Thursday evening, the four children of a deported Owensboro man arrived in Mexico, seeing their father for the first time in months.
VERACRUZ, Mexico – As his four children were boarding their first plane in Indianapolis Thursday morning, Antonio Cuahua paced the floors of his small Mexican home.
Antonio’s voice trailed off. The last time he saw his children was the morning he was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers near his home in Owensboro, Kentucky.
Antonio immigrated illegally to the United States when he was 16. Now 33, he lived and worked in Kentucky for 17 years. He was also the sole caregiver for his American-born children there.
After he was deported, his children had few options – immigrate to Mexico or enter American foster care. Neither Antonio nor his friends and family in Owensboro had money to pay for the children’s immigration process until a story about the family’s situation appeared on courierpress.com, prompting dozens of people to donate money so the family could be reunited.
Thursday morning, the children began their journey to Mexico.
Antonio and his family spent the last two weeks preparing for the children’s arrival.
The family lives together in a small grouping of cement and cinder block structures on the side of a mountain several hours inland from Mexico’s Gulf coast. They built the homes by themselves. In one structure is a kitchen, where they cook over an open wood fire. In another is a large cement washbasin the family shares.
Antonio lives just up the hill from his brother’s family in a three-room building. The simple home is adorned with streamers and flowers. In the children’s bedroom are two perfectly-made beds, one with a blue blanket, the other with pink.
Thursday afternoon, Antonio and his two brothers and an uncle loaded their truck and made their way down the mountain and to the International Airport in Veracruz.
They arrived early and paced about the airport’s arrival area until finally seeing the children’s flight on the arrival board.
“They’ve landed,” Antonio cried out, hurrying forward.
One by one, passengers walked by. Then, from around the corner, Antonio’s oldest daughter Cecily, 10, appeared.
“It’s Daddy!” his youngest son, Enrique, 5, screamed.
“Daddy! Daddy, I missed you,” his daughter Marrissiah, 6, cried.
Cecily passed through the gate first. She stared, open-mouthed, at her father for a moment, then began to sob as Antonio pulled her quickly into his arms.
His oldest son, Anthony, 8, grabbed them both, then Marrissiah and Enrique.
Tears streamed down Antonio’s face as he spread his arms as wide as he could to hold them all.
Antonio took his children home. The Courier & Press is following the children this weekend as they begin the transition to their new home.


As more money flows to advertising startups chasing virtual reality and brands start creating custom content, publishers want in on the VR craze, too.
John Solomon, chief creative officer at Circa/Sinclair Broadcasting—the former exec from The Washington Times hired in December to revive the defunct news app—announced an ambitious VR news project for his fledging company during an Advertising Week panel on Wednesday.
Since launching 10 weeks ago as a news and entertainment site, Sinclair-owned Circa claims to reach 350 million people and accumulated 140 million video views, with two million of those views coming from VR clips.
The new effort, dubbed Circa 360, will produce two weekly ad-supported VR pieces with production company MomentumXR. Solomon did not name any initial advertisers, but said that brands can run VR-shot pre-roll ads before clips. The web clips can also be used by 173 of parent company Sinclair Broadcast Group's local TV stations.
"It will take our consumers to places that journalists get to go but the public very seldom gets to go, maybe backstage at a debate, backstage at Hamilton across the country," Solomon said. "We think the regularity of producing two newscasts a week will train our journalists and also our audience to expect that experiential news is here to stay."
Solomon added that he eventually sees brands creating custom content that fits into the video itself. "As we get a little further down the road, we'll have an immersive advertising capability where you'll be able to create basically augmented reality ad spots—as you're wandering around you may see a gamified icon. [If] you click on it, it's an opportunity to get a Red Bull drink for 20 percent off."
In terms of video length, most of Circa's clips are about one-and-a-half minutes long and aimed at millennials, who are increasingly watching shorter content on their phones with an 80 percent completion rate.
"Our first four or five VR pieces were shot in the three to five-minute zone—people drop off at about two minutes," Solomon said. "Sixty-seven percent of our audience is under the age of 35. What we're learning is that short videos that hand off to each other—they have a purpose or a pathway to see other stuff but cut short—is probably going to be the experience that millennials want."
Mike Bloxham, svp of Frank N. Magid Associates, agreed that the stereotype that millennials crave short content is true, but also pointed out that they watch plenty of long-form content on smartphones.
"Millennials also watch entire football games on mobile TV," Bloxham said. "If the content is sufficiently compelling [and] the user experience is seamless enough, they'll stick with it."
To that point, Frank N. Magid Associates is forming a consortium of media and marketing players—including Turner, A+E Networks, Mastercard and Best Buy—to examine VR for marketers.
"At the moment that's less about measurement as it will be defined in the world of online," Bloxham said. "It's more about understanding consumer attitudes and behaviors, drivers and inhibitors to adoption, because we really need to get an understanding of those—whenever there's any kind of emerging medium, we get very excited naturally about the opportunities and the potential but what's going to prevent us moving forward as fast as we could do and trip us up?"
Still, Angel Mendoza, head of partnerships at IPG Media Lab, argued that brands aren't treating VR as a long-term strategy, making Circa's pitch to brands difficult.
"In 2016, we've seen a lot of brands have one-off experiments, a lot of one-off content, but there's no real strategy to it," he said. "You can't just create one piece of content and distribute it across all different devices—you have to understand behavior across these different screens and headsets and you have to actually put together an objective."


CHELSEA have reportedly been knocked back in their pursuit of Belgium star Axel Witsel.
The 27-year-old will enter the final six months of his Zenit St-Petersburg contract in January.
And that situation means he will soon be able to negotiate a free transfer switch ahead of next summer's transfer window.
A host of Europe's top clubs were said to be tracking the midfielder after an impressive Euro 2016 campaign, including interest from Merseyside duo Liverpool and Everton.
And, according to Italian outlet Tuttosport, Chelsea are one of the teams who remain keen on securing his services.
However, the newspaper now claim Witsel has decided to reject the chance to link up with Antonio Conte at Stamford Bridge.
And he has apparently informed the Premier League leaders that he only has eyes for Juventus.
The late nature of Paul Pogba's world-record £89m move to Manchester United meant the Serie A giants were unable to land the former Benfica ace in August.
But they now look set to snap him up in a bosman deal after a five-year stint in Russia.
Witsel has made 23 appearances for Zenit this term, netting one goal and assisting two more.


When is a state not a state? When it’s Palestinian.
This afternoon, President Bush outlined his long-awaited plan for resolving the Middle East conflict. He gratified Israelis and dismayed Palestinians by demanding, as a condition of Palestinian statehood, a complete overhaul of the Palestinian leadership. But that’s just the most obvious caveat in Bush’s proposal. The raw deal for Palestinians isn’t the hoops they’ll have to jump through to get their prize. It’s the dubiousness of the prize.
Bush repeatedly described the state he envisions as “provisional.” White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer and Secretary of State Colin Powell have also called it a “potential” or “interim” state. (Fleischer has a curious habit of saying that a Middle East settlement must offer “security” to Israelis and “hope” to Palestinians, as though hope were the equivalent rather than the opposite of security.) Bush’s aides see no need to apologize for not proposing an actual state. They figure they’ve shown plenty of courage by going as far as they have. “You now, for the first time, have a President of the United States who has held out that distinct possibility of the creation of a Palestinian state,” Fleischer emphasized two weeks ago.
The White House keeps asserting that all parties in the conflict support Bush’s “vision” of a Palestinian state. It’s just that they don’t quite agree on how to get there. To maintain this veneer of agreement, the administration avoids specificity. When will the “provisional” state give way to a permanent one? “At some point in the future,” says Powell. Who will decide at what point Palestinian reforms are sufficient to merit statehood? “The President will wait … to see if the Palestinian institutions are going to form in a way that gives faith to the President and to the neighborhood that a viable government can be formed,” says Fleischer. What is the U.S. agenda for upcoming talks with the parties? “We have remained committed to the concept of moving forward with the concept,” says Powell. What immediate results does the United States expect? “The short-term goal is to figure out the way to get to the long-term goal,” says Fleischer.
Despite its rhetoric, the administration hasn’t even pledged that these borders, wherever they may end up, will in practice be secure and recognized. On June 13, Fleischer was asked whether, if Israel sent tanks across the new Palestinian border in response to terrorism, the United States would consider it “an act of war.” Fleischer twice refused to answer the question. “That’s a hypothetical, and I’m not going to get into that,” he said.
That’s what the offer of a “state” with no defined borders, powers, or timetable (and no right to be represented by its present leadership) is. It isn’t even a bone thrown to the Palestinians. It’s a picture of a bone. Bush’s father was notorious for confusing the photo op of a thing (“Message: I care”) with the thing itself. The son, too, seems to think that his words are equal to deeds. A month ago, when he was asked about progress in the Middle East, he noted with pride, “I gave a speech right here in the Rose Garden on April the 4th that said parties have responsibilities. … I’ve talked about a vision of two states.” Congratulations, Mr. President. You’ve done it again.


While voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 22, the statute that banned gay marriage in 2000, the new poll suggests a "reluctance by Californians to tinker with the constitution," said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll.
The highest percentage of respondents who opposed Proposition 8 in the poll were 18- to 29-year-olds (55 percent) and 50- to 64-year-olds (57 percent).
The latter demographic, DiCamillo said, "are people who grew up in the '60s and early '70s and they may be a little more tolerant to differences in lifestyles."
Read the full story at sacbee.com.


