Being a mother entails countless personal sacrifices. Theodore Roosevelt acknowledged as much in 1905 when he told the National Congress of Mothers, “Your duty is hard, your responsibility great; but greatest of all is your reward.” While his statement rings true on many fronts, there may yet be one more to explore.
Motherhood has long been considered the embodiment of self-sacrifice, and for good reason. From the first manifestations of “morning” sickness, sacrificial acts consume mothers, body and soul. Of course, it doesn’t stop with pregnancy. Every stage of a child’s life requires a different set of sacrifices, most of which are made willingly but pass unnoticed by their primary objects. The running joke is that the sacrifices of motherhood run so deep, they even affect the brain: “Insanity is hereditary,” goes one adage; “you inherit it from your children.” More than one mother has, at one time or another, ruefully (perhaps even proudly) pointed to her children as being responsible for what she considers a decline in her mental capacities.
Fortunately, however, research may have uncovered just the right information to distract us from obsessing about our sacrifices long enough to consider some of the things we might actually be gaining from motherhood.
In this vein Katherine Ellison, author of The Mommy Brain: How Motherhood Makes Us Smarter (2005), brought welcome news to mothers everywhere. It’s true, she acknowledges: we mothers have long perpetuated the notion that having babies zaps our brain cells. This notion finally became so entrenched, she informed Vision recently, that dozens of scientists set out to discover whether it is actually true. And the truth is? It is not.
In fact, she found, study after study shows that having babies contributes to increased brain cells, and along with these little darlings (the new brain cells as well as the babies) come increased skills of all kinds.
At the center of this good news is that now-familiar phenomenon, neurogenesis: the brain’s process of growing and changing through the development of new neurons. This amazing brain plasticity is encouraged by repeated new actions, especially of the “positive, emotionally charged, and challenging” variety, referred to by scientists as “enrichment.” As it turns out, the process of child rearing, beginning even in pregnancy, is enrichment’s mother lode. The abundant variety of intense new experiences forced on us mothers by daily interaction with our children strengthens much more than our flexibility and our multitasking skills. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) reveals increases in a long list of areas, including (but not limited to) emotional intelligence, sensory powers, mental perception, motivation, attention, problem solving, prioritizing, memory and learning. And the gains are not temporary. In fact, indications are that the positive changes brought about in the brain by pregnancy hormones, and subsequent stimulation from our babies and children, last for the rest of our lives—long past the time our grandchildren are born.
Despite the role of pregnancy-induced hormones in this brain-enriching experience, the good news is not only for mothers. Research is hinting that the benefits of child care may turn out to be a “father lode” as well.
Citing research on rodents, Ellison remarks that “modern, engaged dads may be gaining some of the same learning and memory advantages from parenthood as have been found in maternal rats. The key appears to be the degree of involvement with the children.” Further, she notes the documented rise of certain “parenting” hormones in men when their wives are pregnant, and points to the well-known phenomenon called Couvades syndrome, in which “sympathy morning sickness” and “sympathy weight gain” are factors.
If, as scientists speculate, these physiological changes are brought about by the exchange of pheromones between pregnant mothers and fathers, it may be one more benefit to be gained from the cultivation of close family relationships.
Ellison’s thoughtful collection of research certainly dispatches the sometimes popular notion that raising a child is “less worthy” work for intelligent people. In fact, it’s beginning to look like one of the best avenues for becoming a creative human being.
Perhaps motherhood is, after all, its own reward.
Katherine Ellison, The Mommy Brain: How Motherhood Makes You Smarter (2005).
John Fauber, “Animal Studies Show Fathers Mimic Pregnancy Symptoms,” JSOnline (Feb 3, 2006).
Craig Howard Kinsley and Kelly G. Lambert, “The Maternal Brain,” Scientific American (January 2006).
Mary S. MacDonald Pavelka, Linda M. Fedigan and Sandra Zohar, “Availability and Adaptive Value of Reproductive and Postreproductive Japanese Macaque Mothers and Grandmothers,” Animal Behaviour (2002).


CHESHIRE >> Middletown American Legion baseball coach Tim D’Aquila got it right.
That’s what happened Thursday as Zone 3 champion Cheshire hammered Middletown pitching to the tune of 16 hits, collected seven walks and a hit batter in romping to a 15-8 state tournament win at Burt Leventhal Field at Cheshire High School.
The loss ended Middletown’s season and propelled Cheshire into the state Super Regional opening at Middletown’s Palmer Field Saturday.
After spotting Cheshire a 2-0 first-inning lead, Middletown grabbed the lead scoring three times in the second inning. But Cheshire scored three in the third to take a 5-3 lead, and didn’t give it back. The 75ers got a run in the third -- they should have had more -- to make it a 5-4 game going to the fifth.
That’s where Cheshire -- the visiting team in this game -- broke it open.
The zone champs scored seven runs to take an overwhelming 12-4 lead and although Cheshire’s relief pitching was spotty, it was good enough to hold off the 75ers.
Cheshire rapped 11 hits in three innings off Middletown started Jared Pflaumer before D’Aquila replaced him with Austin Rak, who restored order to the proceedings with a 1-2-3 fourth.
Rak wasn’t so lucky in the fifth.
Rak walked the first two hitters, then gave up a single to Nick Sansone (3-for-4) to load the bases. Dom Shumilla then smacked a two-run double for two runs. D’Aquila replaced Rak with Dan Botti who fared no better.
Botti immediately gave up an RBI single to Ben DeLaubell (4-for-5) and after he walked Adam von Fischer, Pat Downey (2-for-4) singled in a run. After a ground ball out, Brendan Clark (2-for-3) boomed a two-run double before Botti got the third out.
Middletown put a lot of runners on base over the next three innings, but managed only four runs. Of more importance, the 75ers couldn’t keep Cheshire from tacking on runs.
Middletown loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth but got just one run on an infield out by Keith LaChance. The 75ers loaded the bases with two out in the sixth and got two runs, one when Nevin Sanchez (2-for-2) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in a run and the second on an RBI single by Billy Egan.
Again Middletown loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh, but got just one run on a bouncer by Colin Horn. The 75ers stranded 12 runners.
Cheshire tacked on three in the seventh off Sebby Amenta and Nick Brenchak with all three runs scoring on bases-loaded walks.
After Cheshire (21-6, 24-7 overall) scored two in the first on four singles, with RBI hits by Downey and Clark, Middletown took the lead with three in the second.
Keith LaChance singled home two runs and Jake Alonzo (2-for-5) knocked in another with a base hit. But a two-run single by Sansone and an RBI single by Jay Strollo (3-for-5) gave Cheshire a lead in the third inning, a lead it wouldn’t give up, although it tried.
In the home third, Pflaumer (2-for-5) singled with one out. But he was picked off by starter Mike Hickey. That pickoff was followed by a double from Nick Brenchak (1-for-2, a walk, twice hit by pitches), an RBI double by Sanchez and a walk to Jack Higgs.
But that rally ended when LaChance flied to center.
“Cheshire is a pretty good team,” D’Aquila said. “Their center fielder [Strollo] is very good; hardly anything falls in with him and overall their defense is good. They have good pitching, although they put maybe a few too many on base which might hurt them as they go deeper, but they have a lot of arms.
Hickey went only four innings so did not qualify for the win. Of the three other pitchers, only Adler Demac -- the second pitcher -- pitched reasonably well, so he got the win.
All 23 runs were earned as there were no errors/passed balls in the game.
Middletown finished with an overall record of 17-24.


THE SPECIALISED Criminal Court in Pezinok has upheld the conditional punishments for Martin Novotný, a former advisor to ex-prime minister Iveta Radičová, and Igor Líška, a former Slovak ambassador to Kenya. The court found them guilty of indirect corruption and issued for them a one-year conditional sentence with a two-year probation period. It also ordered them to pay a fine of €10,000, the SITA newswire reported on August 12.
The verdict is still not valid, as both of the accused have appealed.
“Today’s verdict of the Specialised Criminal Court judge shows that corruption in our society has penetrated the highest levels,” the prosecutor of the Special Prosecutor’s Office said, as quoted by SITA, adding that this was obvious during the whole proceeding and everybody who was present could see that proving corruption at these high levels is very hard.
Novotný and Líška were charged in the Osrblie corruption case. They were suspected of having accepted a bribe of €30,000 from businessmen for arranging a subsidy worth €300,000 for the completion of the Osrblie biathlon centre. In total, €1.6 million was allotted for the reconstruction and re-furbishing of the National Sports Complex in Osrblie from the finances of the Education Ministry (which also has sports under its remit) and the prime minister.
Líška was detained by police in July 2011 when he was caught accepting marked banknotes worth €30,000 at the office of Novotný, who was in the US at that time.
Both Novotný and Líška claim they are innocent. Líška’s lawyer even said that nothing has proved that the money they were discussing over the phone was a bribe, as reported by the TASR newswire.
The original verdict in the case, which found four men (Líška, Novotný, plus builder Peter Kňazík and mediator Pavol Prečuch) in the case guilty, was issued on October 10, 2013 as part of the penalty notice. In addition to Líška and Novotný’s sentences and fines, Kňazík and Prečuch were given conditional sentences of nine months and six months, respectively. Both Novotný and Líška, but also the prosecutor, appealed the verdict at the time, SITA wrote.


Aug 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department said on Monday it will sell $65 billion of four-week, or one-month, bills on Tuesday, marking the first time it has reduced the weekly auction size of this T-bill maturity since early June.
The Treasury sold $70 billion of one-month bills, a record high amount, each of the previous three weeks.
The U.S. government had ramped up sales of T-bills as part of its effort to finance an expected widening of its budget deficit stemming from the massive tax overhaul in December and a spending deal in February.
On Monday, the Treasury auctioned $51 billion in three-month bills and $45 billion in six-month bills.


