasingly questions are being asked also about where the data is actually stored and by whom and how local data protection laws can be assured for the customer."
He continued: "Stories in the press of any outage or data leak also get tarnished with the cloud brush, causing concern, despite the fact that cloud is a term covering such a wide spectrum meaning it is difficult to compare one issue with another. For example comparing Sony or O2 and their outages and loss of customer details with the risks or not of a cloud application provider are not offering a like for like comparative."
"As we continue to see more customers becoming receptive to cloud solutions, vendors will have to become more open and clear on their solutions and educate clients not on the technology but the form factor itself."
"Business however needs to educate itself on the aspects of cloud, form factors (private, public, virtualisation, on network), platforms (SaaS, PaaS, etc) and non-technical aspects such as data sovereignty, SLA's and contractuals. I still find a great deal of people who will turn their backs on considering cloud, with a swathing opinion of what it is and why it won't work, without understanding, evaluation or consideration."
"Facebook has grown fantastically despite all the reported issues about user ownership policies and hacked accounts. These users will be coming into business demanding more flexibility, ease of use and mobility with high expectations of systems to deliver."
"We can expect to continue to see hype, more acquisitions and changes in both the supply channels and effect on legacy product vendors as wider adoption continues in the coming years."
Misco Expo 12, he concluded, represents an ideal environment for IT decision makers, relevant manufactures, and interested tech-heads to converge. In particular, he said he was looking forward to mixing with a variety of people, hearing the latest cloud opinions and questions, and making use of the event's networking potential, as well as delivering his keynote.
"It is always useful to have up to date input from real world users of their thoughts, experiences and continue to gain an understanding of the realities around cloud and not the marketed hype."
Stay tuned to ITProPortal for more coverage of Misco Expo 12, including a full rundown of the day's schedule when it is confirmed. If you're particularly interested in the cloud, you should check out our dedicated cloud section, while the full transcript of our chat with Ian Moyse will also published in our blog section shortly.
Those wishing to attend the IT extravaganza at Old Billingsgate next month, and the seminars in particular, are encouraged to register immediately due to the popularity of the keynote speeches. Oh, did we mention it's all free?


Dr. Alberto Giovannini has served as Chairman of the Board at Salini Impregilo SpA since May 1, 2018. He is Chairman of the Board at the firm since July 14, 2015. He was Non-Executive Independent Director at the firm from July 17, 2012. He is Member of Audit and Risk Committee and Executive Committee within the Company. He was Chairman of the Related Party Transactions Committee within the Company. He serves as Director at Unifortune Asset Management Sgr SpA, Pelios netherlands NV, and others. Dr. Alberto Giovannini holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Mr. Pietro Salini has served as Chief Executive Officer of SALINI IMPREGILO SPA since July 18, 2012. He earned his degree in Economics and Business Administration from Universita degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza and began his professional career in 1985 working for the family company, Salini Costruttori SpA, becoming its Chief Executive Officer in 1994, a position he still holds. He is also a Member of the Board of Confindustria (the main Association representing manufacturing and services companies in Italy) and Executive Committee Member of Assonime (the Association of the Italian joint stock companies).
Mr. Nicola Greco has served as Vice Chairman, Independent Director of Salini Impregilo SpA since May 1, 2018. He is Independent Director of Salini Impregilo SpA since September 12, 2013. He is Member of the Nominating and Remuneration Committee of the Company. He is a graduate in Chemical Engineering, and started his career in 1974 at Technipetrol (TPL) S.p.A., (now Technip Italy S.p.A.), where he held various posts from Project Engineer to Project Manager, before being appointed Deputy General Manager and, in 1994, Chief Executive Officer of the company. He was also a member of the Executive Committee of the Technip Group. Over his thirty-year career at Technip Italy S.p.A., he took part in numerous projects in the plant and infrastructure sectors, and particularly in Oil & Gas. Since 2007 he has been CEO of the Permasteelisa Group. Since 2011 he has been a member of the Board of Directors of Saipem S.p.A. From 2008 to 2012 he served as Chairman of Permasteelisa Interiors S.r.l. He is a member of the Supervisory Board of Josef Gartner GmbH. He is Associate Professor of Economics and Corporate Management at the Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome – Department of Chemical Engineering for Sustainable Development. From 2003 to 2008 he was Chairman of OICE, the national association of engineering and architectural companies, belonging to Confindustria. From 1998 to 2000 he was a member of the National Council of ANIMP.
Mr. Alessandro De Rosa has served as Deputy General Manager – Transformation Officer at Salini Impregilo SpA since August 6, 2013. The holder of a degree in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Naples, he is licensed to practice as a certified public accountant and has been listed in the Register of Independent Auditors since 1984. After beginning his career as an independent auditor and financial analyst, he has held various positions including Senior Consultant and Financial Analyst at Fidimi Consulting S.p.A., I.M.I Group; executive at Sigma-Tau Finanziaria; Administration, Finance, Control and Personnel Manager at Avantgarde S.p.A.; Administration and Control Manager at Sigma-Tau Industrie; Finance Manager at Thomson-CSF Electronic Systems Italia S.p.A.; CFO of Marconi Communications Italia S.p.A.; CFO of AMS S.p.A. Italia and CFO of Telespazio S.p.A. He also currently holds Directorships in Zeis S.r.l. and in several Group subsidiaries.
Mr. Gian Luca Grondona serves as Group HR & Organization Director at Salini Impregilo SpA. He graduated in Political Science at the Universita degli Studi di Genova. His professional career began at Fiat Auto, where he accomplished an interfunctional professional path within the Human Resources and Organization Department, holding roles with increasing responsibility, finally becoming Human Resources Director for the Engine and Transmission Department (Direzione Motopropulsori e Cambi). In 2001, he joins Indesit Company, following an international development path that made him work for a very long time in Great Britain, Poland and Russia. In Indesit Company, the household electrical appliance multinational, he covered various strategic roles, finally becoming Human Resources Director of the technical and industrial area and subsequently of the entire Commercial, Marketing and Services area, later being appointed Chief HR Officer of the Group.