Cemetery in Quebec. Photo by Sue Frause.
Langley Mystery Weekend has come and gone.
Since I’m still on the road, I missed the whole thing.
But last week I sat down and had a chat with longtime Langley resident Chris Crotty, who wrote the mystery for ten years.
Chris said the game started as a way to get people to come to Langley during February — traditionally a slow month for business in the seaside town. It was the brainchild of Mo Black and Marjiann Moss, both with the Langley Chamber of Commerce at the time.
The first mystery, written by Jeff Handley 23 years ago, involved then Mayor of Langley Dolores Cobb and local dentist Dr. Ric Prael.
“Everybody got into the act,” said Chris. Even Jiggers the liquor store cat.
They switched to fictitious people and that’s when the fun began.
Chris says her favorite mystery was the one that included a Miss Langley Pageant; a cat show; Real Hair For Real People; and the men’s movement.
I’ve played it several times with my family and it’s a hoot. Originally it cost only a buck to play (inflation has hit, it went up to $5 this year). All you do is walk around to shops and businesses picking up clues and then sit down and figure out who did the dastardly deed.
We never did get it right.
One year I got even more involved, helping Chris and Marjiann write the mystery. I realized non-fiction was more my beat.
If you missed the 2007 edition, Death By Chocolate, no worries.
It’ll happen again same time next year.
To find out who dun it, go to the Langley Chamber of Commerce website.
Chocolate Signs in Quebec. Photo by Sue Frause.


The chiseled wrestling star reportedly rear-ended after a TV appearance, but was uninjured.
John Cena, the good guy and megastar of World Wrestling Entertainment fame, has reportedly been in a two-vehicle crash today while traveling from a television talk show appearance in Center City, according to WWE's website.
Cena’s driver, Jules Anderson, told WWE that the accident occurred around 11:30 a.m., when Cena’s vehicle was traveling east on Interstate 76. The SUV sustained damage in the rear, according to Anderson, who added that Cena was on a phone meeting at the time of the collision.
Cena, a 12-time champion of the longrunning wrestling organization, also may have helped keep the peace at the scene of the crash. After the chain crash that reportedly involved a tractor trailer truck, a small car and Cena's SUV, drivers became agitated, according to the WWE report. But Cena's presence — as is often the case in the ring — kept things from getting out of hand.


Fast acting Houston-area BMW enthusiast Cody W. Crochet was able to save all his cars from the floods brought by Hurricane Harvey using landscaping bricks to raise his garaged red E36 M3 up out of rising waters. Here’s how he carefully lowered that car back down—brick by brick, corner by corner.
In case you were wondering how you get a car back down after you improvised the ultimate last-minute home lift out of stock BMW jacks, jack stands and garden bricks, this time lapse should show you how: very, very carefully.
Crochet and a friend moved an OEM E36 jack atop a its own stack of bricks to each side of the car on one axle to lift the car up, take a brick off the stack, and then lift the car back down. Wash, rinse and repeat on each axle one by one until it’s all back down to earth.
Crochet left it on just one set of jackstands as he has projects already waiting for the car, as one always does with a project/track car.
Unfortunately, the rest of Crochet’s home—like many others throughout southeast Texas—was a complete mess, taking on well over the predicted one foot of water inside. The water line on Crochet’s garage is about three-fourths as tall as his big standing toolbox to the side.
He’s also been documenting his rebuilding process on his YouTube channel as well, in case you were curious how the rest of the house fared.
One of Crochet’s friends started a GoFundMe to cover home repair costs here, if you’d like to help him out personally. Alternately, there are still many organizations at work in the area helping with everything from shelter to food to rebuilding efforts for residents affected by Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath.
The Houston Chronicle has a constantly updated list of organizations currently working to help the Gulf Coast here, and Lifehacker has a handy guide to not falling for any charity-related scams here.


Mazdack Rassi, founder and creative director of Milk Studios, talks about Milk's big plans for expansion on the West Coast. The new studios will open on May 1, with soft openings between May and June. The facility will be fully operational in June.
When did you hit it big with Milk?
We came up with it ten years ago. We started as a basically as a rental facility, and over the last five years, we expanded more into a proper media company where we do more creative things, create more content, and are more involved in the creative process. Our goal was never to sort of be a space that was for rent or a rental mentality, but more of like to create a creative space and a crossroads for film, fashion, television, and art. We’re about seven divisions now.
Why the need for another huge Milk Studios in Los Angeles?
In the last three to four years, there’s been a big trend in our business in New York where we’re working more with celebrities than with models. The main reason is because they’ve sort of started taking over the magazines. Today, to think about a major magazine with a model on the cover is something that’s so outdated. In the last two years, what’s been happening with our campaigns is that more and more celebrities are encroaching on that business, and they’re all here in Hollywood. The greatest modeling agency in the world is now Hollywood. And it’s not a trend—its something that’s going to stay. Celebrities and their agents are much more open to doing high fashion, covers, and campaigns than they were five years ago.
How does the new space compare to the 80,000 square feet of Milk Studios in the Meatpacking District?
We took over the Technicolor studios in Hollywood, which were originally built in 1947. It was part of Paramount Studios, and we’re completely retrofitting it and modernizing it. We took it down to its concrete shell, and now we’re rebuilding from scratch. There are some parts that are original—like the soundstage—and we’re restoring these things back to their original glory. We get very involved in the community and our surroundings. This area reminds us of the Meatpacking District ten years ago.
Who have been some of your favorite clients to work with in New York?
So many people. From doing an exhibition with Mike Figgis, who is the award-winning director of Leaving Las Vegas, to having Kerry Richardson doing a shoot in our studios. He is always incredible and unique. It’s also amazing working with young photographers like Alexi Lubomirski. Watching people grow into these wonderful positions is a great gift. When we started at Milk, we didn’t know who the big photographers were. We just knew all the assistants. They were the same age as us, and we had the same sort of ideas. Those kids now have come to a point where they’re in charge, and they choose Milk as their home and their hub. We feed of that energy.
What are some of your favorite places to go to in New York?
My favorite bar in the city is Rose Bar. One of my favorite places to eat is Macelleria in the Meatpacking. And another bar would be the Brass Monkey.
What about LA? The best breakfast is at the Beverly Hills Hotel at the counter downstairs. I think that’s in the basement. Then there’s this amazing restaurant I went to last night, and I would definitely go there again, called Cecconi’s. The bar I like most here is Winston’s.


StyleCaster: When did you join Pinterest, and what exactly made you originally decide to join Pinterest?
Sarah Dobson: I believe I joined soon after it launched – in the fall of 2010 (ish). I had seen a fellow Canadian I met while interning at Wish magazine (now folded) using it on her blog and asked her for an invitation. It seemed like the perfect thing to replace my collection of physical tear-sheets (a habit I picked up from interning in the art departments of Wish and Teen Vogue).
SC: Please describe your blog/site and how this interacts/overlaps with your Pinterest page.
SD: I have all but abandoned my tumblr. It used to serve the same purpose as my Pinterest: keeping track of images, links articles and what not that I liked and wanted to remember. My online portfolio of graphic design work desperately needs updating – sarahcdobson.com. As soon as I find the time, I’m going to develop a new site for freelance design and creative consulting.
SC: What area(s) on Pinterest would you say is your specialty?
SD: I don’t think I have one.
SC: Is there an image (pin) that you are just sick of seeing over and over?
SD: While lovely, images of macaroons.
SC: How do you feel Pinterest most differs from other social media platforms – pros/cons? Which other social networks are you on (please send me your corresponding links)?
SD: I don’t use Pinterest as a social media platform. Some of my friends with small businesses do, and I think it’s a terrific tool for them to share their brand’s perspective. If they use it cleverly, to attract people with aligning interests, it will expand the brand’s audience. The con being if they don’t manage to develop or reinforce their unique perspective, it will render the brand uninteresting or confused.
SC: How does using Pinterest affect, influence or inspire your work and/or style?
SD: Pinterest as a company inspires me. I plan to start my own business, and am impressed with what they created. It is relevant and useful to both individuals, and companies. As a deeply visual person, the stream of self-curated visual inspiration Pinterest provides makes me happy and inspires me on a daily basis. I often refer to my boards to aide in decisions ranging from what to make for dinner, to what I will wear and how I will do my hair for an event like a wedding. It is very convenient.
SC: Please provide links to 5 of your favorite pinners.
SD: I’m Revolting, Teen Angster, Kaelen (my most stylish friend; also a wonderful designer I collaborate with on prints for her line of clothing), Natasha Jen (a Partner at Pentagram – the company I work for) and Julia Rambeau (a beloved best friend who lives in my home city of Toronto. I love seeing what she’s into from afar).
SC: What type of pins (products, neon colors, pastels, decor, vintage style, etc) do you see the best response from? Does this surprise you?
SD: Perhaps hair and beauty-related pins. That doesn’t surprise me though. I have noticed that some people respond negatively to some of my more “edgy” style and apparel pins — it always surprises me when people go out of their way to be negative.
SC: If you could give one piece of advice to a new user on Pinterest what would that be?
SD: Be true to your own taste.


