KADENA AIR BASE, Japan -- For those of us fortunate enough to fly Air Force aircraft as a primary or secondary duty, there is a familiar and common feeling that we tend to get just prior to takeoff. It's characterized by equal measures of excitement, focus, and heightened awareness, with just a bit of paranoia thrown in. That paranoia can be a pilot's best friend and it's saved many aviators from potentially deadly mistakes in the air.
So what do I mean by paranoia? I'm obviously not describing an abnormal psychological condition. Instead, this paranoia is a healthy compulsion to double and triple check everything in the cockpit. Am I ready to fly? Did I accomplish my checklists properly? Did I get the proper clearances? Am I on time? It's an acknowledgement of the huge trust the Air Force places in us to fly multi-million dollar aircraft safely and get the mission accomplished. Before we advance throttles for takeoff, we'd better be ready for anything the aircraft or the mission might throw at us.
You should cultivate that same mentality whenever you operate machinery as part of your normal duties or get behind the wheel of a government vehicle. We have experienced a significant increase in GOV mishaps here on Kadena in FY09, and it's time to crush this trend. Because most of us are comfortable operating a privately-owned vehicle, we tend to operate GOVs as if they are just POVs with a blue paint job. Similarly, forklift operations are conducted so frequently that they can come to seem routine. But not too many of us transport munitions, missiles, or other sensitive cargo in our own cars; nor do we operate personal vehicles in close proximity to aircraft or on active runways. The very nature of the Air Force mission makes any GOV or heavy machinery operation potentially hazardous or even deadly.
Although our last GOV-related fatality occurred in 2003, we've had numerous forklift and GOV safety mishaps due to inattention/complacency at Kadena since October 2008. These reportable and non-reportable mishaps represent an approximate increase of 30 percent over the same period last year. The bottom line is that we've been lucky that none of these incidents resulted in loss of life or major damage to government property. You are the key to stopping this trend in its tracks!
Resist the complacency that comes with familiarity with a task, piece of machinery, or vehicle. When you turn the key on a GOV, remember that it's not your family car. The Air Force and your chain of command place great trust in you to operate government vehicles safely and properly. Double check everything and make sure your plan of operation is clear and understood to yourself and others involved. Embrace the paranoia!


LAHORE: Almost all schools, shopping centres, markets and restaurants in all sectors of the Defence Housing Authority were closed as the frightened parents rushed to schools to pick their children and those present in the Z-block area for any reason left the spot in panic soon after the bomb blast.
Terror-stricken parents started gathering outside schools while owners, employees and security staff at all plazas, particularly in Z-block, instantly started closing their businesses.
“I was standing outside the shop when I heard a powerful blast. The impact was so huge that it shattered several glasses of our shop,” said Dilshad, a security guard of a coffee shop situated nearby an under-construction building where the blast occurred.
“Everyone was crying and running in panic to leave the area at once. The customers sitting in our café also rushed out in horror and the shop in-charge and other staff shut the business immediately,” he added.
Amjad, another security guard at a store nearby the blast site, said the situation forced closure of all sorts of businesses in the market. “We also closed our store after all customers went out hurriedly. Our building’s glasses also shattered. Many people were running advising each other to look for a safer place as another blast may occur,” Amjad told Dawn.
Shahzad, a man standing nearby a leading food chain restaurant in Y-block, said he saw frightened customers coming out of the food outlet hurriedly and the staff closing down the business soon after the blast.
Yousaf Masih, a rickshaw driver, who was present outside a building nearby the entry to the Z-block market, said he saw several people running towards a leading private sector school to pick kids.
Afzaal, an employee of a private firm, said he rushed to the school where many parents were already gathered. “All were frightened. Later, the school administration closed the school and allowed us to pick our kids,” he added.
According to a DHA spokesman, the DHA administration didn’t ask for closure of schools, but the situation forced administrations of schools to shut their institution on their own. “The blast truly traumatized the parents who were reported to have rushed towards schools to get the custody of their children,” he added.
He said the DHA administration had also decided to keep all of its schools and colleges open on Friday (today).
However, he said, he couldn’t make certain the opening of those schools which didn’t fall in the DHA’s education system.
The markets, schools and restaurants in other DHA sectors were also shut after the bomb blast. Thin presence of customers was reported in restaurants and major shopping malls of the city.
Meanwhile, the Lahore administration and police has advised the public to lend no ear to rumours being aired to create panic.
“The news of another bomb blast in Gulberg proved to be mere rumour after our rescue and other teams rushed the spot,” Lahore’s deputy commissioner Sumair Ahmad Syed told Dawn.
Capital City Police Chief retired Captain Amin Wains also advised the citizens to remain calm and avoid believing in any rumour. “There was no blast in Gulberg. It was just a rumour,” he added.


Lufthansa, Europe’s biggest airline, will have to compensate the relatives of the 144 passengers who died aboard Germanwings flight 9525. It may also face lawsuits for negligence after the pilot allegedly deliberately flew the plane into the French Alps.
According to the French prosecutor in the case co-pilot Andreas Lubitz intentionally crashed the plane into the mountains after locking the other pilot out of the cockpit. This ‘accident’ doesn’t fall under the general insurance, which covers inclement weather and mechanical failures but under a separate war risk policy.
A $6.5 million claim for the loss of the plane itself was paid on Wednesday, Reuters reported, citing industry sources. Under the Montreal Convention of 1999, the airline will be liable for an additional $175,000 for each passenger or a total of $25.2 million for the 144 passengers on board the Airbus flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf. In addition to the passengers, there were 6 crew members onboard.
AirAsia, which lost a plane and 162 passengers en route from Indonesia to Singapore, has already racked up £310 million in claims.
However, the $175,000 compensation is a starting point; families can go after the company for more if they sue for negligence. Lawyers suggest they may have a strong case in this instance, since the pilot was left alone in the cockpit, or wasn’t properly screened by the airline. Reports are emerging that pilot Andreas Lubitz had a history of psychiatric treatment, and may have been concealed from his employer. If the crash is prove to be caused by 'negligence' the 6 crew members could receive similar compensation, otherwise it will be logged as a workplace death, which has a different compensation regime.
As this isn’t the first time a pilot has committed suicide and brought passengers down with himself, relatives may have a stronger case.
Allianz is the lead insurer for Lufthansa, which owns the budget carrier Germanwings. Part of the cost will be paid out by underwriter AIG Aerospace, which covers war, hijacking, and terrorism, as well as costs associated with passenger loss of life and third party damage, which could be interpreted to include payouts to family and relatives. Reuters also reported that Cathedral, a subsidiary of Lancashire Holdings, is in charge of the war policy in the Germanwing’s case.
The search for black boxes, aircraft fragments, and passenger remains is a costly expense. The search is being led by Germany, France, and Spain, who may late file a claim with the airline.
Before the plane descended into the mountains killing all aboard, the German airline had a clean safety record. The last major incident was in 1993 when a crew member and passenger died on the Warsaw tarmac after the Airbus burst into flames during takeoff. The other five crew members and 63 passengers survived.
In response to the loss of 150 lives in the Alps, many airlines are now implementing a two person cockpit rule, to protect against a repeat scenario.
In the US it is already mandated that the pilot cannot be left alone in the cockpit without another crew member, as well as with Ireland’s Aer Lingus and Ryanair, UK airlines Jet2 and Flybe, as well as Canada’s Porter.
Air Berlin, Air Canada, easyJet, Monarch, Virgin Atlantic, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Air Transat, Westjet, and Thomas Cook have all changed their policy in light of the Germanwings crash.
On March 26, Lloyd’s insurance market reported a £310million loss, the largest on record since 2001 and the 9/11 attacks.
Lloyd’s of London was founded in 1688 and is the world’s biggest insurance market with gross written premiums of £25.3 billion.
Last year was a particularly costly year for aviation insurers with a record number of disasters that ranged in motives and causes.
In addition to mid-air tragedies, insurance companies also provide coverage for airports. Fighting at the Donetsk airport in Ukraine has all but destroyed the $1 billion airport built just 3 years ago for the European Cup, and rival militias in Libya have also caused significant damage to Tripoli airport. The damage to the Ukrainian airport has been ongoing since war broke out last year, and the Tripoli airport was hit hardest by a militia attack in July.


Cannon discovered just before the 2011 draft that he had non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He said he is now in remission and no longer fearful of hearing the “C” word.
Cannon, 26, bought a house in Benbrook. He will return home after the Super Bowl and conduct his off-season training at TCU alongside Patriots teammate Josh Boyce and others.
He hopes to bring a title home with him.
Everyone wanted to know about the white cowboy hat that Michael Bennett has been wearing all week. The native Texan was honored to share the story.
The hat belonged to a family friend, Mark Alexander, who served as a mentor to Bennett, his brother Martellus and others in Alief. Alexander’s son was a high school teammate of Bennett’s.
Alexander died of cancer earlier this month. He was 59.
At the funeral two weeks ago, Alexander’s widow, Jan, gave the hat to Bennett.
“He meant everything to me,” the Seahawks defensive lineman said. “Just a good friend. It’s not very often you meet somebody who means a lot to you and does a lot for you and you’re just compatible with.
The hat, Bennett said, was Alexander’s favorite. Jan Alexander promised it would bring good luck.
It’s been more than two weeks since replay overturned Dez Bryant’s catch against the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round of the playoffs. But players still are being asked about the controversy.
Bryant caught a 41-yard pass from Tony Romo on fourth down late in the fourth quarter only to have it overturned by “The Process Rule.” Instead of first-and-goal at the Green Bay 1, the Packers took possession and ran out the clock.
The Packers lost to the Seahawks in overtime in the NFC title game.