SERGIO RAMOS sent his well wishes to Mohamed Salah after the Liverpool attacker was forced off with an injury during the Champions League final last night.
Salah left the field in tears after just 30 minutes following a shoulder injury sustained during a coming together with Ramos.
The Real Madrid defender seemingly locked Salah’s arm close to his chest as they both tumbled to the ground, leaving the Egypt international rolling around in agony.
Ramos was hammered on social media after replays were shown as he was lambasted for “intentionally” holding on to Salah’s arm.
It proved to a be a huge turning point in the tie with Liverpool having the better chances before the forced substitution.
Real went on to dominate the game and two calamitous errors from Loris Karius either side of an out-of-this-world strike from Gareth Bale helped the La Liga giants win 3-1 to clinch their 13th European title.
Salah meanwhile faces an anxious wait to see if the injury will now rule him out of the World Cup.
And, after the tie, Ramos expressed his hope to see the Premier League Player of the Season back in action soon.
However, Liverpool fans were not buying Ramos’ message of support.
“What you did to Salah is not done to a fellow professional,” one user wrote in reply to Ramos’ tweet.


Is the Internet broken? According to some, it may be. A newly discovered bug dubbed Heartbleed is capturing attention. As each hour passes, more information is revealed. With the desire to provide useful insights, the tech world - and even the mainstream media - is awash with stories.
Sometimes it’s hard to cut through the flood of technical information to get a solid sense of what needs to be done. The challenge is distilling down to the actions we need to take for our organizations, ourselves, and how to guide those we serve.
Transport Layer Security (TLS) is broadly used to encrypt and protect information in transit. The Heartbleed bug allows an attacker to gain access to the memory, siphoning off whatever happens to be stored: usernames, passwords, credit card information, and even the private keys of the server.
The popular comic xkcd explained the bug brilliantly today (see it here).
The way we respond and communicate with people has a direct impact on trust. It's imperative we get this right.
Note: Canada shut down the tax system in response to Heartbleed. The Canadian tax deadline is April 30. That means they made a nearly impossible decision during the busiest time of the year. They even shut down additional sites/systems this morning and plan to test and verify the elements. It's a courageous decision designed to maintain trust and ensure people are not at risk.
Especially now that US Regulators have started to warn banks. They've even suggested banks should encourage their customers to change passwords (I heard the collective groan - see below for ideas).
It's possible that organizations that fail to act may be liable in the future. It's too soon to tell, for certain. The responsible action is to follow the actions below and avoid serving as the test case.
Use this as a checklist to make sure your team took these actions. Or share it with your executives to show them the steps you took (and why). Then use it as a guideline for how to break it down and explain this to the people we serve.
The specifics of the bug impact the TLS protocol with the heartbeat extension (hence the name Heartbleed). Initial coverage and focus was on the sheer number of Internet servers using openSSL and the large potential risk this bug poses.
Introduced into the code over two years ago and somewhat difficult to detect (in many circumstances), we need to assume in most cases that any system or device running a vulnerable version of openSSL over might have been compromised.
The latest reports confirm this bug impacts hardware and software in a whole range of commercial and open source solutions, including routers, virtual servers, and popular software packages like Tor (https://blog.torproject.org/).
Anticipate more reports with more devices - including purpose built solutions and industrial control systems to be next.
Consider the elements on your network, in your systems, and part of your solutions. Recognize that sometimes the elements that rely on openSSL is not always evident. When in doubt (and it's good to be a bit doubtful), test. When testing, check interconnected systems.
Most Internet-facing servers are designed to be patched. And most already have patches available. However, given the growing nature of affected systems and devices, it may take a few days before patches are ready for some devices and solutions. That requires a combination of diligence and patience.
Often patches are applied without the need to restart machines and services. In this case, some reports have surfaced where people need to restart. The key is to test and verify the success of applied patches.
In the rare circumstance where patching isn't possible, gather the team to assess and plan. If you run into one of these situations, reach out for help.
This is key (no pun intended). This is also an area a lot of people are likely to overlook or, worse, skip because they think they weren't affected.
Bottom line: the bug has been in the code for two years; assume the certificate is compromised.
“If you’re not going to get a new cert, you’re missing the point of this bug,” explained Jason Soroko, Head of Malware Research, Entrust - A Datacard Company.
The fix isn’t complete until the cert is revoked and re-issued.
In the event you captured and kept TLS logs, take time to review the logs and look for signs of compromise. If the logs aren't available, minimally assess if/how/why people need to change their passwords. Determine what, if any, other information could have been compromised or impacted.
Clear and transparent communication is key to trust. When explaining the situation, outline the steps you took and confirm you revoked and replaced the certificates. Explain any potential impacts. Ars Technica is an example of an excellent announcement (read it here).
We’re already seeing signs of “yup, we patched” surface. The problem is those messages fail to inspire the confidence that they revoked the old certs and issued and installed new certs.
Take the time to craft the message that explains understanding of the risk and the appropriate actions taken.
Depends on the size of the organization and the size of your traffic. Large, heavily trafficked sites are already updated(or should be). You may fall into that category. Use this checklist to confirm and review the actions of the team.
Smaller sites may take longer to assess and act. Some sites rely on third parties and organizations to maintain their sites. It is important that they understand and follow the five steps outlined above. Based on workload and the time to get the certs revoked and reissued, it may be a few days or weeks.
Keep in mind that in all cases, it is important to review partners and interconnected systems.
While this is widely reported as potentially impacting two-thirds of Internet-facing servers, some sites do not rely on or use openSSL. Those sites may not be vulnerable. The majority of sites, however, do use openSSL and either need to patch it or they already did.
One way to find out is to run a test using a website or browser plugin (a quick search reveals 2-3 popular options). At this point, these checks look to see if the site uses -- and patched -- open SSL, but not necessarily if the certificate was reissued.
I chose not to share the links because in some cases, their use could be deemed illegal (read here). We’ll need to explore this more in the near future. In the meantime, an alternative for checking large/popular sites is to check one of the public lists of updated websites maintained by several tech sites.
The complete fix requires revocation and re-issue of server certificates. If a site passes the check for updating the patch, it is still importance to check for a currently re-issued cert (after April 7, 2014).
Explaining this to less technically savvy people is likely to be a challenge. Ideally, someone develops an automated method to check for the patch *and* the certificate replacement. (Update: looks like LassPass offers this checking for their users. No endorsement, but I hope others do this, too).
In the meantime, Soroko suggests checking and making sure that certificate revocation checking is turned on in whatever browser you use.
Scout for phishing emails masquerading as Heartbleed password change notices. If unsure, type the URL for the site by hand.
Keep in mind that if you have shared or reused passwords across sites (and one of them was or may have been affected), then both need to change. It's a good opportunity to build, manage, and use better passwords; unique for each site.
What is the reasonable timeframe (for personal action)?
It seems reasonable to prioritize based on site, use, and purpose. Anything relied on or with financial information takes a higher priority.
In my case, I have over 600 passwords stored in my password manager. As sites apply the patch and re-issue their certificates over the next few weeks, I will slowly work through my passwords and make changes.
A little bit at time makes a big difference.
Heartbleed poses a series of challenges when it comes to communicating with others. It caught frenetic mainstream attention during the early stages of assessing and understanding the impact. It gives new meaning to the phrase, “if it bleeds, it leads" if only because of the name.
Couple that with the reality that much of the advice is similar to what our colleagues have heard for the last two decades. That means just telling people to “change their passwords, avoid clicking on links, and use caution on the Internet,” is basically noise easily tuned out.
The good news is that in every organizational assessment and analysis I've completed over the last decade, the internal security team is regarded as a trusted source of information. It means we have some real opportunities here. To rethink how we approach and provide guidance. Given the hype and coverage of Heartbleed, we need to provide measured, sound advice.
Taking the time to translate complexity into understanding creates a stronger security culture.
Our colleagues and clients use our resources, and often use the same credentials on other sites. More than suggesting that they change passwords is the importance of explaining why the timing of the change matters.
Revisit how we explain the elements of TLS (https://), how to examine the certificates from the browser (and why they might want to). Share why it makes sense (instead of simply telling them) to manually type in the URL they want to visit if they are uncertain if the site is safe.
Invite people into the conversation and be prepared to answer questions in a way that makes sense; if you don't know the answer, offer to get back to them. Done right, this leads to a higher level of awareness (see the definition) and a step toward stronger relationships and more security-conscious actions.
When Heartbleed winds down, we need to collectively step back and reassess the challenges and opportunities of the industry. We need to explore the challenges we really need to solve.
In the meantime, focus on the five actions for each organization and three steps each of us needs to take. As this unfolds, we'll continue to look for ways to engage and advance the conversation.