Mr. Joseph Attias v as Group Engineering, Development and Concessions Director at Salini Impregilo SpA since April 2016. He holds an Engineering Degree from “Travaux Publics, Option Etudes & Recherches”, “Centre des Hautes Etudes de la Construction”. From 2011 to April 2016 he was Director of Engineering at the Vinci Construction Holding, and a member of its Comite de Direction. From 1986 to 2011, besides being the founder, he was also Chairman of Structures Ile de France a la Defense, a French civil engineering firm specialising in structural design, with branches in Africa and in South East Asia. From 1980 to 1986 he was Managing Director of BEBA (Bureau d’Etudes Beton Arme, with locations in Paris, Nice and Marseilles) while since 1983, he was the founder and manager, until 1986, of EGEC, a company that studies Civil Engineering works. He taught Mathematics and Physics from 1979 to 1981, and Mathematical Methods until 1986 at the Institut Superieur du Beton Arme and at the Ecole Centrale in Marseilles.
Mr. Alessandro Salini acts as Director of SALINI IMPREGILO SPA. He holds a university degree in Political Science from Universita degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, and an Executive Master’s degree in Administration, Finance and Control from the Luiss Guido Carli Libera Universita Internazionale degli Studi Sociali. His professional career began when he still was a young student, working in his family's company as an intern, during the summer. He then worked in the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication worksite, in Rome, and subsequently in the worksites for building the textile mills of Ain Beida and Tebessa, in Algeria. In 1987, he started to work in COGEFAR, which later became COGEFARIMPRESIT (FIAT Group), today Salini Impregilo. In 1993, he joins Salini Costruttori S.p.A. where he worked as Market Development and Special Projects Director. He also held a more "institutional" role within the European International Contractors (EIC) association, participating in work groups and holding the role of Board Member, to represent Italian building companies. Since 1994, he also is a Director of Salini Costruttori S.p.A., Salini S.p.A. and of other subsidiaries of the Salini Costruttori Group. He currently is a Board Director of Salini Costruttori S.p.A. and of other companies belonging to the Salini Costruttori Group. Mr Alessandro Salini is a member of FORT/WGFA (Wharton Global Family Alliance), and Managing Director of Sa.Par (Salini Partecipazioni), the family holding belonging to Francesco Saverio Salini.
Ms. Grazia Volo has served as Director of SALINI IMPREGILO SPA since March 16, 2016. She holds a degree in Law from the Universita degli Studi di Palermo. She has been a lawyer since 1975. Since 1993, she has been authorised to practise before Italy’s highest courts. Ms. Volo is the founder and owner of the firm that bears her name, which is established as a professional partnership. The firm works in the criminal sector, with specific expertise on corporate and financial offences, environmental crimes and offences against the public administration. In particular, over the years she has gained experience in the judicial and extra-judicial counselling of Italian companies, both private and state-held, including on corporate administrative liability under Legislative Decree 231/2001. The firm also specialises in crimes of opinion and has advised and represented various national journalistic publications (both print and broadcast).
Mr. Roberto Cera has served as Non-Executive Director of Salini Impregilo SpA since July 17, 2012. He has served at Atlantia SpA, Salini SpA, todini Costruttori Generali SpA, and others. He has a degree in Law from Universita degli Studi di Milano and is licensed to practice law and is qualified to serve as counsel before higher-level courts. He has worked on stock underwritings in Italy, as a consultant both to the underwriters and to the issuers, and has knowledge in regular and structured debt transactions and acquisition financing in particular. He participated in the organization and implementation of the most important M&A and extraordinary finance transactions of the last years. He served on the Board of Directors of Autostrade S.p.A., Atlantia S.p.A., Schemaventotto S.p.A. and Beni Stabili S.p.A. Mr. Cera also serves on the Board of Directors of Salini Costruttori. After a ten-year experience at a prestigious law firm in Milan, in 1989 he founded the Cera Cappelletti law firm, a professional association active in Milan in extraordinary finance transactions and, in 1995, he contributed to the establishment of the Erede e Associati law firm. He was a founding partner of the Bonelli Erede Pappalardo law firm in 1999.
Ms. Raffaella Leone has served as Independent Director of SALINI IMPREGILO SPA since May 1, 2018. She is currently Senior Vice President Quality & HSE Processes Optimization at Eni S.p.A. She was the Executive Vice President of Eni Foundation (2014-2016). She was the Executive Assistant to the CEO of Eni S.p.A. (2005-2014), Chairperson of Servizi Aerei S.p.A., a member of the Board of Directors of Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, a member of the Board of Directors of AGI S.p.A., and a permanent member of the Direction Committee of Eni. She previously was the Executive Assistant to the CEO of Enel S.p.A (2002-2005), a member of the Board of Directors of Enel Cuore Onlus and a permanent member of the Direction Committee of Enel. She was the Assistant to the CEO of Pilkington Group Limited (1996–2002), the Head of Communication of Pilkington Italia and the Assistant to the CEO of Techint S.p.A. (1988-1996). In 2009, she received the Marisa Bellisario Award, for manager women in the industry sector. In 2010, she also received the Pio Manzù Award.
Dr. Giacomo Marazzi has served as Independent Director of Salini Impregilo SpA since September 12, 2013. He is Member of the Executive Committee within the Company. He graduated in Business Economics from the Universita degli Studi di Parma. From 2005 to March 2013 he was Chairman of Fondazione Cassa Risparmio Piacenza e Vigevano. From 1998 to 2007 he was Chairman of AITEC (Associazione Tecnico Economica del Cemento). From 1992 to 2006 he was Chief Executive Officer of Industria Cementi Giovanni Rossi S.p.A. (Piacenza). From 1980 to 1992 he held positions in companies in the IVECO/FIAT Group. From 1974 to 1980 he was Director of International Activities at Magneti Marelli (FIAT Group). He is a member of the Board of Directors at the following companies: Beni Stabili S.p.A., Gruppo Cementi Rossi S.p.A., Insulation System S.p.A. and Sirap Gema S.p.A.