Canada's Peter Reid won the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon yesterday, finishing in 8 hours 24 minutes 20 seconds.
Switzerland's Natascha Badmann took the women's division in 9:24:16, about 30 minutes slower than the course record set in 1992 by the eight-time winner Paula Newby-Fraser of Zimbabwe.
Reid who finished fourth here the past two years, took the lead from Germany's Jurgen Zack about two miles into the marathon, the last of the three segments of the competition in Kailua-Kona.
Belgium's Luc Van Lierde, who set the course record of 8:04:08 in 1996, finished second in 8:31:57.
Reid finished the 2.4-mile swim in 54th place, but moved through the field and was third after the 112-mile cycling segment.


It’s as if sailing is reserved for coastal states and is an oddity in inland states. Yet, with Idaho’s large lakes and reservoirs, there’s plenty of variety and the typical sailing season is from March through October.
Idaho’s whispering winds lure sailboaters like Denise Murschel to waters such as Lake Cascade and Lucky Peak Lake. She has been sailing for more than 40 years and is a member of the Southern Idaho Sailing Association (SISA), an active group of local sailors.
One of her favorite places is leading a pack of sailboats down the canyon between Spring Shores Marina and the dam at Lucky Peak.
Wannabe sailors can find out about that freedom and adventure during SISA’s Discover Sailing Day on May 7 at Lake Lowell. The organization puts on the event each spring. For a lot of people sitting on a dock and watching sailboats go silently by, sailing is an adventure they would like to take up but don’t know much about. Discover Sailing Day is a good start.
Even though sailboaters are a minority in the Idaho boating scene — of Idaho’s 87,074 registered boats, 1,379 are sailboats — sailing enthusiasts are passionate and SISA is busy each season with regattas, campouts, potlucks, educational programs and other activities going on all year.
Sailing is something that can get in the blood at an early age. Murschel got hooked at 11 years old when she first saw a 50-foot-long, double-masted schooner while fishing for walleye off Marblehead Point on Lake Erie. Now she loves following SISA’s circuit of regattas to a variety of reservoirs.
If the variety of waters in the state isn’t inviting enough, there’s also the variety in boats from 14-foot day sailors to 18-foot “hang on for dear life” Hobie Cats, and also cruisers over 20 feet long for mellow camping in some of the coves on lakes throughout the state.
Choosing a boat and learning to sail may seem daunting, but there are ways to do it.
“Idaho sailors and wannabes can find an option for getting into the sport even easier these days, thanks to the sporty and popular Olympic-class Laser sailboat,” said Steve Christiansen, who is captain of the fleet of Lasers for SISA.
Members of SISA offer advice on boats and how to get into the sport at their Discover Sailing Day. From there, potential sea dogs can help crew on boats locally, get some casual lessons from local sailors and then maybe take a more intensive sailing course at sailing schools located from Long Beach, Calif. to the San Juan Islands.
Location: Reached minutes from the Treasure Valley off Idaho 21 east of Boise.
Main boat ramps: Barclay Bay and Turner Gulch (located near the dam); Spring Shores (located in the middle part of the reservoir).
Notes: It’s a quick day of sailing from the Boise area, but the reservoir in a canyon is known for squirrelly winds and temperamental gusts. Sailboaters like to sail the reservoir between Spring Shores Marina and Lucky Peak Dam early in the morning. A group meets weekend mornings for drag racing. The canyon is narrow and requires a lot of boat handling. The topography of the land and thermals drive all the action. Cold air flows down the canyon early in the morning and reverses direction as the valley below heats up. But don’t count on that. It could be the opposite on any given day.
Location: South of Mountain Home between Grand View and Bruneau.
Popular boat ramps: North Park operated by Idaho Power at the dam and Cove Recreation Site.
Notes: This large, V-shaped reservoir is a favorite among sailboaters in spring and fall. In fact, it’s the latest area in the sailing season where the Southern Idaho Sailing Association conducts regattas. The reservoir is known for high winds and big waves so novice boaters should keep an eye on the weather. The reservoir’s level remains full throughout the season. There’s plenty of sailing opportunities and places to camp at North Beach or Cove Recreation Site.
Main boat ramps: There are two boat ramps, one at the Upper Embankment (dam) and the other at the Lower Embankment (dam). The Lower Embankment, which is reached by taking Karcher Road (Idaho 55) west off I-84 to Riverside Road, is more popular among sailboaters.
Notes: Lake Lowell is one of the earliest places in spring that Treasure Valley sailors use because of its size, the water level and winds. It’s great in late April and May. The reservoir is preferred in the spring when it is full. It has an hour-glass shape and is wide open for long runs in one direction. Sailors move on to other areas when the reservoir gets more crowded in the summer and as the water levels lower.
Location: Near Cascade, 70 miles north of Boise on Idaho 55.
Main boat ramps: Cabarton, Cascade and Sugar Loaf.
Notes: Sailors like the southern part of the reservoir south of Sugar Loaf Island. It’s a wide reservoir with good steady winds most of the day. Because the reservoir is so large, winds and waves can get a little rough and sailors should keep an eye on the weather. It is such a good sailing venue that the Catalina Nationals, with boaters from throughout the country, were held at the reservoir about a decade ago. The reservoir got great reviews from the visiting competitors. There are lots of camping opportunities in sections of Lake Cascade State Park that are scattered around the reservoir. It is scenic because of the beauty of West Mountain west of the reservoir.
Location: At McCall, 102 miles north of Boise on Idaho 55.
Main boat ramps: Public ramp near Mile High Marina in downtown; Ponderosa State Park and North Beach.
Notes: Scenic for boating with a forested shoreline, marinas in town for services and lots of interesting places to sail, such as around islands and in coves. Some of the coves are popular for sailboat camping. The lake on the edge of the Salmon River Mountains has good winds and is popular for sailing. The water is known for being very chilly, even in the middle of summer. Water levels are good throughout the summer.
Location: Redfish is about 7 miles south of Stanley off Idaho 75. Alturas is about 21 miles south of Stanley off Idaho 75.
Size: Redfish Lake is 4.5 miles long and three-quarters of a mile wide. Alturas Lake is about 2 miles long and almost a mile wide.
Main boat ramps: Each lake has a boat ramp.
Notes: Both lakes are at the foot of the Sawtooths and get plenty of wind, especially in the afternoons. They are coveted as summer getaways with plenty of camping at Forest Service campgrounds and very scenic sailing on the edge of the Sawtooth Wilderness. Winds coming off the Sawtooths can be strong at certain times of the day, and big waves can be whipped up in the afternoon.
Also: Lake Pend Oreille, Priest Lake and Lake Coeur d’Alene in northern Idaho are some of Idaho’s biggest waters and offer plenty of sailing, camping and boat ramps. Plan an adventure up north on a week-long vacation.
Where: The boat ramp at the Lower Dam Recreation Site at Lake Lowell. It is reached by taking Karcher Road (Idaho 55) west from I-84 and turning on Riverside Road.
Registration and boat assignments: 10 a.m. (come at 9 a.m. to see boat rigging and to help rigging if you want). After a welcoming talk and some educational pointers, boats should get on the water by 11:30 a.m.
Sailing and shore activities: From noon to 3 p.m. with happy hour and Q&A at 4 p.m. Potluck dinner starts at 6 p.m.
Reservations: Space is limited, so RSVP (walk-ups are not guaranteed space on a boat). Contact Tom or Krista Rambow at idahosailing @gmail.com or call 571-3347.
Sailors can bring their own boats and ask for help with rigging and sailing. Those with no boat or those who just want to see what sailing is all about can ride on the boats of SISA members.
Dress in layers. It may be warm onshore, but the wind can get chilly out on the water (especially if it is a cloudy day). Idaho weather is always changing, so it’s good to be prepared.
Apply sunscreen whether it’s cloudy or sunny. Or, wear UPF-rated clothing and bring a hat and sunglasses.
Lifejackets should be available on each boat, but if you have your own, bring it, especially if you have a small child under the age of 8.
Wear shoes that are appropriate for boating: they should be non-marking soles and able to get wet (a very slight chance, but still possible).
Bring snacks and a beverage (non-glass container) to hold you over for a few hours on the water.
You can bring a camera and post photos to social media at #SISA2016 #SISADiscoverSailing2016 and #IdahoSailing.
Bring your own camping chairs if you would like to join the potluck dinner.
Want to make sure your boat is ship-shape? The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation has started a program, “My Boat,” a web-based app that can be used to help educate boaters about the safety equipment needed for their boat.
“The No. 1 question many boaters ask is, ‘What do I need to have on my boat for safety equipment?’ ” said David Dahms, Idaho boating program manager.
“My Boat” allows users to enter basic information about their boat and print the information, download a PDF, email the information directly to themselves or have a text message sent that will have a hotlink to the requested information.
“My Boat” can be launched from a desktop PC, laptop, mobile device or tablet. There is no app to download from the Apple Store or Google Play Store, but it can be accessed directly at idpr.idaho.gov/BoatSafetyFeatures/index.html, or from www.boatidaho.gov. The “My Boat” app is located in a prominent position in the center of the web page.


