Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I bring you greetings from the Government and people of Sierra Leone.
Let me first start by thanking the President of this great country-His Excellency Xi Jinping for his continued support to Sierra Leone. His commitment is in line with the existing relationship between our two countries spanning for over three decades.
On behalf of our President, His Excellency Julius Maada Bio, I say thank you and we are grateful for all the support.
As a new Government, we inherited a battered economy but with strong financial discipline, we are on track to address those challenges.
I am here to say that now is the time to transform our country.
Now is the time to bring development to our people.
Now is the time to strengthen our bilateral relationships.
Your Excellencies, China is perhaps the most prominent example of a country that has shifted from taxing to subsidizing its agricultural sector.
China’s domestic support policies for agriculture have expanded rapidly in size and scope.
A report summary from the Economic Research Service in the United States Department of Agriculture shows that China is now the leading destination for U.S. agricultural exports.
Let me commend the Government for such an impressive initiative.
China has recently released guidelines on green development in agriculture. These guidelines have set goals for resource conservation and environmental protection.
The government aims to prevent excessive exploitation of groundwater and improve the efficiency of irrigation.
Agriculture, according to the guidelines, should be more sustainable, farmers better off, and the countryside more beautiful and habitable. This is only achievable with strong committed and disciplined leadership.
I must confess that we are here to provide such quality leadership to the people of Sierra Leone.
Under the New Direction, we made a sacred promise to provide free, but quality education for all Sierra Leoneans devoid of political affiliation, region or religion. I am happy to announce to you that the Free Quality Education was launched by President Julius Maada Bio where our President donated three months of his net salary to the Free Education Trust Fund. This sacrifice is indeed a great commitment.
Today, I am proud to say that come September 2018, all Sierra Leonean children will benefit from free, but quality education.
Another sacred commitment is using agriculture as an engine for economic growth. The agricultural sector will create an opportunity for employment creation, value creation, food security, economic growth etc. As a government, we have realized that the country’s mineral resources have not benefited the average Sierra Leonean.
We are now calling on you all to support our country through agriculture. We want to use agriculture to transform Sierra Leone.
Our youth are in need of jobs and the agricultural sector has not been properly utilized. This is why we need a strong partnership to achieve this objective. As a Government, we welcome your support.
Let me use this platform to assure you that we are ready to provide the enabling environment for genuine investors to invest.
I cannot end without stating that the most recent innovation in Chinese agriculture is the push into organic agriculture. This is very laudable.
The embracement of organic farming serves multiple purposes, including food safety, health benefits, export opportunities, and further provides price premiums for the produce of rural communities.
The adoption of organics has helped to stem the migration of rural workers to the cities. This migration from urban to rural areas is commendable.
It is my conviction that we would not leave here without proffering solutions for those challenges facing our respective countries.
As a Youth Ministry, we are calling on you all to provide the technical expertise, transfer of knowledge and technology to transform this sector. We are calling on you all to support our agricultural projects that will bring sustainable development to our country.


RAY WILKINS has called on Roman Abramovich to give Gus Poyet the job of leading Chelsea into a new era at the end of this season.
The Chelsea legend believes that with Abramovich’s first-choice Pep Guardiola now enticed away from Stamford Bridge by Bayern Munich, former Blues hero Poyet is the only man who can heal the wounds tearing the club apart.
The effervescent Uruguyan is in charge at Brighton, where in three years he has built a side playing fluent, skilful football which he has taken into the Championship. They lie just outside the play-off places.
More important though for Wilkins than the fact that Poyet, 45, is one of the brightest young managers in the game is the fact that he is a former Chelsea hero who spent four seasons at the club from 1997 to 2001, scoring 36 goals in 105 appearances.
Another dismal night at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday saw Chelsea throw away a 2-0 lead to draw with Southampton. Interim manager Rafa Benitez was once again blamed as his team were booed off the field.
Wilkins believes that only someone steeped in Chelsea lore can unite the club – and that man is Poyet.
Wilkins, a former captain and assistant manager, said: “If I was Roman Abramovich I would employ Gus. He is a young manager with new ideas. He is the right type of guy to manage Chelsea. He knows the club inside out from his time as a player there, and the fans still love him.
Benitez is seemingly blowing his chances of landing the job permanently with every home game, and the fans are growing more hostile as results, certainly at the Bridge, fail to impress.
But Wilkins believes Benitez still has a chance – if he wins a cup and finishes third in the Premier League – to land the job permanently. But the fans need to give him a chance.
“There is a frosty environment, and it is not helping the younger players,” he said. “They expect the place to be vibrant, but it isn’t. Every decision is questioned.
“But they should give Rafa a chance. He is going through a sticky period with the fans. And it is not his fault. He didn’t ask for the job, he was offered it.
“The atmosphere is not getting any better. It is affecting the players. It is becoming difficult for them to play there.
“Confidence seems to drain out of them the minute something goes wrong. Without John Terry the leadership qualities are not there. When he comes back it will be a massive help. You can’t capitulate because you lose a goal.
“For Rafa it is not easy to stand there and get dog’s abuse. But the players have to take some responsibility. They have to go out and do it.
“If Rafa wins a trophy and finishes third, I still think he has a chance of the job.” Guardiola’s rejection of Chelsea after three approaches from Abramovich is a blow.
But Wilkins does not feel that Abramovich’s hair-trigger sacking policy has made Chelsea an unmanageable club.
He said: “No one knows what Roman will do. The man has spent nearly a billion pounds on the club. If I had spent that I would be doing what I want to do.
“Whoever takes that job knows what they are going into. Every year they change the manager, but every year they win something. So who’s to say he is wrong?
“But I don’t detect that the fans are turning against Roman. The atmosphere is not right, but Abramovich has given these supporters a lot of cheer.


Gus Poyet has urged his Albion midfielders to join the goal spree in the absence of leading marksman Craig Mackail-Smith.
The Seagulls have scored 14 goals in the five straight wins which have catapulted them to the top of the Championship.
Mackail-Smith, missing against Birmingham with a hamstring injury, has hit six of them and Ashley Barnes three.
Now Poyet wants his central midfielders, along with the likes of flying wide man Kazenga LuaLua, to start contributing.
He told The Argus: “We are not thinking Macca is the only one that is going to score. We need to make sure the rest do their bit as well. We are trying to convince a few players that they need to score more goals.
“That can be Gary Dicker or Dean Hammond or Crofty (Andrew Crofts ) or Kazenga LuaLua. They need to score goals, to add things.
“I’m not going to ask the defenders to score too many goals. If they can pop up with a few great but the players with an opportunity to get into the box need to score goals.


LINDSAY, ONT. – John Tory pressed the reset button on his rocky leadership of the Progressive Conservatives by announcing today he'd finally cleared a path to return to the Ontario legislature, hoping to quell critics who insist it's already game over.
Progressive Conservative Laurie Scott will resign her central Ontario seat and take on the job of getting the Opposition ready for the next election, Tory said in Lindsay, about 130 kilometres east of Toronto.
The embattled Conservative leader travelled to Scott's riding of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock – almost 15 months to the day his party suffered one of its worst electoral defeats – to announce she had agreed to step aside so he could run in a byelection.
Tory vowed to do a better job as leader of the party, acknowledging that his "impatience" to get things done may have clouded his judgment at times.
"I think I'm a stronger leader and wiser leader today than I was two years ago," he said.
It's become a common refrain for Tory, whose political missteps during the 2007 provincial election fuelled an open rebellion within his party. His critics have pointed to his long drawn-out seat search as proof that Tory is too weak and indecisive to lead the party to victory against the reigning Liberals.
His decision to run in Scott's riding should "eliminate" that concern, said Tory, who acknowledged that the last few months have been difficult for him personally.
"I am determined in my view that my experience, that my hard work, that my honest and straightforward approach is, in the end, going to be found to be what the people feel they need to get this province back on top economically," he said.
One veteran party member, who asked to remain anonymous, said he thinks "some people will take a wait-and-see view and hope that Tory can turn it around now."
"But I don't think it's going to change a thing," he added.
Tory said Scott offered to step down in the fall, but he didn't accept until after it became clear Prime Minister Stephen Harper wouldn't inadvertantly free up a seat in the legislature by giving any of Tory's 25 caucus members a Senate seat.
Tory refused to say whether he would stay on or resign as leader of the party if he failed to win the byelection, which has not yet been called.
Scott was also tight-lipped on whether she intended to return as a Conservative candidate in the 2011 provincial election, or leave the seat vacant for Tory.
She was first elected in 2003 and easily won re-election in 2007 in the riding that the Conservatives have held since 1994.
In exchange for giving up her seat, Scott will take on the ``enormous responsibility" of election readiness chair for the party, Tory said.
The NDP were quick to open fire, accusing Tory of pushing one of only seven women in his caucus to quit.
"Leaders are supposed to attract women into politics, not force them out," said New Democrat Andrea Horwath.
Tory struggled for more than a year to find a riding to contest since losing his ill-fated bid for a Toronto seat in the 2007 election, where he went head-to-head against Education Minister Kathleen Wynne.
His controversial campaign promise to extend public funding to religious schools – and refusal to back off the proposal until the last minute – poisoned the Tories' chances of defeating the Liberals, leading them to one of their worst showings ever.
Despite calls to resign and a dismal 66.9 per cent approval rating in a leadership vote last February, Tory vowed to stay and learn from his mistakes.
His efforts to unite the party, including the launch of a grassroots policy project, were overshadowed by his inability to find a seat and failed to stamp out lingering resentment within party ranks.
Longtime Conservative Bill Murdoch was kicked out of caucus in the fall for suggesting Tory find another job. And a group of disgruntled party members are putting forward a proposal at the party's convention next month that some say is designed to ``humiliate" Tory. It puts a firm deadline on the amount of time a leader can take to find a seat.
Tory's next big battle will likely be fought in Scott's riding, where he'll have to convince voters – and his party – to give him another chance.
Lindsay resident Charlie Orr, 66, said he resents that taxpayers will have to foot the hefty bill – up to $500,000 – for a byelection just so Tory can find a seat.
"In this economic situation, it isn't right at all," said Orr, a retired mechanic who worked for the local school board.
"We're spending half-a-million dollars that we shouldn't be spending, and we shouldn't even be having a byelection because this is all nonsense."
Premier Dalton McGuinty has six months to call a byelection, but has indicated in the past he would move quickly to give Tory a chance to run for a seat.