If you stay at school for spring break and get sick of Cambridge, there's a great place you can go far away from Boston without using a car--the elbow-shaped island of Nantucket.
Take the Red Line to South Station and from there catch a Plymouth and Brockton bus to Hyannis, summer retreat of the Kennedy family. From Hyannis, ride on the Steamship Authority's ferry to Nantucket. All this costs just $50, and it only takes four hours to get there.
If you want to skip the ferry, you can fly from Hyannis for around $50 on one of a handful of small airlines which service Nantucket. Round-trip flights from Boston are also available at a significantly higher price.
And while you can't go swimming at the white-sand beaches yet, many of the island's museums and historical attractions are open for business.
Just walking the historic town area is a treat in itself. Grab a turkey sandwich at Henry's (right near the ferry dock) and wander the cobblestone streets which wind narrow ways dotted with wooden houses with widows' walks. Stop for coffee at Cafe Espresso on Main Street or dodge into The Hub, the town's newsstand, to grab a copy of an island newspaper.
Center Street (once called Petticoat Lane because all its businesses were run by women whose husbands were off hunting whales in the Pacific) is home to many wonderful art galleries, among them the Sailor's Valentine Gallery, which specializes in "art brut," or outsider art.
On the corner of Center and Broad is the Jared Coffin House, a wonderful old red brick inn renovated in 1963. Jared's features a delicious fresh seafood buffet on Sunday evenings.
Toward the water is the Old South Wharf, featuring specialty shops that sell everything from miniature porcelain dolls to specialty print shops.
If you follow the Makadet Road out of town, it will take you all the way to one of the island's farthest ends. You can branch off half way and head to the Dionis Beach or continue on the rest of the way.
The road eventually ends at Madaket, a small village at the islands west-most end. The houses are mostly grey-shingled salt-box homes, no more than 25 feet high.
Other destinations out of town include the popular Surfside Beach, which is crowded on the weekends. The Sankaty Head Light, an historic lighthouse, and the Life Saving Museum are also island attractions worth seeing.
At Nantucket's east-most point is the town of Siasconset (called 'Sconset by all the locals). This is really a small town within the larger town of Nantucket. Artists and literati are often seen here. Street painters can also be spotted out in front of the bookstore or around the small post office which marks the way to the beach.
For night life, the best bet is to go to the White Elephant Hotel, just two blocks off Broad Street on the water, to hear the piano player. In the summer, musicians Jim Badger has islanders and tourists alike rolling with his music and wit.
Out of town there are a few clubs. The best is The Box, on Dave Street across from the Finast supermarket (21 and over only, please). The Muse on Athletic Ave. also features live music.
One more thing, though--there's a pretty good chance it will be rainy or foggy when you visit. It's rainy and foggy for most of March on Nantucket. (That's why the island is called "the grey lady" by some.) So bring your rain gear and good cheer. Hey, it may be raining, but you're in Nantucket, not Cambridge. Enjoy the escape.


As malware has become increasingly sophisticated, conventional protection solutions have proven insufficient for companies’ IT security needs.
While “sandboxing” is still a popular, and frequently deployed solution, over the last several years new technologies and approaches have been introduced to the market. Let’s take a look at one of those approaches, called “containers”, and see how it measures up vs. the current industry standard set by sandboxes.
Containment is a fairly new concept, deviating from the widely known and popular “sandboxing” method. Sandboxing is a detection method which scans potentially malicious files in a confined area/an isolated environment, otherwise known as the “sandbox”, to determine if it is indeed malware. Sandboxing arose as a response to the realization that signature-based technology had grown increasingly ineffective in protecting endpoints from stealth attacks.
Sandboxing, however, once the “go-to” solution for thwarting unknown threats, is also gradually proving insufficient in today’s increasingly sophisticated malware climate, echoing the challenge IT security execs faced with the inadequacy of signatures.
Enter the next generation, virtual containers. Virtual containers reside on the endpoint and continuously isolate applications like web browsers, email and removable storage that come into contact with untrusted sources. Unlike sandboxes, containers are not a time-limited solution for testing whether code is malicious. Instead, they provide an ongoing buffer between the “insecure” realm of the internet and the “secure” realm of the corporate network.
Several years ago, sandboxing became the popular approach to detecting advanced threats, causing several big-name security companies to advocate this as the preferred method. Sandboxes do not continuously run on endpoints, rather they generally run on a server and are used to detonate a suspicious file. Files are opened there first, and if they don’t trigger any alarms after a short time, they are sent onward.
The sandbox is in action for a short period of time, scanning any unknown content and detecting malware. However, once this process is completed, the approved content is free to transfer over into the trusted network. Malicious content, unfortunately, is “smart” and is known to disguise itself as benign until the testing period is over. Following the testing period, the malware is released and a phenomenon known as “sandbox evasion” occurs.
Sandboxing and containers have their similarities - they both use virtualization to create a “safe space” for potentially malicious content. But, as hackers focus on devising attack methods that we haven’t thought of, making them impossible to detect, containers take the approach that everyone is suspect.
The security architecture of containers, as opposed to sandboxes, is designed to outsmart malware evasion. With containers, detection is not essential. Instead, both non-malicious and malicious content remain in the container forever.
Containers have evolved out of the need for a more comprehensive solution, one that will create a sort of perimeter around any application that can be used as an attack vector, constantly running, isolating all unknown content, and maintaining constant segregation from trusted networks. A container runs continuously on the endpoint and rather than isolating a file for a short time, it isolates the risky application, like the web browser or email or Skype continuously. Container technology can be implemented in software, on top of the operating system, or as part of the microprocessor’s firmware.
Containers assume anything unknown is untrusted and, therefore, keeps it in a secure and isolated environment, known as the “container”. Anything unknown is eternally deemed untrusted and can only leave the container through a secure bridge that disarms threats and gives security teams control over what enters the corporate network.
With 44% of respondents in a recent SANS endpoint security survey admitting that one or more of their endpoints had been compromised in the past 24 months, 2016 will see more money invested in endpoint security—a market growing at a CAGR of 8.4% from 2015 to 2020.
While server-based file sandboxing has been successful in stopping many threats, today’s sophisticated malware attacks demand a more comprehensive solution. Just as malware has evolved and taken on different forms, sandboxing, as well, is assuming different forms, including virtual containers, and micro-virtualization solutions that provide continuous protection. This more comprehensive approach ensures that any threat that gets in – whether through a web browser, email, document, phone etc. will be locked in a container indefinitely.
If we want to prevent the next data breach from happening, we must offer solutions that provide a solid defense, along with seamless deployment and management. Conventional sandboxing has an important role to play in terms of testing suspicious executables in a safe environment. But it is no longer effective in preventing unknown threats as containers continuously isolate risky applications, do not rely on detection and provide a more effective long-term solution for user endpoints from whatever hackers come up with next.


Unit sales of the iPhone fell by 1 percent and the iPad by 13 percent but Apple nonetheless posted an overall revenue increase of 5 percent to $52.9 billion in the March quarter, thanks to a continued increase in its revenue from digital content and other services.
Apple’s cash balance climbed to a record $256.8 billion, including cash and securities. The company announced a plan to expand its capital return program for shareholders by an extra $50 billion.
The company’s quarterly revenue of $52.9 billion essentially matched the expectations of analysts polled in advance, but Apple’s net income of $11 billion translated into earnings of $2.10/share, topping Wall Street’s expectations of $2.02/share for the quarter.
Services revenue, which includes iCloud, AppleCare, Apple Pay, licensing and digital content and services, climbed to more than $7 billion, from less than $6 billion a year ago.
The company’s earnings conference call starts at 2 p.m. Pacific.


Special counsel Robert Mueller is expected to present key findings of his investigation into Russian election interference to top Justice Department officials following the November midterms, according to a report Wednesday.
Mueller is close to concluding two major aspects of the probe that have cast a dark shadow over President Trump’s presidency, Bloomberg News reported.
Specifically, the special counsel will offer conclusions on whether there was clear records of collusion between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign and whether the President took any actions that constitute obstruction of justice after taking office.
Mueller’s work will be presented to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who will determine what gets relayed to Congress and what will be released to the public, if anything.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and frequently rails against Mueller’s team, calling the investigation a “witch hunt.” His lawyers have repeatedly attempted to impose artificial deadlines on the special counsel’s work.
Trump’s attorney’s have spent months negotiating with Mueller’s team as the special counsel seeks to get the President to answer questions about the campaign and the possibility of collusion. Investigators, who recently sent Trump’s legal team written questions, have not yet ruled out requesting an in-person interview with the President.
In recent weeks, Mueller’s team has met with Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to making hush money payments ahead of the election to women claiming they had affairs with Trump. Cohen said he did so at the direction of Trump.
The special counsel’s office also worked out a plea deal with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort after he agreed to cooperate with investigators. Manafort avoided a second trial after already being convicted in Virginia on eight counts of bank fraud, filing false tax returns and failure to file a foreign bank account.
The possible post-election wrapup also raises questions about the fate of top Justice Department officials, including Rosenstein. Rumors have swirled in Washington that Trump, upset over the cloud that the special counsel has cast over his presidency, is looking to get rid of both Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
However, the President said Sunday that he has “no intention” of shutting down the probe.
Mueller has so far secured more than two dozen indictments or guilty pleas.


UNION COUNTY, N.C. — Dozens of children with cancer are getting a Christmas they’ll never forget. Wednesday night, they were handed money to go on a shopping spree, from charity Hometown Heroes, according to WSOC-TV.
“Our number one ambition here is to take their minds off of it for a short period of time even if it’s just for two hours,” Beth Watts-Kepley, with Hometown Heroes, said.
Children diagnosed with serious and life-altering illnesses got to forget about those battles in a Monroe Walmart. The entire store was open just for them for two hours. Hometown Heroes gave nearly 30 families $500 to use on the shopping spree. The children chose presents from bikes to books. Their smiles were visible as carts were filled with toys.


A recently resurfaced old interview with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) showed how she previously described acts of terrorism as a reaction to “our involvement in other people’s affairs,” when talking about the 2013 al-Shabab’s attack on a Kenyan shopping mall.
Omar’s remarks were made during a local television appearance on the show “Belahdan” on Twin Cities PBS, weeks after four terrorists attacked at the Westgate shopping mall in Kenya resulting in almost 70 deaths and wounding about 200 people. The terrorist group al-Shabab, that is based in Somalia, claimed responsibility for the attack. A faction of this group had previously pledged allegiance to the ISIS terrorist group.
“Nobody wants to take accountability of how these are byproducts of the actions of our involvement in other people’s affairs,” she said later in the interview.
Omar, who is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, has come under fire for a number of remarks and actions she had previously made. Moreover, her connections with several radical groups, which were also revealed in the past months, has raised questions about her suitability to serve on the House Committee.
The remarks were made last month as part of a speech at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) fundraiser, during which she said the radical Muslim group was founded after the terror attacks, surfaced on social media earlier this week. The United Arab Emirates designated CAIR a terrorist organization in 2014.
“CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties,” Omar said, according to the video.
Her comments prompted a backlash from several high profile people, including Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) and prompted the New York Post to rebuke the congresswoman on its front page of its April 11 paper.
She also faced fresh condemnation in January this year for asking a judge in 2016 to show leniency toward a group of Minnesota men who were accused of attempting to join ISIS. Omar was a Minnesota state representative at the time.
The nine men allegedly made plans, including buying fake passports, to travel to Syria to fights for the terrorist group.
Moreover, it was revealed in February that the Democratic congresswoman had traveled in November 2017 to Honduras as part of a delegation sponsored by the radical Witness for Peace group—a far-left organization that was formed during the Reagan administration to oppose U.S. policies aimed to stop the spread of communism. The group also supports Cuban and Venezuelan socialism.