President Donald Trump returned to a familiar cast of targets in a tweet Wednesday morning, musing about whether there was "collusion" among Facebook, television networks, and two of the country's leading print newspapers.
"Facebook was always anti-Trump. The Networks were always anti-Trump hence, Fake News, @nytimes (apologized) & @wapo were anti-Trump. Collusion?" Trump tweeted.
Russian-purchased Facebook advertising, which Trump has dismissed as part of a larger "hoax," has recently come under scrutiny in probes examining Russia's role in election meddling.
Trump has also repeatedly accused TV networks, The New York Times, and The Washington Post of being biased in their coverage toward him, both during the 2016 campaign and throughout his presidency.
Trump, however, put a positive spin on his time in office so far in a follow-up tweet.
"But the people were Pro-Trump! Virtually no President has accomplished what we have accomplished in the first 9 months-and economy roaring," Trump tweeted.
Earlier Wednesday morning, Trump tweeted about newly minted Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore, NFL national anthem protests, and the GOP's healthcare repeal efforts.


The Dow gained 388.68 points to close at 8,435.1, and the S&P and Nasdaq added 6.4 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively, on news the government will guarantee $306 billion of toxic Citigroup assets and a pledge by lawmakers to pass another economic stimulus package. Citigroup led the charge, rebounding 58 percent after losing 60 percent of its market value last week; JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America also gained more than 20 percent in trading today. “Job one is to continue to repair the psychology of this market, and the bailout or the help for Citigroup is an important part of that puzzle,” James Dunigan of PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia told Bloomberg. But get ready for yet another shift from Washington: Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is “considering asking Congress for the remaining $350 billion in the Troubled Asset Relief Program to help revive consumer credit,” a move he all but ruled out last week, Bloomberg reports.


Wakefield: It is disappointing that lawmakers did not have the foresight to plan for changes in the economy.
HOWARD - An Oklahoma school superintendent says, “It just hurts my heart” when discussing the situation of the teachers in that state. According to The Washington Post, the teachers have not had a pay raise in 10 years, and Oklahoma is rated No. 49 out of 50 states for the low pay and large class sizes. These teachers have been forced to take second jobs, rely on food pantries and do anything to pay their bills. Some have even had students bring them groceries because the students' parents realized that the teachers could not feed their families.
I was born and raised in Oklahoma, graduated from college there and had my first teaching job there. We had great schools when I was growing up. I had wonderful teachers. And, I am pretty sure that they were paid a living wage — nothing grand, but enough to buy a home and raise a family. So what has happened since I was a student?
Oklahoma bases much of its income on gas and oil. When the times were good, they made a series of tax cuts. When the times turned bad, the tax cuts left the state economy very weak and created a crisis for state public services. Lawmakers had two options: They could cut the budget of every state agency, or they could raise taxes. They cut money for state agencies. The very conservative lawmakers hated to raise taxes. It is disappointing that lawmakers did not have the foresight to plan for changes in the economy.


Elizabeth Homziak, 88, a resident of Franciscan Manor, formerly of Harmony Twp., died Monday, October 28, 2013, in Heritage Valley Beaver.
Born November 28, 1924, in Mount Union, PA, a daughter of the late Joseph and Verna Hancharick Pastva, she was a former secretary for the Duquesne Light Company with 35 years of service, and was a member of the Good Samaritan Catholic Church.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Walter Homziak; a sister, Anna Pastva, and two brothers, Paul and John Pastva.
At Elizabeth's request, there was no public visitation. A private Mass of Christian burial was held today in Good Samaritan Catholic Church. Private interment followed in Economy Cemetery.


FILE: Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa delivers his state of the nation address at a joint sitting of the parliament and the senate in Harare on December 20, 2017.
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party won the most seats in parliament, official results showed Wednesday, as the count continued in the presidential race and the opposition MDC cried foul, alleging widespread fraud.
“The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has announced a further 50 National Assembly results, bringing the total so far to 153. Of the 153, ZANU-PF has won 110 seats, while the MDC Alliance got 41 seats,” ZBC state media reported.
“ZEC seeks to… reverse the people’s presidential election victory. The strategy is meant to prepare Zim mentally to accept fake presidential results,” he tweeted.
EU observers are due to give their report on Zimbabwe’s election later Wednesday, two days after the vote — the first ballot since Robert Mugabe was ousted after 37 years in power.


The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has produced a report assessing the relationship between Africa’s capacity to finance the 15-year SDGs and maintaining debt sustainability. The report ignores critical deficiencies in the approach to the continent’s development agenda.
The approach is far from ideal in that the continent’s debt position – external and domestic – is bordering on unsustainable. Stemming illicit financial flows, which are sometimes overstated, requires institutional capacity-building to enforce. Private-public partnerships are one approach that could bring sustainable development in the area of infrastructure development. However, it requires a different model to contribute to other sectors.
The continent’s sovereign external debt position has been rising faster than gross domestic product (GDP) in the past four years. With the dawn of the cyclical boom-bust of the commodity market, a key trigger factor for the 1980s African debt crisis, it is evident the continent is facing a renewed debt crisis.
Ghana is currently under International Monetary Fund (IMF) intensive care supervision, while Mozambique’s IMF support programme is under suspension. Kenya has applied for a standby credit facility, while Zambia is expected to negotiate an IMF bailout package after its general and presidential elections on August 11 2016. A dozen other countries dependent on single commodities for revenue will be looking for international relief to avoid defaulting on both concessional and commercial loans. This will become more critical as they approach the repayment period between 2020 and 2025, when most capital market Eurobond loans mature.
A critical factor that underscores the debt crisis is that the debt has become unsustainable even though debt ratios are below 50% of GDP. The debt crisis is already well under way. The only question is how deep it will cut into the development agenda of the continent.
The challenge with domestic debt is that it limits the resources available to the private sector to borrow for productive activity, which directly contributes to the country’s GDP. The private sector, which consists of at least 83% small and medium-sized companies, depends on this financing for expansion. These have limited access to finance but hold the key to job creation and increased tax revenue generation. They are also directly linked to the populace that is living in extreme poverty.
The extent to which curtailing illicit financial flows can contribute to creating an alternative source of development finance has been overemphasised. Between 1970 and 2008, it is estimated that the continent lost $850 billion. About 60% of this was through trade mis-invoicing and the use of tax havens. In addition, 35% was attributed to the proceeds of crime, with the balance of 5% apportioned to corruption.
The corporate and commercial outflows (tax havens) are legal modalities of tax avoidance and thus difficult to curtail. Mis-invoicing is a vice that cuts across borders and will require a concerted effort among trading countries.
And if national governments had the resources and capacity to eliminate crime and corruption, the proceeds from these activities would not add to government revenues.
On top of this Africa as a whole has very poor resource management capacity. This means that putting more money into government coffers won’t necessarily lead to the eradication or alleviation of poverty.
Take Nigeria. Oil revenues per capita have increased tenfold in 35 years. However, Nigeria’s income per capita does not reflect this growth. The Global Finance report lists the country as the 62nd poorest country in the world.
Concessional policies associated with foreign direct investment are the single largest drain on revenue for African countries. This partly occurs when investors are allowed duty-free imports on capital equipment. The immediate effect is that it denies governments much needed tax revenue and continually bleeds the country of foreign exchange earnings.
Between 2004 and 2014, Zambia received just over $12 billion in foreign direct investment. These inflows mostly came into the country in the form of capital equipment. The general effect was the immediate loss of tax revenue in import taxes, which represents a minimum net loss of $5.4 billion. In addition, the externalisation of the investment amount and untaxed profits over the long term undermines the country’s capacity to have a solid foreign exchange reserve base. This represents an additional net loss of $4.2 billion.
This $9.6 billion loss comes alongside the depletion of the country’s natural resources. The net effect is that Zambia has not made a tangible reduction in poverty, as pointed out by the European Union in its analysis of the implementation of the 11th European Development Fund.
The African continent holds a unique position on the global market. It produces more than 20% of the world’s gold, 50% of diamonds, 12% of oil and 6% of natural gas. It also has an array of other minerals, including uranium, copper and nickel.
Yet 75% of the world’s ten poorest countries are in sub-Saharan Africa.
Bilateral and multilateral donors have failed the continent by piling massive public debt on governments in the full knowledge of the history to the 1980s debt crisis. This is despite the fact that they lack fiduciary accountability to their people while causing depletion of natural resources. They have also turned a blind eye to these multinationals parking huge amounts of earnings in tax havens.
To come anywhere near achieving the target of eliminating poverty, as per the United Nations’ latest development goals, the continent would need to attain a GDP growth rate of least 16%. The reality is that the continent is averaging growth of 5%.
The solution lies in African countries taking control of their destiny by replacing foreign direct investment with local direct investment. The continent must direct resources towards production in agriculture and manufacturing, improve its capacity for global competitiveness and import only advanced technologies and expertise.
See Also: Can Africa Achieve First World Status?


There”s a newly painted bright blue and yellow mailbox at the bus shelter that”s adjacent to the Town Plaza in downtown Los Gatos–but don”t put any mail in it, because it”s really a collection box for old eyeglasses.
The box was placed there by the Los Gatos Lions Club to collect eyeglasses that are refurbished and donated to needy people around the world.
The project was spearheaded by the father and son team of John and Jeff Lochner.
“It took two years to get the box, have it sandblasted and refinished with the Lions logo,” John Lochner said.
But when Lochner asked the town for permission to put the box in the plaza, he ran into problems. The town was concerned about setting a precedent that would open the floodgates to other, similar requests.
“I happened to remember that the bus shelter has a plaque on it that says the Lions built the shelter, so I asked to put it there,” Lochner said.
Indeed, the plaque notes that the Lions built and donated the shelter to the town in 1980. Ironically, the plaque says that “John Lochnar” was mayor of Los Gatos at the time.
His name was misspelled, but some 35 years later John Lochner remains active in town: He”s been a member of the Lions club for 56 years.
His son Jeff has been a Lion for 29 years.
The Lochners installed the “eyeglasses only” box in early November 2014.
All the eyeglasses that are collected are taken to a recycling warehouse in Vallejo where they”re prepped for distribution through the nonprofit Lions in Sight program.