Prof. Ferdinando Parente has served as Independent Director of SALINI IMPREGILO SPA since may 1, 2018. He graduated in Economics and Commerce from Universita degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, with a thesis focused on credit and monetary economics. He subsequently starts his professional career at the Bank of Italy. From 1987 to 2010, he worked in the credit and financial supervision department, in its headquarters in Milan. In 2007, he reached the Head of the Supervisory and Exchange Division of the four supervisory headquarter units. Following his experience at the Bank of Italy, due to his professional career path and acquired knowledge, he became the partner and founder of consultancy companies in the banking and financial sector. He is currently a professional accountant and auditor, as well as an independent director of Banca Sella S.p.A., Director of Parente&Partners S.r.l. and Chairperson of the External Auditing Committee of American Express Italian Branch. He taught at Universita Cattolica di Milano, and subsequently at the Carlo Cattaneo University - LIUC, where he currently is professor of Banks and Financial Markets Law.
Mr. Franco Passacantando has served as Independent Director of Salini Impregilo SpA from December 15, 2013. He is currently Central Director of Banca d’Italia for relations with supranational organisations. In particular, he is currently Deputy Governor of Banca d’Italia on the G20/G27 groups, a member of the Economic and Financial Committee of the European Union, a member of the OECD Working Party and a member of the Basel Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems. Graduating in 1971 in Statistical Sciences before gaining an MA in Economics from Stanford University (USA), in 1976 he joined the Research Service at Banca d'Italia, and was then promoted to Director of the Monetary and Financial Sector, responsible for the economic analysis of banks, institutional structures of financial markets and monetary policy. He held this post from 2006 to 2012. From 1995 to 2003 he was Executive Director of the World Bank Group, representing the governments of Albania, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, San Marino and East Timor. He rejoined Banca d'Italia in 2003, heading the Capital Funds Management Service, before becoming Central Director of Central Banking, Markets and Payment Systems, coordinating the working group to revise the International Monetary Fund Guidelines on Foreign Exchange Reserve Management. He has also held positions at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Rome.
Prof. Marina Brogi has served as Non-Executive Independent Director of Salini Impregilo SpA since July 17, 2012. She is Member of the Related Party Transactions Committee within the Company. She has a degree in Political Economics from Universita Commerciale Luigi Bocconi of Milan and started her career as Researcher in Economics of Credit Institutions at “Luigi Bocconi” Commercial University of Milan. She was an Adjunct Professor of Economics of the Financial Markets at “La Sapienza” University in Rome from 1998 to 2007 and since 2007 she has held the position of Tenured Professor of Economics of Financial Intermediation. She currently teaches Disclosure, Governance and Capital Markets and International Banking and Capital Markets in the MSc courses of the Faculty of Economics. In addition, she has served as Deputy Dean of the School of Economics since 2011. She currently serves as Independent Director of Luxottica Group S.p.A. and of Banco Desio e della Brianza.; Chairperson of the Board of Statutory Auditors of Fratelli Branca Distillerie S.r.l. and Clessidra SGR; She is also the Chairman of the Oversight Committee of Credito Cooperativo Fiorentino Campi Bisenzio in LCA and of Cape Natixis SGR S.p.A. in LCA.
Ms. Giuseppina Capaldo has served as Non-Executive Independent Director of Salini Impregilo SpA since June 12, 2012. She is Member of the Audit, Remuneration and Transaction with Related Parties Committees within the Company. She is Full Professor of Private Law at University of Rome and she has been Deputy Rector for Resource Planning and Assets (since 2014). She currently serves as Independent Director of Ferrari N.V. (2015 – present) and TIM S.p.A. (2018 - present). She served as Independent Director of the Board of Exor S.p.A. (2012-2015); Credito Fondiario S.p.A. (2014-2017); Banca Monte dei Paschi S.p.A. (December 2017 - May 2018). She was a member of the Board of Directors of Ariscom S.p.A. (2012-2015) and A.D.I.R.- Assicurazioni di Roma (2006-2010). She collaborated with the Macchi di Cellere Gangemi law firm in the Banking and Finance, Corporate and M&A sectors (2004-2007). She served, at “La Sapienza” University, as Deputy Rector for Strategic Planning (2008-2014); Head of Department of “Law and Business (D.E.A.P.)” (2007-2013); Director of PhD “Contract Law and Business” (2007-2011); and Director of LLM “Financial Markets Law” (2009-2014). Ms. Capaldo has a degree in Economics and a degree in Law from University of Rome, has been a licensed certified public accountant since 1992 and is listed in the Register of Independent Auditors (since 1999). In addition, Ms. Capaldo has been qualified to practice law in Italy since 2003. She authored several publications in the areas of contract law, insurance law, financial law and market legal theory.
Prof. Mario Giuseppe Cattaneo has served as Non-Executive Independent Director of Salini Impregilo SpA since July 17, 2012. He is Chairman of Audit and Risk Committee within the Company. He has a degree in Economics and Business Administration from Universita Commerciale Luigi Bocconi of Milan. He is a licensed certified public accountant and is listed in the Register of Independent Auditors. He is Professor Emeritus of Corporate Finance at the Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. He currently serves as Director of Bracco S.p.A., and is a consultant for different financial groups.
Mr. Geert Linnebank has served as Non-Executive Independent Director of Salini Impregilo SpA since July 17, 2012. He is Member of the Nominating and Remuneration Committee and of the Related Party Transactions Committee within the Company. He is Director at Independent Television News. He started his professional career in 1979 as a journalist at Agence Europe S.A. and subsequently as a Correspondent for Belgium and EU Affairs at AP Dow Jones. From 1983 to 2006, he served in various positions at Reuters Group Plc, including, among the most recent ones, Editor in Chief, Global Head of Content, Chairman of the Reuters Foundation and Senior Advisor to the CEO. He has been Chairman of ITN—Independent Television News, of which he was Acting CEO in 2009 Mr. Linnebank since 2015 currently serves as a Trustee and Director of the Thomson Reuters Foundation and also of RISJ, the research institute on journalism and the mass media at the Department of Politics and International Relations of Oxford University.
Ms. Laudomia Pucci has served as Non-Executive Independent Director of Salini Impregilo SpA since July 17, 2012. She is Member of the Nominating and Remuneration Committee within the Company. She is Director of Emilio Pucci Srl, and others. She has a degree in Political Sciences from LUISS—Guido Carli University of Rome and she started her professional career in 1985 at Emilio Pucci S.r.l. From 1985 to 1989, she was an assistant to the company’s founding shareholder; from 1989 to 2000, she was Chairperson of the Board of Directors and Chief Creative Officer. She currently serves as Deputy Chairperson and Image Manager. In addition, she is a member of the Steering Committee of Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze, Vice President and Director of Fondazione Altagamma (Fashion Sector), Polimoda board member and Director of the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation (United States of America).