Two masked men armed with a hammer and shotgun targeted a supermarket in a terrifying robbery.
Det Con Christopher Waddicar, from Greater Manchester Police’s Wigan borough team, said: “This was a cowardly act which left the victims fearing for their lives and both remain shaken by what happened that night.
The man carrying the hammer was described as being of medium build. He was wearing a maroon hooded top, black jogging bottoms and black trainers.
The man carrying the shotgun wore a black hooded top, black jogging bottoms and dark blue trainers.
Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101, quoting reference number 2212 of December 7.
This was a cowardly act which left the victims fearing for their lives and both remain shaken by what happened that night.


“This Is Us” may have hit a series low in Live+Same Day during the week of Nov. 19, but the show came right back in delayed viewing.
In the Nielsen Live+7 numbers for the week, “This Is Us” rose 111% over its Live+Same Day adults 18-49 haul for a 3.8 rating for the week, even with its performance in Live+7 from the previous week. Fellow NBC show “Manifest” (1.1 to a 2.6, 136% lift) and “New Amsterdam” (1.1 to a 2.3, 109% lift), Fox’s “9-1-1” (1.2 to a 2.5, 108% lift), and ABC’s “The Good Doctor” (1.1 to a 2.4, 118% lift) all more than doubled their L+SD ratings as well.
See the full week’s rankings below.


Matt Damon says the pressure he feels for people to like his movies makes him act weirdly when he’s promoting his films.
Matt Damon feels under pressure to make good movies.
The 42-year-old actor wants people to enjoy his films and he admits the pressure makes him act weirdly when he's promoting his projects.
During an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, he said, "I just feel pressured to try to make good movies. For me, a weird thing happens where I get this kind of weird, almost Tourette's, thing where I just immediately think of the exact wrong thing to say to try get people to see the movie."
To give an example, David asked him what his new science-fiction movie, Elysium, is about.
To which Matt jokingly responded, "Well, how much do you know about fracking . . .? It's a science-fiction fracking movie."
Matt's next project is The Monuments Men, a World War II movie directed by his friend George Clooney which also stars Bill Murray.
He said, "[Bill] and George became friends about five or six years ago and George really just put this whole group together. Bill's awesome in the movie; he's really great.
Matt said George (52) is so talented it's not fair to his peers, adding, "It's so frustrating. Honest to God, it's like God said, maybe this once I'm just gonna keep going and give him more. Sure he's an actor, a writer and a producer, he's a director ? yeah why not? It's obscene."


Some Sacramento high school students are getting their poetry in front of a lot of people this fall. You'll have to get on a bus to read them.
I Think That I Shall Never See / A Password As Secure As ... Poetry?
We all know "password" is no good, and "1234567" is asking for trouble. But the more we try to strengthen our passwords, the harder we make them to remember. It's a thoroughly modern problem — but researchers at USC found a very old solution.
A Sacramento County boy has won the California Poetry Out Loud competition at the State Capitol.
(AP) - The 32nd National Cowboy Poetry Gathering opens today in Elko, Nevada.
A group of Sacramento slam poets and hip-hop artists put together pop-up poetry performances at locations around the city.
Learn more about Sacramento’s thriving poetry scene and sample works by local poets with this occasional series from CapRadio.
The Sacramento Poetry Center just published the latest installment of the Tule Review of Poetry. Editor Bethanie Humphreys will read a poem and discuss the publication.


The past weekend saw another wave of fine dust blanket South Korea. Over the past 10 years, the frequency of waves of fine dust has increased steadily, causing people to worry about their negative effects on public health.
The problem also causes changes in daily life. An elementary school teacher I met last autumn told me that schools are eliminating playgrounds because there are so few days when the air is clean enough for children to use them.
In response, the government began to issue more assertive warnings on air quality and, in response to the most recent wave, banned some cars from the road in severely affected areas on alternating days based on the last digit of their licence plates. Though well intended, these efforts do not constitute a long-term response. To develop such a response, the South Korean government first needs to find out the causes. The first thing is to figure out how much of the pollution is domestic and how much comes from China and, perhaps, North Korea.
The nonprofit World Air Quality Index project in Beijing collects environmental information from 9,000 stations run by environmental agencies around the world and displays it on a searchable map. Over the past three years, I checked air quality in South Korea using the map. Seoul and areas down the west of the country are usually worse than areas on the east side. Many cities in northern China, meanwhile, have extremely bad air. The air gets better moving south in China. Air-quality stations in Japan are usually green, which is the best category. North Korea is blank, because there are no data. The overall pattern is clear: Areas with the worst air quality in northern China are surrounded by a zone of bad air that wraps over the Korean Peninsula. Air quality is moderate in Taiwan and most of the southern rim of China, and good in Japan. This pattern suggests that fine dust and pollution from northern China are carried over Korea by prevailing winds from the west but weaken as they pass over Korea and the East Sea on the way to Japan. This is the same weather pattern that blows yellow dust from the Gobi Desert over northern China and then Korea. If China is the main cause of poor air quality, the South Korean government needs to raise the issue with China diplomatically. China is no doubt aware of the problem because the core of the bad air sits near its capital, Beijing. At some point China’s leaders should begin to worry about whether their capital and large swaths of the country with hundreds of millions are people will become uninhabitable.
The more immediate concern is the health of children. The government should move quickly to ensure that schools have advanced air filtration systems and that buildings are altered to keep as much of the bad air out as possible. At the same time, the government needs to sponsor research projects to determine the scope of the problem and measure progress in combating it. Research on the sources of the pollution is important to finding a solution, but research also needs to be conducted to evaluate possible health problems of breathing highly polluted air over time.
Finally, the government should include environmental cooperation in the list of areas for possible collaboration between South and North Korea. The two countries can work together to push China to act.


Day trading is a good way of leveraging limited capital and trading with short stop losses and short profit targets. Day trading is all about rules, trends and discipline. Since day trading does not involve delivery, the brokerage charges are much lower.
Day trading is quite well understood. It is better known as intraday trading or the creation and closure of positions on the same day. Day trading is a good way of leveraging limited capital and trading with short stop losses and short profit targets. Day trading is all about rules, trends and discipline. Since day trading does not involve delivery, the brokerage charges are much lower. Also, if you place an intraday order with stop loss and profit target imputed (cover order or bracket order), then you can get higher leverage. Let us first understand day trading in detail.
What is day trading all about?
Day trading, as the name suggests, involves making dozens of trades in a single day, based on technical analysis and sophisticated charting systems. The day trader's objective is to make a living from trading stocks, commodities or currencies, by making small profits on numerous trades and capping losses on unprofitable trades. Day traders typically do not keep any positions or own any securities overnight. Therefore, day trading, involves a unique set of skills that focus more on speed, ability to grasp momentum and employing trading discipline. The thrust in day trading is all about churning the capital fast with a positive risk-reward ratio so that the Return on Capital can be maximized; net of costs. Remember, when you are churning the portfolio rapidly the costs matter a lot and make a big difference to the economics of your day trading activity.
While day trading focuses on initiating and closing out the positions intraday, the focus of swing trading is more on identifying an underlying trend and play along much longer. You may have seen stocks that show rapid movements in a short span of time. Even large stocks like Bajaj Finance, Ashok Leyland and Titan move rapidly when the momentum is either in their favour or against them. But, such movements do not happen intraday and the positions need to be held for slightly longer. That is what the swing trader must be prepared for. Check out the price chart of HPCL versus Brent Crude.
What can you gather from the 1-year chart of HPCL? The stock of HPCL moves exactly like a mirror image of the price of Brent Crude in the international market. That is because a fall in price of crude is positive for HPCL because it reduces the probability that the government will ask these downstream oil companies to bear the burden of oil subsidy. What does that mean for swing trading? Since oil is a commodity, it typically moves like a commodity and is influenced by the forces of demand and supply. That makes oil more predictable in terms of price movements. A swing trader can identify such short term swings in the price of crude oil and then use them to take short term positions in HPCL. This is an example of how swing trading works in practice. Typically, the swing trader will also look at a number of technical factors like supports, resistances, moving averages and oscillators before getting confirmation of a swing trade.
Broadly, there are four ways in which day trading differs from swing trading. These have implications for the economics of your trade.
Structure of the trade: In an intraday trade, the trader uses more of a top-down approach. The focus is more on getting the broad momentum of the market right and then trade individual stocks accordingly. The swing trade is lot more bottom-up. Like in the case of HPCL illustrated above, the focus is on the stock/index and the macros are used to ratify.
Returns from the trade: Obviously, the return potential on a swing trade is higher than on an intraday trade. Discipline puts quite a few restrictions on an intraday trade and hence the trader does not have the leeway to capture the complete price move potential. Swing trade does not have any such constraint.
Risks in the trade: As a logical corollary, it follows that the swing trade is riskier compared to a day trade. Since the day trade is executed with very tight stop losses and profit targets, the total risk can be cordoned off. Swing trade, on the other hand, is more of a directional bet and can be on the long side or the short side. This exposes the swing trade to overnight risk. Also margins are higher in case of swing trade and that also locks a bigger chunk of your capital in these trades.
Directional versus agnostic: A day trader is normally indifferent to the direction of the stock and the market and is willing to trade the same stock on the long side and on the short side the same day. The swing trade is focused a lot more on interpreting swings and emphasizes on catching swings at the top or at the bottom to make the best of the trend.


Conceptual rendering of the retail park in the proposed Facebook Willow Campus in Menlo Park. Facebook is planning a vast expansion of its Menlo Park campus by adding several office buildings, hundreds of homes, retail, a grocery store, and parks and plazas, all part of what the social network giant envisions as an accessible village for the neighborhood.
Rendering of the retail street in the proposed Facebook Willow Campus. Facebook is planning a vast expansion of its Menlo Park campus by adding several office buildings, hundreds of homes, retail, a grocery store, and parks and plazas, all part of what the social network giant envisions as an accessible village for the neighborhood.