It's hard to stay mad at Kanye West.
Sure, he's done a lot of foolish things lately and gone on a lot of hurtful rants. But he has been like a wayward son who strayed and couldn't find his way back home.
West has finally indicated that he's ready to get off that contentious road he's been traveling and head back to a more familiar path.
He tweeted: "My eyes are now wide open and now realize I've been used to spread messages I don't believe in. I am distancing myself from politics and completely focusing on being creative!!!"
What is interesting about West's latest revelation is that it took another African-American who believes in President Donald Trump to make him realize that Republicans have been making a fool of him.
It isn't clear whether West's latest lightbulb moment also applies to Trump. We can only hope so.
What we do know is that he's pretty upset with Candace Owens, the black conservative activist who used West's name on the logo for her Blexit campaign encouraging African-Americans to leave the Democratic Party.
Though Owens later clarified that West hadn't actually designed the logo himself, the whole thing didn't sit well with the rapper.
"I introduced Candace to the person who made the logo," he tweeted recently without identifying the designer. "They didn't want their name on it so she used mine. I never wanted any association with Blexit. I have nothing to do with it."
It is easy to dismiss everything that comes out of West's mouth these days, especially when he's donning that "Make America Great Again" cap. But if you listen closely, some of the things he says might make sense.
You have to understand that most of West's comments aren't meant for white people. He's talking to black people, specifically teenagers and young adults. That's why his message might get more traction as the lyrics of a rap song.
The problem is that his tendency to hug on Trump makes him seem like a buffoon. Any African-American man who would call Trump "my brother" the way West did loses all credibility, especially with other black people.
Still, some African-Americans understood what West might have meant by that controversial slavery remark. Perhaps he wasn't saying that slavery at the time it was legally practiced was a choice African-Americans had. Maybe he meant that the mental slavery some blacks impound themselves in today is a choice.
And when he called the 13th Amendment "slavery in disguise meaning it never ended," some would say he has a point.
This is what the 13th Amendment says: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
Perhaps he meant to say that America's prison system has flourished under the 13th Amendment. Blacks represent only 12 percent of the U.S. adult population but 33 percent of the sentenced prison population. Perhaps one form of slavery has been exchanged for another.
"A liberal would try to control a black person through the concept of racism because they know we're very proud, emotional people," he said. "So when I said, 'I like Trump' to someone that's liberal they'll say, 'Oh, but he's racist.' You think racism can control me? Oh, that don't stop me. That's an invisible wall."
Maybe he wasn't implying that racism isn't a problem. Maybe he was referring to the popular school of thought that some liberals use racism as a rope to keep African-Americans tied to the Democratic Party.
West's latest tweets shed some light on why Republicans still can't lure more African-Americans over to their side. It's simply because blacks tend to agree with the Democratic Party on many important issues. Most blacks have nothing in common with the ideals of the Republican Party.
This is what West says he actually believes in: "I support creating jobs and opportunities for people who need them the most, I support prison reform, I support common-sense gun laws that will make our world safer," he tweeted.
"I support those who risk their lives to serve and protect us and I support holding people who misuse their power accountable. I believe in love and compassion for people seeking asylum and parents who are fighting to protect their children from violence and war."
On these issues, West likely speaks for the majority of African-Americans. It seems like he's finally back on track.
If so, welcome home, brother. We hope you're here to stay.
Dahleen Glanton (dglanton@chicagotribune.com) is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune.


Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom said the deal will "help us mould our nation's cricketing future for at least the next 10 years"
Irish cricket has been handed a seven-figure cash boost by signing a 10-year sponsorship deal with a group of companies owned by Ireland's richest man, Indian-born Pallonji Mistry.
Mistry, born in 1929, has been ranked as the world's 62nd richest man.
The deal, believed to be in the region of £2m, will see the country's cricket academy being renamed the Shapoorji Pallonji Cricket Ireland Academy.
Shapoorji Pallonji is the name of the billionaire's group of companies.
The Indian-born businessman is described by Forbes Magazine as having a personal fortune of £9.55bn with his group's business interests including construction, motors, textiles, communications, energy and hotels.
With his wife Patsy Perin Dubash having been born in Dublin, Mistry took out Irish citizenship in 2003 and their two sons, Shapoor and Cyrus, both hold Irish passports.
Mistry's wealth makes him Ireland's richest citizen and while his permanent residence remains Mumbai, he is understood to spend regular amounts of time in his adopted country.
In addition to holding the naming rights to the Cricket Ireland Academy, the Shapoorji Pallonji Group will also become an official partner to Cricket Ireland.
In a message delivered at the Dublin announcement, Shapoor Mistry said that as "Irish citizens", his family viewed the deal as a "small contribution as a token of gratitude towards Ireland".
Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom made clear his delight at securing the sponsorship deal.
"The development of our next generation of international cricketers in the national academy is one of our most important tasks, and requires significant investment, understanding and an ability to take the long view," added the Cricket Ireland chief.
"In the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, we are immensely proud to have found the perfect partner to share that vision, and help us mould our nation's cricketing future for at least the next 10 years."
The sponsorship deal was officially announced at Trinity College by the Irish Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport, Paschal Donohoe.


Deadly storm bore down on an interstate highway as commuters tried to beat it home during evening rush hour.
Multiple tornadoes hit Oklahoma City and the metro area Friday night, killing at least 5 people and injuring more than 50.
The storm also brought heavy rain and hail. Floodwaters topped 4 feet in Oklahoma City early Saturday and are expected to rise as flash flooding continued in parts of the state. Across east and central Oklahoma, repeated rounds of thunderstorms have produced between 4 to 7 inches of rain since midnight Saturday.
The area along the state's I-40 corridor, packed with motorists when the storm occurred, was particularly hard-hit.
A mother and a child were killed when their car rolled over, KFOR-TV reported.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol confirms several motorists are missing.
Another person died at El Reno, the first city struck by the storm, said Amy Elliott, a spokeswoman for the state medical examiner. Details on the two other deaths were not available, Elliott said.
Saturday, Elliott told the Associated Press that she had no word of additional fatalities beyond the five reported.
A tornado was reported on the ground in Moore, where a mammoth May 20 twister killed 24 people and left the southern Oklahoma City suburb in ruins, KOKH-TV reported.
Will Rogers World Airport, southwest of Oklahoma City, was closed Friday evening and reopened overnight.
Rick Smith, the warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service at Norman, said that while the storm packed a powerful punch, with winds estimated at 80 mph, it wasn't as strong as the Moore tornado.
Smith also said it was fortunate that the storm largely bypassed the center of the city.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission reported at least 86,200 power outages related to the storms as of early Saturday.
In Missouri, the combination of high water and fallen power lines closed dozen of roads, snarling traffic on highways and side streets in the St. Louis area. At the Hollywood Casino in suburban of Maryland Heights, gamblers rushed from the floor as a storm blew out windows and tore off part of the roof.
Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Bettes sustained minor injuries after the "tornado hunt" car in which he was riding in Oklahoma was thrown some 200 yards by a tornado.


Los Angeles area: partly cloudy, 62, Thursday; partly cloudy, 66, Friday. San Diego: showers, 61, Thursday; partly cloudy, 64, Friday. San Francisco area: partly cloudy, 59, Thursday; showers, 57, Friday. San Jose: partly cloudy, 63, Thursday; showers, 59, Friday. Sacramento: partly cloudy, 64, Thursday; showers, 56, Friday. More weather is here.