The Duchess of Sussex is eagerly awaiting the birth of her first child, but eagle-eyed royal fans are convinced that, rather than putting her feet up, Meghan is busy on social media.
Royal watchers have gone into a frenzy after spotting captions on the new @SussexRoyal Instagram account that they believe have been written by Meghan.
Fans fans have been quick to spot Americanised spellings, as well as dollar signs and American English in the captions, and claim this points to a US native writing them.
Meghan, 37, and Prince Harry, 34, recently thanked fans for donating to their chosen charities in honour of Baby Sussex, and one post about Baby2Baby contains references to 'cribs' and 'diapers'.
Several posts use the US spelling 'organization', rather than 'organisation' and 'programs' rather than 'programmes'.
Before she was the Duchess of Sussex and began dating Prince Harry, Meghan amassed millions of followers on social media, and loved interacting with her fans.
The former Suits star often posted on pictures of her doing yoga, cuddling her dogs and enjoying a glass of wine on her Instagram account.
In January last year when she shut down her profile, she released a statement via Kensington Palace, saying she was 'grateful to everyone who has followed her social media accounts over the years'.
At the time, she'd posted over 2,000 times and had millions of followers.
Fans are sure there are several clues as to whether Meghan is controlling the new Sussex Royal account, which so far has a total of 12 posts in just two weeks.
The account, which follows the work the royal's do for charities, patronages and any work engagements, has regularly posted in support of 'organizations', the Americanised-English spelling of the English word 'organisations'.
And it's not the only word which points to an American author - in the latest post, which thanks supporters of some of the royal's favourite charities, the occasional American spelling crops up, including 're-energized' instead of 're-energised'.
Both spellings of these words can be used in Britain, but the more common way in British English is 'energised' and 'organisations' with an 'S'.
In several posts, including one endorsing Baby2Baby, a charity in Los Angeles, the account uses the American spelling 'programs' rather than 'programmes'.
In the same post praising the Los Angeles charity, the writer refers to The Duchess of Sussex's 'hometown', the American spelling of the British word 'home town'.
The most recent post is perhaps the most heavily Americanised, and refers to baby essentials such as 'diaper' and 'crib' as opposed to words that English people tend to use, like 'nappy' or 'cot'.
The person writing the caption also used a dollar sign instead of a pound sign, which could indicate a clear slip from the author.
And it's not just the spelling which gives it away - the post in question is just one to feature the Oxford comma.
Despite it's name, it is not considered standard in UK English, but is mandatory in American English.
On posts specific to events the Duke of Sussex has attended, at which Meghan isn't present, the captions tend to follow with more traditional British English spellings.
Two of the Instagram posts in question also featured the heart emoji, a symbol never seen on the KensingtonRoyal account.
The SussexRoyal account features slick, white borders that give it a stylised look, in contrast to Prince William and Kate Middleton's account.
Since the SussexRoyal account has been launched, commentators have suggested that the Duke and Duchess may use it to post the first pictures of Baby Sussex.
And it was also reported last year that Meghan had a 'secret' Instagram account in order to keep up with friends and family.
She was even hands on with the Kensington Royal account, which she and Harry used to share with the Cambridges.
She snapped a photograph of her husband that appeared on the Kensington Royal feed during the royal tour last year.
The royal couple's split their social media accounts earlier this year and now the @Kensingtonroyal account purely documents the work of Prince William and Kate Middleton's family.


The South Texas Project nuclear power plant near Bay City, Texas is shown under construction in Oct. 2009. Expansion plans would make the plant the largest in the U.S., doubling the number of reactors to four and marks the first nuclear plant license application in nearly 30 years.
In 2005, environmental groups mounted a fierce campaign against nuclear provisions included in the climate bill sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).
Then came an energy crisis, skyrocketing gas prices, a hard-fought presidential campaign, a recession and ballooning unemployment. Four years later, in an example of how quickly politics and minds can change in Washington, it seems the Senate now is ready to go nuclear when a climate bill hits Congress.
“Everyone who can count noses knows that nuclear is going to be in the bill somewhere,” said Frank O’Donnell, head of the environmental advocacy group Clean Air Watch.
Republicans have long pushed nuclear power as a significant part of their energy platform; the party’s energy plan released in July advocates bringing 100 new nuclear reactors on line by 2030. McCain made nuclear power central to his 2008 presidential campaign, basing his energy plan around a proposal to build 45 new nuclear reactors over the next two decades.
But in recent months, Democrats and the Obama administration have reversed their party’s traditional direction by embracing the construction of new reactors. Nuclear provisions, many Democrats believe, could lure a handful of Republicans on board a climate bill — votes that could be crucial to its passage.
In October, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) included nuclear provisions in a New York Times op-ed that broadly described their priorities for climate legislation. Last week, Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Jim Webb (D-Va.) introduced legislation that would double nuclear power over the next two decades.
And even Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who’s long raised questions about the environmental risks of nuclear power, included a handful of nuclear provisions in legislation that passed the Environment and Public Works Committee earlier this month.
The White House has also emerged as a cautious but active proponent of nuclear power.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu has said that the U.S. should consider expanding an $18.5 billion loan guarantee program for new nuclear plants. The Energy Department is working to finalize the already authorized guarantees, which could build as many as four new plants.
“I would say that in order to really restart in a serious way, you might want more than just three or four [new nuclear plants] in order to get it going,” Chu told Bloomberg News in October.
Those types of comments have led proponents to herald the start of a “nuclear renaissance” — one that won’t be marked by the vocal protests that were a hallmark of the environmental movement during the 1970s and 1980s.
“I believe that you are seeing a wholesale reconsideration of the politics of nuclear, particularly by Democrats, and a willingness to engage constructively on nuclear and climate legislation,” said Alex Flint, a lobbyist for the Nuclear Energy Institute.
But no one is singing “Kumbaya” quite yet.
Nuclear provisions alone won’t be enough to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a likely Republican-led filibuster of the climate bill in the Senate. Most Republicans oppose an economywide cap-and-trade system to curb greenhouse gases, the heart of the Democratic climate proposals. And conservatives seem unwilling to support legislation that includes those pollution controls, even if it also means greater support for nuclear power.


Rey ... with a lightsaber!
Disney released behind-the-scenes footage for "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" at D23 Expo.
The new footage is seriously cool.
It teases everything from Benicio del Toro's mysterious role to footage of Mark Hamill with the late Carrie Fisher during filming.
It's not a trailer, but we'll take it! As Disney shows off footage for its upcoming live-action movies to fans at its bi-annual D23 Expo, the studio released a behind-the-scenes look at the next "Star Wars" movie.
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" director Rian Johnson debuted the clip along with cast members Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley John Boyega, Gwendoline Christie, Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern, and Benicio Del Toro.
There's so much good stuff in here, from teases of del Toro's mysterious role to footage of Mark Hamill with the late Carrie Fisher during filming.
Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Lupita Nyong'o will reprise their roles in the eighth installment in the franchise. Hamill, who briefly appeared at the end of "The Force Awakens," will have a much larger role in the film as Luke Skywalker as he trains Rey (Ridley) in the ways of the Force.
"The Last Jedi" will be in theaters December 15, 2017.
After the video dropped, Boyega and Ridley shared teaser posters featuring the actors shrouded in red.
Another one of General Leia Organa was shared on the official "Star Wars" Twitter account. They're so ominous!


I collect animal stories the way other people collect postage stamps, and one of my favourites is the one Jennifer told me about her father, Mr. Russell, when he was in the Indian Police.
One such elephant had run amok in Bhopal and killed his keeper. He then ran into the jungles on the outskirts of a cluster of small villages, where he terrorized the villagers by stampeding every time one of then emerged. He would not allow them to work in the fields in the day, and at night he trampled and uprooted the young crops. Something had to be done, and the decision to shoot an animal that is a protected species was taken at the highest level.
So Commandant Russell was called in and ordered to take a squad of the Special Armed Force and go out and shoot the elephant.
''But he killed a man -- his keeper!'' the inspector general said.
The inspector general heaved a sigh of relief. Russell was one of their very best men. It would have been extremely awkward to charge him with something like indiscipline.
Russell and the armed squad left and everyone settled down to wait for news. A week passed and there was no news. Then the armed squad returned without Russell or the elephant. The ''sahib'' had sent them back, they said. He would continue on his own.
Now the inspector general was really worried. What if he had forced Russell into a position where he would rather die than kill an elephant? Perhaps by now he had been trampled into the dust, or broken a leg, or even perhaps gone off to some small ashram, or monastery, of which there were so many in India. What would his family say? And what about the elephant?
Search parties were sent out. They came back with the news that the villagers said the elephant had left their area and moved on into deeper jungle. No one had seen Russell.
Then just as all hope was being given up, a mud-spattered Commandant Russell walked into the office. His clothes were tattered, his face, arms, and legs scratched and bitten, and his eyes seemed swollen. He was dirty, hungry, and tired. But what he said made the inspector general grin with delight.
''Then what in blazes did you do?'' asked the inspector general.
And sure enough there was the elephant, happily munching sugar cane which was being fed to him by an admiring crowd. He looked mild, reliable, and the model of all that an elephant should be.
''But how did you do it? What happened?'' the inspector general asked.