The zoo leadership for the past two months has pushed for more tax money to pay for increased maintenance and animal care costs.
Hamilton County property owners will find out today what they'll be asked to contribute to the Cincinnati Zoo.
The three county commissioners at their 11 a.m. meeting today will decide whether to place a zoo levy on the May ballot - and whether to increase the levy amount.
the amount for the zoo levy – if anything – they'll put on the May primary ballot.
If the zoo supporters get what they want, the owner of a $100,000 house would pay $3.50 more. It would be the first tax increase for the zoo in 10 years.
The zoo leadership for the past two months has pushed for more tax money to pay for what they say are increased maintenance and animal care costs.
This included a board of commissioners hearing Feb. 1 with a capacity crowd of more than 60 people in the Board of Elections office in Norwood - with all but one in support of the levy increase.
Parents gave emotional accounts of what the zoo has meant for their children.
Without the levy, the zoo might have to delay needed repairs, said Thane Maynard, Cincinnati Zoo director.
That’s a problem for the country’s second-oldest zoo where 40 percent of the buildings are more than 80 years old, Maynard said. The zoo has claimed its Reptile House, built in 1875, is the oldest operating zoo building in the United States. The elephant house, built in 1905, needs a new dome and roof repairs. That will cost $4 million, he said.
The zoo wasn't able to convince the county tax levy review committee. That's the nine-member volunteer body that makes recommendations on what levies the board of commissioners should consider.
The committee recommended keeping the levy the same at $10.07 per $100,000 of value.
The taxpayers have more pressing needs for "life-protecting" services, a report issued in January by the levy committee.
"Particularly with the most recent dramatic changes in the cost of healthcare, the last eight years of local government fund cuts, and now with the changes in the income tax laws, we recommend you keep this levy flat," the committee stated in the report.
Property taxes bring in $6.5 million annually, which is 17 percent of the current budget.
One suggestion: charge higher zoo admission to non-Hamilton County residents, said Jennifer O'Donnell, a member of the nine-member Hamilton County Tax Levy Review Committee. She made the suggestion to the county commission last month while presenting the committee's recommendations.
The zoo has passed all its levies except for one since taxpayers first began paying for the zoo in 1982. The only fail came in 1997 when the zoo asked for double the amount and threatened to move elephants and polar bears to Louisville. The zoo ended up moving two of the elephants to Louisville temporarily after it failed.


The ratings for Monday Night Football are in and some may find them surprising.
Ratings declined on Sunday after a day of protests by more than 200 football players who knelt during the National Anthem.
On Monday, the entire Dallas Cowboys team, including owner Jerry Jones, took a knee before the National Anthem.
But the entire team then stood up in respect when the national anthem began.
The Cowboys’ show of respect for the National Anthem may have boosted the viewership ratings. According to NBC, the Monday’s game drew season-high viewership.
The Monday Night Football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Arizona Cardinals snagged a 9.3 rating on Sept. 25, the highest so far this season. The game also drew 7 percent more viewers than last week’s Monday Night Football game between the New York Giants and the Detroit Lions.
Monday Night Football also had a higher average viewership year-to-date compared to 2016.
The number of football players kneeling during “Star Spangled Banner” shot up after President Donald Trump said that players who disrespect the anthem should be fired.
On Sunday, following Trump’s comments, more than 200 players from different teams knelt during the anthem. Fans booed loudly at stadiums across the country. Some fans posted videos online showing them burning their favorite teams’ jerseys and memorabilia.
On Monday, after the Cowboys knelt, the stadium crowd booed loudly, prompting a Tweet from Trump in response to the protest.
Trump followed shortly after with a message praising the team after they stood during the playing of the national anthem.
The first NFL player to kneel for the National Anthem was Colin Kaepernick, who did so to protest what he said was racial injustice and police brutality. No team has since hired the quarterback and he remains a free agent.
Trump suggested a new rule for the NFL in a Twitter message to his 39.3 million followers on Tuesday.


BEVERLY HILLS—Kali Woods, 31, of Ojai was arrested on robbery, burglary and identity theft charges on Monday, May 9. The victim of the robberies was burglarized once and then again at her apartment.
Around 8 a.m. on May 9, the BHPD responded to a call of an armed robbery that occurred in a parking structure on the 300 block of North Crescent Drive. A female suspect approached the victim with a handgun covered by a sweatshirt and covering her face with a bandana. The suspect demanded the victim’s purse and out of fear for her life the victim complied with the suspect’s demands.
The suspect fled eastbound on Dayton Way in a green KIA SUV that was later located abandoned in the 300 block of Crescent/Rexford alley. Around 1 p.m., the victim’s roommate was confronted by the suspect inside their Hollywood area apartment.
The suspect had used information found inside the victim’s purse to find the apartment and had used the victim’s keys to enter and burglarize the victim and her roommate’s apartment. Lieutenant Lincoln Hoshino of the BHPD told Canyon News in an email that a watch had been stolen that has not been recovered.
The Los Angeles Police Department had responded to the apartment area, but the suspect had already fled the scene. BHPD detectives had developed information from the suspect’s vehicle they were able to identify a possible suspect.
Around 3:45 p.m., the detectives responded to the area of the victim’s Hollywood apartment. Believing that the suspect was on foot BHPD circled the area and located the possible subject sitting on a bus bench a few blocks from the victim’s apartment at Fairfax and Willoughby.
Woods was arrested and has not yet been released. Lt. Hoshino told Canyon News that she was released to court and is being held at the Los Angeles County Jail. Neither the victim nor the roommate’s identities have been released.
“This is very unusual that a suspect goes to a victim’s residence to commit another crime,” said Lt. Hoshino.


By some measures, young adults in Liberia are more faithful than older generations.
Despite concerns about secularization, the world’s population may not be losing its religion quite so fast.
Like in the US, young adults around the globe are generally less devout than their elders, especially in Western Europe and Latin America; however, in other regions, many countries have resisted that trend, welcoming new generations of just-as-eager Christians and Muslim believers, according to a Pew Research Center report released today.
Of the 106 countries in the report, more than half (58 nations) show little or no age gap in religious commitment. In the rest (46 nations), adults under 40 were significantly less likely than their elders to consider religion very important.
Particularly religious countries with higher population growth tend to maintain religious belief and commitment between young and old generations. Pew found that over the past decade these highly religious countries outpaced their less religious counterparts due to high fertility rates and disproportionately young populations, factors often tied to their level of development.
Worldwide, 90 percent of adults over the age of 40 affiliate with a religious tradition, compared to 85 percent of those under 40, Pew reported.
In North America and Western Europe, where secularization has accelerated the most, the difference in religious affiliation between today’s young adults and their elders is pretty stark—two to five times wider than the global age gap.
Canada has the biggest generational religious divide in the world. The difference between Canadian young adults and their elders who affiliate with a particular religion is 28 percentage points.
Other top countries for gaps in religious affiliation include Denmark (26 percentage points), South Korea (24 percentage points), Australia (23 percentage points), and Norway and Sweden (both 20 percentage points).
Though adults in the United States are about twice as likely (53%) as those in Canada (27%) to describe religion as very important in their lives, the US isn’t much further down the list. Its age gap in religious affiliation is 17 percentage points.
While the Americas and much of Europe showcase the religious contrast between young and old, the Middle East and Africa see little, if any, difference in affiliation across age groups. They’re also the regions where religious commitment is strongest in the first place.
Two majority Christian countries represent the biggest exceptions to the religious age gap seen around the globe. In Ghana, a relatively stable country in West Africa, and Georgia, a former Soviet republic, today’s young people are more likely than older generations to say religion is “very important” in their lives, the report stated.
For example, 91 percent of Ghanaians under 40, compared to 85 percent of older Ghanaians, named religion is very important in their lives.
In three other African nations—Liberia, Rwanda, and Chad—and the Orthodox Christian state of Armenia, young adults claim their religious affiliation, attend services, and commit to daily prayer at higher rates than their parents and grandparents. Liberia, Rwanda, and Armenia are mostly Christian, while Chad is majority-Muslim, with a significant Christian minority of over 40 percent.
Ghana and Chad are the only two countries where young adults are more likely than their elders to identify with their religion.
Pew suggests one explanation for these handful of countries where young adults are not only as faithful as their elders, but more so: violent conflict.
Countries with Christian majorities and those with Muslim majorities tend toward different kinds of religious gaps between young and old.
In predominantly Christian countries, it’s whether they consider religion a priority; the greatest generational discrepancies emerge over the question of religion’s importance in their lives. In predominantly Muslim countries, it’s a question of mosque attendance. Even in countries where religiosity remains steady across age groups, young people still tend to be less likely to pray daily.
Christian-majority countries face the biggest decrease in religiosity among youths, with about half reporting that religion is less important to younger Christian adults. Muslim-majority countries face a similar dilemma, though not as severe, with about a quarter showing a similar drop in religious commitment among young people.
Especially in the West, these trends may point to a more secular generation of young people, but some analysts hold that people tend to become more religious as they get older.
As noted, the countries with the greatest percentage of people who say religion is “very important” in their lives—mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Central America—are also among the fastest-growing countries in the world.
The Pew report points out a negative correlation between religious commitment and various development factors, such as levels of education, gross domestic product (GDP), and income equality.
That is, countries with widespread education and high wages are typically less religious by traditional measures. Less developed countries—with relatively poorer education and less wealthy populations—generally have more religious populations.
There is, however, one serious outlier in this trend: the United States.
“Of 102 countries, the US is the only one with both above-average GDP per capita and above-average frequency of daily prayer,” stated the Pew researchers. Other measures of religious commitment are considerably higher in the United States than in other developed nations.
Christianity Today has reported on earlier Pew Research examining Americans’ efforts to pass their faith along to their children amid a secularizing culture as well as how Christian and Muslim birth rates will alter the global religious landscape in the coming decades.
Deadly disease brings a bit more accuracy to much-maligned Band Aid advocacy song.


OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) forecasted that Russia will not fully comply with the cuts agreement during the first half of 2019.
Due to its old oil infrastructure and mature oil fields, Russia cannot promptly decrease oil production.
Russia has many major oil companies. These include the largest oil producer Rosneft - which produces over 4 million b/d.
Market participants are confused by some of the statements from Russia with regard to energy policy and compliance with OPEC+ output cuts.
In 2018 OPEC managed various challenges successfully and was, as a whole, able to alter its output strategy based on the market needs.
The Brent crude oil price fell slightly to $61.64 per barrel at the end of last week, amid perceptions that Russia might not be able to promptly comply with OPEC+ output cuts agreed in December. As part of the deal, Russia agreed to cut its production by 230,000 million barrels per day (bpd) from the 11.41 bpd touched in October.
But the latest OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) forecast that Russia will not fully comply with the cuts agreement during the first half of 2019. Due to its old oil infrastructure and mature oil fields, Russia cannot promptly decrease oil production — and the market is waiting to see where its output level for the first quarter of 2019 stands.
Unlike in Saudi Arabia — where Aramco is the only state oil producer — Russia has many major oil companies. These include the largest oil producer Rosneft — which produces over 4 million bpd — along with Lukoil, Surgutneftegaz, Gazprom and others. During the OPEC meeting in Vienna in December 2018, Rosneft announced that its oil output forecasts for the first six months of 2019 remain unchanged.
That is mainly because Rosneft aims to increase production from three new fields it launched in Siberia in 2018. This led some market participants to question not only Russia’s compliance with the new OPEC+ agreement, but also that of other non-OPEC producers.
Market participants are confused by some of the statements from Russia with regard to energy policy and compliance with OPEC+ output cuts. Unlike what is seen with OPEC producers, statements by Russia’s energy minister sometimes vary from those made by executives of the country’s oil companies.
Compliance with the agreed output cuts — in which OPEC members and other large oil producers including Russia agreed to cut their combined crude production by 1.2 million bpd from January to halt a decline in oil prices — will be key to balancing the market in 2019.
Despite question marks over Russia’s compliance with the deal, OPEC in 2018 managed the various challenges successfully and was, as a whole, able to alter its output strategy based on the market needs.
Previously Published by Arab News.


Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber thinks that the Affordable Care Act’s fines on those who decline to purchase health insurance represent a tax. When the bill was being considered, the Congressional Budget Office scored it as a tax. The Supreme Court ruled that it must be interpreted as a tax in order to be considered constitutional. The only institution that did not consider this a tax, in fact, is the American Congress which passed only a “penalty” on those who declined to purchase insurance.
In one of his moments of candor, Gruber lamented how dishonestly the Affordable Care Act was written so as to avoid the politically inconvenient fact that Congress was, in fact, imposing a new tax on those least likely to be able to absorb it – namely, those either too young or too impoverished to afford health insurance. “If CBO scored the mandate as taxes, the bill dies,” he said.
In an appearance on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Gruber was probed by Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) over his lamentation that the administration’s lack of honesty about the imposition of taxes both on those who do not purchase insurance and on those who do have insurance. Turner prodded Gruber over whether he had any conversations with members of the White House who perhaps shared his opinion that the ACA needed to be crafted in a “tortured” way to ensure its passage.
It defies logic, and insults just as much as did Gruber’s original comments about the “stupidity of the American voter,” to presume that the administration did not take some part in the “tortured” way in which Obamacare was crafted.
“Under this mandate, the government is forcing people to spend money, fining you if you don’t. How is that not a tax?” ABC host George Stephanopoulos probed Obama in 2009.
In this statement, Obama conceded that the imposition of taxes on those who cannot afford health insurance was politically toxic. If these statements and others do not prove intent, they certainly show motive.
Gruber’s comment in this question is likely to come back to haunt both him and the Obama administration.


In a new report we released this week, Seth Klein and I show there's a clear need of tax reform in B.C., both to raise new revenues and to make our tax system more fair (Vancouver Sun op-ed here, CTV News story here).
As the report's title suggest, this is all about options. Instead of making specific recommendations for tax reform, we chose to highlight the broad range of possibilities for raising new revenues and reducing inequality. We see this as the start of a broad, thoughtful and realistic conversation about how we all, as citizens of this province, can work together to meet our pressing challenges and strengthen our communities.
I think we can all agree that without more revenues, we can't sustain key services we all rely on, let alone begin to meaningfully tackle the pressing challenges of climate change, income inequality and poverty.
The good news, as our research shows, is that B.C. has a lot of room to raise new revenues. For example, if B.C. collected the same amount of personal income tax (incl. MSP) as the average for other Canadian provinces, we'd have an additional $2.4 billion in revenues.
We believe that all parts of the tax system should be on the table as we look for a way to get out of this budget crunch, create the fiscal room to meet our pressing needs and make the tax system more fair. This is why, while our report focuses on personal income tax reform (the most progressive part of the system), we also highlight options for reform to property tax, corporate taxes and resource royalties.
If we increased the current top tax bracket tax rate from 14.7 per cent to 17 per cent, and added two new upper-income brackets (20 per cent on income of $150,000-$200,000 and 22 per cent on income over $200,000), we could raise $930 million. This would be enough to fund a much-needed increase to welfare rates (frozen since 2007), restore class sizes, composition and specialist teacher staffing to 2007 levels and fund additional family support programs under the Ministry of Children and Family development.
While the B.C. government boasts about having low taxes in their TV ads, our province faces a crisis in seniors care, our hospitals are overcrowded, our schools cannot afford to provide children with learning disabilities and other special needs the supports they need to learn well. A decade of tax cuts has left us in the absurd situation of having the highest poverty rate in Canada, but some of the lowest income taxes for the highest income earners (we have the lowest income tax for those earning up to $120,000, the second lowest up to $340,000 and the third lowest up to $730,000).
Yes, we are talking about increasing taxes, but this should come with tax reform that will spread the tax bill more fairly. We're now facing the absurd reality of a tax system where the higher your income, the lower your total provincial tax rate when all personal taxes are considered (income, sales, property, carbon tax and MSP premiums).
Over the last decade, taxes have been shifted from corporations to families, and from upper-income families to middle- and modest-income ones. Cuts to personal income taxes delivered large savings to high earners (an average of $41,000 per year for a family in the top 1 per cent). In contrast, most B.C. families' tax cut worked out to a few hundred dollars a year, most of which went to cover increased MSP premiums, and higher out-of-pocket fees for a host of programs, including school fundraisers, fees for seniors care, tuition for students and many more.
Our report shows that if most people pitched in the cost of a cup of coffee a day (meaning $200 - $800 per year for at least 80 per cent of British Columbians), with high earners contributing more, we could raise up to $2.3 billion -- enough to strengthen our communities and build a province we can all be proud of.


OAKLAND, Calif. -- Two days after taking down this season's top team in the West, the Los Angeles Lakers will take aim at even bigger game Friday night when they face the defending champion Golden State Warriors.
It'll be the third matchup of the season between the California rivals, with the Warriors having prevailed in overtime in both previous duels, each of which was hosted by the Lakers.
The game will feature the Bay Area debut of high-profile Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball, whose driving layup was blocked by Golden State's David West in the final seconds of the Warriors' 116-114 win at Los Angeles on Monday.
Ball finished the game with 16 points, six rebounds and six assists.
The 20-year-old had a 15-point, 10-assist double-double when he went head-to-head with Warriors star Stephen Curry in the teams' first matchup of the season, a 127-123 Golden State win in November.
Ball won't have to deal with the former two-time Most Valuable Player on Friday, as Curry will miss his seventh consecutive game with a sprained right ankle. Curry also sat out Monday's win at Los Angeles.
The Lakers suffered more than just a loss on the scoreboard that night. Center Brook Lopez sprained his right ankle and likely won't play again until January.
Los Angeles didn't need its big man in Wednesday's 122-116 win at Houston, as rookie forward Kyle Kuzma dominated the action with 38 points, 21 coming on 3-pointers.
Ball contributed 16 points and nine rebounds to the win.
"Brook means a lot," Ball said of the veteran big man who is the club's fifth-leading scorer at 12.8 points per game. "He is big in the paint and he can space the offense, so we are definitely going to miss him."
The Lakers started former Warrior Andrew Bogut at center against Houston. He had two points and three rebounds in 17 minutes.
The Warriors were missing three starters and two key reserves in Wednesday's 97-84 home win over the Memphis Grizzlies. But at least one of the five is expected back Friday.
Draymond Green, who has sat out the last four games with a sore right shoulder, was able to scrimmage with teammates on Thursday.
Barring a setback at Friday's afternoon shootaround or pregame warmups, Green will face a team against which he compiled 15 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in the Nov. 29 meeting.
Andre Iguodala, who missed Wednesday's game with an illness, is another Golden State player who could return Friday.
The Warriors have won 10 games in a row, becoming the fourth team this season to string together a streak of at least 10 games.
Golden State has had 10-game win streaks in each of the last five seasons. Only San Antonio, Boston and Seattle had accomplished that feat previously in NBA history.
The Warriors used their 12th different starting lineup against the Grizzlies.
"We have a lot of depth and plenty of guys who can play, and so we have enough talent to continue to win, which is great," Warriors coach Steve Kerr observed. "It may not be pretty right now, but we are doing a good job defensively and then finding ways to score."