Nina Chanel Abney’s mural is the first thing viewers encounter when visiting the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. It occupies the Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Art Wall, an unconventional space commissioned annually for an artist to install his or her work.
The setting allows for natural light from the floor to the ceiling windows surrounding the Wall. This showcase space is uniquely in the Institute’s lobby, where visitors can see the artist’s creation for free. Its accessibility, according to curator Ellen Tani, alters the experience.
“To have this situated in a public lobby where it’s always there I think brings out a different kind of comfort with visitors in terms of engaging with it,” said Tani.
The mural, Abney’s debut in Boston, was completed on Jan. 17 and will remain until March 15, 2020. Abney is an abstract narrative painter whose work covers a variety of forms such as playground surfaces, fashion collaborations, and canvases. Her art tells a story of modern tensions such as racial and gender discrimination, disenfranchisement, and current events that capture national attention. But Abney’s work is primarily open to interpretation.
Abney is captivated by the power of public messaging from screens to billboards and today’s constant flow of information. As such, her visuals are reminiscent of what we see all around us and bring to light the potential conflicts underneath what we do not question in the everyday. Her simple figures, symbols, and short, direct words such as “wow” and “stop” echo what we use to communicate, such as emojis and texts, and bright colors make the scene hard to ignore. In fact, the relationship between her mural and the world it represents is stylistically linked.
The colored vinyl cut-outs were designed on a computer and then applied to the wall. The bright colors and the sizes of the symbols evoke an age of distraction by signaling what we need in order to get our attention. An intriguing black and white checkerboard background might reference segregation or other disparities, and numbered figures raise the question of dehumanization although the figures themselves appear playful. This ambiguity of her work is part of Abney’s message and goal.
On Feb. 7, “Art in the Age of the Internet, 1989 to Today” opened at the ICA. Ideas explored within the exhibition include surveillance, the control of information, and the human body, which are all examined in the context of the internet.


Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration is set to unveil its first assessment of how much his cash clampdown will slow one of the world's fastest-growing major economies.
[MUMBAI] Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration is set to unveil its first assessment of how much his cash clampdown will slow one of the world's fastest-growing major economies.
India's gross domestic product will grow 6.8 per cent in the year through March, according to the median of 18 estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists, with the Statistics Office's forecast due at 5.30pm in New Delhi on Friday. That's the slowest pace in three years and belies projections of a pick up to 7.7 per cent made before Mr Modi's Nov 8 decision to cancel 86 per cent of currency in circulation.
While analysts are still debating about how long the effects of the cash shortages will linger, a deep slowdown that kills jobs may turn voters against Mr Modi in key state elections over the next two months. Indian stocks saw the biggest outflows in Asia last quarter and global funds sold the most rupee-debt in at least five years as the cash ban and higher US interest rates deterred investors.
"Demonetisation has clearly hurt all corners of activity," said Pranjul Bhandari, Mumbai-based economist at HSBC Holdings Plc, which has slashed GDP estimates by about two percentage points for the October-December and January-March quarters.
"The investment sector may take the longest to revive."
Recent data back economists' concerns that consumption has been hit. The Nikkei purchasing managers' index signaled December contractions in both manufacturing and the dominant services sector, which contributes about 60 per cent of GDP.
A private gauge of consumer sentiment has dipped since mid-December and anecdotal evidence suggests job losses in India's vast informal sector that employs more than 90 per cent of Indian workers.
With loan growth languishing at two-decade lows, commercial lenders slashed borrowing costs this week after Modi in a new year address to the nation urged them to take decisions in "national interest". The Reserve Bank of India will lower the main policy rate to six per cent from 6.25 per cent, probably at its Feb 8 review, a Bloomberg survey shows.
The RBI last month lowered its growth forecasts but kept interest rates unchanged and said more data needs to be analysed to assess the impact of the currency ban.
Gross value added - a key input of GDP - will grow 7.1 per cent in the year through March instead of the 7.6 per cent forecast earlier, it said.
The government's Friday forecast is unlikely to capture the extent of demonetisation due to the method used and lack of data coverage, according to Madhavi Arora and Upasna Bhardwaj, analysts at Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd in Mumbai.
Investors may need to wait until the Feb 28 or May 31 releases for the "earliest hint," they wrote in a report on Wednesday.
"The full extent of the effect on the fiscal year through March 2017 is likely to show up with a considerable lag in the January 2018 revised estimate release," Mr Arora and Mr Bhardwaj said.
Some analysts say Mr Modi will need at least until May to replace all bank notes cancelled by his Nov 8 announcement. Ambuja Cements Ltd, a unit of LafargeHolcim Ltd, said it will take until June for demand to rebound.
These projections may be too late for voters and investors. The government is due to present its budget for the next fiscal year on Feb 1 and state elections will start Feb 4, with results scheduled on March 11.


Sitting in the cab of his truck under the hot sun, Sayed Sorour has come to the conclusion he and his truck load of aid to the besieged people in Gaza Strip are going no where for more days to come.
"I have been sitting here for three days, and before that I was in Arish for four days," the truck driver told the New York Times on Wednesday, January 28.
Sorour, whose vehicle is hauling clothing and blankets, is among many truck drivers stuck at El-Auja crossing between Egypt and Israel.
The normally quiet commercial crossing has been turned into a parking lot of stalled, humanitarian aid, carrying loads of foodstuff and humanitarian aid to Gazans who survived an air, sea and ground Israeli offensive.
"The trucks get to Auja and they sit,” said Ahmed Oraby, head of the Red Crescent office in El Arish.
"Many trucks that left are now coming back. They don’t take anything."
From the first hours of the Israeli onslaught, which killed more than 1,350 people, and wounded 5,450 others, thousands of tons of humanitarian aid were offered by Arab and Western countries and tens of relief organizations around the world.
Israel, however, has allowed very little aid into the strip, under persistent calls from aid and relief groups.
In the Egypt’s El-Arish city, there are even greater quantities of food, clothing and essential supplies sitting, waiting and baking in the sun.