Retired NBA star Alonzo Mourning has flown to Haiti to assist relief workers in earthquake-ravaged Port-au-Prince, while he and former Miami Heat teammate Dwyane Wade are trying to recruit other pro athletes in an effort to raise funds for the recovery.
Mourning arrived in the devastated capital Friday morning on a plane with Project Medishare, a Miami-based nonprofit agency that has worked since 1995 to provide quality health care in Haiti. In a statement first released to The Associated Press, Mourning said he is confident athletes can "make a difference" for those affected by the earthquake and its aftershocks.
He and Wade are calling their venture the "Athletes Relief Fund for Haiti."
"The Haitian community has deep roots in Miami, a city which I have personally claimed as my own home for 15 years," Mourning said. "As a longtime resident, I feel a profound sense of sadness for my many affected friends and neighbors. However, I am confident we can work together to make a difference."
Mourning could not immediately be reached in Haiti, where cell phone service remains problematic. In Port-au-Prince, he told The Palm Beach Post that he was willing to do "anything they want me to do" on his visit.
"I'll do manual labor or any other kind of labor. I'm here to help them," Mourning told the newspaper.
Speaking from Houston, where the Heat were playing the Rockets on Friday night, Wade said he thought the immediate effort to enlist other NBA players to help was "going pretty good."
Numerous other athletes, leagues and organizations have also offered quick responses to the Haitian crisis since the earthquake struck on Tuesday, causing the deaths of up to 50,000 people by Red Cross estimates.
"I know so many players want to do something but don't know exactly what, so we're trying to reach out to everyone," Wade said. "The main thing we ask is for people to give, whether it's a full-game salary, a half-game salary, whatever's in your heart to give. We want to make sure all athletes get together, because there's strength in numbers."
The Heat have also announced plans to send money and supplies, asking fans to give in exchange for ticket vouchers to February games. Mourning is a vice president within the organization.
Wade and Mourning had previously held conversations about trying to help the impoverished Haitian community, which has a large base in South Florida. Wade said he was told of a text Mourning sent to his wife Tracy Wilson Mourning shortly after arriving in Port-au-Prince, saying "words can't describe how it really is if you see it in person."
Wade and Mourning have teamed up for charitable causes in the past, most notably the annual Zo's Summer Groove in Miami, which has raised more than $6 million for children's programs.


Embattled Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Leader Prophet Walter Magaya has alleged that he is a Trillionaire.
In a wide circulating Interview, Magaya is asked how many cars he has. In response He says, "Just a few rign now I have got 3. I had four but I gave away the latest one that I had just last week to charity. It was not expensive it was just worth about US$ 65 000 and I gave it away."
When the interviewer interjected and said, "one would assume that you are a millionaire." Magaya responds, "I am a trillionaire actually."
However a scroll over the internet revealed that there is no trillionaire who is alive yet on earth with speculations that the Amazon Leader Jeff Bezos who is the richest man in the world might be the first person to reach a trillion as his Amazon entity is now a trillion worth.
Magaya is embroiled in a messy court case after being accused of unlawful distributing immune boosters which he tried to crush and flush when police were investigating him.
"Circumstances are that on 31 October 2018, the accused known as a prophet the Prophetic Healing and Healing Deliverance Ministries (PHD) made an advertisement on Yadah Television of Aguma Medicine which he claimed to be a cure for HIV/AIDS, cancer and other ailments.
"He further made claims that Aretha Medical and himself were the manufacturers of the Aguma medicine which he claimed can cure the abovementioned diseases.
"Verifications were made through the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe and it was established that Aguma is not a registered medicine or drug in Zimbabwe. It was also established that neither Magaya nor Aretha Medical Company were authorised by the Health Professions Authority to carry out clinical tests on nay human being to prove that Aguma can cure the aforementioned diseases thereby the accused committed an offence.
"The charge sheet further reveals that on 31 October, a search was conducted at Magaya's Marlborough premises where unregistered prescription medicines, drug manufacturing, packaging machines and drug manufacturing raw materials were recovered.
"Just before the search, the accused persons destroyed some of the exhibits by flashing them in the office toilets and burning containers which were however, recovered half-burnt. Several Aguma sachets and other torn sachets were also recovered in an office bin next to the office call centre," the charge sheet further states.


An environmental group's report on the benefits of off-shore wind power made a couple of interesting findings.

 One is that even if only partially exploited, strong winds off the Atlantic Ocean could generate much of the electricity needed for the population centers of the East Coast.

 Another was that the list of 11 states with the best potential for off-shore wind does not include Maine.
An environmental group’s report on the benefits of off-shore wind power made a couple of interesting findings.
One is that even if only partially exploited, strong winds off the Atlantic Ocean could generate much of the electricity needed for the population centers of the East Coast.
Another was that the list of 11 states with the best potential for off-shore wind does not include Maine.
This comes as some surprise, given the amount of attention and public investment Maine’s off-shore wind resources have received in recent years. But a look inside the report issued by the environmental group Oceana reveals why Maine isn’t there.
It’s not because the wind doesn’t blow here. According to the researchers Maine has the potential to generate nearly 39,000 megawatts, with only North Carolina coming close with a potential 37,000 megawatts.
And its not because Maine doesn’t have the need to find alternative energy sources. With about half of electric generation coming from natural gas, the state has an interest in diversifying its portfolio.
The reason Maine was not on Oceana’s list is because of the depth of the water off our coast, but that is also our greatest advantage. Because all the other contemplated wind projects are near-shore proposals, they use existing technology such as that employed in Europe.
The University of Maine’s deepwater wind lab is developing technology that is not yet proven, but has an opportunity to leap-frog other states’ efforts.
Near-shore wind, like mountain-top wind in Maine’s interior, is hard to site. The nation’s first permitted off-shore wind project, Cape Wind in Massachusetts, was embroiled in a nine-year regulatory process and is now the subject of lawsuits.
Deepwater wind farms can be set up beyond the horizon and have the potential to side-step the regulatory hassles that other projects have endured.
They also could be big enough to produce enough energy that would provide power at an affordable price.
Even though Maine was left off the list, the Oceana report strongly suggests that off-shore wind is a strong candidate to reduce fossil-fuel consumption and meet energy needs.
Maine’s strategy to develop deep-water technology offers a way to do it on a large scale without the regulatory hurdles other states will likely face. That could move it right to the top.


DALLAS — Stephen Curry served as the ringleader of a surprise celebration for Steve Kerr, who set an NBA record for most wins by a rookie coach and emerged from the locker room all wet.
The Warriors, with a 123-110 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday, not only clinched home-court advantage throughout the playoffs but also made it their 63rd win to prompt a sneak attack on Kerr.
It was Curry who also presented Kerr the game ball after the Warriors improved to 63-13 and secured the tiebreaker on Atlanta, which trails them by six games with as many games left in the regular season.
“How lucky am I to coach these guys in my first year?” Kerr said.
The Warriors captured their 12th straight victory, continuing to rack up wins at a time when the team’s priority is its health. Kerr said he didn’t prefer facing one Western Conference playoff opponent over another.
Klay Thompson scored a game-high 21 points as the Warriors opened their final regular season trip by devouring a playoff appetizer in Dallas, which is expected to end up the No. 7 seed in the West.
A bit of controversy emerged late in the third quarter when the Warriors’ Shaun Livingston was whistled for a Flagrant 1 after appearing to hit Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki in the groin while guarding Nowitzki from behind.
“I was trying to get my arm bar up before he backed me down, and he happened to kind of sit back and create space with his lower area, and it was bad timing,” Livingston said. “Eleven years in (his NBA career), I haven’t had a dirty play.
Nowitzki’s ensuing free throws cut the Warriors’ lead to 86-74, but as Dallas fans spent the rest of the game booing Livingston whenever he touched the ball, the Warriors wouldn’t let the Mavericks back into the game.
With the Warriors leading 106-89, J.J. Barea put a forearm to Livingston for a common foul that held up as such upon review.
“It’s a Hall of Fame player,” Cuban said of Nowitzki, who led the Mavericks with 18 points. “You don’t treat somebody like that.
Livingston played the role of the villain on the road as Curry was limited to 28 minutes in three quarters and scored 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting. Curry had taken a spill after being fouled while scoring on a layup on the team’s second possession, and he limped slightly when he got up.
Kerr, after having been caught off guard by the Curry-led postgame celebration, supported Curry’s NBA MVP candidacy.
“Imagine what his number would look like if he were playing in all these fourth quarters, and that’s the extent of my promotion for Steph tonight,” Kerr said.
Andre Iguodala and Marreese Speights added 18 points apiece off the bench. Speights’ deep 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer gave them a 59-48 lead.
Draymond Green returned to action after missing the past three games with shin inflammation. He collected five points, six rebounds and four assists in 30 minutes.
For more on the Warriors, see the Inside the Warriors blog at www.ibabuzz.com/warriors. Follow Diamond Leung on Twitter at twitter.com/diamond83.
It's been five years since Madison Bumgarner tossed a complete game shutout to beat the Pirates in the NL Wildcard Game. Friday's game showed why a largely unchanged roster is an issue.
Can the Warriors avoid another playoff letdown vs. Clippers?
With the Warriors holding a 2-1 series lead over the Clippers, they believe they will not squander retaking the series.
The Dubs' dynamic defensive duo is back together and thriving.


President Obama's top counterterrorism advisor faced the Senate Intelligence Committee today.
President Obama's top counterterrorism advisor is facing the Senate Intelligence Committee today and you can watch live below. As you should know by now, if you've been following our previous coverage of John Brennan's confirmation fight to become the next CIA director, the session is expected to focus his oversight of the U.S. government's unmanned drone program, and its operations to assassinate terrorists around the globe.
In particular, there will be many questions about the stories that have leaked this week involving administration legal opinions on the Constitutionality of killing American citizens overseas without a trial. As a former CIA officer and the President's closest advisor on the subject, he's become the most important figure involved in this controversial policy and many of the Senators, both Republicans and Democrats, are eager to question him about it. If his pre-hearing questionnaire is any indication, there will also be talk of leaks, government oversight, and the "militarization" of the agency.
Update: After Code Pink protestors disrupted the hearing, Brennan walked the line on torture.
You can allow follow along on C-SPAN (web and television) or watch the livestream below, courtesy of CBS News.