“Usain Bolt is all about charity,” charismatic Olympian Usain Bolt cheerfully explained to us at a fund-raising event recently. The charities in reference were the Zeitz Foundation and the Zoological Society of London, which are working together to conserve the habitats of cheetah and African wild dogs, and the evening’s event was a dinner and auction held at the London Zoo, of which Bolt was the host.
Bolt’s preposterously endearing attitude over the summer captured the world’s attention as much as—if not more than—his hypersonic speed, and of his warm reception in the Olympics’ host city, he told us that “just being in London, it was wonderful. The crowd was amazing. I really enjoyed the people here—they really showed me a lot of love. The energy was really good.” At one point in the evening he jumped onstage to rally support for a certain sentimental auction item (his electric-yellow jersey from the Summer Games). The extra push helped—the garment sold for £31,000 ($50,000).


Kathleen Hanna cut a formidable path throughout the ’90s and into the 2000s as the co-founder of the riot grrl movement, frontwoman of genre-defining punk band Bikini Kill, and member of progressive electro-pop trio Le Tigre. Then in 2005, she abruptly stopped performing and kept a much lower profile—a surprising move for someone who had been a firebrand for nearly two decades.
The Punk Singer answers that question, but not until its third act. The story of Hanna’s life, from her childhood through the founding of riot grrl and Bikini Kill are compelling, though Anderson seems much more interested in the story once it gets to Hanna’s formative college years at Evergreen State College. Although she hits on some important aspects of Hanna’s childhood, including her “sadistic and funny” mother and her “sexually inappropriate” father, that part of the story feels incomplete, especially considering the physical and emotional (and potentially sexual) abuse Hanna references later in the film. It’s possible, even likely, that she didn’t want to discuss it in more detail, but it still feels like an important part of the story didn’t get enough attention.
That’s not an issue elsewhere in Anderson’s adoring film, which spends a lot of time on riot grrl and Bikini Kill, the two things most associated with Hanna. The director also takes pains to contextualize what’s on screen, going as far as to define what a fanzine is, clarify the three waves of feminism, and explain the importance of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (whose title came from graffiti Hanna wrote while hanging out with friend Kurt Cobain). The macro focus leaves some details unexplored; Anderson doesn’t go too deep into the minutiae of Bikini Kill’s and Le Tigre’s stories—how many albums they released, for instance—which can make some of her quotes from interview subjects unclear. When Le Tigre member JD Samson mentions their tour for This Island, only viewers familiar with the band will know she means its 2004 album, because it goes unmentioned otherwise.
When The Punk Singer finally gets around to the health issues that sidelined Hanna in 2005, it finds her at her most vulnerable and emotional. Her worsening symptoms were misdiagnosed for years, but even once Hanna learned she had a particularly debilitating form of late-stage Lyme disease, her health remained an issue (and continues to do so).
The Punk Singer ends with a 2010 tribute concert held in Hanna’s honor that featured the debut of her new band, The Julie Ruin. A final montage set to that band’s “Ha Ha Ha” closes the film on a powerful, optimistic note. Hanna has a compelling story, and Anderson is clearly in awe of her subject. Although not an outright hagiography, her film has nothing in the way of dissent, which wouldn’t have been hard to come by for Kathleen Hanna. That didn’t seem to cross the director’s mind; she clearly intended for The Punk Singer to celebrate the life of a punk icon. A little more distance could have been beneficial, but The Punk Singer is enlightening regardless.


Kenedy County Wide CSD is a school district in Sarita, TX. As of the 2017-2018 school year, it had 78 students. The school received an accountability rating of Met standard. 47.4% of students were considered at risk of dropping out of school. 2.6% of students were enrolled in bilingual and English language learning programs.
An average teacher's salary was $54,096, which is $762 more than the state average. On average, teachers had 18 years of experience.
Students in Kenedy County Wide CSD are part of the Texas Education Agency’s Region 02. Students who started eighth grade in in this region had a college graduation rate of 18.1 percent. View a more comprehensive breakdown of the higher ed outcomes in Region 02.


A: If Booking.com promised you twin beds, then it should have delivered twin beds. End of story.
But did it? I visited the site to make a dummy reservation at Adagio Paris Bercy Village. When you click on the studio, it clearly says: “Please note that the double bed in this studio is a fold-down bed in the living area. Two twin beds are available upon request.” So you would have needed to get a written assurance from the property or from Booking.com that your studio came with twin beds.
Cases like yours underscore the importance of reading your product description and confirmation carefully. If you have any questions, get the answers in writing, not by phone.
If I read the property description, I probably would not come away with the impression that I’d get two twin beds. But you say you had a confirmation that you would — and hey, I’m your advocate.
Based on the correspondence you’ve sent me, it appears as if Booking.com was willing to help cancel your reservation, but that you would have to pay a fee. You might have appealed this to an executive at Booking.com (http://elliott.org/company-contacts/booking-com/) or at Priceline Group, which owns Booking.com (http://elliott.org/company-contacts/priceline/).
Cases like yours underscore the importance of reading your product description and confirmation carefully. If you have any questions, get the answers in writing, not by phone. Otherwise, you could find yourself in a room with a wrong-size bed.
In the end, I believe you were left with the impression that you would get twin beds, and leaving you with the right impression is the company’s responsibility. I contacted Booking.com on your behalf. Booking.com contacted the hotel, which agreed to a refund with no cancellation fee. Enjoy Paris.


Neither the U.S., with all of its military muscle and more than 40 percent of annual military expenditures worldwide, nor China, with its rising economic clout and military modernization, can effectively contain globalized terrorism on their own. Yet if they work together, the two countries could rally the international community into effective multi-polar counter-terrorism.
On Monday, April 15, 2013, the crowded finish line of the Boston Marathon turned into a nightmare as bombs exploded, killing three people and injuring more than 280 others.
If Washington and Beijing could find a common ground in dealing with the global threat of terrorism, much more would follow.
All major advanced economies share a recent history of terrorist escalation. Only hours after the Boston massacre, the annual simulation exercise by the special EU police units began across Europe. Meanwhile, the risks of extremism in the region are escalating, thanks to worsening economy, rising anti-immigration sentiment and failure to designate terrorist organizations.
In Japan, terrorism was seen as a Western dilemma until the hijacking of a Japan Airlines flight by a Japanese Red Army Faction and other terrorist attacks in the 1970s. The mid-1990s witnessed the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway. After two lost decades, both right- and left-wing extremism is increasing in Japan.
Further, the large emerging economies are in no way immune to terrorism.
Only two days after the Boston marathon bombings, 16 people were injured in the latest Bangalore blast right outside the office of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the leading Indian opposition party. In the past two months, this blast has been preceded by a series of attacks in Srinagar, Hyberabad and Pune. In the multiethnic India, terrorism is recognized as a significant threat to the state.
In Russia, the republic of Chechnya has waged two wars with Moscow’s security forces since the end of the Cold War. Meanwhile, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and a splinter group, the Islamic Jihad Union, continue to recruit zealots to fight against U.S. forces in Asia. In Russia, terrorism is considered a major threat to national security.
On April 24, a violent clash between authorities and assailants described as terrorists left 21 people dead outside the city of Kashgar in Xinjiang. In China, counter-terrorism often focuses on extremist violence in Xinjiang, which the authorities attribute to Uyghur activists.
As Brazil is preparing for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic games, the country lacks specific anti-terrorism legislation. Meanwhile, leaked reports suggest that two dozen extremists connected to Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups are already using Brazil as a base to hide, raise money or plan attacks.
In the United States, challenging divisions about ethnic, racial and religious differences, even about the nation itself, have witnessed terrorism, from political assassinations to external terrorist attacks, especially after the end of the Cold War.
Today, the concern over terrorism is the lowest common denominator uniting both major advanced economies and large emerging nations.
Since the 1980s, global economic integration, boosted by Washington Consensus in the West and China’s economic reforms and opening-up in the East, accelerated growth prospects worldwide, until the great recession of 2008.
However, the same decades also saw a dramatic escalation of terrorism, which has been supported by the technology revolution that speeds up the diffusion of innovations globally. Typically, the kind of “pressure cookers” that were deployed in Boston were introduced in the 2010 feature “How to Make Bomb in Kitchen of Mom,” by the first issue of Al Qaeda’s English-language online magazine Inspire.
After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, many presumed that violence could be contained by the insulation of America, closed borders and “preemptive” wars. In reality, these policies alienated the United States from the international community.
Meanwhile, Washington designated the “East Turkistan Islamic Movement” (ETIM) as a terrorist organization in August 2002. Reportedly, ETIM had committed over 200 acts of terrorism in the previous decade, resulting in over 160 deaths. Taking shelter under Taliban Afghanistan, ETIM leaders had met with Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda leaders, and other Islamic radicals to coordinate actions.
However, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) did not participate in the counter-terrorist coalition, and the initial U.S.-Chinese cooperation proved limited, even it contributed to a closer bilateral relationship.
Along with Washington’s uni-polar security policies, U.S. war against Iraq, under the pretext of the threat of WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction), contributed to the erosion of counter-terrorism effort.
While the past decade of nascent bilateral counter-terrorist cooperation did not go far enough, multi-polar counter-terrorism initiatives could.
Neither Washington, with all of its military muscle and more than 40 percent of annual military expenditures worldwide, nor China, with its rising economic clout and military modernization, can contain globalized terrorism. But together, the two countries could rally the international community into effective counter-terrorism.
What is needed is effective action by leading advanced economies and large emerging nations, in which the cooperation of Washington and Beijing would have a great and even inspiring demonstration effect, through three vital initiatives.
1. Enlist the full support of advanced economies, via the G-7 nations, and the full support of large emerging economies, via the BRICS.
As the economic, political and military leaders of the advanced economies, the G-7 nations could rally the United States, Europe’s core economies, and Japan. Further, as the largest economic powers among the major emerging economies, the BRICS would represent the backing of India, Russia, Brazil, and South Africa, hopefully with the support of Indonesia, Mexico, and Turkey.
2. Develop a multi-polar counter-terrorist platform.
The strategic goal of these nations should not be overshadowed by old uni-polar objectives or targeting of any one national, ethnic, racial or religious group (e.g., “Islamist” terrorism). Violent fundamentalism comes in all creeds. The shared platform must be adequately broad to enlist all multi-polar economies and sufficiently specific to be effective.
3. Develop an ongoing negotiating mechanism for shared disagreements.
Any united front is only as effective as its weakest link. Thus, it is important to identify the disagreements, agree to disagree, and to launch a continuing negotiating mechanism to build consensus approaches that truly serve multi-polar counter-terrorist goals – not this-or-that nation’s unilateral interests.
After half a decade of stagnation in the U.S., recessions and downturns in Europe, two lost decades in Japan, as well as reduced growth prospects in the large emerging economies, the risk of destructive terrorism, its technological potential and global impact is greater than ever in history.
Within a decade, the odds are greater for than against a major ‘dirty bomb’ attack, biochemical horror or nuclear terrorism. We are running out of time.
Dr. Dan Steinbock is Research Director of International Business at India China and America Institute (USA) and Visiting Fellow at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (China) and the EU Center (Singapore).
Toward Multipolar Counter-Terrorism was first published in China-US Focus.