Former Corinthian Colleges students had their privacy rights violated in struggle over student loan debt cancellations, federal judge rules. However, the interim ruling raised the possibility that the Department of Education could ultimately prevail in financial fight.
Thousands of former Corinthian Colleges students have won a preliminary victory in their court battle to cancel millions of dollars in federal loan debt for their studies at the scandal-scarred, for-profit schools.
A judge late Friday temporarily barred the U.S. Department of Education from continuing to collect loan debts from the students based on allegations the agency violated the federal Privacy Act.
"Given their financial situations, any additional dollar they are required to repay takes away from basic need for food and shelter," wrote Kim.
Her ruling cited the plight of several former students, including Jennifer Craig, who borrowed $9,010 in 2014 to enroll in a medical insurance and billing program. Craig completed the program but discovered that Corinthian had not provided the practical experience required to land a job in her field.
"Craig and her husband have a very limited income or no income," the judge wrote. "They appear to live, by any definition, in poverty."
The judge's interim decision marks at least a temporary legal setback for the Trump administration and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. However, Kim's decision offered a route for the Department of Education to address the alleged privacy violation and resume student loan collections from former Corinthian students.
"This is an important ruling," said Toby Merrill, the director of the Project on Predatory Student Lending, one of the agencies that filed the lawsuit. "The notion that students got anything other than negative value from Corinthian has been roundly disproved by student experience and the judgment of employers and the legitimate higher education sector.
The Department of Education said it would "carefully review the court's decision as we assess next steps."
The legal fight focuses on Corinthian, a former Santa Ana, Calif.-based company that primarily offered certificate and associate degree programs nationwide through its Everest, Heald, and WyoTech colleges. During 2009 and 2010, Corinthian operated more than 100 campuses in 25 states, enrolled more than 110,00 students and collected $1.7 billion in federal student aid, court filings show.
Corinthian ended operations and closed its remaining campuses in 2015. The shutdown came after the Department of Education concluded that the company's Heald College system had misled students and the federal government about job hiring rates for graduates.
The department placed a hold on Corinthian's access to student loans, essentially choking off much of the company's funding. Education officials later said they would impose a $30 million fine on the company.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau separately obtained a more than $531 million default judgment against Corinthian in late 2015. By then, however, the company had been liquidated in bankruptcy court proceedings.
Thousands of Corinthian students, many unable to find jobs in their fields of study, asked the Department of Education to forgive their student loan debts in response to the company's misrepresentations.
During the Obama administration, the federal agency created a procedure that granted full loan discharges to nearly 25,000 Corinthian borrowers who attested that they either had attended one of the company's colleges that closed in 2015 or believed they had been defrauded by one of the schools.
However, the Corinthian loan forgiveness program changed last year under the Trump administration. After reviewing student loan borrower claims and other records, the department determined 51 Corinthian programs had met guidelines for instruction that leads to gainful employment, while six had failed.
As a result, education officials in December established a new procedure that would vary the loan forgiveness percentage for former Corinthian students and similar borrowers. The system is based on the programs the students attended and whether they subsequently were able to earn as much as peers in programs that satisfied the gainful employment guidelines.
"This improved process will allow claims to be adjudicated quickly and harmed students to be treated fairly. It also protects taxpayers from being forced to shoulder massive costs that may be unjustified," DeVos said.
The change "left over 110,000 former Corinthian borrowers who have applied for loan discharge in limbo," attorneys for the students argued in an amended class-action complaint filed in March.
Kim's ruling said the Department of Education violated the students' privacy by sharing their names, birth dates and Social Security numbers with the Social Security Administration, and then using additional SSA information to calculate what percentage of the loans should be forgiven.
"Saving money does not justify a violation of the law — the Privacy Act," the judge wrote.
Kim also ruled that the students have also shown compelling evidence that they have lost economic opportunities that can't be recovered.
But the judge ruled against the students on other arguments raised by their lawyers. DeVos may have authority to cancel some but not all of the students' debts if the Department of Education followed proper procedure, the ruling suggested. The department said it was "encouraged" by that part of the ruling.
Additionally, Kim said she was uncomfortable that there was no evidence in the case thus far to show the exact process the Department of Education used to erase debts of former Corinthian students during the Obama administration.
She set a June 4 hearing on that issue as legal arguments in the case continue.


In its first year, 10 at-risk African-American boys were identified who struggled emotionally and academically and were not as successful as their white counterparts. Another qualifying feature was not having an active father in the home.
Busch and Bowers then recruited 10 adult male mentors through the school’s newsletter and by reaching out to community partners and local men’s groups.
They had both the boys and the mentors fill out profile forms and then matched them according to shared interests.
“Sports is a huge connection,” said Bowers.
The boys meet with their mentors once each week during their lunch hour, although many also do things with them outside of school hours, such as attending sporting events or going out for a meal together.
The mentors not only expose them to events and experiences in the community, but they are there to support the mentees when they participate in things such as school performances and athletic events.
And when certain needs are identified, such as winter coats or school supplies, “the mentors step in and help,” Bowers said.
Many also provide additional tutoring to the boys.
Busch is touched by the strength of some of the relationships that have formed as a result of the mentoring program.
“I am sure they will be a part of each others’ lives forever,” she said.
“Mentors are actually recruiting other mentors now,” Bowers said.
The program has grown and evolved since its 2011 inception. There are now 30 pairs of boys and mentors, and the program has now been extended to 15 girls and women mentors as well. The foundation is still the same, but the focus is now on fourth- and fifth-graders.
Another new development is the formation of a school basketball team that is comprised exclusively of boys in the mentoring program.
“The program has evolved every year, but this piece just clicked and brought it all together,” Busch said.
The boys dress up on game day (white dress shirts and bow ties were donated by the school community) and the first game was standing room only, with the gym adorned with banners the teachers made.
Another offshoot of the mentoring program is the “Give Back Program” in which fifth-grade mentees are now mentors to kindergarten and first-grade students.
She said that there have been no formal assessments of success, but there is plenty of informal evidence the mentoring program has made a difference.
“A lot of things have evolved from this mentoring program,” Hash said.


Sunday Politics The president's declaration of a national emergency is headed to the courts, where its future is uncertain. In the mean time, is he able to declare a political victory?
The president is in West Palm Beach at his golf club this morning while lawmakers and landowners react to his controversial declaration of a national emergency. NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson joins us now.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: This was a real will he or won't he kind of thing on the part of the president. Do you think he was going to do this all along?
LIASSON: I do. As it was described to me, unless he got the full amount of funding for the wall that he was demanding, he would do this because this is a way for him to keep faith with his base, to say that he did everything possible to build the wall, even if it's stopped in the courts. His advisers really believe - he really believes that the wall is absolutely key to his re-election. Now, of course, now he has to convince the courts that a national emergency is whatever a president says it is. And he really undercut himself in that speech in the Rose Garden, where he said, I didn't need to do this. In other words, he's doing this for expedience not necessity. He said, I just wanted to build the wall faster. He's also said at various times that the wall is already being built. So if it's already being built, why do you need to declare a national emergency to build it?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: So I want to take us back a little bit because the coverage of congressional Democrats - how they were perceived as presenting a strong and united front, how cool and steely House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was. You know, they seemed to be winning the day on this. But Trump said this in the Rose Garden on Friday.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I got almost $1.4 billion when I wasn't supposed to get one dollar - not one dollar. He's not going to get one dollar. Well, I got 1.4 billion. But I'm not happy with it.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, we always have to do this, I think, a little bit - winners and losers. We've seen him declare victory over nothing in the past. But does he have a point here?
LIASSON: ...Gave him something but not very much and, certainly, not as much as he wanted. And he is kind of all over the place. He won but he's not happy. The wall's being built, but he has to declare a national emergency to build it. You know, the interesting thing is this is often put into the context of he is keeping a campaign promise. But what people forget is during the 2016 campaign, he signed something called the Contract with the American Voter, where he pledged that he would obtain reimbursement from Mexico for the full cost of the wall. So he's actually breaking a campaign promise.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: That's right. I mean, it's going to get taken from the Department of Defense and possibly from funding things like the opioid epidemic. If lawmakers are uneasy with this national emergency - and they are. Democrats and Republicans alike have said that they consider it a bad idea. Why didn't Congress put actual language in their compromise legislation to avoid it?
LIASSON: Republicans would've never agreed to that. They know this is something very popular with the president's base. And that's their base, too. They don't want to get in between the president and his base. Of course, now we're going to see how many Republicans vote against it because the House will pass a resolution opposing this. It will go to the Senate. And it will have to be voted on. And there are Republicans who have objections to this on many different levels. On one reason, they don't like, as you said, money being taken from the Pentagon for important projects in their districts some - in some cases to be spent on this.
Number two, they don't like the precedent that's set that a future Democratic president could declare a national emergency around gun safety or climate change or health care. They also don't like the constitutional clash that the president is setting up, where he's challenging the separation of powers and Congress's power to appropriate money. And also, Congress, who has allowed its power to wither, is further emasculating itself in the mind of many lawmakers. Republican Senator Lee of Utah said recently because we don't want to make the judgment calls that made people angry, we leave it to the executive. It's almost as if Congress doesn't want to go through the difficult task of lawmaking.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And now it all goes to the courts. That's NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Thank you so much.


Nimmo (neck) is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Phillies.
Nimmo left early in Tuesday's 14-3 loss after experiencing neck stiffness and will unsurprisingly take a seat in the series finale while he contends with the issue. The Mets are viewing Nimmo's injury as a day-to-day situation, so there's some optimism he'll be ready to rejoin the lineup Friday in St. Louis after he sits Wednesday and picks up another day of rest when New York is off Thursday.