(CNN) As many as 4,600 Medicaid recipients in Arkansas have lost their benefits for the rest of this year after failing to meet the state's new work requirements.
Arkansas became the first state ever to implement work requirements, after gaining approval from the Trump administration earlier this year. Under the new rules, which took effect in June, recipients must work, go to school, volunteer or search for jobs for at least 80 hours a month or be stripped of their coverage until the following year.
The affected beneficiaries, mainly non-disabled adults in their 30s and 40s who don't have dependent children, failed to report any work activity for three months. This prompted the state to drop them from the rolls. A final tally will be available next week.
State officials said they made many efforts to contact those subject to the new requirement, including sending letters and emails, making phone calls and videos, working with community organizations and setting up a call center to answer questions. Those who could not find employment were offered training. Recipients had to log their hours online, but could designate certain others -- such as their Medicaid insurer or a local nonprofit -- to do it for them if they did not have access to a computer.
Consumer advocates, however, pointed to the results as proof that work requirements do not help people find jobs. They just add more hurdles for people to get government assistance.
"So far, Arkansas Works doesn't seem to be incentivizing work at all," Joan Alker and Maggie Clark, at the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University, wrote in a recent blog post. "However, what does seem clear is that the new approach (and others like it) will likely result in significant coverage losses for adults who rely on Medicaid coverage for their survival."
Governor Asa Hutchinson said that some who did not comply may have found work, gained coverage elsewhere or moved out of state without notifying officials.
"Personal responsibility is important," said Hutchinson, a Republican. "We will continue to do everything we can to ensure those who qualify for the program keep their coverage, but we will also make sure those who no longer qualify are removed."
More than 30,000 of these recipients were already meeting the mandate by working or engaging in other activities so they were exempted from reporting each month. Several thousand more received other exemptions or had their cases closed for unrelated reasons.
Only 844 met the reporting requirement. Of these folks, 145 said they were working and 127 reported they were in school, volunteering or searching for jobs. The rest reported that they were meeting the work requirements for food stamps, which also satisfies the new Medicaid mandate.
These figures show that the new rules prompted only a sliver of enrollees to find jobs or other activities, Alker said in an interview.
Many recipients likely don't know about the mandate, experts said. Jessica Greene, a professor at Baruch College, found that 12 of the 18 people she interviewed last month had not heard anything about it.
"What I found was a profound lack of awareness about the policy," wrote Greene in a Health Affairs post, who said a much broader educational effort is needed.
Three consumer groups are suing the Trump administration in an effort to halt the Arkansas program. The National Health Law Program, along with Legal Aid of Arkansas and the Southern Poverty Law Center, filed the lawsuit in US District Court in Washington D.C. in mid-August. It charges that approval of Arkansas' waiver runs counter to Medicaid's objective of providing the poor with access to health care.
Consumer activists successfully stopped the implementation of work requirements in Kentucky in June. The Trump administration has also approved requests to implement work requirements in Indiana and New Hampshire, though the new rules have yet to take effect in those states.


Following aggressive stock buybacks by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), billionaire investor Carl Icahn announced plans on Monday to drop his non-binding proposal to persuade the iPhone maker to repurchase $50 billion of its own stock.
The decision to abandon the campaign comes after a pair of influential proxy firms urged investors to vote down Icahn’s proposal on February 28.
But it also comes just days after Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed the consumer electronics giant repurchased $14 billion of its shares following a post-earnings slump last month.
Taking into account the $14 billion of buybacks Cook announced, proxy firm Institutional Shareholder Services noted over the weekend Apple is now on track to repurchase at least $32 billion in 2014. That means Icahn’s proposal only asks the board to spend another $18 billion than it was already on pace for.
“In light of these actions, and ISS’s recommendation, we see no reason to persist with our non-binding proposal, especially when the company is already so close to fulfilling our requested repurchase target,” Icahn wrote in an open letter to shareholders on Monday.
“It is our expectation that Tim and the board continue to exhibit this behavior as fiduciaries to the shareholders since they clearly seem to agree that our company continues to be extremely undervalued, and we all share a common optimism with respect to the company’s bright long term future,” Icahn said.
Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Icahn’s announcement.
Shares of Apple gained 1.51% to $527.54 Monday morning, trimming their 2014 loss to 6%.


With his role on the popular tweener TV show �Hannah Montana� and appearance on �Dancing With the Stars,� some may have forgotten that Billy Ray Cyrus started out as a country singer.
Cyrus reminded people where he came from when �Ready, Set, Don�t Go,� his duet with daughter Miley Cyrus (the Hannah of �Hannah Montana� fame) put the 46-year-old crooner back onto the upper steps of the record charts for the first time in a decade. The hit came off the album �Home at Last,� a record that reinvigorated the musical interest in the man who two-stepped his way onto the scene with �Achy Breaky Heart� in 1992.
Watch for Cyrus to be the host of the NBC-TV show �Nashville Star� and to share hosting duties of the CMT Awards on April 14 with Miley.
Before all that, though, Cyrus will be performing at 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts in Worcester. Tickets are $50, $45 and $38, available online at www.thehanovertheatre.org.


Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman jailed for spying in Iran, is back in prison after the judiciary rejected a request to extend her three-day temporary release.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was released on Thursday after more than two years in jail, in a move that took her and her family by surprise. She returned to Tehran’s Evin prison on Sunday evening local time to continue serving her five-year term.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe reacted with incredulity, insisting she was innocent, according to her husband, who remains in the UK. She was described as shivering, shaking and crying when the deputy prosecutor told her earlier in the day that she had to be separated from her daughter again.
“This feels a dark world. I used to pray, but these past two years I’ve lost much of my faith. Who would take a child from their mother?” she said on the phone to her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, before going back to prison.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was told earlier in the day that authorities had approved a request put in by her lawyer for an extension to the furlough, but the prosecutor’s office notified her later that a permit had not been signed off and she had to return to prison.
She visited the prosecutor’s office just after midday on Sunday – she was told she did not have to return to prison at least for that day. While on her way home, her interrogators told her the extension had been approved due to her good behaviour while being on prison leave. But 10 minutes after arriving home, she received another call from the prosecutor’s office, informing her that she had to return to Evin prison before sunset.
“How can you take me away from my baby when she needs me,” she was quoted as saying to the deputy prosecutor, according to her husband.
Ratcliffe said his wife had decided to return to the prison voluntarily to avoid being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and the upset that would cause to four-year-old Gabriella.
Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK’s director, said the news was a crushing disappointment. “There were real hopes that not only would her three-day furlough be extended, but that her permanent and unconditional release was also just around the corner,” she said.
The UK Foreign Office said: “We remain very concerned about all our dual nationals detained in Iran, and continue to make decisions in line with what we believe will produce the best outcomes in their cases,” but did not specifically comment about Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s return to prison.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in April 2016 as she and her daughter were about to board a flight back to the UK after a visit to her family in Iran. She was accused of attempting to orchestrate a “soft overthrow” of the Islamic Republic, spying and running “a BBC Persian online journalism course which was aimed at recruiting and training people to spread propaganda against Iran”. She denies the allegations.
On Saturday night, the last night she spent with Gabriella before finding out she had to return to prison, Zaghari-Ratcliffe sent a text to her husband, who is in Edinburgh attending a play about her ordeal, called Nazanin’s Story.


Emma Stern, 6, hugs Ranger the donkey as Sophie Stern, 3, and Cayden Nieto, 6, look on as they prepare for their live nativity at the Midland Church of the Brethren on Christmas Eve. This is the fourth year that the Stern family has put on the nativity in front of the church. Last year, Sophie played the baby Jesus but she outgrew the part and was a shepherd this year along with Emma and Cayden.


Police are seeking a Denver Justice High School student who brought a loaded weapon to school on Monday and then fled after administrators confronted him.
After a routine inspection found bullets in the student’s locker, administrators brought the student to the office and discovered the handgun in his backpack, Jones said. The boy quickly left the building, before police and DPS security personnel arrived on scene.
After administrators found bullets in the boy’s locker, during a routine check, they brought the student to the office and that’s when they discovered the gun in his backpack, said Will Jones, a Denver Public Schools spokesman. The boy quickly left the building, before police and DPS security personnel arrived on scene.
The student quickly left the building at 300 9th Ave., leaving the backpack and gun behind, Jones said.
“So as a precaution they put the school on lockout while police and our department of safety went to find this young man,”he said.
The lockout, which requires doors to be locked so no one can enter, began at 1:55 p.m. and it ended at about 3 p.m., Jones said.
No one was injured or threatened in the incident.
The “second chance” school’s mission is to provide a college preparatory education. It serves students who have been chronically truant, or otherwise unsuccessful in a traditional school setting. The school also enrolls students who’ve been involved in the criminal justice system.
As of 5 p.m. the student had not yet been contacted by officers or taken into custody, Denver police said.