Girl sextet GFriend is set to return with the upcoming album “L.O.L” on July 11, according to the girl group’s agency Source Music on Wednesday.
The announcement came five months after GFriend released their latest mini album “Snowflake.” “L.O.L” will mark the first full-length album since their debut in January 2015.
“L.O.L” will come in two varieties: “Laughing Out Loud” and “Lots of Love,” Source Music added.
On the date of release, GFriend will hold a showcase for the album at Yes24 Livehall in Seoul.
GFriend has released three mini albums -- “Season of Glass,” “Flower Bud” and “Snowflake” -- in their career of just 18 months so far. Each lead track off the three mini albums, “Glass Bead,” “Me Gustas Tu” and “Rough,” were all nationwide megahits. Notably, GFriend clinched 15 awards with “Rough” in local music shows.


Naga insurgent outfit Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang, with which the Centre abrogated ceasefire in March, has claimed responsibility for the ambush in Manipur in which 18 army personnel were killed and 11 others injured.
The militant outfit in a release dated June 4, which was circulated in the media, claimed that the attack on Thursday was a joint operation by it, Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup and Kangleipak Communist Party.
The release claimed that 20 army personnel, including a junior commissioned officer, were killed and 12 others injured in the incident.
It claimed that during the attack a five-vehicle convoy of 6th Dogra Regiment was “assaulted” at Tengnoupal-New Somtal Road in Chandel district of Manipur.
“The assault started around 6 am and lasted till 9 to 10 am,” the release said, adding the offensive was launched in ‘sync’ by the outfits.
After the ceasefire abrogation in March this year, NSCN-K had on May 3 attacked and killed nine Assam Rifles personnel in Mon district. Another AR personnel was killed in Kohima on May 6 by the insurgent outfit, while four personnel of the para-military force were injured in an attack by the group at Kohima in April.


look at them, place them in a basket. The headsets capture eye-tracking while they’re doing this: where they are looking, how they are behaving. There is a green screen set up, and we see on our monitor what they’re doing and precisely what they’re looking at.
Eye-tracking is one of the most powerful tools you can use in terms of understanding [buyer behavior]. Unseen is unsold. It gives us a sense, is your product being noticed on shelves? Eye movement … is a sign of engagement. We can analyze shelf setup. Is your product being seen as much as you would expect given how much shelf space the product is taking up. Are they noticing you, but then not converting that into a sale?
Are you performing as well as you would expect to? That has implications in terms of how you set up a shelf.
X: What are your retail customers looking for help for?
AS: With all the change taking place in retail, a lot of retailers are trying to optimize the experience in their stores. They’re looking to test ideas in the reinvention of the store of the future. Before they roll [possible ideas] out, they have the ability to build and do a test location, and then do iterative-type testing.
They want to see how they can create unique online and in-store experiences. [Grocery] is looking at offering more prepared meals and pre-ordering. What is the reason to go to the grocery store, to go to physical location? What do they do to make that engaging? Is it around grab-and-go or experiences like cooking classes?
Most convenience stores [are focused on helping customers] get more in that convenience trip: healthy, easy snacking, health and wellness is a general theme. How does that manifest itself? Does that mean a yoga studio is attached? How do they use their real estate differently?
The idea is to bring interest and a reason to do more frequent trips. So you always know something new is going to be there.
X: What are the technologies retail needs to be most focused on?
AS: Beacons, augmented reality/virtual reality, RFID, data analytics, robotics and inventory tracking. Walmart (NYSE: WMT) is doing that now. [Editor’s note: We’ll be exploring this topic in an upcoming Xconomy story.] There is need for technology around customer service, autonomous driving stores.
X: Who is doing this well?
AS: Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) buying Whole Foods is the biggest example. People are saying retail is dead. But not necessarily. Bigger e-commerce companies are buying up great retailers. How do we integrate that? There is retailing in different locations like Warby Parker in Grand Central [Terminal in New York]. The idea is creating brand engagement.


“The ballooning cost of health care acts as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy.” That’s how Warren Buffett framed the context as he, Jeff Bezos and Jamie Dimon announced the alliance of their firms, Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon and JPMorgan Chase, to address health care.
The problem is serious. Health care costs in the U.S. have been growing faster than inflation for more than three decades. There is little relief in sight. A Willis Towers Watson study found that U.S. employers expect their health care costs to increase by 5.5% in 2018, up from a 4.6% increase in 2017. The study projects an average national cost per employee of $12,850. The three companies have a combined workforce of 1.2 million. Based on the Willis Towers Watson estimate, they could spend more than $15 billion on employee health care this year.
But, what can the alliance do about it? On that, Buffett was less clear: “Our group does not come to this problem with answers. But, we also do not accept it is inevitable,” he said.
The challenge is formidable. As the New York Times noted, employers have banded together before to address health care costs and failed to make much of a dent in health care spending. How will this effort be different?
If this alliance as simply another employer purchasing cooperative, it will probably have little effect. Neither 1.2 million employees nor $15 billion in spending is all that significant in a 300M person, $3.2 trillion US health care market. It might nudge the health care industry towards incrementally faster, better and cheaper health care innovations—but not much more.
If, however, the alliance thinks big and structures itself as a testbed for potentially transformative ideas, innovations and businesses, it could have a disruptive effect.
Amazon is the critical ingredient in this latter approach. While all three companies bring employees and resources (both critical), only Amazon brings particularly relevant technological prowess and disruptive innovation experience.
Amazon could think big by simply applying the standard operating principles and capabilities that is has perfected for retail—comprehensive data, personalization, price and quality transparency, operational excellence, consumer focus and high satisfaction—to health care. It also has differentiated technologies like Alexa, mobile devices, cloud (AWS) and AI expertise. It could leverage its recent years of health-care-specific exploration, such as those in cardiovascular health, diabetes management, pharmacies, pharmacy benefit management, digital health and other health care research. It could use Whole Foods as a physical point of presence.
Amazon could then start small and learn fast. It could crunch the numbers and come up with large enough interesting employee segments for experimentation. For example, it might focus on improving quality and satisfaction for the sickest 1-2% of employees. It might focus on those with hypertension or diabetes. It might focus on helping those undergoing specific treatments, such as orthopedics or cancer. It might focus on preventing the rise of chronic diseases in those at most risk, such as those with prediabetes or uncontrolled hypertension. It might focus on narrow but high impact issues, like price transparency or prescription adherence. Issues in privacy would have be addressed but there are many opportunities to address well-known but as yet unsolved problems in health care.
That doesn’t mean, however, that profits are not possible in the future. Amazon built its AWS cloud computing business by first solving an internal problem in a plug compatible, low cost and scalable manner, and then bringing it to the market. That business building approach would provide an additional incentive that goes beyond cost cutting: a new business platform for Amazon, an enormous investment opportunity for Berkshire and (despite short term consternation to existing clients) investment banking opportunities for JPMorgan.
In Parts 2 and 3 of this series, I will explore what an Amazon inspired transformation in health care might look like and how Amazon is well-positioned to make it happen.


Langold Dyscarr Community School new playground.'Gail Wood and Kath Walker from the LCC Big Local, are joined by local youngsters at the opening on Wednesday.
A Worksop primary school is ‘super excited’ after its new playground has been reopened thanks to £150,000 of funding.
Langold Dyscarr Community School in School Road, Langold, received £150,000 from the Langold, Carlton and Costhorpe (LCC) Big Local to improve play facilities as well as improving access to music and increase ICT provision for its pupils.
“Funded by the Big Local and supported by Mandy Merrils, Kath Walker and Gail Wood, the playground cost more than £100,000 and was designed by our pupils.
“It includes a quiet zone, outdoor gym, climbing wall, race track for go-carts, MUGA, huge four tower play fort, musical area and an enormous sandpit.
Community consultation for the play facilities was opened in January and pupils and parents made suggestions on what they might like to see at the school and many of the suggestions made by pupils have been implemented in the scheme which was completed during the summer break.
The funding has also enabled the provision of four trained adult play workers.
Richard said: “The link between children having a really enjoyable and safe time at break and lunchtimes is often overlooked from a school improvement basis. However, it is absolutely crucial.
Kath Walker, a representative from the Big Local, said: “The whole purpose of the National Lottery Funded “Big Local” funding is to have a lasting legacy in the local community.
“What better lasting legacy can we have than to give pupils positive, happy memories of their primary schooling and to enable the school to provide a really positive bedrock for educational achievement?


LOS ANGELES, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Traffk(TM), the Los Angeles art district-based insurance technology company, is excited to announce the acquisition of Portland, Ore.-based Capsci Health. Capsci Health’s HIPAA compliant, mobile technology platform personalizes health plan members’ benefits, allowing them direct access to their plan’s benefits, ID cards, preferred providers and telemedicine.
Traffk(TM) modernizes the insurance underwriting process with more accurate data insights and risk profiling that allows risk-bearing companies or health plans to manage profitability, risk, market growth, cross-lines sales, marketing and compliance. Its SaaS platform enables an organization to deploy data mining, analytics and rules automation to manage risk, pricing and utilization.
* Data aggregation and management. It collects, integrates, analyzes and transacts data on its SaaS platform. It’s HIPAA-compliant and has successfully passed numerous technology assessments and security platform reviews.
* Traffk Risk Index. It transforms cloud data into actionable, dynamic, multi-variant indexes. Its predictive and responsive, insurance-optimized risk modification index and insights use clients’ proprietary data, as well as its rich public information database and proprietary algorithms.
* Consumer risk profiles. It indexes membership into risk profiles to enable efficient and dynamic pricing, risk reduction and underwriting.
* Marketing mining. It helps make data actionable, driving deeper understandings of client and/or consumer tendencies and decision characteristics.