THOSE who dismiss the legacy potential of the 2014 Commonwealth Games will have to digest significant food for thought.
The charity focus of the opening ceremony - £4m and rising for UNICEF's Putting Children First - should have gone some way to silence cynical critics. Scotland's record-shredding medal haul will encourage tens of thousands to consider exercise. Thirteen judo medals will have kids queuing at every dojo in the country. It will be the same at hundreds of other clubs in a range of sports.
I hope those who said this could not happen have not discouraged coaches and volunteers, and that there are enough to cope with the influx. This will surely drive up the current 70% of kids who meet the recommended one hour of daily activity, and the paltry 21% of adults who exercise vigorously for 15 minutes weekly. These are just a fraction of the statistics being monitored to gauge legacy impact.
Yesterday we saw the length of its reach: from the heart of Glasgow's Games to Kenya, where one of sport's most inspiring humanitarians has changed hundreds of lives. Kipchoge Keino is perhaps best known as a former Olympic and Commonwealth athletics champion: Olympic 1500m gold in 1968 and 1972 steeplechase. In 1966 he did the mile and three-mile double in Kingston, and in 1970 he won the Commonwealth 1500m in Edinburgh as the Games went metric. The Scottish allcomers' record he set there was broken at Hampden only this month - by a Kenyan.
If sporting prowess defined Keino's youth, spectacular philanthropy defines his 74 years. I've witnessed his incredible generosity of spirit first-hand, privileged to stay on his farm in Eldoret, where he established an orphanage which to date has fostered nearly 600 children. "They all call me 'Baba' - father." He feeds them off his land. "I hope to build a technological university there," he says.
Keino was an orphan, raised by an aunt, and has never forgotten. He discovered two starving children in 1965 when he was a young police officer. "They were naked, starving and eating soil," he recalled. "I took them home to my wife."
Phyllis, a nurse, brought them up as her own on their 500-acre farm. Their home is called Kaza Mingi, "a lot of work" in Swahili.
On the living room walls hang hundreds of photographs, mainly weddings, of the children they fostered. They include doctors, university lecturers, teachers, computer programmers, farmers, nurses, policemen and soldiers, businessmen. "They all started at the Kip Keino Children's Home as orphans," he says.
He describes some rescued from dustbins, toilets, and thickets, including Aids orphans and the abandoned offspring of prostitutes. "Many would have died because of bad health, starvation and disease, or killed by animals," he says.
If Oxfam had not installed a borehole, helping contain endemic illness, he might not have been healthy enough to be an athlete.
Some 280 pupils are in his high school, and 360 in the primary which bears his name. There is another school in Zimbabwe. When I visited Eldoret, the children were in immaculate uniforms and polite to a degree that would shame sectors of our society. Just as Keino's generosity of spirit shames many of the wealthy in our culture.
His foundation pays the fees and sends the brightest to university (18 currently being funded). "Education is the most important thing," he said.
We make no apology if some of this sounds familiar. One Herald article about him was read by Ed Monaghan of City Legacy, the consortium which built the Games Village in Dalmarnock. Yesterday he and Glasgow Lord Provost Sadie Docherty presented a £10,000 cheque to his Foundation in a ceremony at the City Chambers. It will reach into the heart of Africa, to mud huts where despair over Aids and anguish about starving, dying children abounds. Where kids die every wet season because parents cannot afford less than £1 to prevent malaria, and sell mosquito nets for pennies to buy food.
The consortium is also donating £300 for every house they build, worth a total of £90,000 to the Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice. "This is deliberately targeted legacy," said Mr Monaghan.
The fourth finisher in Sunday's men's marathon was an orphan, added Keino, "and we have others who are going to compete."
During a gracious and moving acknowledgement he said the money would go towards a library and dormitory.
Keino's first name, Kipchoge, tells precisely where he was born: "near the maize store," he explains. "It was in the open air."
He has a favourite aphorism: "I came into this word with nothing, and I leave this world with nothing. The most important thing is to help the needy children of our society to live like any other children."
Keino has travelled a remarkable journey: champion athlete, leader of his country's team here in Glasgow, chair of their national Olympic committee. I prefer to remember him simply as "Baba".


ECONOMIC CRISIS. Increases in the prices of meat and tortillas -- Mexico's primary staple -- fueled inflation and sparked consumers' anger Saturday in the sixth year of Mexico's worst economic crisis since the 1920s. The Commerce Ministry on Friday allowed tortilla makers to raise the price of the popular corn cake to 200 pesos per kilo (about 15 cents for a little more than 2 pounds), a jump of 54 percent. On Saturday the ministry authorized a 19 percent increase in meat prices. Inflation is running at more than 125 percent this year. It has averaged more than 50 percent per year since the crisis began in 1981. Few Mexicans earn more than the minimum wage of $3.10 a day.


Speaking of Planet of the Apes movies, over at Uncouth Reflections, Blowhard, Esq. reflects, "I Graduated from a Monkey Prison." He first watches the 1972 illegal immigration fable Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, which was filmed at his alma mater U.C. Irvine to achieve the properly futuristic sterile dystopia look. Then he visits contemporary UC Irvine and takes photos from as close as he can get to the movie's point-of-view without a crane.
Most of the University of California campuses were built at the nadir of postwar modernism. But, given enough water, trees grow like crazy in California, so the gardeners have managed to hide most of the architecture by now.
He’d also worked as an art director on Hollywood movies during WWII.
It's paradoxical that nothing looks more dated than old sci-fi movies. After a few decades go by, you can tell exactly the year a sci-fi movie was made just from the art direction.


With the iPad sure to appear in at least a few of our readers’ gadgets arsenal, one wonders if it is time to upgrade the old USB hub in order to accommodate. If your gadgets collection is indeed nearing something resembling an “arsenal,” you may be in the market for something above the norm. Why a setup would have close to a hundred items requiring a USB charge is anyone’s guess, but if you do, consider Thanko’s 80-port USB charger a perfect enabler.
Carrying 80 ports and the truly audacious promise, “When viewed from the side of the port in line, you feel powerful and somewhat like a soldier in the army,” one can actually see the attraction to something so excessive. But before you leap up on your desk chair and demand the gods of geekdom send one down tout suite, take a moment to consider a few things.
1. You’re paying $165 for a device that can only charge items, not carry USB data.
2. Did you see the bit about an 80-port USB charger being on the greater side of excessive?
Seriously, how many blinking, buzzing, noise-emitting, EPUB-enabled devices do you own? If the answer is in fact upwards of 80, by all means plunk down the money to make your life a little easier. Just know that in doing so, you may be prompting an intervention.


Drivers of hundreds of big rigs, pickups and motorcycles took part in a fundraising convoy Sunday for the family of Jeffrey Bourgeois, the 6-year-old Salem boy who died in a wood chipper accident earlier this month.
The benefit, organized by Truck Toyz, of Colchester, attracted participants from across the state and Rhode Island.
For $30, any vehicle could take part in the ride, which left from Lebanon Avenue in Colchester and traveled to Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford.
North Stonington resident David Forbes and his daughter, Mykenzie, arrived at the convoy staging area at about 10 a.m. Forbes works for DW Transport, of Franklin, and he heard about the convoy from co-workers.
Mykenzie said she wanted to help a family that needs support. Sunday was Mykenzie’s first truck convoy.
“Plus, she gets to spend the day with her dad,” Forbes said.
Organizers exceeded their goal of 150 participants, although they were not sure Sunday morning exactly how many trucks, cars and motorcycles participated. Vehicles filled the lot at Truck Toyz and stretched at least a mile down the road.
Jeffrey Bourgeois died April 10 after being pulled into a wood chipper while at a job site with his father during school vacation.


U.S. Air Force veteran David R. Riley Sr. of Rome is expected to become the 2021-22 state commander of The American Legion, his campaign committee announced Saturday, April 13.
Members of the Legion, Legion Auxiliary and Sons of the American Legion from around Oneida County joined Riley for an announcement celebration at Henry P. Smith Post 24 in Rome.
Riley served four years in the Air Force from 1978 to 1982. He completed basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and security police training at both Lackland and Camp Bullis, Texas. He then was assigned to K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base in upper Michigan as part of the security police force.
A life member of The American Legion, Riley joined Utica Post 229 in 1995 and transferred in 2000 to Rome’s Henry P. Smith Post 24, where he served as commander from 2004 to 2006. In addition to many other positions at the post level, Riley was 2012-2013 Oneida County commander. He served on several committees on the county level, and also was appointed vice commander at the district level. On the Department, or state, level, Riley has been an instructor and vice dean of Legion College of New York, and served four years as Membership chairman and three years as Law and Order chairman. On the national level, he was a facilitator at American Legion College in 2012 and he serves as a consultant on the Membership & Post Activities Committee.
Employed by the State Department of Correctional Services (NYSDOCS), Riley is active in a number of veteran’s circles. He is secretary/treasurer of the Rome Memorial Day Association and secretary for the Rome Veteran’s Council. He is a member of the VFW Auxiliary, DAV, American Legion College of New York and National American Legion College Alumni associations, the Stanwix Veteran Men’s Club, Frank J. Steczko Post PAV, Forty & Eight Voiture Locale #1220, Rome Polish Home, Oneida County Past County Commanders Club, Smith Post 24 Past Post Commanders Club, National American Legion Press Association, and the NYSDOCS Emerald Society Mid-State Chapter.
Riley is married to the former Laurie Evans. They have four children, David Jr., Lindsay, Katelyn and Kurt; and two grandsons, Chase and Apollo.


Senator Mae Beavers served District 17 for over a decade. She was first elected as a county commissioner and pushed for the passage of Wilson County’s first financial management plan.
Beavers ran for the State House of Representatives and is credited by many to be one of the driving forces to kill a state income tax in Tennessee.


ForexNewsNow – Leading online forex broker ACM Gold has just announced that it had launched a new mirror trading platform. ACM Gold explained that the new platform comes as an extension to the multitude of services and tools offered by the broker. The new Mirror Trader platform that has been adopted by the broker has been developed by Tradency.
The latest addition to the service portfolio of ACM Gold is its new Mirror Trader platform that has been developed by the company Tradency. The new platform has been integrated into the popular MetaTrader trading platform, meaning that in order to use this service, traders will not have to use two separate platforms.
The new platform allows traders to browse a list of well-known and successful traders, also called signal providers. After this, traders will be able to follow the signal providers they believe have the best trading strategies. The Mirror Trader will follow the actions performed by these signal providers and “mirror” the decisions taken by them.
Basically what this means is that traders are given the opportunity to automatically and effortlessly copy the actions performed by very experienced professionals who are known to generate extremely large amounts of money from forex trading.
ACM Gold explained in a recent press release that the addition of the Mirror Trader platform reflects the company’s dedication to innovation. The press release also pointed out that not so long ago ACM Gold has released various other very helpful features such as apps for smartphones and more.
ACM Gold also explained that the new Mirror Trader platform will naturally also be available on the mobile version of the broker’s regular platform. This will allow traders to access the Mirror Trader service from virtually any location that has an internet connection.
The Mirror Trader platform has been developed by the company Tradency. As explained above, it allows traders to automatically copy the trading strategies and actions performed by other and very successful traders.
The Tradency Mirror Trader is extremely easy to use. First, traders will have to select the signal providers they wish to follow. A great feature is the fact that the best and most successful signal providers are always listed on top of the list. This means that traders will not have to browse endlessly the list of signal providers in order to find the best ones.
The Mirror Trader has three operational modes which are automatic trading, semi-automatic trading and manual trading. The automatic trading mode will mirror all the actions performed by the selected signal provider without the trader’s permission. The semi-automatic mode will require the trader’s permission in order to execute certain trades while in the manual mode traders will have to approve all trades before the system executes them.
The platform likewise has a large selection of features. ACM Gold has commented that the features of the Mirror Trader have been designed to meet the demands of novices, intermediates and advanced traders alike. ACM Gold explained that both the regular trading service though the MetaTrader platform as well as mirror trading through the Mirror Trader platform can be accessed under one trader account with the same login details.