LONDON – Ford pressed ahead Thursday with its plan to slash production in Europe, announcing another plant closure and 1,500 more job cuts, as it warned that annual losses in the region will exceed $1.5 billion this year and next.
Ford Motor Co. is struggling in Europe, like many major carmakers, because labor costs are relatively high and there are too many plants given that demand for cars is sliding due to the economic crisis. Worries about its European business have dragged down Ford's stock price this year.
A day after announcing the closure of a major plant in Belgium, Ford said it also will close its Transit van plant in Southampton, Britain, and the stamping and tooling facility at its plant in Dagenham, east London.
The actions announced this week — along with a previously announced initiative to cut about 500 salaried and agency positions across Europe — affect a total of 6,200 Ford jobs, or about 13 percent of the company's European workforce.
Counting the indirect impact on suppliers that depend on doing business with Ford's factories, the plant closures will cause about 11,000 job losses.
"We recognize the impact our actions will have on many employees and their families in Europe, and we will work together with all stakeholders during this necessary transformation of our business," said Ford's president and CEO, Alan Mulally.
Len McCluskey, general secretary of Britain's Unite union, said workers would fight against the closures.
The company said it needs to cut costs in Europe, where it will try to refocus its operations on fuel-efficient motors and safety technologies. It expects the European business to return to profitability by mid-decade, thanks to the plant closures and the introduction of new models.
Despite the losses in Europe, Ford still expects a strong pretax profit this year for the company overall. Earnings will be better in the third quarter than in the second, excluding one-time costs and gains.
The Southampton plant, which employs 500 workers and will be shut in July, is Ford's last vehicle assembly plant in Britain. Production there has fallen from 66,000 vehicles in 2008 to 28,000 last year. Transit van production will be consolidated at the plant in Kocaeli, Turkey.
At the Dagenham plant, where it will close a stamping facility in 2013, Ford promised to invest in the production of a new series of 20-litre, four-cylinder, low-CO2 diesel engines. It will also invest at the Bridgend plant in Wales to support gasoline engine manufacturing.
Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks said that with its proposed plant closures, the use of its European production capacity would jump from about 65 percent to more than 80 percent. He said the company expects to spend more than $100,000 (€77,000) per worker in separation payments.
Shares in Ford were up 2 percent to $10.39 in late afternoon trading Thursday, though they remain down for the year. The problems in Europe have weighed on the stock as investors worried about the drop in sales and the need to close unused plants.
Ford's sales were down nearly 15 percent in September compared with a year ago, worse than the 10.8 percent fall for all European vehicle brands, according to Acea, the European carmakers' association. Shanks said Ford lost market share because it wasn't discounting as aggressively as some rivals.
Ford is not the only company struggling with the car market in Europe. Big names like General Motors Co., which owns the Opel brand, as well as Fiat, which owns Chrysler, have said that production must be slashed in Europe.
France's PSA Peugeot-Citroen is currently in talks to take a €7 billion lifeline from the French government, which wants to avoid layoffs. Ford of Europe Chief Stephen Odell said the French government's aid might not comply with European laws. But more broadly, he said, it doesn't help Europe address its market issues.
"In the end, and this is my view, I don't think it's sustainable for support from government to keep companies competitive going forward."
Auto Writer Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit contributed to this report.


Apr. 23 11:47 PM PT12:47 AM MT1:47 AM CT2:47 AM ET2:47 ET6:47 GMT14:47 11:47 PM MST1:47 AM EST12:47 AM CST2:17 AM VEN10:47 UAE1:47 AM CT-Peter Bourjos went 0 for 1 Monday as the Los Angeles Angels lost to the New York Yankees 4-3. Bourjos scored once and stole a base. He's now batting .100 with no home runs this season.
Apr. 21 9:53 PM PT10:53 PM MT11:53 PM CT12:53 AM ET0:53 ET4:53 GMT12:53 9:53 PM MST11:53 PM EST10:53 PM CST12:23 AM VEN8:53 UAE11:53 PM CT-Peter Bourjos went 1 for 4 Saturday as the Los Angeles Angels lost to the Seattle Mariners 6-5. He's now batting .103 with no home runs this season.
Apr. 20 10:18 PM PT11:18 PM MT12:18 AM CT1:18 AM ET1:18 ET5:18 GMT13:18 10:18 PM MST12:18 AM EST11:18 PM CST12:48 AM VEN9:18 UAE12:18 AM CT-Peter Bourjos went 0 for 3 Friday as the Los Angeles Angels lost to the Seattle Mariners 5-3. He's now batting .086 with no home runs this season.
Apr. 19 11:12 PM PT12:12 AM MT1:12 AM CT2:12 AM ET2:12 ET6:12 GMT14:12 11:12 PM MST1:12 AM EST12:12 AM CST1:42 AM VEN10:12 UAE1:12 AM CT-Peter Bourjos went 2 for 5 with a double and an RBI Thursday as the Los Angeles Angels lost to the Seattle Mariners 11-10. Bourjos scored once and stole a base. He's now batting .094 with no home runs this season.
Apr. 16 7:44 PM PT8:44 PM MT9:44 PM CT10:44 PM ET22:44 ET2:44 GMT10:44 7:44 PM MST9:44 PM EST8:44 PM CST10:14 PM VEN6:44 UAE (+1)9:44 PM CT-Peter Bourjos went 0 for 3 Tuesday as the Los Angeles Angels fell to the Texas Rangers 5-0. He's now batting .037 with no home runs this season.
Apr. 13 3:22 PM PT4:22 PM MT5:22 PM CT6:22 PM ET18:22 ET22:22 GMT6:22 3:22 PM MST5:22 PM EST4:22 PM CST5:52 PM VEN2:22 UAE (+1)5:22 PM CT-Peter Bourjos went 0 for 0 with an RBI Saturday as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Chicago Cubs 6-5. He's now batting .042 with no home runs this season.
Apr. 12 1:53 PM PT2:53 PM MT3:53 PM CT4:53 PM ET16:53 ET20:53 GMT4:53 1:53 PM MST3:53 PM EST2:53 PM CST4:23 PM VEN0:53 UAE (+1)3:53 PM CT-Peter Bourjos went 0 for 3 Friday as the Los Angeles Angels lost to the Chicago Cubs 5-1. He's now batting .042 with no home runs this season.
Apr. 10 11:00 PM PT12:00 AM MT1:00 AM CT2:00 AM ET2:00 ET6:00 GMT14:00 11:00 PM MST1:00 AM EST12:00 AM CST1:30 AM VEN10:00 UAE1:00 AM CT-Peter Bourjos went 0 for 3 Tuesday as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Milwaukee Brewers 11-8. He's now batting .048 with no home runs this season.
Apr. 7 4:41 PM PT5:41 PM MT6:41 PM CT7:41 PM ET19:41 ET23:41 GMT7:41 4:41 PM MST6:41 PM EST5:41 PM CST7:11 PM VEN3:41 UAE (+1)6:41 PM CT-Peter Bourjos went 0 for 3 Sunday as the Los Angeles Angels topped the Texas Rangers 7-2. He's now batting .056 with no home runs this season.
Apr. 6 4:35 PM PT5:35 PM MT6:35 PM CT7:35 PM ET19:35 ET23:35 GMT7:35 4:35 PM MST6:35 PM EST5:35 PM CST7:05 PM VEN3:35 UAE (+1)6:35 PM CT-Peter Bourjos went 1 for 3 Saturday as the Los Angeles Angels topped the Texas Rangers 5-1. Bourjos scored once. He's now batting .067 with no home runs this season.
Apr. 5 11:01 PM PT12:01 AM MT1:01 AM CT2:01 AM ET2:01 ET6:01 GMT14:01 11:01 PM MST1:01 AM EST12:01 AM CST1:31 AM VEN10:01 UAE1:01 AM CT-Peter Bourjos went 0 for 1 Thursday as the Los Angeles Angels fell to the Texas Rangers 11-4. Bourjos scored once. He's now batting .000 with no home runs this season.
Apr. 3 9:29 PM PT10:29 PM MT11:29 PM CT12:29 AM ET0:29 ET4:29 GMT12:29 9:29 PM MST11:29 PM EST10:29 PM CST11:59 PM VEN8:29 UAE11:29 PM CT-Peter Bourjos went 0 for 3 Tuesday as the Los Angeles Angels fell to the Seattle Mariners 2-1. He's now batting .000 with no home runs this season.
Mar. 31 3:49 PM PT4:49 PM MT5:49 PM CT6:49 PM ET18:49 ET22:49 GMT6:49 3:49 PM MST5:49 PM EST4:49 PM CST6:19 PM VEN2:49 UAE (+1)5:49 PM CT-Peter Bourjos went 0 for 2 Sunday as the Los Angeles Angels fell to the Oakland Athletics 2-1. He's now batting .000 with no home runs this season.
Mar. 30 8:53 PM PT9:53 PM MT10:53 PM CT11:53 PM ET23:53 ET3:53 GMT11:53 8:53 PM MST10:53 PM EST9:53 PM CST11:23 PM VEN7:53 UAE (+1)9:53 PM CT-Peter Bourjos went 0 for 3 Saturday as the Los Angeles Angels lost to the Oakland Athletics 4-2. He's now batting .000 with no home runs this season.
Mar. 28 3:32 PM PT4:32 PM MT5:32 PM CT6:32 PM ET18:32 ET22:32 GMT6:32 3:32 PM MST5:32 PM EST4:32 PM CST6:02 PM VEN2:32 UAE (+1)4:32 PM CT-Peter Bourjos went 0 for 3 Thursday as the Los Angeles Angels fell to the Oakland Athletics 4-0. He's now batting .000 with no home runs this season.