"We have trucks we loaded up five days ago still sitting here, waiting," Hany Moustafa, who manages El-Arish stadium, said.
Israel closed all the crossings into Gaza on Tuesday after an Israeli soldier was killed in a bombing on the Israeli side of the border.
But that changed nothing at the crossing, where the flow has been stalled for days.
There are five crossings into Gaza – four from Israel and one from Egypt. However, none are open in a regular or consistent way.
Just like the rest of truck drivers, Abdullah has been stuck in a line outside the stadium in El Arish for 24 hours.
Abdullah, however, is not as lucky as his colleague Sorour whose tractor-trailer is filled with clothing and blankets.
"All our lunchmeat, it’s all going to go bad,” said Abdullah.
"Nobody is telling us anything. Not Egypt. Not Israel. Nobody explains to us why we are stopping here," Sorour fumed.
Officials and volunteers in Egypt blame the Israelis, saying that even before the passage stalled Israel had allowed supplies to pass through for only 19 hours each week.
Israeli officials said that Egypt had not done enough to coordinate the flood of aid coming to Gaza.
But relief officials affirm that the only victims in the situation are the Gazans who have been under a stifling Israeli blockade on the impoverished territory of 1.6 million since July 2007, following Hamas’s seizure of power.
Food in Gaza is already scarce due to price increases and the lack of currency, and the destruction of farmland is exacerbating food shortages, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
UN humanitarian chief John Holmes said on Tuesday that now after the Israeli offensive, far more than the usual movement of aid is needed urgently.
"We can’t really perform that operation fully, none of the (UN) agencies will be able to do that, unless the crossing points are open on a sustained basis," Holmes told reporters at the United Nations.
"Enough will always be allowed in for people to exist, but not enough for the conditions for people to live."


Vernon RCMP released these photos of two suspects in an attempted ATM theft.
RCMP are hoping tips from the public will help them identify two people caught on video appearing to attempt to steal an ATM from a Vernon casino.
The suspects didn’t actually manage to take anything but the alleged break-in did leave the casino with a big cleanup job.
“Surveillance images of the incident show two male suspects as they smash through the front door gaining access to the front lobby area, followed by an attempt to steal an ATM,” Const. Kelly Brett said in a media release.
The incident happened around 4 a.m. on Wednesday morning at the Lake City Casino on Anderson Way in Vernon.
RCMP said one suspect was wearing a brown hooded sweatshirt, jeans and white runners. Meanwhile, the other person had on a dark-coloured puffy jacket, a black ski mask, dark pants and black runners with white soles.
Police are urging anyone with information to call their Vernon detachment or Crime Stoppers.


Coach Kevin Popadines believes his Lejeune girls� basketball team can get better.
But while that�s a scary thought given the Devilpups remained undefeated on Friday night with a 74-35 win over Dixon, Popadines can pinpoint one area in particular where Lejeune still has room to improve.
The Devilpups (15-0, 5-0 Coastal Plains 1-A Conference) certainly turned the pressure on against the Bulldogs (8-11, 2-3). Lejeune forced 36 turnovers and limited Dixon to 25 percent shooting.
Earlier, Dixon defeated Lejeune 86-79 in the boys� game.
Senior Chatori Major was the main beneficiary of the defense by the Lejeune girls, finishing with 29 points on 13 of 20 shooting. Major scored on several transition layups created by turnovers and long rebounds. She scored on a layup after a steal with three seconds left in the first quarter to give the Devilpups a 12-4 lead before she scored 10 points in a second quarter that saw Dixon commit 13 turnovers.
�They (Devilpups) didn�t necessarily catch us off guard (by pressure defense),� Dixon coach Christel Caliguire said. �I had a starter and a sixth man not here tonight and sometimes that breaks up the dynamic of your game. They didn�t do anything I didn�t expect from them.
Sophomore Nikia Wallace, who ended with eight points for Lejeune, also provided good defense.
Major clearly hurt the Bulldogs with her drives to the basket, but she was also complemented by her teammates. Senior Chryssandra Tatum added 12 points and 12 rebounds while eight other Lejeune players scored at least two points.
Major, who entered averaging 22.3 points per game, is the focal point of the Devilpups. There�s no questioning that. However, Lejeune has showed it is not a one-player show.
And while Popadines is happy with his the Devilpups played Friday, he expects things to become more difficult during the second rotation of CPC play.
Starting with a game next Friday at Southwest, Lejeune has five consecutive road games to close the regular season before the conference tournament aboard Camp Lejeune.
Dixon 86, Lejeune 79: Dixon outscored Lejeune 26-5 in the third quarter en route to a win in a game featuring a pair of teams winless in the CPC.
The Bulldogs� victory overshadowed a 39-point effort from the Devilpups� Ryan Evans, who made 10 of his team�s 16 3-pointers. Dixon was led by Curtis Trexel�s 24 points.
Jaylen Mitchell added 20 points, Trent Marshburn had 15 points and 13 rebounds while Daniel Page added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs.
Lejeune led 46-40 at halftime, but Dixon used a 20-0 run in the third quarter to pull away.
The Bulldogs (4-15, 1-4) built a 71-51 lead in the third quarter, but the Devilpups (1-17, 0-5) kept things interesting, thanks to Evans� good play and eight 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
Overall, Lejeune was 16 of 44 from behind the arc.
Chuckie Murdock scored 15 points and Dax Summut finished with 13 points, including four 3-pointers, for the Devilpups.
Lejeune made seven 3-pointers in the first half, but Dixon kept close thanks to Trexel�s 20 first-half points.
And the effort by Trexel and the Bulldogs was just too much for Evans to overcome. Still, Malott was pleased with Evans� play.
Parker 3, Price 3, Aquafredda 12, James 2, Davis 13, Warren 2. Totals� 12-48 6-14 35.
Major 29, A. Wallace 2, Tatum 12, Overton 6, N. Wallace 8, Wright 2, Lee 3, James 4, Spradlin 2, Thomas 4. Totals� 32-62 9-14 74.
3-Point Goals� D 5 (Davis 2, Parker, Price, Aquafredda), L 1 (Major). Rebounds� D 25 (Aquafredda 5, Warren 5), L 43 (Tatum 12, Major 9). RECORDS� D: 8-11, 2-3, at Southwest on Friday. L: 15-0, 5-0, at Jones Senior on Friday.