MONT ALTO, Pa. - Sgt. Edward W. "Eddie" Shaffer, a Mont Alto soldier wounded in Iraq almost one month ago, will face a major skin graft Thursday, his father said.
Edward C. Shaffer said doctors will attempt to repair his son's burn wounds by grafting skin cells to his son's body. Eddie Shaffer sustained burns over 80 percent of his body in November when a roadside bomb exploded next to his Bradley Fighting Vehicle in Ramadi, a Sunni stronghold about 70 miles west of Baghdad.
The soldier remains in critical condition at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam in San Antonio, where he has undergone more than 20 hours of surgery and lost both hands and one of his feet, his father said.
On Monday, Edward Shaffer said his son has shown some signs of improvement.
"Yesterday, he talked to the staff and asked for his mom," he said.
Eddie Shaffer will soon see his mom, Brenda, who is home in Mont Alto, thanks to donated frequent flier miles. Edward Shaffer said the Army will fly him and his wife to Texas on Sunday with airline tickets purchased with donated miles.
"People can donate their miles to help all families going through things like this," he said.
Edward Shaffer said he and his wife will stay in Texas at the Fisher House for five weeks. According to Edward Shaffer, the Fisher House is free military housing temporarily provided for families of wounded soldiers.
While Edward Shaffer said doctors had his son standing today, he admits that he has a long road ahead.
"Anything can happen," he said. "He is still not out of it."
Edward Shaffer said anyone who wants to donate frequent flier miles can contact the Army for details.


Eight years ago, I did my graduate work, focusing on the question, "How can I use critique to improve the quality of student feedback and student work, and create a culture of collaboration?" I usually re-read my research before each school year to remind myself of what I figured out once. But this year I didn't! I also didn't do my tone-setting lessons that I've done every year since my graduate work.
It's now week four of school, and I planned the first peer critique tomorrow. When I told the students, I was met by a chorus of student panic: I'm not comfortable: what if people see my mistakes, what if they know I'm not smart, what if people are mean, what if what if what if.
So this evening I re-read my work on collaboration and critique. In the spirit of my research, I'm remembering mistakes are a great opportunity to try again. I'm holding off on our first peer critique; instead we will do tone set lessons and a self-critique tomorrow. And when the girl who already stands out as the most scared and self-critical calls me over, or she hides her paper to pretend she did not do her work so others can't see, these are the lessons I'm going to keep in mind.
Many teachers employ some form of what they call critique in their classrooms. Many have also run into the same problem over and over of how to get students to make simple changes and not leave work half done. My research convinced me that in order for collaboration to grow and critique to be effective in the classroom, it cannot be treated as simply an activity to be done on this or that day of the week. Rather, one must approach critique and collaboration as issues of culture.
For collaboration to grow, students must be convinced of three things. First, they must believe that they truly are living resources for each other. This can be achieved through many activities that seemingly have little to do with critique. This was the point of early activities in my classroom (seating charts, sharing skill sets, looking at a first grader's drawing of butterflies). These activities did as much as anything to convince students that they could benefit from each other's knowledge and feedback.
Second, collaboration must be so ingrained in the classroom culture that it is hardly recognized as such. Frequent practice helps students see critique, not as an activity, but rather as a necessary step in a process. It is part of the product, not just something we do to make a product. We followed a critique cycle in my classroom: students generated their own criteria for quality work through exemplar critiques; they self-assessed their work using those criteria; and they gave each other advice in many forms including pair critiques, gallery critiques, group critiques, whole-class critiques, and informally throughout the day.
Lastly, students must learn to see mistakes as natural. This helps them take risks and understand that reworking is normal. Otherwise, the students can never be convinced that reworking their products will actually benefit them. Fail early and fail often is a great classroom mantra.
By critiquing exemplary models with students, I gained a more nuanced view of when the teacher should teach and when it is important to let the students teach each other. Lisa Soep's work with peer critique led me to see the importance of students negotiating the standards by which their work would be judged. Ron Berger's An Ethic of Excellence led me to use exemplar critiques as a way for students to identify those standards. However, my increased understanding in this area came primarily from my experiences with exemplar critiques. The successes and failures I experienced when I provided, or did not provide, opportunities for students to identify criteria for excellence underlined that this step is one of the most important when conducting critiques.
Whenever we did exemplar critiques I put up three columns on the board. I labeled each column with a particular quality on which to focus when looking at the models. For example, when looking at model websites, before students created their own, I labeled the columns Layout, Design, and Content Organization. These columns allowed me to designate what types of things were important without telling students what to do, and proved to be invaluable. Without such columns, students did not have enough direction to be successful, and each time I tried an exemplar critique without them, it failed. Once students understood the foci, they could teach each other, and it became my responsibility to let them do so.
When students accepted the value of reworking their products, their work showed considerable improvement. After reading about a study in which students who were told they must have worked hard took greater academic risks and attempted more difficult work than their peers who were told they were smart, I thought a lot about how students often perceive drafts as something you do when you didn't get it right the first time. This moved me to talk a lot with the students about the value and inevitability of mistakes.
Engaging in various activities between drafts helped emphasize the usefulness of reworking. Models helped students realize what was possible and to set goals for what they wanted to achieve. Student-generated criteria provided a map to get there. Self-reflections and peer critiques gave students opportunities to look back at the student-generated criteria and remind themselves where they headed. All of these activities combined helped even the most fearful students. Sitting and not talking in activities did not always signal disengagement. For students who felt unsure about what made for a quality product, and even less sure about speaking in front of their peers, quietly watching and listening to each of their peers' draft critiques provided another chance to figure out how to complete an assignment.
Students can assume more control in the classroom in many ways. They can define criteria for quality work instead of teachers handing out pre-made, teacher-generated rubrics. They can advise peers about how to achieve quality work instead of teachers spending endless hours writing notes on papers. Students can facilitate critique sessions instead of teachers always keeping order. They can also advise teachers how to fix critique sessions when they seem broken. With a solid protocol, students can help police each other to ensure that sessions remain effective. Through all of these methods, students gain ownership over the process of work. They begin to see their work more as something they do and less as something that a teacher makes them do. As a result, they often rise to the occasion and take on the challenge of creating higher quality work.
One of the beautiful things about teaching is that it is a marathon, not a sprint. While it is difficult sometimes as teachers to cede control of our classrooms, especially to a mob of youth, it is comforting that when an activity does not work there is always the next day in which we can try something new again.


LONDON (Reuters) - Green labelling of food to show the impact of its production on the environment could lead to major changes in consumption, Lucy Neville-Rolfe of Tesco (TSCO.L) said on Tuesday.
“It is a trend that might be bigger than all the rest,” she said at a conference organised by news and information service Agra Europe, adding that labelling for nutritional benefits had already had a major impact on consumer purchases.
“Consumers say they want us to help them behave in a more sustainable way. It seems to be quite a substantial change in customer attitudes,” Neville-Rolfe, Tesco’s Executive Director of Corporate and Legal Affairs, said.
Tesco labels food for nutritional benefits with a scheme that uses guideline daily amounts (GDAs) rather than the UK government-backed traffic light programme. It does not currently label food for its impact on the environment.
British supermarkets have been divided on labelling schemes with some backing traffic lights which show red lights for high levels of saturated fat, salt or other potentially harmful ingredients.
Others, including Tesco, back GDAs, citing fears that a red light for fat on a pack of cheese, for example, could deter consumption of a product that is an important source of calcium.
“The impact of the scheme that Tesco has adopted has been remarkable,” she said, noting the sales of Tesco standard sandwiches, for example, had fallen by one-third while its healthy living range of sandwiches had seen an 85 percent rise.
“These are not marginal changes,” she added.
Neville-Rolfe said there would be winners and losers if green labelling took off.
“I think green labels could be a big driver for change,” she said.
She noted that such a scheme would have challenges, including seeking to provide a market for goods from the developing world which might be rated unfavourably if they were transported to Europe by air.
Neville-Rolfe also said Tesco had sought to meet demand for local food by encouraging producers to extend the growing season by growing fruit and vegetable under glass in Britain, adding that this method however used more energy.
“There are difficult issues,” she said.
Dutch Agriculture Minister Gerda Verburg on Tuesday urged supermarkets to sell healthier food and play a bigger role in encouraging children to eat more fruit and vegetables.


Bruce A. "Skip" Purdy died January 9, 2019 in San Francisco. A gay man, he moved to the city in 1978, where he worked at D.C. Typography before retiring.
Bruce was born and raised in the small Ohio town of Hollansburg. He attended Wright State University, majoring in music, from 1972 through 1975.
Not surprisingly, considering his college major, Bruce as an avid music lover, singing in several gay choruses. He was also one of the early members of the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, playing the French horn.
Later in his life, he attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He was a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers and did music arrangements.
He was affiliated with Metropolitan Community Church-San Francisco and sang in the choir.
In the Castro, he was well known at both Starbucks and the Cove on Castro.
Bruce was a dear, smart, and caring man who will be missed by his friends and family.
A memorial will be held Saturday, January 26, at 2 p.m. at MCC-SF, 1300 Polk Street.