SINGAPORE - The university for polytechnic upgraders here - the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) - will offer five new degrees and take in a record number of 2,080 students this year.
Set up in 2009, SIT, which used to offer only degrees in partnership with overseas universities, launched three of its own degrees in infrastructure engineering, software engineering and accountancy last year and took in 1,800 students in all.
This year, it will offer another four of its own degrees - in building services engineering, pharmaceutical engineering, information security and hospitality business.
It will also offer an engineering degree in electromechanical systems jointly with the DigiPen Institute of Technology, which is renowned for its computer engineering programmes. Undergraduates enrolled in this course will be trained to design and develop complex systems that can range from a robot to a transportation system.
The addition of the new courses will bring its total number of degree programmes to 36, of which seven will be its own. Its other partner universities include the Technical University of Munich and the Culinary Institute of America.
The university, which now operates from an interim campus in Dover Road, has also set up an Enterprise & Innovation Hub where its students will work on projects suggested by firms.
Professor Tan Thiam Soon, president of SIT, said the new degrees are being launched in areas where there is huge demand for specialists.
"They are areas where our students will be able to find good jobs, have good career prospects and which will transform Singapore's economy," he said noting that SIT's aim is to nurture "best-in-class specialists with deep knowledge and skills in a particular field".
SIT's provost Ting Seng Kiong used the example of the building services engineering degree programme. He pointed out that the construction industry continues to grow at an average of 10 per cent yearly. And currently, all buildings in Singapore, both old and new, must undergo the green mark certification process by 2020 and Singapore targets to have 80 per cent of all buildings Green Mark certified by 2030.


Whether you bought your Android device last year -- or last month -- you can benefit from a little spring cleaning.
Your Android device contains a lot of personal information about you -- maybe even more than anything else you own. How about those work documents that you grabbed from an email, or the photos you saved from that text? These types of files should be relocated to cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox.
If you're not sure what's lurking in your storage areas -- internal or SD -- a file manager app can be used to explore your data. Some Android devices, like the Samsung Galaxy series, have a file manager app built-in. It's nothing fancy, but it can get the job done.
Not a fan of your stock file manager? Then try ES File Explorer. This app can integrate with cloud solutions such as: Google Drive, Dropbox, SkyDrive, and many others. Files can even be sent directly to your Windows desktop, if you like. As bonus, check out How to get the most free online storage.
This is an easy area to regain some storage. Each image, depending on your camera specs, can take approximately 3 MB of space. Several of the cloud services will back up your entire Gallery as you add photos. Unless you need the originals at your disposal, it's time to delete some of them. If you don't have an automatic backup in place, you can also just connect your USB cable and move photos to your computer, or you can send the ones you want to keep to a cloud service individually.
When you install an app, it usually creates a folder that stores information like preference settings, images, or activity logs. However, that's not all that gets stored on your device from apps. For instance, each time you watch a video on Instagram the data is cached (stored) on your device, which allows the video to load quickly if you try to view it again. But how many times are you going to watch the same video (unless it's ridiculously funny or cute)? Bottom line: you can clean out this space and even schedule it to be cleaned up regularly on your device.
1Tap Cleaner offers a widget to clear all cached files at once. With this app, you can see how much each app is storing in the cache, and you can clear your call and text logs. Additionally, you can uninstall apps without needing to use the Google Play Store.
Clean Master helps you delete cached files, along with miscellaneous files that are larger than 10 MB. The Memory Boost option closes apps you're not using that are still running in the background.
Which area will you tackle first to create more space on your Android device?
Editors' note: It's spring cleaning time! This week's theme: organizing your device. Check back every day this week to see how best to keep your devices clutter-free. And be sure to return next week for more spring cleaning tips and tricks.


The Summer Institute on Teaching and Technology met for its second day Tuesday with an agenda faithful to its name--morning sessions that largely focused on teaching, followed by afternoon sessions on tech.
Specifically, the morning sessions centered on different approaches and tips on teaching large classes effectively, while the afternoon presented information on researching with SmartSite and teaching through Almagest--a tool that stores and presents images.
Faculty had the opportunity to see how their colleagues teach. A series of instructors shared their teaching philosophies and practical techniques to get jaded students to learn.
Jon Wagner, professor of education and SITT director, presented a creative approach to final exams. Instead of assigning term papers, Wagner had his students collaboratively design and draw a "map of the course." (To see their work, please visit Wagner's presentation website.) Wagner joked that the students probably learned more during that exercise than from anything else during the year.
Susan Keen, a lecturer of evolution and ecology, won the campus Academic Federation Excellence in Teaching Award this year. She described the difficulties of teaching a large class and offered solutions from her own teaching experience. She emphasized the importance of interacting with students, even for a little while, to break up the lecture. This may come in the forms of in-class demonstrations or a quick class quiz using "clickers"--small audience-response devices.
Keen showed the audience several props and models she uses. The physical items, she said, are better than screen images for keeping students interested.
"Attendance improves if the class has something the students don't expect," Keen said. "If you can keep them curious, they will be more willing to ask questions."
She surveyed her students to ask if interactive teaching methods helped them learn. Of the 285 students in the survey, 93 percent said class interaction and student participation--such as the use of clickers--improve learning.
Attendee Fuqiang Zhuo, director of the Language Learning Center, liked Keen's presentation. "It's good to see how students respond to teaching with technology through the survey," he said.
The week-long institute continues Wednesday with talks on blogging and podcasting, plus afternoon workshops on teaching with SmartSite and the Breeze Presenter software.


Mobile phones could soon be helping re-assure Nigerians and Ghanaians they are getting genuine medicine.
A pilot scheme in the two nations has begun putting unique scratch codes on more than 500,000 medicine bottles and packets of pills.
When the code is texted to a free phone number, a return message will reveal that a drug is genuine.
The scheme hopes to boost efforts to tackle diseases such as malaria and combat the rise in fake medicines.
Globally, about 10-15% of all drugs are believed to be fake but in some parts of Africa this rises to 50%. The problem is made more acute in Africa because some fake medicines being offered to the sick are watered down versions of the real thing and dent the efficacy of the full strength drug.
"Some genuine medicines have lost their potency because of the counterfeiting," said Gabriele Zedlmayer, a spokeswoman for HP which is a partner in the labelling scheme.
This can be a particular problem with malaria as the disease is so widespread in sub-saharan Africa where it is the leading cause of death.
The scheme is being backed by governments and drug companies who have pledged to publicise how it works in pharmacies, surgeries, hospitals and community centres.
Painkillers, anti-malaria drugs and amoebicides from pharmaceutical firms May & Baker in Nigeria and Kama in Ghana will be the first to get the scratch-off labels.
Such a scheme was very important in Africa where about 80% of medicines are generic, said Bright Simons, founder of mPedigree which developed some of the technology to underpin the pilot.
By using the codes, people would get to know pharmacies, hospitals and other outlets they can trust, he said.
Mobiles were the best way for people in Nigeria and Ghana to find out about their medicines because they were so ubiquitous said Mr Simon, adding that even those who do not own a handset themselves can get access via friends and family.
Each packet or bottle has a scratch-off code that can be used only once, said Mr Simons. The security system behind the scenes flags any attempt to re-use codes. As well as letting people know they are getting genuine medicine, it will also alert people when fake medicines are being peddled.
If the pilot proves successful, the scheme will be extended to cover more than six million bottles and packets in the next 12 months.
"This is just the first step," said Ms Zedlmayer. "It can be applied to any kind of medication."


Nile C. Kinnick's Olivia Ouellette shoots against E.J. King's Diamond Williams during Thursday's DODEA-Japan tournament girls playoff game. The Red Devils won 35-18.
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan – While the girls title in this weekend’s DODEA-Japan basketball tournament appears to be Zama’s to lose, the boys championship looks to be a tossup.
E.J. King’s, Robert D. Edgren’s and host Nile C. Kinnick’s boys entered the tournament a combined 48-7. The Cobras’ and Eagles’ lone losses came against the Red Devils, while Kinnick lost once to King and twice to Humphreys in the Kanto Classic two weeks ago.
It seemed only right that the Cobras and Eagles opened the DODEA-Japan Tournament at 10:15 a.m. Thursday; of the three favored teams, King and Edgren had yet to face each other this season.
“With the format a true double (elimination), we want to see what they’ve got right away,” said coach Andre Thibert of the Eagles boys, 10-3 this season after losing twice to Kinnick at home last weekend.
Things did not go the Eagles’ way; the Cobras got 26 points - 11 in the second period - from senior Dyson Robinson in a 54-38 win over Edgren. King won its round-robin pool at 2-0; the Eagles finished last at 0-2.
Having waited until February to finally square off, it turns out the Eagles and Cobras will see much of each other the next two weekends. Edgren flies to southwestern Japan to play King on Feb. 15-16.
The three-day event began Thursday with pool play for seeding purposes, the six boys and girls teams divided into pools of three teams each. Double-elimination play started Thursday evening and continues through the championship games Saturday afternoon.
The tournament behaves as a dress rehearsal for Far East play, Elliott said. Five of the 10 Division II teams, including King, are in the field.
“Just to learn about them, see how they operate,” Elliott said of the benefits of facing Edgren right away. The Cobras could end up playing Edgren at least three more times in the tournament, plus the next weekend at Sasebo. “We’ll see a lot of them before Far East,” he said.
The Red Devils (20-3 entering DODEA-Japan) and Cobras split a pair of games at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni earlier this season. The last 10 minutes of their second game, which Kinnick pulled away to win 54-34 on Jan. 12, is what Elliott says his team needs to focus on.
Zama by far and away had the best Japan girls win-loss record at 16-4 entering the tournament, including 10-0 in regular-season games against DODEA-Japan opponents.
But coach Daisy Whitaker-Hayes says that’s no guarantee the Trojans will win this tournament.
The Trojans swept both games in their pool, pounding King 53-27 and Edgren 39-5. And Whitaker-Hayes said she was pleasantly surprised at the performance of her second-line players.
For the rest of the region, basketball titles have pretty much been wrapped up. Kadena visits Kubasaki on Friday, the two schools facing each other for the final time this regular season; the Panthers boys and girls teams have each swept their series thus far.
On the mats, Yokota and Zama head north to Edgren for a weekend showdown that includes a pair of Japanese teams. Korea wrestling holds the first of back-to-back weekend quad meets at Humphreys on Saturday.
E.J. King's Gabi Shultz and Nile C. Kinnick's Kiana Johnson reach for the ball during Thursday's DODEA-Japan tournament girls playoff game. The Red Devils won 35-18.