Mitchell 20, Sicknick 9, Trexel 24, Tillman 4, Page 14, Marshburn 15. Totals� 31-68 23-36 86.
Evans 39, Richardson 10, Ortega 2, Sammut 13, Murdock 15. Totals� 27-72 9-12 79.
3-Point Goals� D 1 (Trexel), L 16 (Evans 10, Sammut 4, Murdock 2). Rebounds� D 47 (Marshburn 13, Page 10, Mitchell 8), L 28 (Evans 7). RECORDS� D: 4-15, 1-4, at Southwest on Friday. L: 1-17, 0-5, at Jones Senior on Friday.


Amanda Sauerwald of Leonardtown, MD and Edmond Hardesty III of Lexington Park, MD were married on Saturday, September 15, 2012 in Historic St. Mary's City. The bride is the daughter of Kim and Mike Sauerwald. The groom is the son of Tammy and Edmond Hardesty Jr.


The city of Rutland, Vermont, is losing more than 600,000 gallons of water a day because of a leak.
The Rutland Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1DYsVKU) that officials are trying to figure out the source of the leak. They say residents have experienced a drop in water pressure since Saturday.
Public Works Commissioner Jeffrey Wennberg says the water isn't running through the streets and doesn't appear to be finding its way into the sewer. He says that means it may be going into a stream.
Wennberg says workers are inspecting valves, hydrants and vacant buildings. He planned to isolate and check the three transmission lines running from the water plant into the city of about 16,500 residents.
He says the leak isn't an immediate threat to the city's water supply.


The @vintagetribune Instagram, a beloved photography account produced by the photo editors of the Chicago Tribune, has been mining the newspaper’s vast archives since 2014. These are the images that would have been posted had Instagram existed in, say, 1932—the offbeat, gritty, funny, rare, everyday images captured in the moments that happened between the well-documented events that make up the city’s official biography. This book is an unexpected, inspired portrait of one of the world’s great metropolises, told through the lenses of the countless feet-on-the-street photographers from the city’s hometown paper.
The Blackhawks, one of the NHL’s “Original Six,” have been building a storied legacy since their founding in 1926. The Hawks have produced dozens of standout stars, from Hall of Fame goaltender Mike Karakas in the ’30s to Bobby “The Golden Jet” Hull in the ’60s to current team captain Jonathan Toews, who has led the team to a remarkable three championships since 2010. This comprehensive collection includes archival photos, original reporting, player profiles, timelines, statistics, and more—all curated by the Tribune’s sports department from the newspaper’s vast archives. Available at chicagotribune.com/hawkshistory.
What a story. What a ride. From largely unknown to nearly unbeatable, the Loyola Ramblers captured the nation's imagination. Coach Porter Moser. Chaplain Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt. Buzzer beaters. And players who competed with prowess and poise. “Ramble On” — a commemorative hard cover book featuring Chicago Tribune columns, game stories, features and photography — chronicles the Ramblers’ Cinderella run to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament Final Four, a ride that thrilled Chicago. “Ramble On” is currently available at chicagotribune.com/rambleon for $24.95.
To be a White Sox fan is to know the highest of highs, the lowest of lows and all points in between. "The Chicago Tribune Book of the Chicago White Sox: A Decade-by-Decade History" touches all those bases and covers more than a century of South Side baseball: “Black Jack” and “Jungle Jim.” The “Hitless Wonders” and “Winning Ugly.” Air-raid sirens and exploding scoreboards. “Old Aches and Pains” and the “Big Hurt.” At over 300 pages, it's filled with great features and profiles, plus stunning images from the Tribune's award-winning photojournalists. Get a copy for yourself — and maybe another one for that diehard Sox fan in your life — at store.chicagotribune.com/books.
If you’re a Cubs fan, you probably thought your life was complete after the final out of Game 7. Not quite. You need to hold this book in your hands, if for no other reason than to prove that the dream of last November was real. A beautiful and detail-rich hardbound collection of Chicago Cubs history, “The Chicago Tribune Book of the Chicago Cubs” chronicles all the ups and downs of one of the most beloved teams in all of sports, from the first pitch in 1876 to the final out of the 2016 World Series. The book contains essays, box scores, original reporting, archival photographs and various memorabilia for one of MLB’s most beloved franchises. Available at chicagotribune.com/cubshistorybook, or find it wherever books are sold.
Revisit the joy produced by the team that Theo Epstein built and Joe Maddon guided to the baseball promised land. From Rizzo and Russell to Baez and Bryant – and that’s just the infielders – a cast of characters grew up before our eyes as their 2016 juggernaut took them from spring training in Arizona to their sport’s ultimate prize in Cleveland. With “Won for the Ages,” the Tribune’s award-winning sports and photo team bring the magic to life once more.
Whether you’re a casual admirer of the magnificence of Michael, or a true Bull-iever thirsting for tales of “Red,” “Stormin’ Norman,” “Butterbean,” “Chet the Jet” and many more, here’s a keepsake for you. Featuring more than 300 pages of pictures and words depicting Chicago’s NBA franchise from its humble beginnings to the dynastic miracle on Madison and beyond, the Tribune’s book of the Bulls places readers in a courtside seat for a fast break through team history. Relive the thrill of “The Shot” in Cleveland, the sweet revenge against the bad-boy Pistons and the twin threepeats that followed. Run with the Bulls through the pages of this exhaustive look at one of professional sports’ premier organizations. Available online at chicagotribune.com/bullsbook.
The Tribune sports department has complied a comprehensive, decade-by-decade portrait of the Chicago Bears featuring essays, box scores, reproduced articles, archival photographs, a one-of-a-kind first person account by George Halas, and team memorabilia from the Chicago Tribune’s vast historical archives.
Cooking at home doesn’t have to be difficult, but it should always be delicious. Since 2007, JeanMarie Brownson, culinary director for Rick Bayless’ Frontera Foods, has been helping readers put inventive, yet simple, dishes on the table through her Dinner at Home column for the Tribune. Her book includes everything you need to create spectacular food any day of the week, including sample menus and recipes for everything from prosciutto parmesan puffs to roasted chicken with tomato-olive relish. Dinner at home has never been better.