Our increasingly mechanical life brings with it many health problems. But by changing our eating habits, life style, and taking precautions beforehand, we may be able to avoid these and live a longer, healthier life.
This guide does all the work--more than 1,200 food listings at your fingertips!
Each entry lists its carbohydrate, sugar, and fat grams, plus all the foods are ranked "Good", "Limited", "Very Limited", or "Avoid" according to the nutritional principles Dr. Agatston explains in his introduction. Packed with essential information, food lists, shopping tips, meal makeovers, this book is a "dining-out guide" to stay on track at your favourite restaurants and more. The South Beach Diet is your key to lifelong health and weight loss.
Demystify this critical meal-planning technique. Learn how to identify patterns throwing off a patient's blood sugar, as well as calculate insulin to CHO ratios and adapt to combination therapy and insulin pump delivery. Indeed a very handy and informative book for health professionals in a clinical setting as well as a supplement for students in health professions courses.
This comprehensive guide provides safe, effective, current, and accurate drug administration information in a quickly accessible format. The fully revised 2004 edition includes the latest drugs approved by the FDA. This is the only drug guide to include Prototype Drugs for easier learning. Also included are Drug Interactions that include food and herbal interactions, Geriatric and Pediatric Dosing Guidelines that include infants and neonates, complete IV Preparation and Administration information, Adverse Effects organised by body system, Administration Information organised by route, as well as a comprehensive Companion Website "prenhall/drugguides", that provides access to the most up-to-date drug information.


Club Z In Home Tutoring is located at 64 Bancroft St, Dracut, MA. This business specializes in Tutoring.
Since 2011, Club Z In Home Tutoring has been providing Tutoring School from Dracut.


BOSTON-—It’s easy to say that the No. 10 Harvard men’s hockey team is impressive this year, that it has felled a slew of formidable opponents, and that, all in all, this is a season of which the Crimson can be proud. Nevertheless, it remains impossible to say anything that will lessen the sting of last night’s double-overtime Beanpot defeat.
“It’s a heartbreaking loss,” admitted Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 of the more-than 82 minute contest, one determined by a high-slot slapshot by Northeastern’s Tim Judy early into the second, 20-minute extra period.
Especially if that somebody loses every year, which has been the case for each current member of the Crimson. In fact, Harvard has not made it past the first round of the Beanpot since 1998, when most of this year’s Crimson seniors were mere freshmen in high school.
“I don’t think it’s really hit me yet,” said captain Noah Welch, who has talked extensively of the tournament’s importance and his now-conquered desire to win one before he graduates.
The February tournament has remained elusive despite any success the Crimson program has enjoyed in recent years, be it consistent or limited to postseason runs. But if ever there was a year for Harvard to buck its history, this would be it.
It is a new and impressive Crimson team that has plowed through its schedule thus far, offering a glimmer of opportunity to the program that has so long suffered Beanpot embarrassments.
Donato spoke of Welch, assistant captain Ryan Lannon and Rob Flynn, Massachusetts natives all three. He spoke of Dov Grumet-Morris, Harvard’s nation-leading goaltender, and of assistant captain Tom Cavanagh and Andrew Lederman and Brendan Bernakevitch.
The seven form a group that has played in the NCAA tournament in each of the last three years, and it has a strong chance to return for a fourth this time around.
But now, there is one prize for which the seniors will never play.
Junior Dan Murphy, who had been sidelined with a shoulder injury since Harvard’s January exam break, returned to the ice after watching his team’s last four games in a suit and tie.


On Thursday, December 13, 2018 at the National Press Club our expert panel will ask what is actually working? Do faith leaders have a role to play? What are the barriers to success? And, what are the solutions for moving forward?
WASHINGTON - Dec. 10, 2018 - PRLog -- Violence, economic exclusion, discrimination, and practices like FGM and forced/early marriage, plague far too many women and girls around the world.
Reyhana Patel, former BBC journalist; Head of Government Relations at Islamic Relief Canada Naser Haghamed, CEO, Islamic Relief Worldwide.
Thursday, December 13, 2018 from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30. The National Press Club (https://www.press.org/about/visit-us) 529 14th Street, NW, 13th Floor ZENGER ROOM, Washington, DC 20045. Breakfast served.


The Houston Texans hung on to a key piece of their secondary.
NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Thursday the Texans agreed to terms on a two-year contract with cornerback Johnathan Joseph, according to a source informed of the deal.
Joseph was ranked No. 94 on NFL.com's Top 101 Free Agents of 2018.
The 33-year-old solidifies a secondary that struggled overall last season. Pairing Joseph with newly-signed corner Aaron Colvin, formerly of the Jacksonville Jaguars, gives Houston a good starting duo heading into 2018.
Joseph spent the past seven seasons in Houston after being drafted in the first round by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2006. Joseph earned two Pro Bowl bids early in his Texans career. While he's getting up in age, Joseph still plays with physicality. His re-signing keeps one of the team's locker room leaders in Houston.


MONZA, Italy (Reuters) - Sebastian Vettel can tighten the screw on Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari’s home Italian Grand Prix this weekend and write a new entry in the record books.
If he can deliver Ferrari’s first Monza victory since 2010, Vettel will also equal British great Stirling Moss’s unique achievement of winning at the ‘Pista Magica’ with three different F1 teams in the 1950s.
Vettel, 17 points behind Hamilton after a commanding win in Belgium last Sunday, has previously triumphed at Monza with Toro Rosso and Red Bull and will fancy his chances of the hat-trick at the super-fast track outside Milan.
Spa showed Ferrari have the speed, even if Monza’s low-drag characteristics make comparisons less clear-cut and could again favour Hamilton’s Mercedes.
But Vettel is sounding confident.
“We have a good car that seems to work everywhere,” the four-times world champion said jubilantly at Spa.
Mercedes have won in Italy for the past four years, with Hamilton on pole position ever since 2014 and triumphant four times in the last six years — his first coming with McLaren in 2012.
Last year the Briton arrived at the circuit in the former royal park lagging Vettel by seven points and left with a three-point advantage in a turnaround that ultimately led to his fourth world title.
This season has been as hard-fought as any, with the two contenders each on five wins from 13 races and the advantage ebbing and flowing even if Spa suggested Ferrari might now have the upper hand.
“The next race, with this kind of performance they have on straights, we might struggle to match them there,” Hamilton said at Spa.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolf, who recognised his car had deficits, felt the jury was still out on that.
“Spa was always a bit of a tricky one for us in the past as well,” he told reporters. “Monza was a good one.
Red Bull will be looking more to Singapore, the race after, with Australian Daniel Ricciardo set to take a Renault engine upgrade that will incur engine penalties and leave him starting at the back.
Dutch team mate Max Verstappen, third in Belgium, will be the main spoiler hoping to get amongst the Ferrari and Mercedes drivers to stir things up.
Force India will also be hoping for another strong performance after Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon finished fifth and sixth at Spa in the team’s first race under their new ownership.
Lance Stroll, the 19-year-old Canadian whose father leads the consortium that now owns Force India, started on the front row for Williams last year but there is no chance of a repeat of that feat this time.


Oregon has more than 360 miles of Pacific Ocean coastline. There also are many miles of rivers, lakes and other waterways that provide locations from which ships can set sail. Hour-long cruises can combine a meal with a show or sightseeing near the port, while week-long cruises can focus on a theme such as wine or follow the path of early American explorers to give passengers a look at natural wonders and historic sights.
American Safari Cruises offers two sailings from Portland. Cruising aboard a luxury yacht, both trips are eight days and seven nights and end in Lewiston, Idaho. The "Rivers of the West" cruise follows the path of explorers Lewis and Clark and travels the Columbia, Snake and Palouse rivers. Day four of the cruise goes into Walla Walla, Washington, where passengers go ashore for wine tours and tastings. On day six of the cruise, the boat drops anchors and passengers can take a kayaking excursion into a Palouse River canyon formed during the ice age. The cruise also passes Hells Canyon and Multnomah Falls. The "Rivers of the West Wine and Culinary" cruise includes stops at Bonneville Dam and Palouse Canyon, but the main focus is wine. On board, passengers can visit the wine library, take a class in wine tasting or just enjoy various wine tasting events. On-shore excursions include tours and tastings at five regional wineries and vineyards. Winemakers also help passengers blend their own Merlot. The cruise also includes culinary arts presentations by guest chefs.
National Geographic Expeditions has a seven-day cruise out of Portland called "In the Wake of Lewis and Clark." Offered in September and October aboard the Sea Bird, the cruise travels the Columbia, Snake and Willamette rivers as it traces the path of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Passengers can take a jet boat ride along the Snake River that goes over rapids and gorges and past abandoned gold mines. Stops along the cruise include some of Lewis and Clark’s old campsites and Fort Clatsop, where the explorers made their winter headquarters.
Adventure Cruises has an eight-day trip from Portland to Clarkston, Washington. June through October, passengers can ride the Queen of the West along the Columbia, Snake and Clearwater rivers. Shore excursions include trips to Cape Disappointment State Park, the Columbia River Maritime Museum, Fort Walla Walla and Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. Passengers can include transportation back to Portland in their cruise package.
Portland Spirit River Cruises and Columbia River Adventures offers a variety of dining and sightseeing cruises aboard four ships and one jet boat. Cruises journey along the Columbia and Willamette rivers, Milwaukee Basin, Lake Oswego, Bonneville Dam and Cascade Locks. Brunch, lunch and dinner cruises last two to three hours and include live entertainment. Dining cruises are open to passengers who want to see the sights without dining. Some cruises are strictly for sightseeing, including cruises of the Columbia Gorge and the Willamette waterfalls. Portland Spirit also offers Friday night concert cruises with live bands, cruises to famous Portland bridges and a Christmas cruise with characters, music, storytelling and magic.
Brown, Serena. "Cruises Out of Oregon." Travel Tips - USA Today, https://traveltips.usatoday.com/cruises-out-oregon-34640.html. 15 March 2018.