In a deal that appears to be mostly financially-driven, the Hornets sent Tyson Chandler to their once stand-in hometown of Oklahoma City for Chris Wilcox, Joe Smith, and the draft rights to DeVon Hardin.
I think in a pure basketball sense, it’s a good move for both teams. Obviously, the Hornets may have lost the value end of it, but they get back a saavy veteran and a guy who can hold his own down low. Chandler was having a bad season anyway, and Wilcox hasn’t been getting off the pine.
Fantasy-wise, Chandler will start in OKC, sending Nick Collison to the bench. He takes a big hit in value and Nenad Krstic becomes droppable in every league. Of course, either could see minutes at the four, but it won’t likely be many.
As for New Orleans, Wilcox will just take Chandler’s place in the starting lineup. Smith will likely back up David West, and Hilton Armstrong will continue to see his limited minutes backing up Wilcox.
Big winner? Wilcox, because he’ll actually get to play some minutes.
Even the biggest NBA die-hards will check out college ball around this time of year. The tourney kicks off draft hype. With players like Derrick Rose, Kevin Love, Brandon Rush etc making it to the Final Four this year, it’s been an excellent time to check out these blue chip prospects. Tyler Hansbrough has been named Player of the Year in quite a few places, but most have his pro potential listed pretty low.
So with no NBA action scheduled for Monday, April 7th, it seems like a good time to reflect on the rookies.
What a week it has been. Obviously, the Cleveland-Chicago-Seattle deal set the NBA ablaze last night. I personally can’t wait for tonight’s Cavaliers game where they currently have six active players. Seven if Anderson Varejao comes back early. Eight if they let me suit up. Either way, LeBron James could easily go for 50 points tonight, so keep an eye on the box score.
Everyone else? There has defintely been some adjustments in certain player value over the past 24 hours. Let’s see who’s stock is up, and who’s may not be as hot as it once was.
Fig Cap: Someone’s getting their headband back!
Nothing too huge to mention here, but I thought it was interesting to see the minutes that the Sonics have been giving Wally Szczerbiak as of late. Check out the box scores from the last several games.
It seems that Wally World is only safe starting every other game. What should be noted is that the Sonics have only won one of the past seven games - one of them that Szczerbiak received sub-20 minutes. He’s likely on the waiver wire in most leagues, so keep an eye on this development. That is, if anything even develops.


Happy Summer Solstice, everyone. Not that you’d know today was such a signpost if you were to put down your works and venture outside. But even if you’re still focused on finding the last bits of body paint from Saturday’s Fremont Solstice Parade on your nether regions, why not look for some other summertime activities.
Like spending your midweek mornings in an air-conditioned movie theatre with your overheated kids.
Granted, that nutter talk after yesterday (which according to U-Dub’s Cliff Mass was a summer solar activity nadir unlike any we’ve seen in these here parts for decades). But imagine if we were knee deep in the mid-90s. Then even the biggest Vitamin D junkie could justify a few hours in the chill. So why not take a looksie at the Tuesday and Wednesday offerings to be shown at the Thornton Creek 14 up by Northgate Mall – the whole Regal Theaters chain offers these family-themed freebies as a part of their “Free Family Film Festival”. It starts this week and runs through the end of August.
Most of the films are complete crap. Some quite humanely should be banned and the possession of which should be deemed criminal. But for every “Tooth Fairy” there appears to be a “Wallace and Gromit” scheduled for a stab at karmic balance.
When – no, if – the weather changes and air-conditioning becomes a sought after climate control, you’ll be lining up with plenty of other folks (first come, first served). Starting tomorrow, you can beat the rush. Odds are good that this murky gray madness simply has to change. Here’s hoping it does so before “Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs”. Or, at the very least, before “Space Chimps”. I hear that’s the new “Rocky Horror Picture Show”. But with chimps.
Follow me on Twitter @emaggie.


The Facebook Election: Can the Social Network Predict Winners in the 2010 Midterms?
In some races, there are large gaps in the number of friends various competitors have. Is that an indicator of how they’ll do at the polls?
In Nevada, Republican challenger Sharron Angle is not only leading Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the polls, she’s also far ahead on the social nets. When we started writing this story, Angle’s Facebook page had 104,059 fans vs. a mere 14,348 for Reid. Angle is also leading when it comes to voter sentiment–by four points, according to the latest Rasmussen poll. And Facebook’s public policy team says that Angle is piling on new supporters at a faster rate than Reid. In the last two weeks, Angle’s Facebook fan base grew by 10,500, vs. just 921 for Reid.
So does that mean Angle will knock Reid out of the Senate on election day next Tuesday? It’s anyone’s guess. We asked Facebook, and as far as they know, no one’s taken a hard look at the correlation between activity on Facebook and victory at the polls. But based on some of the primary races they looked at, Reid might want to start harvesting Farmville for friends. “Many candidates who won their primary races had more Facebook fans than their opponents and actively posted campaign updates on their Facebook Pages,” Facebook’s manager of public policy communications Andrew Noyes tells Fast Company in an email.
Take everyone’s favorite state this election season: Delaware. On the primary day, not-a-witch Republican Senate contender Christine O’Donnell’s Facebook page had four times as many fans as opponent Rep. Mike Castle. On the day of Washington, D.C.’s primary, Vince Gray, who unseated Mayor Adrian Fenty, had twice as many fans as his rival. And in New York, Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino had 20% more fans when he beat his better known opponent Rick Lazio.
A more rigorous analysis of the correlation between Facebook activity and political outcomes needs to be undertaken before any definitive conclusions can be drawn. But for any candidate who’s trailing their competitor on the social network, it probably wouldn’t hurt to try to recruit some new fans. (And yes, we’re looking at you Florida Governor Charlie Crist (101,127 fewer fans than his Republican rival Marco Rubio), Kentucky congressional contender Jack Conway (74,285 fewer fans than Republican Rand Paul), and California congressional challenger Carly Fiorina (half as many fans as Democratic incumbent Rep. Barbara Boxer).


What about the climate of Southeastern Arizona makes it a new hotbed for wine?
Peggy Fiandaca, left, and Curt Dunham, right, owners of Lawrence Dunham Vinyards inside their wine cellar.
Sydnie LeMieux recently graduated from the UA with a bachelor's degree in geosciences.
If making wine is a science, then Southern Arizona is a superior laboratory. But ditch the lab coats and goggles because the most important components for growing grapes are elevation, climate and soil.
Arizona has more than 80 licensed and bonded wineries, according to the Arizona Wine Growers Association. In Southern Arizona the vineyards are clustered around Sonoita and Willcox. These vineyards don't thrive among saguaros and cholla but in well-watered grasslands above 4,000 feet, where the days are warm and the nights cool.
In 2007, Peggy Fiandaca and Curt Dunham established Lawrence Dunham Vineyards, 36 miles southeast of Willcox. The name honors Dunham's parents—Betty Jane Lawrence and Robert Ervin Dunham.
The winery sits on the western slopes of the Chiricahua Mountains. "This area has incredible soil and water qualities, and the weather, on the edge of briskness, provides a wonderful place to grow mountain fruit," Dunham said.
"Great wine starts in the vineyard," Fiandaca added.
Grapes are traditionally grown along coasts or in valleys below 1,000 feet. Compared with most vineyards, Lawrence Dunham Vineyards sits at a high elevation—4,896 feet. The temperature dips into the 50s at night and rises into the 90s during the day in the growing season. "Plants would rather have it 72 and sunny every day," Dunham said, but that wouldn't make tasty grapes.
These temperature swings stress the grapes, which is a good thing. A stressed grape means a thick skin, which results in better-tasting wine.
But here's where it gets tricky. Like humans, grapes can be too stressed.
"Grapes are an arid plant, meaning they don't want wet feet," Dunham said. When it rains hard during the summer monsoons, the grapes need good drainage.
The grassland soils provide an ideal rain-filtering system. The soils are made of rhyolite, ash and granite. The rhyolite and ash formed from a massive volcanic eruption about 27 million years ago that cooled atop older granite and formed the Chiricahuas. This porous mixture allows rainwater to drip through so the grapes are not sitting in an underground bathtub.
At the same time, this particular mixture of rock helps hold onto a bit of the moisture so the plants don't dry up.
Soils play an important role in determining a wine's taste. They add distinctive flavors to the grapes because the roots pick up minerals and other nutrients that filter downward from the surface. "Grasslands are amazing at storing and accumulating nutrient-rich organic matter in the surface soils," said Rebecca Lybrand, a doctoral student studying soils in the UA's Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science.
Fiandaca and Dunham modeled their wine varieties after those in the Rhône Valley of southern France, where rocky soils also predominate.
Each year Lawrence Dunham Vineyards produces about 2,000 cases of four varietals: grenache, syrah, petite sirah and viognier. Varietals are wines made from the same type of grape. The opposite of varietals are blends, which are mixtures of varietals.
Petite sirah grapes produce red wine with a spicy, plummy flavor. Syrah, not to be confused with petite sirah, is also a red. It contains flavors of blackberry, mint and black pepper. The third red, grenache, is spicy, with red fruit flavors. It is the dominant variety produced in the Rhône Valley. Grenache grapes thrive in warm, dry conditions. So do viognier grapes, which produce a white varietal with floral aromas and hints of peach, pear and violet.
Elevation, climate and soil all affect the quality of the grapes. So which one matters most?
Stephan Hlohowskyj, a soil scientist and lab manager in UA's Department of Geosciences, offered an interesting analogy. "Let's say you're having a baby and you ask your doctor, 'What is the most dominant factor in the way my baby will look?' There is no one dominant thing because there are 23 chromosomes from each parent that go into making your baby. And that's kind of the same thing when you're growing plants. That's why it's so hard to grow good wine grapes."
Keep in mind that we haven't even gotten to talking about fermenting the grapes and bottling the wine.
After the grape vines are planted, there is a lot of plant-sitting to do. One of the most important tools that Fiandaca and Dunham rely on is a weather station, which tracks the wind flow, humidity, temperature and soil moisture.
Dunham listed the weather variables encountered during one growing season, which is equivalent to one calendar year.
• Ninety-degree heat waves start in May. Hopefully, the plants won't dry out or die of thirst.
• During the summer, thunderstorms and hail can obliterate the plants by ripping their roots out of the ground and damaging leaves and fruit. Also, if the field stays wet for a long time, the grapes can rot.
• Early freezes begin in fall, followed by hard freezes in winter. If frost occurs in spring after the plants have budded, fruit won't form.
• Pests and diseases can also interfere with plant growth.
With 40 acres to tend, Fiandaca and Durham can't just wrap a blanket around their vines to protect them. "There really is not much you can do to prevent the acreage from damage," Fiandaca said, "so we just drink."