The Chicago Tribune offers 50 of the very best recipes from the pages of the paper’s weekly "Good Eating" section. The Tribune remains one of the few newspapers in this country with its own working test kitchen, which ensures that the recipes are accurate and reliable. Each year, staff members choose their favorites. Now, the best of those winning recipes are compiled in a book that reflects how we having been cooking — and eating — over the last decade. The book features recipes from across the wide range of common kitchen offerings: starters, meat and poultry dishes, seafood, pasta, rice, side dishes, salads, baked goods, and desserts. In addition, a section on menu planning offers readers ideas for entertaining. This book boasts a broad appeal to home cooks and food enthusiasts across the country.
A comprehensive collection of the best holiday cookies as curated from decades worth of reader submissions to the Chicago Tribune’s annual Holiday Cookie Contest, these delicious recipes represent an eclectic mix of traditional and modern recipes from diverse cultural background and skill levels. From cookie classics to twists on old standards, such as Tropical Nuevo Latino Cookies and Grandma Grump’s Peanut Butter Drizzles, this book provides the home baker with a plethora of possibilities for any holiday party.
Some things just scream summer. A bean salad with sun gold tomatoes. A refreshing backyard lemonade. Caribbean-style garlic shrimp on the grill. “Summer Cooking” is a guide for preparing delicious food that perfectly complements warm summer days. Curated from the Tribune’s extensive database of kitchen-tested recipes, this collection of portable appetizers, quick salads, grilled entrees, creative sides and refreshing cocktails is ideal for anywhere the summer season takes you.
Whether you’re a novice in the kitchen or a seasoned chef, “Prep School” can help you become a better cook. This collection from the weekly column by chef, culinary instructor and award-winning food writer James DeWan is a go-to guide for perfecting any kitchen skill. It includes easy instructions for those starting out, and new techniques for professionals looking for greater culinary fluency.
All of your favorite Mary Schmich columns, including “Wear Sunscreen” and the 10 that won her the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, are presented in this Tribune book.
You may never need to know the human body contains a half-pound of salt, but that’s just one of the obscure facts you’ll find about sports, history, religion, politics, arts and culture, food and leisure, and science and technology in this collection of columns from Mark Jacob and Stephan Benzkofer.
For over a decade, Amy Dickinson has been the Chicago Tribune’s signature general advice columnist, helping readers with questions both personal and pressing. This book, which collects over 200 question-and-answer columns from 2011 to 2013, is a testament to the empathetic counsel and practical common-sense tips that Dickinson has been distilling for years.
Clarence Page’s book commemorates the 30th anniversary of his column’s first appearance in the Tribune. It is the first such collection of the Pulitzer Prize winner’s columns, and a long overdue archive of his best work, covering topics such as politics, social issues, pop culture, race, family, new media and prominent figures, as well as his personal life.
This collection of photographs taken in the early 1900s through the 1950s features infamous criminals, small-time bandits, smirking crooks, pickpockets, hoodlums and wiseguys at crime scenes. Created from the Tribune’s archives of vintage glass-plate and acetate negatives, these images have been largely unseen and unpublished for generations, only having been witnessed by the photographers and police in the moments after an arrest or crime.
From the Civil War era through today, the Tribune’s photographers have captured thousands of people, from everyday Chicagoans to visitors to the Second City to well-known artists, athletes and politicians. This large-format coffee-table edition is a showcase for the unsung photographers who’ve quietly documented daily life in Chicago.
Using many never-before-published photographs and newspaper clippings from the Tribune’s archives, this coffee-table book chronicles the rise and fall of Al Capone. The photos and articles tell a fascinating story about Capone and those connected to him, including his family, mob rivals and targets.
How do you give a good wedding toast? How do you fix a clogged drain? How do you bowl without hurting anyone? Questions like these—some highly practical, others wildly funny—make up this engaging do-it-yourself guide. Collected from the Chicago Tribune how-to columns called "Life Skills," this book is filled with often humorous instructions on performing a variety of tasks.
Between 1933 and 1934, over 48 million visitors attended "A Century of Progress Exposition," the world's fair located in Chicago, Illinois. This collection of rare photographs from the world's fair has been carefully chosen from the Chicago Tribune's voluminous archives. Featuring an informative introduction by Tribune reporter and historian Ron Grossman, this book documents one of the most expansive displays of technological advancement and cultural diversity that took place in the 20th century.


Four people have been seriously hurt in a crash between two carriages on a rollercoaster ride at Alton Towers.
West Midlands Ambulance Service said two men, aged 18 and 27, and two women, aged 19 and 17, suffered "significant lower limb injuries". They were airlifted to trauma centres in Stoke and Coventry for treatment.
Alton Towers said all guests involved were evacuated by 18:35 BST.
A director described it as "the most serious incident" in the park's history.
The passengers were trapped for several hours on the ride, about 25ft (7.6m) above the ground.
Eyewitnesses reported hearing "a loud crash" when the crash happened at 14:09.
Ben Richardson said: "When the second carriage crashed people were screaming and shouting - even after it stopped. Everyone around the park ran over.
"The people looked significantly distressed. It was almost like a car crash, very full-on."
Alton Towers said first responders based at the park were on the scene "within minutes", quickly followed by the emergency services.
Hospital trauma team consultants were also brought in to help treat passengers.
Alton Towers has said the park will be closed on Wednesday "following the dreadful incident on The Smiler".
In a statement the theme park said: "All guests with pre-booked tickets, or those who arrive at the theme park, will have the choice of either having their tickets revalidated for an alternative date or a full refund."
Sophie Underwood, who was in the park at the time of the crash, said: "It wasn't very high but it was obviously high enough for them to cause some quite serious injuries to the people that were on the rollercoaster.
"They literally had come back off and round the back of a loop, and straight into another empty coach that had been stuck."
The Smiler opened in May 2013 and is billed as the world's first 14-loop rollercoaster.
It holds the official Guinness World Record for most loops in a rollercoaster, according to the Alton Towers website.
The resort claims it features "a series of twisted psychological effects including optical illusions, blinding lights and near misses designed to mess with your mind".
There have been several accidents and incidents involving the £18m ride since it opened in May 2013.