Chemical in for city banking; who's out?
The move of Midland-based Chemical Bank's headquarters to Detroit — and the news that the city government would move bank accounts to Chemical — brought up some memories last week of another headquarters move.
In one of the biggest corporate recruitment victories for the city in recent memory, Chemical Bank (NASDAQ: CHFC), currently based in Midland, plans to move more than 500 executives and other employees into a new high-rise at Woodward Avenue and Elizabeth Street in downtown Detroit. The building would be next to the Ilitch family's new Little Caesars Global Resource Center.
Flash back to 2007: Comerica Inc. stunned its hometown when the bank announced it would move its headquarters to Dallas.
In response, then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick decided it would be a good time to start shopping around for a better banking deal, according to his memoir. The city wound up moving about $90 million in accounts from Comerica to Detroit-based First Independence Bank.
However, the city still kept a substantial share of its accounts at Comerica.
This time around, it's a bank headquarters coming to town, and money going into that bank.
Which bank lost out on the main body of Detroit government's banking business?
According to the city, it is Comerica.


Airbus chief executive Tom Enders ratcheted up his criticism of the UK government over its handling of Brexit talks as Prime Minister Theresa May prepares to hold a key meeting of ministers aimed at thrashing out a common position on the issue.
May’s administration has “no clue or consensus on how to execute Brexit without severe harm,” Enders said at a briefing in London on Friday. The confusion has wasted months of negotiating time and created “a discomforting situation” for the planemaker, he added.
The broadside comes after Airbus last month delivered the starkest warning yet from a major company about the perils of Britain leaving the European Union’s single market and customs union without a transition deal. The group warned of “severe disruption” to UK production that would force it reconsider its investments and long-term presence in the country.
Enders said in his latest comments that the UK should at least stay in the customs union and various regulatory bodies and agree to abide by European Court of Justice decisions.
Enders said a particular worry is that if the UK is no longer a member of the European Aviation Safety Agency the certification of thousands of parts in its supply chain could be jeopardized, something that may “eventually lead to a standstill in production.” He also echoed concerns from UK aerospace lobby group ADS that planes could even be grounded as safety approvals run out.
May’s top team of ministers will attempt to finalize the UK blueprint for its partnership with the EU at a crunch meeting at her Chequers country residence, but a group of seven pro-Brexit ministers are pushing for her to tear up her plans. Rebel cabinet members met in British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s offices late Thursday to coordinate their opposition to the premier’s policy on linking tariffs and goods regulations closely to those of the bloc.
Airbus employs 14,000 people at 25 sites in Britain and supports about 4,000 UK companies and more than 100,000 jobs in the supply chain, the Toulouse, France-based company said in a Brexit risk-assessment document last month.
A hard Brexit could force the group, which operates a “just in-time” manufacturing procedure, to stockpile around 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in parts to help circumvent snags caused by new customs rules, with each week of delay translating into 1 billion euros in lost revenue, it estimates.
Airbus commercial-aircraft chief Guillaume Faury said that in order to stockpile sufficient parts to last three months and provide the company with a suitable “buffer,” its suppliers need to increase production by more than one-third now. That’s a cause for concern as those companies are already stretched by production ramp-ups.
The manufacturer has repeatedly warned about a risk of Brexit sidelining the UK when it comes to future aerospace projects. Its German operation is working with French warplane specialist Dassault Aviation on a next generation of European fighter aircraft, rather than selecting its historic partner in combat jets, London-based BAE Systems.
Enders had pledged in February that Airbus would retain its British operations “long into the future’’ in what seemed then to be a turnaround from previous attacks on the planned divorce.


The 6th annual Women In Film and Television Film Festival kicked off in Vancouver at the Vancity Theatre on March 4th. The Reel Women series showcased the diversity of the female perspective with nine unique short films.
The first, Mere Terre, Taire, a film with French roots by multi-disciplinary artist Collette Balcaen, explores the complicated relationship between Mother Nature and humanity’s perpetual growth. The story is told from the perspective of Collette and her mother, who have both seen the incredible changes to the family farmstead over generations of lost traditions.
Adapted from a popular Portuguese novel, Oriana is a wonderful animated tale from director Kara Miranda Lawrence. Oriana is a beautiful fairy who has been entrusted to tend to the forests of Azorean. When she is tricked into becoming transfixed by her reflection, the forest withers and suffers from her neglect. This is a simple tale that pinpoints society’s insatiable self-obsession and the subsequent destruction of the planet. The film won Best Animated Film at this year's festival award ceremony.
One of the longer films of the series clocking in at 22 minutes, Cedar and Bamboo, directed by Diana Leung and Kamala Todd, is a fascinating perspective into the lives of early Chinese immigrants and Canada’s indigenous peoples. Exploring a subject matter very little talked about, the relationships between the indigenous peoples and Chinese immigrants is an interesting narrative on the difficulties experienced by both cultures and the unique perspective that they can bring to Canada’s history.
From first-time filmmaker and former dancer, Natalie Robison, Inscape showcases world-renowned contortionist Jinny Jessica Jacinto as she twists and turns in black and white. Robison expressed the many challenges of creating the film, including shooting on a Bolex and discovering that Jacinto would only perform each contortion once, making for tricky post-production.
Working with Global Partnerships, a company providing microfinance funds for Latin American peoples, Seattle-based filmmaker team Rustin Thompson and Ann Hedreen created The Business of Hope. The film follows several women in Bolivia and Nicaragua as their lives are transformed through the funding brought by Global Partnerships micro-loans. The Business of Hope is an excellent example of using the medium of film as a powerful tool for non-for-profits and companies committed to positive change throughout the world.
A heart-warming tale of selflessness from France Benoit, Hand To Toe, An Exploration in the Art of Giving, brings the viewer into a Salvation Army shelter in Yellowknife where volunteers spare their time to wash the feet of men and women living on the streets. By allowing the audience to only see the hands and feet of the volunteers and patrons, the film brings audiences into a world that they would otherwise never see. Benoit said she was concerned about the privacy of the volunteers and the patrons of the shelter but did not think of this until after shooting. Editing to only show the hands and feet not only solved this issue but created a successful tone of intimacy with the audience.
Set in Cape Dorset, Nunavut in Northern Canada, Ghost Noise follows artist Shuvinai Ashoona as she explains the process of her art and its inspirations. Drawing insights from her life amidst the stark landscape of rock and ice in Nunavut, Ashoona creates art that captures both the cultural reality and the mythical imagination of living in an isolated region as a modern Inuit. Director Marcia Connolly mimics Ashoona’s creative personality throughout the film, allowing the audience to journey to the heart of the artist’s imagination.
A gem of a film from second-year film student Rebecca Johanson, Belle & Emma follows the story of a Grandmother and Granddaughter growing old and up together. Shot entirely on a Bolex as a film school project, this wonderful tale proves that no matter the age gap, people all have something to learn from one another.


Kelowna's Rotary Centre for the Arts is withdrawing a job offer to former Art Gallery of Calgary CEO Valerie Cooper after learning she is being sued for allegedly misappropriating nearly $500,000.
According to a civil claim filed in Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, the Calgary gallery put Cooper on paid administrative leave on March 13 after its board was notified Calgary police were investigating Cooper for the misappropriation of gallery funds.
Cooper then applied for the position of general manager at Kelowna's Rotary Centre for the Arts, after the centre's former executive director Tracie Ward died of cancer in April.
$185,129 - Reimbursed to Cooper's expense account after allegedly falsely invoicing the board for art or services from other galleries. Those galleries say the art was personally purchased by Cooper, and any invoiced services were never rendered.
$124,000 - Personal loan allegedly made from Cooper to Art Gallery of Calgary. Loaned money was not received by the gallery, but repaid to Cooper.
$89,250 - Board falsely invoiced for an exhibition development, paid to Sandra Alvus. Funds actually went to pay for Cooper's condo rental in downtown Calgary.
$66,978 - Reimbursed to Cooper for unauthorized travel expenses.
$19,396 - Reimbursed for non-approved goods and services including massage, parking, credit card fees, home maintenance, cleaning and clothing.
The centre announced Cooper would be the new general manager on Wednesday.
But then Steven Faigan, president of the Kelowna Visual and Performing Arts Centre Society — which manages the RCA's operations — discovered Cooper's legal troubles less than a day later.
Faigan told the CBC he spoke with Cooper Thursday evening and told her they were withdrawing the job offer.
"Recent allegations surrounding Valerie Cooper have been brought forward by the media that have led to this expedient decision by the board. Valerie Cooper is not an employee at the RCA at this point in time," said Faigan on Friday morning.
Faigan said the board was shocked to learn Cooper had misled them.
He said Cooper was interviewed for over an hour by staff in Kelowna on April 21.
Faigan said the board did the appropriate reference checks; a human resources committee verified her references and everything seemed above board until he was told otherwise Thursday evening.
According to the statement of claim against Cooper, the Art Gallery of Calgary alleges she diverted $497,586 for her personal use, by falsifying expenses between 2006 and 2012.
Those expenses allegedly included payments on her downtown condo, unauthorized travel, a loan to the gallery from Cooper for $124,000 that was repaid but never existed in the first place, massages, credit card fees, clothing and home maintenance and $184,000 for art purchased and framed but never received by the gallery.
"The Board received constant reports from the defendant [Cooper] that the plaintiff [the gallery] was in dire financial straits and from time to time other members of the board did in fact make personal loans, without interest, to the plaintiff [the gallery] to cover operating expenses pending receipt of grant funds," reads the statement of claim.
The documents say the board relied on Cooper to run the gallery and board members didn't, and had no reason to, suspect Cooper was misappropriating funds.
It was only when approached by Calgary police that they did an internal audit of the art gallery's finances, and discovered $497,586 was missing.


ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Joey Gallo homered and grounded a tiebreaking single to the vacant spot at shortstop against the shift, helping the Texas Rangers beat the Angels 12-7 on Monday night in Mike Trout's return after the Los Angeles star missed three games with a groin injury.
Gallo stopped an 0-for-16 slump by lining his fifth homer into the porch in right field . The left-handed slugger, who has faced four infielders on the right side and four outfielders among various alignments, hit a sharp grounder to left to spark a four-run fifth that broke a 4-all tie. Gallo's third hit was a double in the eighth.
Cam Bedrosian (1-1) allowed five of the seven hitters he faced to reach, starting with Elvis Andrus' leadoff double in the fifth. Two runs scored on Isiah Kiner-Falefa's RBI single when right fielder Kole Calhoun's throw home skipped past Kevan Smith, allowing Gallo to score.
Some LA sloppiness that didn't result in an error helped Texas erase a 4-1 deficit in the third.
With Danny Santana at third and one out after Choo's homer, Nomar Mazara's high popup near home landed between Albert Pujols and Smith, with the first baseman gesturing to his catcher that it should have been Smith's ball. Mazara's groundout scored Santana before Gallo homered.
Calhoun had three hits for LA, capped by his third homer — a two-run shot in the eighth.
Rangers: LHP Mike Minor (1-1, 3.86 ERA) has allowed two runs in 14 innings of past two starts and will be working on an extra day of rest. Minor didn't face the Angels in the four-game series in Anaheim earlier this season.


What is the Future of Sequencing a Patient's Genome for Precision Medical Care?
What is the Future of Sequencing a Patient’s Genome for Precision Medical Care?
Back in 2003, Nobel Prize laureate James D. Watson announced that a six-country consortium has successfully drawn up a complete map of the human genome, completing one of the most ambitious scientific projects ever and offering a major opportunity for medical advances.
Genome sequencing will help us create narrower subcategories of disease.
Please note that I do not use the word “individualized” to describe this process, as I think its use essentially creates a misconception. I’ll explain by taking you through a simplified look at the progression of medicine through the lens of cancer.
Many years ago: We first encounter cancer; we have no idea what on earth it is. We may see growths or maybe even cut into a few, but it is an astonishingly foreign disease entity because we don’t understand the science behind it—all we know is that this “tumor” is often incompatible with life, and therefore needs to be treated somehow.
With advances in microscopic technology and cell biology, we eventually arrive at the notion of classifying tumors as malignant vs. benign. Boom. First data point. Patients are now sorted into one of these two categories, allowing treatment to be focused onto the malignant lesions.
We then analyze retrospective data and pathologists come up with tumor grading and tumor staging to help calculate the risk index of future patients’ tumors. Boom. Second and third data points help us significantly refine, as we realize that malignant vs. benign isn’t as cut-and-dry as we’d thought. Patients are now sorted into one of over a dozen categories depending on their tumor’s grade and stage, allowing the aggressiveness of treatment to be scaled to the severity of the lesion.
And so it has gone on. If we look at breast cancer, discovery that some tumors overexpress HER2+/neu added a data point, allowing patients to be categorized further into those who may benefit from treatment with Trastuzumab. Other cancers have their specific markers and/or drugs as well.
What we can conclude from this march of progress, then, is that sequencing a patient’s genome (if it can be made cost-effective, widespread, and easily analyzable) may allow us to further refine our subcategories of disease, helping us put people into smaller and smaller “buckets”, as it were.
However, we have already reached a point where it is simply not cost-efficient to thoroughly investigate a specialized “best” cure for every single subcategory of a given disease. This is why I eschew use of the word “individualized” when it comes to medicine–it’s simply not possible.
Sometimes, it’s a money issue, and this is where people’s emotions and/or entitlement can clash with the practical constraints of statistical/capitalistic reality. Sure, we can all agree that it’s tragic when a young child develops a subcategory of cancer that occurs in 1 in every 300,000 people, but demanding that companies divert R&D from developing drugs for subcategories that occur in 1 in 50,000 people to research the rarer form is simply not reasonable. In short, the bigger buckets capture more research funds.
Much of the time, though, it’s just not necessary to do this; who cares what specific strain of rhinovirus gave you the common cold, if generic supportive care will get you better? If one treatment will work for a large bucket, why bother drilling down?
And for new discoveries, it’s simply a time issue, and this is natural. In medicine, the ability to diagnose has usually come before the ability to treat as R&D plays catch-up to new discoveries.
What happens when we drink human blood?


The Ventura County Community Development Corp. has created an assistance program for people affected by the Thomas Fire and/or Montecito mudslides.
The Ventura County Community Development Corp. has created an assistance program for residents of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties affected by the Thomas Fire and/or Montecito mudslides.
The nonprofit community economic development organization said the funds come from an $800,000 commitment made by Wells Fargo to assist with economic recovery for those affected by the related disasters.
How can California wildfire warnings, evacuations be improved?
The initial $300,000 in grant funds was awarded to five local nonprofits, including VCCDC, Women’s Economic Ventures, the Ventura County Community Foundation, the Red Cross and FOOD Share. The remaining $500,000 will be distributed to nonprofits in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties over the course of the year as plans and programs are developed to address current and emerging community needs.
VCCDC plans to use the funds it was awarded to provide individual grants of up to $1,000 for households affected by the disasters. Applicants must be residents of Ventura County or Santa Barbara County and must demonstrate a financial loss due to the fire and/or mudslides. The funds will be given directly to the applicant to be used for existing needs ranging from housing to living expense needs caused by loss of wages or business losses caused by disasters. There are no income or household size limits. One grant per eligible household or business will be awarded. Additional criteria and requirements apply.
The application, document requirements, eligibility criteria and submission details can be found at www.vccdc.org/wfgrant starting at 10 a.m. Monday. Applications will be accepted until all qualified recipients have been identified.
For more information, contact Keily Victoria, administration support manager for VCCDC, at 805-273-7800 or kvictoria@vccdc.org.


Just a few weeks back, Valve moved into Discord’s turf a bit with a dramatic overhaul of Steam’s chat system.
Today, Discord is returning the favor by playing with the idea of selling games through its namesake chat platform.
The company says it’ll launch a beta of the game store later today, though it’ll initially be limited to a small slice of its user base (which now sits at 150 million users). More specifically, the beta will roll out to just 50,000 users from Canada at first.
It’ll be dabbling in game sales on two fronts: they’ll directly sell some games, while other games will be added perks for its Discord Nitro subscription service.
Whereas Valve has massively increased the number of games on Steam over the last few years by opening up to third parties through things like Steam Greenlight or (more recently) Steam Direct, Discord is pitching this as a more “curated” offering with a slimmer number of options. At least at first, they say they’re aiming for something that feels more like “one of those cozy neighborhood book shops” — which, on day one of the beta, translates to 11 games.
While 11 games may not seem like much, you can bet they’ll offer more than that in time. See that screenshot up top? You don’t dedicate an entire tab in some of your app’s most prime screen real estate unless you’re hoping to make it a key part of your business.
Taking things one more step forward, Discord is also getting into (temporary) exclusives — or, as it calls them, “First on Discord” games. While it doesn’t mention names and none will roll out with today’s beta, Discord says it’ll soon highlight select indie games that’ll be available only on Discord for the first 90 days-or-so after their respective launches.
Meanwhile, the company is also testing the idea of building up its premium subscription add-on, Discord Nitro, into a game subscription service. Whereas the $5-per-month service previously primarily got you a few mostly aesthetic perks like animated avatars, a special profile badge and bigger upload limits, the same 50,000 players mentioned above (or, at least, those on Windows) will get access to a rotating set of games.
While many of those games aren’t exactly new (some of them are 5+ years old), a lot of them are really great games (I’ve lost days to Super Meat Boy) that not everyone has gotten around to playing. It’s a solid way to pique people’s interest in giving Discord a bit of money each month if the GIFs and badges weren’t quite enough.
Oh, and for good measure, Discord is making itself a launcher — that is, you’ll be able to sort and launch most of the games on your computer right from Discord, including games purchased elsewhere and even those, notes the company, that require another launcher to run. If that’s not a shot across the bow in Steam’s direction, I’m not sure what is.


SNL's dart-like, self-guided bullet is four inches long and also uses an optical sensor in its nose to detect a laser guidance system that must remain on target for the bullet to track.
The EXACTO technology is now in phase II of development, which includes the design, integration and demonstration of aero-actuation controls, power sources, optical guidance systems, and sensors. The program's next phase includes a system-level live-fire test and technology refinement to enhance and improve performance.
"For military snipers, acquiring moving targets in unfavorable conditions, such as high winds and dusty terrain commonly found in Afghanistan, is extremely challenging with current technology," DARPA said on its website. "It is critical that snipers be able to engage targets faster, and with better accuracy, since any shot that doesn't hit a target also risks the safety of troops by indicating their presence and potentially exposing their location."
EXACTO Demonstrates First-Ever Guided .50-Caliber Bullets (Source: DARPA).


Did Christopher Reeve Get a Split-Second CGI Cameo in Man of Steel?
Has director Zack Snyder found an innovative way to pay homage to Superman's past in Man of Steel? While no one likely saw it in theaters, the filmmaker may have found an intriguing way to add Christopher Reeve into his big screen blockbuster in a unique shot with Henry Cavill. Take a look at this photo to see this Superman blockbuster pay tribute to the late actor.