YORK City midfielder Nicky Wroe has been placed on the transfer list after claims he no longer wants to play for the club.
But any interested parties would need to pay a five-figure fee for the 22-year-old's services with Wroe under contract to the KitKat Crescent club until the end of next season.
The former Barnsley midfielder joined City in August after starting the season in Scotland with Hamilton Academicals following his release by the Oakwell club.
He signed a one-year deal with the Minstermen inserting an option to retain his services for a further ten months, which was exercised last month.
Wroe, who made 27 starts and scored ten goals last season, was also offered improved terms but is now hoping to leave City according to club officials, fuelling speculation he has been offered a better deal elsewhere.
In a club statement, community and communications director Sophie McGill said: "Nicky Wroe has been placed on the transfer list following a statement by the player to Jason McGill and Colin Walker that he no longer wants to play for York City.
"Nicky Wroe signed a one-year contract last season with a further one-year option, which the club has since exercised. Although the club were under no obligation to improve the player's terms this season, Nicky Wroe was offered an enhanced contract, which is in line with the majority of his team-mates.
"York City also supported Nicky Wroe with his recent injury, paying £3,000 for an operation for the player in April. Nicky Wroe was set to be part of Colin Walker's plans for next season and everyone at the club is very disappointed he is not committed to the forthcoming campaign."
City boss Walker, who was instrumental in bringing Wroe to the club as Billy McEwan's assistant last year, agreed with the statement's sentiments.
Wroe was unavailable for comment.


You've seen lots of post-apocalyptic worlds — but how would some of the most famous places on Earth look after everything fell apart? These digital paintings by John Walters and Peter Baustaedter, inspired by The Last of Us, show how 20 years of decay after the fall of humankind affect some iconic buildings.
Statue of Poseidon in the Gardens of Versailles, France. The garden was designed by André Le Nôtre, Louis Le Vau, Jules Hardouin-Mansart and Charles Le Brun, under the rule of Louis XIV, between 1661 and the late 1680s.
The fortified walls of Avila, Castille and León, Spain, completed between the 11th and 14th centuries.
The decommissioned Battersea Power Station, South West London, UK, constructed between 1929 and 1935, designed by a team of engineers headed by Leonard Pearce and the architect Theo J. Halliday, but Sir Giles Gilbert Scott also worked on the project.
Buckingham Palace, London, UK, originally built as a large townhouse in 1703, but during the 19th century it was enlarged by John Nash and Edward Blore.
The southern facade of Notre-Dame de Paris, from the River Seine. Its construction began in 1163, completed in 1345.
Berlin Cathedral (also known as the Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church), Berlin, Germany. The current building was finished in 1905.


Bernie Sanders kicked off his 2020 campaign on Saturday in Brooklyn, doubling down on his progressive agenda and maintaining his position staunchly to the left of a crowded field of Democratic nominees in his second bid for the U.S. presidency.
Donald Trump is “a threat to everything” Bernie Sanders and his supporters stand for, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine said on Good Morning America Thursday.
Day two of the Democratic National Convention could be just as raucous on the floor as Monday. The roll call vote of each state, which is going to take place later Tuesday, will pose an even bigger opportunity for disgruntled Sanders supporters to show their displeasure with the presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton.
Here are the five biggest stories to keep an eye on as the Democratic National Convention starts Monday.
If you missed the speeches from Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, watch videos of the big ones.
With big differences in economic policy separating the presidential candidates, a former Federal Reserve Board vice chairman said there’s common ground that could help boost wages, create jobs and close the socioeconomic status gap.


ChrisD.ca is proud to once again be partnering with the Red River Ex this year.
We’re giving away four Family Packs (four gate admissions each) and 12 ride passes for the annual exhibition, running June 13-22.
This year’s theme is “Get Up Close,” allowing families to have an up-close experience with everything the Ex has to offer.
New attractions this season include iFlip — an aerial thrill show including aerial bungee, trampoline wall, dangling sphere, power track and more. Also on the agenda are new shopping kiosks this year along the popular midway. Musical performers Gord Bamford, Down With Webster, Tyler Shaw, Alyssa Reid and Karl Wolf will hit the stage, as well as Eddie Money and many others.
Fill out the entry form below. We’ll draw four random winners. Good luck!
Advance gate tickets are available at Sobeys, Mac’s or RedRiverEx.com for $9. Visit the Ex’s website for a complete rundown of this year’s events and attractions.
Never miss another contest! Be alerted when we have a new promotion. Sign up for our contest alerts e-mail list.


The sale of The Scream by Edvard Munch for $120 million is yet another sign that in the art world there is a lot more focus on the business, the ever rising prices, the booming demand. This person said that the world is indeed focused on big sales and big art gatherings such as Biennale or Art Basel.
This is not a judgement — more an observation, for that is where we might be in a cycle, both economic and creative. But as this art historian pointed out, away from the sparkling lights, she has seen new collectives and movements form, which gives her hope. I am betting it is the same in tech-land.
Secret to success (short term); create a need (or desire) and fill it. Or at least the illusion that it’s going to be filled. The days of ‘building a better mousetrap and the world beating a path to your door’ are long gone. To borrow Canon’s tag line “image is everything”. Or maybe it’s more important to ask “Where’s the beef?” Silicon valley has gone though a lot of cycles of innovation and re-inventing itself with world changing products. And almost as many cycles of vaporware that made a few rich quickly but fell like a house of cards because of the hype.
But that has long been the bastion of the finagler. If you’re not smart enough to come up with some game changer, there’s gullible people to be found who will invest in magic bean farms for awhile.
I admire that you see this and publish it. I would hope that a function of the press would be to critically and honestly evaluate press releases and the latest hype. The mark of a great reporter has always been the ability to sift though all the stories and present the actual facts.
I think that search for innovation by entrepreneurs has too often become a secondary goal – or a superficial one. It’s now mostly about the financial transaction – whether that be a fundraising event or quick flip acquisition. That focus may make sense if you’re investor, but not if you’re trying to build a company of real value.
I hate how much I agree with you on this one — not because I dislike agreeing with you, but because I love technology innovation and don’t like the industry’s infatuation with “what’s hot” instead of what’s truly innovative.
Anyway, they focus on what’s profitable instead of what’s going to change things. Which generally means cheaper technology. Which…is less profitable for the big tech companies.
I wouldn’t call it deviant, but it is just business. I wish there was more independent tech news out there, but it’s easily eclipsed by the more profitable news.


GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Hundreds of people are expected to protest the Kent County commission meeting Thursday morning with a single demand: end the county's jail contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"We want to leave that office making sure the contract is canceled," said Karla Barberi, a volunteer organizer with Movimiento Cosecha GR. "They're profiting from this whole issue -- the separation of families."
The Kent County Board of Commissioners meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, June 28, in room 310 of the County Administration Building, 300 Monroe Ave. NW.
Protesters will address the board about how the ICE contract has separated families in Kent County and demand it end, Barberi said. Before the meeting, Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE organizers will hold a press conference in Calder Plaza just outside of the building.
"America is the land of the free and we have to respect that," one protester said. "We're no bad hombres."
LaPlante said a Freedom of Information Act request must be filed to obtain detainment data for years prior.
Most 2017 Kent County detainees were held for one day, but nine of them were held for two days and eight for three days until ICE officers could pick them up for possible immigration proceedings, LaPlante said.
ICE did not return requests for comment.
Under the contract, the sheriff's office can bill ICE for $85 for each day of detainment, plus $30.47 an hour for regular time guard service and $45.66 for overtime service.
There were 202 days of detainment last year, or $17,850 worth.
Barberi argues the cash incentive drives profiling and the number of people arrested for minor infractions.
She recounted a story of an immigrant single mother arrested for not having a license while her 16-year-old, who had a permit, drove the car.
"We deal with this every single day in the community," she said.
The process of detainment begins with arrest on various charges, from minor traffic violations to criminal sexual conduct. The person is booked at the jail, and their fingerprints are transmitted to state and federal databases.
When ICE receives the prints, they might request a detainment request on a suspected illegal immigrant.
The detainment requests are not mandatory, and numerous jails across the states have been denying them in recent years.
LaPlante claims jails must oblige them.
"It is not discretionary, as ICE is a lawful law enforcement entity and they have a valid request to detain for lawful proceedings," she said.
The difference with Kent County from most jails is that it has a formal detainment contract. The contract affords the jail an agreed cost recovery but allows the release of detainees only very specific circumstances and almost always to ICE officers.
Kent County is among several in Michigan that have formal detainment contracts with ICE. The contract was implemented in 2012 and renewed in August 2017.
The Calhoun County sheriff wants to build a new jail to house more ICE detainees.
Unless the county bows to pressure, the ICE contract runs through September 2019.
Barberi said she's angry the public wasn't allowed input on whether to renew the contract.
"I am outraged that it was renewed without our consent, without even asking us," she said. "We didn't have a chance to vote, we didn't have a chance to voice our opinion on something so impactful to our community."
Without a contract, LaPlante said the county would continue to honor ICE detainment requests. The only difference is the county could no longer hold detainees for up to three days.
"Without a contract, there would not be a change in process but the hold period would be reduced from 72 to 48 hours, and ICE would have to transport sooner," she said.
LePlante said county officials have not discussed "backing out of a federal contract/mandate."
Before the 2012 contract, the county kept people with ICE detainment holds jailed.
As for compensation, LePlante said "we were not charging ICE immediately preceding the contract being signed in 2012."