A group of 16 journalists were left dangling on it at a steep angle as they tried out the rollercoaster before it opened to the public.
The ride shut for four days in July 2013 after a piece fell off the track, and 48 people had to be rescued.
It closed again in August 2013 for five days due to a "technical issue".
In November 2013 it closed for five days after wheels fell off and hit four people in the front carriage. The injured people were looked after by park staff and did not need treatment by the ambulance service, a spokeswoman said at the time.
Riders were also left stranded in the air when the ride ground to a halt at the top of a near vertical section 14 months ago.
Ellis Dyson, 23, who was in the queue for the ride, added: "The ride was delayed because of a technical fault for a while and then the ride came back on.
"They sent a carriage without any people on it first and then sent a carriage with people on and that was the one that crashed. The platform of the ride where we were vibrated and a massive loud crash."
Visitors reported on social media that the ride had broken down earlier in the day.
Media captionEyewitness Ben Richardson: "People were screaming and shouting"
Lucy Farrugia said: "Smiler broke down when I was on it this morning and now it's crashed. Hope everyone on it is OK, saw the air ambulance arrive."
Merlin Entertainments said there would be a "full investigation" and the Health and Safety Executive were already on site.
Ian Crabbe, divisional director at Alton Towers said the whole team at the park was "devastated" by the incident.
"Our thoughts and main concerns and focus are with injured people and the 16 people that were stuck on the train and their immediate families. That is our major concern," he said.
Merlin Entertainments was the biggest faller on the FTSE 100 after the crash, with shares down 3%.
It is the world's second-largest visitor attraction operator behind Disney and runs 105 attractions, 11 hotels and three holiday villages in 23 countries.
A help-line for concerned relatives has been set up by the Park which is 0800 230 0770.
Alton Towers is located near the village of Alton in Staffordshire and used to be a country estate.
It originally became a tourist attraction because of its gardens, but travelling fun fair rides were added to the grounds in the 1950s.
The installation of the Corkscrew rollercoaster in 1980 is regarded as a key point in the development of Alton Towers into a major theme park.
It now has some of the UK's best known rollercoasters - including Nemesis, Oblivion, Air and Rita - and attracts millions of visitors every year.


Phoenix firefighters on Sunday stopped an apartment fire from spreading to occupied units.
Phoenix firefighters were able to prevent an apartment fire near 52nd Avenue and McDowell Road from spreading beyond a single, vacant unit, officials said Sunday.
One, two-story unit in the fourplex was extensively damaged, though nobody was displaced by the fire. Two of the other apartment units were occupied but not damaged, said Capt. Larry Subervi said.
"Firefighters were able to quickly control the fire and prevent the spread to the other attached units," he said.


A run-down 18th-century house in Coventry, which has been repeatedly targeted by vandals, could be demolished - to protect those causing the damage.
Since Newlands House - a former nursing home owned by Coventry City Council, off Bennetts Road South, Keresley - was vacated in 1991, it has suffered ?immeasur-ably? from vandalism.
As a result, the building is now deemed dangerous.
The council is required by law to protect trespassers to see that they do not hurt themselves on local authority-owned land.
So it is now aiming to flatten the building, which was bought in 1952, to protect trespassers and also members of the emergency services responding to call-outs.
It is estimated that in the past two years, #16,000 has been spent dealing with both security of the site and repairing damage caused by vandals.
The house has been stripped of anything of value, such as fireplaces, wooden panelling, copper pipework and lead from the roof.
It would cost the city council about #50,000 to demolish the building, which was added to the Local List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest in 1991.
Members of the council?s regeneration and neighbourhood renewal committee were due to discuss the matter today.
A report ahead of the meeting states: ?During the height of the vandalism, the house was being targeted at least three times per week. As the vandalism grew, so did the severity of the attacks, which resulted in the security alarm itself being so damaged that it had to be removed and the electrics disconnected.
?The proposal will, regrettably, see this locally listed building demolished, leaving the city council with a cleared site with potential for redevelopment.?
The building was put up for sale in 1991, but attracted little interest.
In 1997, an application was submitted to use the premises as a rehabilitation centre for ex-offenders but was abandoned after an outcry from local residents.


BOSTON Manasian Inc. said it has promoted Leann Phoenix to a managing director in the agency. Phoenix was previously the agency’s production manager.
“Leann has built incredible relationships with our clients and was ready to take over management of some of our key accounts. She’s done a tremendous job here since we opened two years ago”, said agency president Jean Manasian.
Prior to Manasian, Phoenix worked as production head at The Burlington Group in Westford, Mass. Jean Manasian was president of that shop before she launched her eponymous shop two years ago.
Production will continue to report to Phoenix, 51.
Manasian is a 12-person independent marketing communications agency in Waltham, Mass. It provides online and offline services to a client list that includes 3Com, Polaroid, Constant Contact and Persystent.


HOLTON, Kan. (WIBW) -- On December 15, Madison Taliaferro lost her battle with cystic fibrosis.
Services for the 18-year-old were held Friday at Holton High School where classmates, friends and family filled the gym at the school to celebrate her life.
Several people spoke during the service including her mother, Desiree Teliaferro, who read a letter Madison wrote before she died.
"In my life, all I ever wanted was to make everybody happy,” the letter said. “And this isn't a happy thing."
Madison left letters for her loved ones while she was waiting for her second lung transplant that never came. The notes shared positive messages and memories about her time at Holton High.
"Overall, Holton High School gave me a place that I actually wanted to go to,” the letter said. “Not just to learn, but to be surrounded by people that were almost always upbeat and happy. It was never just a school to me. It was a family."
While battling her illness, Madison was very involved in extracurricular activities and being a manager for the school's football team.
"She was like our little sister,” Konnor Tannahill, a member of the football team, said. “She was always smiling, she kept us positive when we were all down. Just a very great girl, a sweet girl."
She leaves her positive spirit with everyone who met her.
"You could be having the worst day ever and she could come up to you and make it all disappear like that," Ethan Teter, Madison’s boyfriend, said.
Madison was laid to rest at Holton Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family asked for memorials to be given to the Benefit of Madison Taliaferro that would then be designated to her school activities.
"Definitely the spirit that she had,” Nicole McGarity, a friend of Madison, said. “She was something you could only find in her.
"She made every day amazing."