At Pa. School, Teens Build Empathy By Confiding In A Crowd Kids can act out when they're feeling isolated, so one Philadelphia school encourages students to take the mic and reveal their deepest fears in front of their peers. The result? Honesty and kindness.
Lavita, Sierra and Tyshierra are Freire Charter School students who stood up and told stories that made them vulnerable in front of their classmates. Lavita says now she feels "like anything is possible."
Imagine this: a high school assembly where students share their deepest, most painful secrets — and instead of judgment from their peers, they get applause.
That's the approach Philadelphia's Freire Charter School has taken in its effort to prevent the next violent outburst or the next tragedy on campus. Instead of turning to guards or metal detectors, the school is making empathy part of its curriculum.
For the students, it starts with a simple prompt: If you really knew me, this is what you'd know. At a recent assembly, about two dozen Freire students stood before 500 peers and revealed their greatest fears, frustrations and insecurities.
For Tyshierra, a 10th-grader from a tough section of West Philly, it meant sharing a story about her mother — a drug dealer, she says, who was strangled to death by her boyfriend.
"Her pillow had fallen off the bed, so I lifted her head up and placed it back when I realized her face was cold," Tyshierra told her classmates. She said she shook her and called her name over and over again. She and her siblings didn't get an answer, "so we started to panic," she said.
A few months later, her father was dead, too. He died of liver cancer. Ever since, she and her younger siblings have cycled through an endless series of counseling programs and child protection caseworkers before being taken in by their aunt.
"Losing my mother was my biggest fear," Tyshierra said. "Since that has already happened, I fear nothing and no one. Ya'll see me as goofy, funny or whatever else, but deep down inside, I'm hurting for the way my life is."
The school doesn't have an auditorium big enough to hold all of its students, so the event was held at a Unitarian church up the street. Bathed in stained-glass light, 11th-grader Sierra shook with anxiety as she spoke. She told the crowd she has lupus.
When a community can come together and celebrate the humanity in each of our kids, that gives each and every one of our students the right just to be who they are.
"Imagine doctors expecting you not being able to live after 30 years old. That's my life expectancy. That's me," she said. "It's an autoimmune deficiency, which means my body is attacking itself from the inside out, and it's incurable. So I'm technically dying until my lupus eats my insides. Scary, right?"
Tenth-grader Elijah told the crowd he's glad to have many good friends and a strong relationship with his grandmother, but that depression haunts him. "When I have hard times with my family and stuff, I think about — I'm just going to go ahead and say it — suicide," he said.
He then challenged his classmates and put this empathy-building exercise to the test. "I want everybody to stand up. If you really care about me and care about my issues, I want you to stand up."
And they did, the church erupting with applause and cheers.
The point to all of this, says school organizer Dave Shahriari, is to give his students a forum where they know they won't be judged or criticized. "Kids have a lot to say, and I thought it could be really humanizing and helpful for the school as a community if they could say it in a safe space in front of each other," Shahriari says.
Kelly Davenport, who heads the school, says violence grows out of students feeling isolated. Events like this — the second such assembly at Freire, make clear to them that they're not alone, she says.
"When a community can come together and celebrate the humanity in each of our kids," Davenport says, "that gives each and every one of our students the right just to be who they are, and to make that OK."
Even several weeks after the event, Freire students showed no regret about opening up to their peers. Tyshierra says she's felt a palpable shift in school culture.
Before the assembly, "everybody just was like, 'OK, we at school,' " she says. "But now, it's like we feel like a family, like we know all that about each other."
Elijah, who spoke of suicide, says the event was one of the greatest moments of his life. Since sharing his story, he says, he's started talking to classmates who used to be strangers in the hall.
"They hug me or they give me a handshake, and then they was telling me stories like, 'Yeah, I know what you was dealing with. I went through the same thing.' "
And that's given him confidence that he can lead the life he dreams of: to start a family, raise kids and be a dependable father to the very end.


A man has become an internet favourite after dancing his way across China to Bruno Mars’ song Treasure.
Student Jake Gaba was studying in China when he decided to make the epic video, which takes in some of the country’s most awe-inspiring landscapes.
It took him 100 days to complete and it’s fair to say he’s got the moves.
Jake also managed to rope in the help of other keen dancers, including local residents and a person in a giant panda costume.
Explaining why he made the video, Jake said: ‘I knew I wanted to capture my experiences in a very special way, and I also knew that just taking photos of my travels wasn’t enough. I had to dance.
‘I want to say a big thanks to all of the Chinese people I danced with. You all were great sports. Also thank you to all my schoolmates who put up with me stopping every 30 minutes to shoot another segment,’ he added.


Q. How and when can I suspend my Federal Employees Health Benefits coverage?
A. There are two ways you can suspend your FEHB coverage. First, if you are an annuitant or a former spouse, you can suspend your FEHB coverage to use TRICARE or CHAMPVA. Second, if you are covered by Medicare, you can suspend your FEHB coverage to enroll in a Medicare managed care plan. In either case, you can reenroll in the FEHB program if you later lose or cancel that coverage. However, if you voluntarily cancel your coverage, you’ll have to wait until the next Open Season to reenroll.


In ''Rostenkowski Plan: A G.O.P. Triumph'' (Op-Ed, March 15), Paul Craig Roberts again rejects sound economic science with his denial that budget deficits affect interest rates -specifically, in denying that balancing the United States budget would reduce interest rates.
In rebuttal to this virtually self-evident thesis, he asks: ''Why do West Germany, with its trade surplus, and Britain, with its budget surplus,'' have higher interest rates than the United States?
The simple answer is that interest-rate determinants are complex. Real inflation in Britain and feared inflation in inflation-phobic West Germany explain their higher interest rates. Since each national economy carries its own economic configurations, the scientific question is this: What happens, other factors assumed equal, to Britain's, or Germany's or America's, interest rates when budget deficits rise?
Economic logic decrees that, in strict accordance with the law of supply and demand, interest rates rise when budget deficits rise. This virtually axiomatic truth can be demonstrated by linear regression analyses of United States interest rates. Such analyses show definite correlations between mortgage rates, corporate bond rates, Treasury bond rates and Federal budget deficits.
Mr. Roberts tacitly recognizes the critical role of the law of supply and demand when he warns that ''raising taxes could put the economy in the tank.'' Why? Because the consequently reduced income could reduce demand for goods and services.
The same law operates in the money markets. When borrowers compete for a budget-reduced pool of lendable dollars, the price of money - i.e., the interest rate - tends to rise. Significantly, this basic economic truth is rejected only by the Reagan Administration's supply-side ideologues.


Marble tile on cement board is a very strong installation.
Cement board is a relatively new technology that combines fiberglass mesh with cement to create panels that can be cut and installed like drywall or plywood, but it is impervious to water. Laying marble tiles on cement board creates a very strong and waterproof installation if done correctly.
Establish a starting point for the marble. If the surface you are tiling from (floor, tub, counter) is not level, draw a line using the level approximately one and a half tiles above the surface. If you get lucky and the bottom surface is level, just use tile spacers to hold the marble one joint width off the bottom.
Mix thin-set in a bucket according to package directions. Allow it to sit for a few minutes and then remix. This allows the product to “slake,” meaning it absorbs some of the water and stiffens up. This will make it easier to spread.
Begin spreading the thin-set from the bottom up. Spread only enough for a couple of rows of tile. First, use the back, flat side of the trowel to push the thin-set into the cement board to ensure a good bond. Then rake the notched side back through so that there are ridges of thin-set on the cement board.
Make cuts for the bottom if necessary. If you drew a level line, make a cut of a half tile and determine where that is the perfect size cut for the bottom. Since you are laying the tiles level and the bottom isn’t level, the cuts will get bigger in one direction and smaller in the other. Marble tile is heavy and thin-set isn’t sticky like glue, so you need to be prepared to prop up the bottom row as you get started with your cuts.
Set your whole tiles either against the bottom or your line, depending on which you used. If setting against the line, use the level to make sure your tiles stay level and straight, and lay the cuts underneath as quickly as possible to keep them from sliding. Use the tile spacers to ensure a straight and uniform grout joint.
Continue spreading thin-set and installing up the wall. Once you have established the starting point, the rest of the wall will be easy. You should be able to spread and install three or four rows at a time until all whole tiles are installed to the top.
Measure and cut the remaining cuts at the sides and top as necessary. Butter the back of these with fresh thin-set to make sure you are getting a good bond and spread of mortar.
Wash excess mortar from the tiles and joints and allow the installation to dry for 24 hours. Remove any spacers sticking out of the joints. Mix the grout per manufacturer’s instructions. Spread it over the tiles and into the grout joints using the grout float. Use a clean damp sponge to wash excess grout from the tiles and smooth the joints at the same time. Allow the grout to set for an hour or so, then wash again with clean water. Buff with a dry, clean cloth as necessary.
Thin-set comes in white and gray. If you will be using white or light-colored grout, use white thin-set to make it easier to grout without gray mortar showing through.
You can use glue but will be giving up a lot of the strength and water resistance. Even type II adhesive will break down eventually under wet conditions.
Brooks, Darryl. "How to Lay Marble Wall Tiles on Cement Board." Home Guides | SF Gate, http://homeguides.sfgate.com/lay-marble-wall-tiles-cement-board-20692.html. Accessed 20 April 2019.