Newcastle has become the tree-felling capital of the UK after the council chopped down almost twice as many trees as any other local authority.
More than 110,000 trees have been cut down by councils across the UK in the last three years, according to figures gathered under the Freedom of Information (FOI) act by the Sunday Times. Some 8,414 were in Newcastle, more than in any other rural or urban local authority. Wiltshire was next, having felled 4,778 in the same period, followed by Edinburgh with 4,435.
There are an estimated 800,000 trees in Newcastle, both in urban and rural areas, according to the city council, which says 0.35% of its tree stock has therefore been felled in each of the past three years.
Trees in Newcastle have been removed from a diverse range of locations such as plantations, woodlands, open green spaces, cemeteries and parks as well as residential areas including residential properties.
In contrast, there are approximately 4.5m trees in Sheffield – 36,000 of which are classed as “street trees”. Sheffield, which has been battling with protestors over plans to fell up to 17,000 of its street trees, has actually “only” cut down 3,529 since 2015, the FOI figures show.
Newcastle city council has been under pressure in recent years for its attitude towards trees on both public and private land, with campaigners arguing tree cover is well under the national average.
In 2016 councillors defied strong local opposition and approved plans for the removal of 4.2 hectares (10.4 acres) of private woodland on greenbelt in the village of Woolsington, north-west of the city. Some 1,077 trees were earmarked for the chop to make way for a luxury hotel, golf course and cookery school, plus 72 luxury homes.
Planning conditions stipulated that double the area of original woodland had to be replanted. But campaigners argue that it can take many more decades for new plantations to provide the same benefits for health and wildlife as established woodland.


Matt McCrane (3) warms up during his first day of practice after signing to be the Raiders’ place kicker.
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Another day, another place kicker. This time it’s Matt McCrane, an undrafted rookie out of Kansas State who spent the preseason with the Arizona Cardinals.
McCrane joins punter/holder Johnny Townsend, a rookie fifth-round draft pick, and long-snapper Trent Sieg, signed when Andrew DePaola was lost to a torn ACL early in the season opener.
When the Raiders couldn’t count on much of anything from 2007 through 2012, they had long-snapper Jon Condo, punter/holder Shane Lechler and place kicker Sebastian Janikowski for 96 consecutive games.
Marquette King replaced Lechler in 2013 (and struggled at the holding aspect), with Giorgio Tavecchio handling the kicking in 2017 when Janikowski’s back gave out.
King was released, Eddy Pineiro signed to be the place kicker and then went out with a groin injury. Now Mike Nugent has a hip injury and McCrane takes over the kicking. Sieg and McCrane will be making their first appearance at the Coliseum Sunday and the grand total of the NFL experience for the Raiders’ battery is five games.
McCrane was 4-for-4 in the preseason on field goal attempts, including field goals of 53 and 54 yards. Three of nine kickoffs were touchbacks. In college, McCrane coverted 86.4 percent of his field goal attempts (57-for-66).
McCrane was encouraged by his work with Sieg and Townsend during his tryout and looks forward to getting more work in. He’ll head to the Coliseum Friday to get used to kicking off the infield dirt.
“I’m from Texas, originally, West Texas, so I’ve kicked off dirt before,” McCrane said.
Townsend has learned to go with the flow when it comes to sudden change in the battery.
“This is something I’ve never experienced before, so much turnover at the specialists positions,” Townsend said.
Nugent was placed on injured reserve with an injury that should heal soon, but he’s unlikely to be activated again this season. The Raiders were appreciative of his work, in particular a 52-yard field goal in Miami while injured.
2) Martavis Bryant could be next for a breakout game.
The Raiders have gotten big performances from Jared Cook (9 catches for 180 yards) in Week 1, Amari Cooper (10 catches for 116 yards) in Week 2 and Jordy Nelson (6 catches for 173 yards) in Week 3.
Bryant has put enough practices together to be more comfortable in the offensive system. He had a pair catches for 30 yards (both first downs) against Miami and was the Derek Carr target on an ill-fated interception by Miami’s Xavien Howard that decided the game.
So Carr obviously trusts him.
Nelson said Bryant is much more than a vertical stretch threat to draw coverage elsewhere.
Penn was working with the offensive line during the non-padded session as he works through the concussion protocol. He played 18 snaps against Miami before giving way to T.J. Clemmings.
The Raiders need Penn to be at his best, because Browns end Myles Garrett, the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2017, is a 6-foot-4, 272-pound pass rusher who often lines up on the left edge.
4) Will Arden Key ‘get home’ at home?
Key, the third-round pick out of LSU, had some nice rushes against Miami although the Raiders’ pass rush has been mostly inadequate through three games.
Instead of hot road assignment in Denver and Miami, Key will be back at home in a more comfortable climate.
Some good news for the middle of the defensive line — P.J. Hall, the defensive tackle who missed the last two games with an ankle injury, was back on the practice field.
Hall was limited at practice. Others listed as limited included Penn, Key (groin), running back Marshawn Lynch (shoulder), guard Gabe Jackson (pectoral), cornerback Nick Nelson (hamstring) and center Rodney Hudson (ankle). Safety Karl Joseph (hamstring) did not participate, while tackle Brandon Parker (ankle) was a full participant.
Given the way the Raiders were gouged by jet sweep shovel pass plays against the Rams (Todd Gurley) and Dolphins (Jakeem Grant, Alberte Wilson) rest assured those plays were addressed once the media viewing period was complete.
With the Raiders’ susceptibility to the play on film, Gruden likened it to an ATM which is spitting out twenty-dollar bills, with people lining up to get their cash.
Browns coach Hue Jackson didn’t deny the Browns are paying attention.


Europe exchange traded funds have been in focus throughout much of this year as the regions rebounding economy and actions by the European Central Bank have propped up equities there.
The First Trust Europe AlphaDEX Fund (NYSEArca: FEP) has been an impressive performer and asset gatherer in its own right.
FEP “uses both growth and value fundamentals to score and weight its portfolio. FEP took in $450 million, about doubling its size to just under $1 billion,” writes Eric Balchunas for Bloomberg.
That was the work put in by FEP in the first half of 2014. Up 7.3% year-to-date, FEP has been buoyed by the improving U.K. economy and investors’ affinity for British equities. The U.K. is 23.2% of FEP’s weight, nearly 900 basis points more than is allocated to Italy, the ETF’s second-largest country weight.
The exposure to the U.K. is important because it is widely expected the Bank of England will raise interest rates in the coming months. Assuming markets are efficient and that news has been priced into British stocks, FEP should prove too vulnerable. However, the fund is down 1.7% over the past month.
Still, FEP is heavily allocated to interest rate nations. Six of the ETF’s top-10 country weights are Eurozone members and Sweden is FEP’s fourth-largest country weight at 9.3%. The Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank, recently lowered rates to 0.25% from 0.75%. Most economists expected a cut to 0.5%.


Game of Thrones just suffered a major upset. It was not the most pirated TV show in 2018. That's right; following a six-year streak as the most pirated series, Game of Thrones did not just lose the top spot. It dropped out of the top ten entirely.
The news comes as TorrentFreak reports its year-end results. It is important to note that BitTorrent's measurements are not necessarily indicative of all internet piracy. That said, the drop in Game of Thrones being pirated was to be expected.
Game of Thrones did not air a single new episode in 2018. So, there was no demand for new content. It took exactly that to knock the hit show out of the top ten. Ever since Season 2, Game of Thrones has earned the top spot as television's most pirated show.
The Walking Dead was very much alive when it came to interest in pirating episodes of the TV show. The veteran zombie drama surged to the top spot following a second-place finish in 2017. Its 2018 run witnessed the much-buzzed-about exit of Rick Grimes, so its first-place finish is not a complete shocker.
In Game of Thrones' absence, the top three each moved up a spot, while two other shows moved up an impressive four spots. History's Vikings rose from an eighth-place finish in 2017 to a top-five finish in 2018, seizing the No. 4 slot. With Game of Thrones taking a break, genre fans' need for cutthroat action continued.
The CW's Arrow also rose four spots. The superhero series surged from tenth-place into sixth. Last year saw Arrow's sixth season end on a huge cliffhanger, and Season 7 picked up with Oliver behind bars in prison. Not to mention, the Arrow-verse's "Elseworlds" crossover event may have attracted internet pirates.
New to the most-pirated list was DC Universe's freshman series, Titans. The much-anticipated superhero drama finished in fifth place, surpassing two of The CW's Arrow-verse series. DC's Legends of Tomorrow seized ninth place.
Also new to the list of the most pirated TV shows was HBO's Westworld. It returned for its second season in 2018. The CW's cult favorite, Supernatural also made its way into the top ten. As of 2018, it is in the midst of its fourteenth season and hurtling towards its 300th episode.
Of the top ten most pirated shows, only one of them was a much-loved sitcom. That honor belongs to The Big Bang Theory. The series will sign off in the first half of 2019. So, it may very well remain in the top ten next year. There will undoubtedly be high demand in the world of internet piracy for the series finale.
As for Game of Thrones, it should return to the top spot in 2019. The global phenomenon's eighth and final season will premiere sometime in April 2019 on HBO. It is among the plethora of shows awaiting viewers in 2019.