You’ve no doubt heard of cryptocurrencies by now – that weird, digital currency that went from being only used for buying drugs and paying off hitmen to now being common talk at restaurants and bars all over the world, with legitimate business groups investing millions into the digital tokens. Values in cryptocurrencies continue to skyrocket and new ICOs are popping up almost daily. Yet, there is still a huge disconnect when it comes to the general public, traditional banking institutions and investors. Some of this is due to digital currencies still being difficult to spend for the general public, but it is also because traditional investors are still a bit wary to invest in a currency that has almost zero regulation worldwide.
It’s also important to note that adoption of cryptocurrencies relies on these factors or else it will never fully reach its potential. This new era does bring with it one thing – entrepreneurs and startups around the world looking for solutions to these problems. In something as young as digital currencies, these same teams will be the ones to shape this new digital, financial landscape.
Take, for example, Canadian-based company, TokenFunder, who recently obtained approval from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) to offer an initial token offering for their coin, the FNDR token. TokenFunder joins British compliance startup Coinfirm in the space of an emerging field called RegTech. Basically, these regulation technology companies are working on bridging the gap between the deregulated world of crypto and traditional markets and investment channels. While many digital currency advocates are going to have issues with increased regulations and the outlining of rules, as the money invested in crypto grows, so does the spotlight, and with that digital currency companies will have to find easier, cost efficient ways to navigate such confusion pathways.
While cryptocurrencies can be a great vehicle for moving value from place to place, it is not nearly as efficient a storage method of value simply due to the current volatility of the digital marketplace. This volatility is one thing that keeps traditional heavyweight investors from adopting this new economy. It is simply hard to justify investing in something that could tank before it even gets off the ground, especially when dealing with a market that has no regulations. That’s where startups like the Jibrel Network and CyberTrust come into play. These companies are mixing traditional wealth management with tokens to establish a network that provides value and more importantly, stability and regulation.
CyberTrust will be managing this through the use of their token – the Global Crypto Note (GCN). Investors will be able to purchase them like basically all current tokens and digital currencies, but their value will be tied to the cryptocurrency they are representing. At present, that includes Bitcoin, Etherium, and BitcoinCash, but will continue to be expanded as currencies establish themselves. This token differentiates itself in one major way, however, it is an investment tool that is both regulated and audited. Basically, institutional investors will be able to diversify into cryptocurrencies without the regulatory difficulties of actually owning them. GCN will also include an ISIN (the number associated with any security), auditability, and have a pass-through tax structure adding to its legitimacy.
Jibrel takes a different approach, but it still works towards the goal of giving investors a stable platform to invest. The company will be creating PwC audited, KYC/AML compliant tokens that are basically created through the value of real world assets. These tokens are called Crypto Depository Receipts (CryDRs) and they will have these traditional regulations baked into the tokens from creation. Investors would be able to take their assets and tokenize them knowing that the rules are embedded with compliance, and therefore, some level of safety. It can also keep these high level investors from facing hefty fines in places where compliance can be a grey area.
Companies like CryptoPay and TenX are both startups looking to create actual debit cards that can spend Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as quickly and easily as we spend money from our traditional bank accounts. The one big issue with this, like many of the issues that revolve around digital currencies, is that the market can swing quickly and harshly – but it’s when you start tying in everything from this article that you can start to see the big picture that can help stabilize and streamline this emerging financial market and bring it to the forefront.


“How did I fall pregnant? I’m on the pill!” Women finally have some clarity on a question that has baffled them for years. A new study has found that some women may have genes that break down the hormones in contraceptives more quickly, thus reducing the efficacy of their contraceptive.
Contraceptives are not 100% effective. The contraceptive pill, for example, is generally believed to be 99% effective but reasons why contraceptives fail have remained ambiguous.
When women fall pregnant while on contraceptives, it is largely assumed that they took their pill incorrectly – either by missing it or taking it too late or at erratic times – or were already in the early stages of pregnancy when they first started taking it.
The researchers examined 350 women with a median age of 22.5 years who were using the contraceptive implant, one of the most effective contraceptive methods available to women, for between 12 and 36 months.
User error on the implant is next to impossible. Because the contraception method is implanted in the woman’s arm, steadily releasing hormones, she cannot forget to take it or take it incorrectly.
The researchers found that 5% of the women they examined in the study had a gene called CYP3A7*1C. While this gene is active in foetuses, it is usually switched off before birth. In a small number of cases, this gene is not switched off and it may result in the production of an enzyme called CYP3A7.
For the 5% of women who still had this gene, the researchers found the enzyme it produces breaks down the hormones in birth control. This may be putting them at risk of pregnancy while using contraception, especially when using contraceptives with a low dosage of hormones.
Lazorwitz said the findings mark the first time a genetic variant has been associated with birth control. According to him, the study may motivate the development of precise medical tools that can tailor treatment to individual patients.


Patrick Snyder defeats challenger Alyson Leahy to keep his seat, with 55 percent of the vote.
WAUSAU - Patrick Snyder will continue to represent the 85th Assembly District for another term in Madison.
Snyder defeated Leahy in Tuesday's mid-term election for the Assembly position. He received 55 percent of the vote.
Snyder, 62, has served one term in the Legislature, during which he authored five bills that were signed into law, including Sara's Law to protect lawyers and guardian ad litems after the death of attorney Sara Quirt Sann in a mass shooting on March 22, 2017. He is married with two children and lives in Schofield.
Leahy, 31, is a member of the Marathon County Board and has completed training with Emerge Wisconsin, which is a six-month program that trains Democratic women to run for political office. Emerge Wisconsin is part of the national Emerge organization. She said that she decided to run so soon after her election to the County Board because the time felt right. She is married and lives in Wausau.
The 85th Assembly District includes Wausau, Schofield, Rothschild, the village of Hatley and adjoining towns.


HOUMA � A 2-year-old girl died Monday night after she was hit by a car in the driveway of her apartment complex.
�Mr. Ledet�s a friend of the family from what I understand,� Duplantis said, adding that Ledet was leaving the party when he hit Callahan with the car.
�Mr. Ledet proceeded to leave, and some kind of way he ran over the child,� Duplantis said.
A representative from the apartment complex declined to speak with a reporter Tuesday morning.


Designed for military use in WWII, the Dodge Power Wagon found plenty of heavy-duty use after the war. The trucks were designed to go anywhere and do anything, for big jobs like mining and moving lumber.
Shown off on the latest episode of Jay Leno's garage today is a restomodded 6x6 1942 Dodge Power Wagon. Winslow Bent is the man behind Legacy Classic Trucks, a Wyoming-based restoration company that isn't afraid to throw some modern touches into its gnarly projects.
As Bent tells it, he specializes in Power Wagons and starts with abandoned trucks he sees in places like fields and barns. The great things about Power Wagons is that they were overbuilt to be able to do any job that a customer might wish to perform.
Leno laughs about the fact that this truck can't really rust out, because the metal's too thick. This civilian-cabbed Power Wagon uses a Cummins turbodiesel engine, will climb just about anything, weighs 8000 lbs, and would probably survive a small explosion. Let's a see a Ferrari do that. Because with a $200,000 price tag, this Power Wagon costs about the same.


Two suspects arrested after gunmen storm mosque and open fire on praying worshippers, killing one and wounding three.
ISIL claimed responsibility after gunmen killed one Shia Muslim and wounded three others at a mosque in Bangladesh, a US monitoring website said on Friday. It was the second assault targeting the religious minority in a month.
However, a Bangladeshi official denied that Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was operating in the South Asian nation of 160 million people.
Three masked attackers entered the Imam Khomeini mosque in Haripur village and began shooting indiscriminately before escaping, witnesses told Al Jazeera. At least 20 people were saying evening prayers at the time on Thursday.
Two suspects were arrested in connection with the attack in Bogra district, 125 kilometres northest of the capital Dhaka, according to local media reports.
The US-based intelligence group SITE, which monitors the communications of armed groups, said ISIL had taken responsibility online for the mosque assault.
But Muntasirul Islam, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said he doubted the veracity of ISIL's statements, adding past claims by the group could not be corroborated.
"We have spoken to the media before, categorically denying ISIL's claims in the past. Investigating agencies did not find any relations with the murder of bloggers and foreign nationals to outside terrorist organisations," Islam told Al Jazeera.
Seventy-year-old Moazzem Hossain - the mosque's muezzin, the man who calls Muslims for prayer - died shortly after being admitted to a local hospital.
ISIL has claimed responsibility for the murder of two foreign nationals in recent months, as well as the grisly killings of several bloggers.
On October 24, ISIL claimed responsibility for a series of blasts targeting Shia Muslims in Dhaka during a religious procession, killing one person.
But Islam told Al Jazeera that local armed groups were behind past attacks, not ISIL. "They use the name of Islamic of State [of Iraq and the Levant] to attract media attention," he said.
Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said those carrying out attacks are not real Muslims.
"Killing people during prayers at mosques is not a job done by a true Muslim ... nor is suicide a job of a true Muslim," she was quoted as saying.
Amid rising threat to foreign nationals, Australia on Friday asked its citizens to voluntarily leave Bangladesh, adding that it would withdraw government-funded volunteers by December 31.