BDZ can become a modern and competitive enterprise, but at the cost of huge investments - between BGN 800 million and BGN 1.3 billion. This was announced by the director of Bulgarian State Railways Vladimir Vladimirov, who yesterday presented a project for the procurement of new modular trains. They will have a speed of 160 km/h, they will have WiFi, will offer comfortable first class and will save 15% of the current expenses of BDZ, or BGN 35 million annually", Vladimirov said.
The trouble is that the state-owned holding is mired in debt and the treasury has to constantly help it financially. The next state support scheme provides for BDZ to receive hundreds of millions of concessions at Sofia Airport.
The forecast for the necessary investments is part of a BDZ technological update report, developed by 3 universities - UNWE, the Technical Uni and Higher Transport School, together with experts from the Ministry of Transport, BDZ and NRIC. "This document has looked at all possible aspects of what the BDZ train fleet should look like in the next few years, what should be its common technical parameters, what kind of passenger traffic BDZ can win after improving its competitiveness on the market and what comfort it needs "On this basis, the collegues from" Passenger Transport "are ready to launch a public procurement for the supply of new modular trains," Vladimirov told Focus.
The project for the technological renovation of the railway has two stages. During the first phase it is planned to buy 41 modular trains, which will cost at least BGN 380 mln. During the second stage, 44 more compositions have to be delivered. It is expected that the first new trains will be on the rails of Bulgaria by 2020. "It is necessary to take decisions at the government level in order to provide funds for the second stage," said BDZ chief.
He noted that BDZ is confidently on the way to clearing debts, a very heavy burden on the railway, and more than BGN 600 million have been deducted to date to cover these debts and any additional costs associated with them. By the end of 2018 the debt crisis of the railroads will end, Vladimirov is convinced.


Health|Assessment and Thanks as Flu Wave Ebbs in U.S.
Assessment and Thanks as Flu Wave Ebbs in U.S.
With that, Ms. Sebelius, the health and human services secretary, bent her elbow across her face and sent a delicate imitation of a virus-loaded “kerchoo!” into the sleeve of her quilted Christmas-red jacket.
The nine federal officials leading the fight against the H1N1 flu gathered for a news conference here on Thursday to review the progress made since the virus was spotted in late April and to thank the hundreds of thousands of Americans — including doctors, vaccine plant workers and schoolteachers — who had labored in the effort.
Ms. Sebelius said it was time to “focus on the next phase of H1N1,” and she pressed everyone to get vaccinated.
About 100 million doses of swine flu vaccine are now available, which is close to the amount of seasonal flu vaccine used in a typical year. Some cities are reporting surpluses and releasing them to doctors’ offices and to pharmacy and supermarket clinics, telling them to vaccinate everyone — not just students and pregnant women, who have until now been the focus of vaccination drives.
Many Americans are acting as if the danger is over, but Dr. Frieden noted that swine flu had already killed five times as many children and young adults as seasonal flu does. Of the estimated 10,000 deaths as of Nov. 14, about 1,100 have been among children under 18.
How much seasonal flu will now emerge remains to be seen, Dr. Frieden said. For unknown reasons, new viruses tend to crowd out old ones. Australia and New Zealand had little seasonal flu during their July-August winter; in the United States, fewer samples of the three strains of seasonal flu have been found than is typical for mid-December.
Behind her, Secretary Sebelius coughed — correctly — into her sleeve.


SM Supermalls, Shopping Center Management Corp. was given the gold award in the 2012 Asia Pacific Shopping Centre Awards competition of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) at ICSC’s RECon Asia Convention held recently in Shanghai, China.
The award recognizes the outstanding achievement in marketing and design and development of retail properties throughout Asia.
SM Supermalls, Shopping Center Management Corp. was cited for its work in digital media marketing, a category which promotes strategic programs and plans through websites, online branding campaigns, social media (blogs, social media sites) and/or mobile marketing (text messaging, mobile websites, mobile directories, etc.) to achieve brand and marketing communication goals for a shopping center or company.
The center won for its SM Supermalls iButterfly Hunt which took advantage of the fast growing smartphone market in the Philippines. Eight SM Supermalls filled the virtual reality sky with the SM iButterfly, a mobile application using three technologies: Augmented Reality, GPS and Motion Sensors.
The app engaged and rewarded SM Supermalls customers in a fun and interactive way through their Android and iOS mobile devices. By catching Augmented Reality butterflies, customers were rewarded with various prizes such as instant freebies, purchase add ons and discounts, thereby enhancing their shopping and dining experience.
Professional recognition for this award was given to SM Supermalls’ Teresita Sy-Coson, director; Annie Garcia, president; Grace Fornier Magno, vice president for marketing; Jac David Pimentel, senior digital marketing manager, and Martin Jesse Herrera, digital marketing manager.
The gold award made SM Supermalls, Shopping Center Management Corp. automatically eligible to win ICSC’s VIVA Best of the Best Award. The ICSC VIVA Best of the Best Awards, which recognize the shopping center industry’s most cutting-edge properties, innovative solutions and creative responses to market trends throughout the world, will be presented during ICSC’s annual convention, RECon, May 19-22, 2013, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Founded in 1957, ICSC is the premier global trade association of the shopping center industry. Its more than 55,000 members in over 90 countries include shopping center owners, developers, managers, marketing specialists, investors, retailers and brokers, as well as academics and public officials. As the global industry trade association, ICSC links with more than 25 national and regional shopping center councils throughout the world. For more information, visit www.icsc.org.


Sean Mark Wijesinghe head coach of Kandy Sports Club will be missed when he migrates to Canada on Friday. His departure is not only a great loss to Kandy Sports Club, but also for Sri Lankan rugby. Former Trinitian Wijesinghe represented Trinity College rugby in 2000 and 2001 under David Luchow and Thisal Jayawardena.
Wijesinghe has wide experience, having captained Kandy SC twice, the national team and been an understudy to former coach Johan Taylor. He has undergone rugby coaching and training overseas in Levels 1, 2 and 3 and holds a coach educator certificate. He is also a level II strength and conditioning coach. He gave off his best for the school at basketball and rugger and won colors in both sports.
Wijesinghe was one of the leading third row forwards and learnt the rudiments of rugby at Trinity College under Quentin Israel and while at school he represented Kandy Sports Club. Under his leadership the Nittawela club won the triple in 2008, where they were unbeaten. He captained again in 2014/15 to win the league and the knockouts. He also played for Combined Schools and Sri Lanka and led the national side to win the Asian Five Nations championship in Singapore. He played for his country from 2002 to 2015.
Wijesinghe worked as Kandy SC’s coaching guru for six years and helped the Nittawela club to reach dizzy heights with his good coaching and saw the club win the league for the 20th time in 25 years.
He also played overseas rugby in Taranaki, New Zealand and also had the privilege of coaching his school Trinity College in 2012, 2013 and 2016.
Sean was accorded a grand farewell dinner on Saturday at the Nittawela club house, where all players and the committee were present.


Each year, September comes, and each year, the iPhone gets faster. But a report and analysis by 9to5Mac points to a significantly speedier and more power-efficient chip for this year's new iPhones.
The piece cites an "unsubstantiated tipster" making specific claims about the next iPhone's processor, so this should all be taken with a grain of salt. But if true, the next iPhone could be gaining some real ground on the speeds normally associated with desktops and laptops.
A view of what could be the next iPhone's motherboard.
The A9 chip, likely to debut inside the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, is said to have a Geekbench score of 1,921 for single-core and 4,873 for multi-core. Last year's A8 chip, which lived inside the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, achieved a 1,610 for single-core and 2,890 for multi-core scores.
What's the cause for the big jump in multi-core? According to the source, the A9 could use two cores clocked at 1.7GHz and two more cores clocked at 1.2GHz, with the phone switching between cores depending on how much speed it needs in that moment.
That means the next iPhones could be as powerful as 2010 MacBook Pros or 2011 MacBook Airs. That also potentially puts in the new phones in the same league as Apple's new ultra-slim MacBook.
The new chip could power processor-intensive features, like the rumored 4K video capture (also being rumored for the next phones) or higher-end video games.
Apple is expected to announce the two new phones at an event early in September, alongside a new, revamped AppleTV. That same event could be where the company debuts its long-rumored iPad Pro, said to carry a bigger, 12.9-inch screen.


Muscat: The US travel ban has hit many expatriate residents in Oman following the executive order banning entry to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.
Mohammad Ahmad, a Sudanese resident of Oman was supposed to meet his family in the US next month but his plans were quickly dashed after the US embassy stopped issuing visit visas following the executive order.
Ahmad has been working in Oman for the past 10 years and used to visit his Ohio-based family, who are permanent residents, every year without any obstacles.
“I hope the ban will be lifted, I would like to spend the holidays with them,” he said.
Murtada Hussain, an Iraqi national, said that he was shocked with the executive order, describing it as “racist”.
Now he is unable to attend his son’s university graduation next week.
“My wife and I have been waiting for this moment, but now everything has fallen apart,” he told Gulf News.
The US embassy in Muscat has issued a standard advisory that any citizen of the seven banned countries will not be given a visa appointment.
“If you are a national, or dual national, of one of these countries, please do not schedule a visa appointment or pay any visa fees at this time as you will not be able to proceed with your visa interview,” the statement reads.
The statement added that travel for official governmental purposes, related to official business at or on behalf of designated international organisations, on behalf of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, or by certain officials is not subject to suspension.
Some airlines have also been rerouting and refunding passengers of those countries who can no longer fly to the US.
Qatar Airways, Emirates Airways and Turkish Airways have advised passengers from banned countries that they need to have either a permanent resident card (Green card) or diplomatic visa to travel.
The 90-day travel ban applies to citizens of Iraq, Libya, Iran, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen.