With automation deem to be increasingly important among businesses and across industries, 45 percent of respondents in Asia believe robotics will be the sector most ready for disruption in the startup scene.
Robotics and consumer banking are expected to take centrestage in Asia's startup scene next year, ahead of healthcare and real estate.
Asked which sectors would be emerging startup trends in 2017, 45 percent of respondents pointed to robotics while 20 percent said likewise for consumer banking, revealed a survey conducted by Telenor Group. The study polled 215 respondents on Facebook and LinkedIn from various Asian economies including India, Singapore, and Thailand.
According to to Telenor, the findings were in line with market projections that 2.6 million industrial robots would be deployed worldwide by 2019, and amid increasing importance of automation across industries and among businesses.
Another 14 percent of respondents in the region believed healthcare would see the most disruption next year, 12 percent pointed to real estate, and 9 percent cited air travel.
Looking back at 2016, 40 percent named autonomous vehicles as the most disruptive technology while 23 percent believed this to be fintech. Some 20 percent highlighted augmented reality.
Some 37 percent expected autonomous vehicles to be the most disruptive technology in 2017, while 19 percent said connected or Internet of Things (IoT) devices would see increased focus next year. Another 19 percent said enterprise mobile apps would take centrestage, while 13 percent believed services and applications based on blockchain and bitcoin technology would prove most disruptive.
Telenor said self-driving cars could become "the norm" following the introduction of self-driving taxis in Singapore this year.
The country also would be piloting the use of self-driving buses and conducting research to improve real-tine monitoring of the national rail system.


Country artists, producers and record labels are joining together with music industry members from other genres to expand the opportunities for women in music. Keith Urban, Kelsea Ballerini and more have signed the new Producer & Engineer Inclusion Initiative from the Recording Academy's Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion.
The Producer & Engineer Inclusion Initiative, according to a press release, asks those hiring producers and engineers to include at least two female candidates in their selection process, and to think about gender diversity as they work with younger producers and engineers who are just coming into the field. By doing so, the Recording Academy's task force hopes to both expand the opportunities available to women currently in those fields, and inspire younger women to pursue production and engineering as a career path.
"The music industry is at a crossroads, and progress won’t happen on its own. There is no magic bullet to shift a status quo that has existed for centuries, but we see this initiative as an important step," says Tina Tchen, chair of the Recording Academy’s Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion. "We know that change requires real commitment to intentional hiring and to providing young women with consistent training and mentorship. We aren’t here to tell anyone who to hire, but we have seen repeatedly that the simple act of making sure diverse candidates are always seen and considered makes it more likely that women will get the opportunities they previously have been denied."
A 2018 study by the the University of Southern California's Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, a think tank studying diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry, reports that women account for only 2 percent of producers and 3 percent of engineers in popular music. The Producer & Engineer Inclusion Initiative, the Recording Academy says, aims to "gives employers and creative decision-makers the continued ability to make the right choice for their music, while simultaneously providing visibility and opportunity for female producers and engineers."
More than 200 artists, producers, record labels and other music industry organizations and executives have signed the Producer & Engineer Inclusion Initiative. In addition to Urban and Ballerini, the country music community is represented by Kassi Ashton, Dierks Bentley, the Brothers Osborne, Brandi Carlile, Cam (who is a member of the Recording Academy Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion), Kelly Clarkson, Phil and Tim Hanseroth, Ryan Hurd, Little Big Town, Lori McKenna, Steve Moakler, Ashley Monroe, Maren Morris, Kacey Musgraves, Lukas Nelson, Old Dominion and Carrie Underwood, along with producers Dave Cobb, Dann Huff, Luke Laird, Frank Liddell and Shane McAnally.
A number of Nashville-focused record labels and management companies have also made the pledge. Arista Nashville, Big Loud Records, Big Machine Label Group, Capitol Records Nashville, Columbia Nashville, EMI Nashville, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville and RCA Nashville are all part of the initiative.
The Recording Academy formed its Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion after the 2018 Grammy Awards, after which some members of the music industry felt that women and people of color, specifically in light of the #MeToo and Time's Up movements, were underrepresented. Comments by Recording Academy President and CEO Neil Portnow and Grammy Awards telecast producer Ken Ehrlich that were dismissive of women in music intensified the outcry.


Total 2.157 "freedoms" results found.
Is it possible for a man to be a feminist?
Did French President Macron end Turkey’s EU membership dreams?
The end of Turkey’s EU membership bid?
Pera Museum opens winter season with two exhibits: Re/Framing Louis Kahn and Look At Me!
Why did Trump’s critical sentence on Turkey get lost?


An agreement was recently signed with MTV Network On Campus to deliver program services to the Memorial Union, Student Housing, and the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC). As a result, the popular MtvU channel was added to the campus cable TV system in January 2005. MtvU is the largest national television network programmed exclusively for college students, broadcasting to over 5 million college students and more than 700 campuses.


LANSING, Mich. — State election officials expect turnout in Tuesday's primary election will be below 25 percent, and some candidates say it might be even lower.
About 1.7 million voters will go to the polls, Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land forecast in a Wednesday release. She based her estimate on past turnout in primary elections, absentee voter activity and local officials' estimates. While her name won't be on the ballot, Land is the running mate of Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, one of five Republicans running for governor.
Turnout in the 2008 primary election was 19 percent, but Land expects it to hit 23 percent this year because of hotly contested primary races for governor and some congressional seats.
Many gubernatorial candidates aren't sure that many voters are interested. Republican Mike Cox said during a Lansing news conference that at one point he thought turnout in the GOP primary might get close to the nearly 870,000 who voted in the January 2008 GOP presidential primary. Now he thinks Republican turnout may be below 800,000, but said he isn't worried that will affect his chances.
"We've identified enough voters (that) we feel pretty comfortable," he said.
Turnout in the Democratic primary is expected to be even lighter, and a new poll shows that fewer Democratic voters remain undecided.
The poll by Lansing-based EPIC-MRA surveyed 400 likely Democratic primary voters from Saturday through Monday, and found that Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero had 40 percent support compared to 32 percent for House Speaker Andy Dillon. Another 28 percent were undecided.
The numbers show a shift from a EPIC-MRA poll conducted in mid-June, when Dillon had 34 percent, Bernero had 24 percent, and 42 percent were undecided.
Even though Bernero hasn't raised enough money to run his own campaign ads, union supporters began airing a third ad Wednesday referring to Dillon as a "corporate raider" responsible for lost jobs when he worked as a managing director at Wynnchurch Capital. The ad shows images of Bernero meeting with workers while he talks about his support for "working families who didn't get a Wall Street bailout or bonus."
Dillon's campaign spokesman said Wednesday that the attacks on Dillon's record are inaccurate.
"The powers that be are spending millions of dollars on ads distorting Andy Dillon's record as a business turnaround expert and attempting to distract voters by attacking his personal beliefs," T.J. Bucholz said. "We believe that Democratic primary voters will choose Dillon's independence and bold ideas over Bernero's divisive, old-style politics. And so do the power brokers — or they wouldn't be fighting so hard to take Dillon on."
Dillon's campaign said the job cuts referred to by Bernero supporters occurred after Dillon left Wynnchurch or in companies where Dillon played no role. Bernero has won major endorsements from abortion rights groups and unions unhappy with Dillon's proposals to trim public employee benefits.
Dillon added to his list of Detroit-area endorsements Wednesday by picking up the backing of the Michigan Chronicle, a black-run newspaper. In the GOP contest, the paper endorsed Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder.
Snyder, a moderate Republican, has called on Democrats and independents to abandon the Democratic contest vote for him on the GOP ballot. Voters get a single primary ballot with candidates for both parties, but can vote for candidates in only one.
With five Republicans in the race, the winner of the GOP primary may be able to snag victory with less than 30 percent of the vote. That has put a premium on persuading supporters to get to the polls and pulling in undecided voters.
Cox embarked on a five-day "Putting Michigan Back To Work" tour after his Wednesday news conference. He planned to campaign in west Michigan on Thursday with 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.
Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, meanwhile, combined his campaigning with two new ads: a television bit in which he promises to "cut red tape, spending and taxes" and a new radio spot featuring him and his wife, Diane.
Bouchard was on his "Get Michigan Back to Work" tour Wednesday in Flint, Owosso, Alma, Mount Pleasant, Evart and Cadillac, and planned to head to Bellaire, Gaylord, Alpena, Tawas City and Beaverton on Thursday.
Snyder stopped by the Kalamazoo River during a stop in his hometown of Battle Creek to check out the effects of an oil spill. Earlier Wednesday, he held town hall meetings in Jackson, Hillsdale and Coldwater.
GOP candidate Tom George, a state senator from Kalamazoo County, which also is affected by the spill, expressed concern about the effect of the leaked oil on the environment.
Bernero planned to tour the spill site on Thursday.


An ancient piece of papyrus that contains a mention of Jesus' wife is not a forgery, according to a scientific analysis of the controversial text, US researchers said Thursday.
The fragment is believed to have come from Egypt and contains writing in the Coptic language that says, "Jesus said to them, 'My wife ...'"
Another part reads: "She will be able to be my disciple."
Its discovery in 2012 caused a stir.
Since Christian tradition has long held that Jesus was not married, it renewed long-running debates over celibacy and the role of women in the church.
The Vatican's newspaper declared it a fake, along with other scholars who doubted its authenticity based on its poor grammar, blurred text and uncertain origin.
Never before has a gospel referred to Jesus being married, or having women as disciples.
But a new scientific analysis of the papyrus and the ink, as well as the handwriting and grammar, show that the document is ancient.
"No evidence of modern fabrication ('forgery') was found," the Harvard Divinity School said in a statement.
The palm-sized fragment likely dates to between the sixth and ninth centuries, and could have been written as early as the second century CE (common era), said the study results published in the Harvard Theological Review.
Radiocarbon dating of the papyrus and a study of the ink using Micro-Raman spectroscopy was done by experts at Columbia University, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"The team concluded the papyrus' chemical composition and patterns of oxidation are consistent with old papyrus by comparing the GJW (Gospel of Jesus' Wife) fragment with a fragment of the Gospel of John," said the study.
"Current testing thus supports the conclusion that the papyrus and ink of GJW are ancient."


The bodies of two slain Honduran migrant youths were found in the Mexican border city of Tijuana over the weekend, officials said on Tuesday, in a sign of the dangers facing Central Americans in Mexico as they seek asylum in the United States.
The prosecutors' office in Tijuana said in a statement it was investigating the deaths of the two youths, who showed signs of having been stabbed and strangled. The victims were believed to be about 16 or 17 years old, the office added.
Alden Rivera, the Honduran ambassador to Mexico, said the two teens were from Honduras and that the attack on them had taken place on Saturday afternoon. A third boy survived.
"At the moment, all we can say is that the three boys were taken to a place," Rivera told Reuters. "Two of them were brutally murdered and one of them is a survivor of the incident, who is being protected by Mexican authorities."


Harford County Executive James M. Harkins has made several appointments to his administration.
Joseph Kocy has been named director of planning and zoning; Edward C. Adams Jr. has been appointed director of public works; and Lucy Light Slaich has been named director of procurement.
Richard D. Lynch will remain as director of inspections, licenses and permits, a position he has held since 1993.
The appointments will be forwarded to the County Council for consideration in the next few weeks.


Rescuers expand sea search for crew by The Associated Press | January 13, 2018 at 2:28 a.m.
BEIJING — Rescue ships looking for 31 missing crew members from a burning oil tanker have expanded their search area to more than 1,000 square miles, authorities said Friday.
The expanded search comes six days after the Iranian-owned Sanchi collided with a freighter in the East China Sea and burst into flames.
The cause of the crash remains unclear.
Chinese state television cited officials at the scene in reporting Friday that authorities still have not found any survivors or put out the blaze on the Sanchi. One body has been recovered.
Twelve ships spraying foam are struggling to extinguish the tanker, which was carrying nearly 1 million barrels of condensate, a type of gassy, ultra-light oil.
Search and firefighting efforts resumed Thursday after an onboard explosion rocked the tanker Wednesday.
Intense flames, bad weather and poor visibility have hampered rescue efforts, and Chinese authorities fear the ship could explode, potentially setting off an environmental disaster.


KOLKATA: Once a formidable force in West Bengal politics, the CPM-led Left Front will be fighting one of its toughest political battles in this Lok Sabha polls to prove its political and electoral existence in the state.
"This election indeed will be one of our toughest political battles in Bengal. We had never thought that we would be in such a position in state politics. We hope things will change in the days to come once people realise that only the Left, and not the BJP, can provide an alternative to the TMC," CPM politburo member Hannan Mollah told PTI.
"It is a fight to prove our political and electoral existence and hold ground against the BJP. It's true that you can't wipe out the Left, but at the same time you need to be electorally significant to make your voice heard in parliamentary politics," another senior CPM leader said.
Besides the CPM, the 10-party Left Front has All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Communist Party of India (CPI) as its key constituents which contest Lok Sabha polls in the state.
The CPM as well as the Left Front has won only two of the 42 Lok Sabha seats from the state in 2014 polls.
The Left Front had initiated a seat sharing deal with the Congress but the talks failed at the last moment and both the sides decided to go it alone.
"Had we been able to clinch the seat sharing deal, results in various seats would have been different. We could have been a more credible secular alternative to the TMC," CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said.
Party insiders said, after the failure of seat sharing dialogues, the CPM is at its wits end on how to retain its two seats. Over the years, the party has lost its vote bank of the minorities and rural Bengal to the TMC and refugee vote bank to the BJP.
Adding to its woes, the present Left leadership lacks the dynamism of Jyoti Basu and former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, who despite being ill is still the tallest leader of the CPM and the Left in Bengal.
According to an internal party report, the CPM does not have organisation to arrange for polling agents in at least 30 per cent of the 77,000 polling stations of the state.
Over the years since Independence, the Left witnessed a steady growth in the state.
In 1964, after the split in the party over ideological issues and formation of the CPM, the latter outsmarted the CPI to establish itself as the prime Left force in West Bengal.
During the tumultuous days of Naxalite movement, the CPM along with the Bangla Congress, a splinter group of the Congress, formed two short lived governments in the state in 1967 and 1969.
The party under the leadership of Basu and Promode Dasgupta had become an alternative to the Congress in Bengal.
After the CPM-led Left Front came to power in 1977, its key programmes 'Operation Barga' - giving land to landless farmers which benefited lakhs including Muslims - and setting up of three-tier pancahayat system cemented its support base among the minorities and the rural Bengal.
These two vote banks turned to be blank cheques for the Left for next three decades to win one election after another in the state.


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Rumour confirmed: Man arrested at..
A man was arrested and kept in police custody until the early hours of this morning after dancing in the aisles at Paul McCartney’s concert last night.
First heard on The Rumour File, Ross and John were told the man was placed in handcuffs and escorted from AAMI Park last night.
“After the first song I moved over to the walking aisle to have a bit of a dance and then all of a sudden I was arrested,” Twist + shout + cuffed said.
“Dancing without a licence!” Ross replied.
Victoria Police later confirmed one person was arrested at the concert last night, however they say it was for drunkenness.


Bob Ziegelbauer and Eric Sitkiewitz continue their campaigns to be the next Manitowoc County executive with a third candidate forum this week.
Correction: The start time of the Manitowoc County executive candidate forum Thursday at Manitowoc County Office Complex has been corrected from an earlier version.
MANITOWOC - Bob Ziegelbauer and Eric Sitkiewitz continue their campaigns to be the next Manitowoc County executive with a third candidate forum this week.
Additionally, the dog kennel in Mishicot is on the agenda for the Board of Adjustment meeting Monday.
The two candidates for Manitowoc County executive will meet in a candidate forum to discuss the future of Manitowoc County.
The forum will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Manitowoc County Office Complex on Expo Drive and is hosted by the Manitowoc County Lakes Association.
Bob Ziegelbauer and Eric Sitkiewitz will be on the ballot for the county executive seat for the general election April 3.
For more about what is on the ballot or to find polling locations, visit www.myvote.wi.gov.
A new dog kennel business is requesting permission from the county to operate on a property at 1207 Cedar Grove Lane in the town of Mishicot.
The Manitowoc County Board of Adjustment had planned to address the issue at a meeting scheduled in February, but that meeting was canceled because of bad weather.
The Board of Adjustment will meet at 7 p.m. Monday at the Manitowoc County Office Complex on Expo Drive.
The 12 residents selected to participate in the Manitowoc Police Department's Citizens Academy will learn to load and shoot a handgun Monday in the third week of the program.
Citizens Academy takes place every Tuesday night through May 22 to teach participants about various aspects of law enforcement.
A USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin reporter was invited to attend the classes. Each week, there will be an article and photos covering the topics discussed during the class posted to www.htrnews.com.
Kevin Kelly, J.D., from University of Wisconsin Law School in Madison, will discuss the United States' policy for global engagement and the state and growth of its military for the Great Decisions series at the Manitowoc Public Library Monday.
The presentation will be at 6 p.m. Monday in the Balkansky Community Room. The session will be shown on Facebook Live on the library's Facebook Page.
This is the sixth week of the eight-week series. The events are free and open to the public. For more details, visit www.manitowoclibrary.org and click on the link for 2018 Great Decisions.


Here’s a look at what FishbowlNY stories made the most buzz this week.
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Runners sporting festive Turkey Day costumes will take to the trails to help kids toward adoption this Thanksgiving.
There's no better time to shop local than during Small Business Saturday, a Downtown Boise Association-sponsored event that highlights local businesses and the fabulous gifts (and discounts) they have to offer.
The Boise/Ada Homeless Coalition is hosting Walk A Mile in My Shoes, a one-mile walk to acknowledge the plight of the homeless population.
Dance for Parkinson's Idaho is partnering with The Flicks for a fundraising event that includes a DPI performance, a Q&A and a screening of Capturing Grace.
ABU Games will host an all-ages, 24-hour tabletop gaming event at their Colonial St. store to raise money for the St. Luke’s Children’s Miracle Network.
If you’re inspired to get on the Energize bandwagon, the event will also walk attendees through ways they can use the new Neighborhood Toolbox developed by the Energize Our Neighborhoods team.
The New York Times columnist will speak on "character and the common good."
The state’s largest Memorial Day ceremony will begin at 10 a.m., Monday, May 30, at the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery.
Tell us how we're doing.
Cut off your T-shirt sleeves, put on your mirrored aviators and get ready to get down with country-fried blues rockers Too Slim and the Taildraggers.
Locked up and having a good time.
Where the cowboys are the stars.


OUTBREAKS of disease can spread rapidly and kill thousands but what is the difference between an endemic, epidemic and pandemic?
When more cases of a disease than expected are recorded in one area an outbreak is declared.
The area could be a small community or extend to several countries.
An outbreak could even be a single case of a contagious disease new to a community or not seen for a long time.
Outbreaks can last for a few days, weeks or even several years.
There are three types of outbreak an endemic, an epidemic or a pandemic.
A endemic is an outbreak that occurs at a predictable rate in a certain area or among a set population.
Chickenpox is classed as an endemic as it occurs at a high but predictable rate amongst youngsters.
Endemics remain at a steady state, but do not disappear from a population.
An epidemic will see a disease rapidly spread amongst a large number of people in a given population.
During an epidemic the disease will normally spread in two weeks or less.
There have been 14 epidemics since 2010, including the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, which killed 11,300 people between 2013 and 2016.
In 2003 the SARS outbreak was classed as an epidemic - it killed nearly 800 people.
A pandemic is the worldwide spread of a new infectious disease.
It stretches over a larger area, infects more people and causes more deaths than an epidemic.
In history there have been a number of devastating pandemics including smallpox, tuberculosis and the black death, which killed more than 75million people in 1350.
In 2009 a pandemic of swine flu killed 14,286 people worldwide.


Motoring The recall affects 121,754 vehicles nationally.
Motoring The recall affects more than 24,000 vehicles.
Motoring The car could become its own guardian.
Motoring Survey of 4500 Australian car owners over the past year.
Motoring The new Subaru Forester mid-size SUV is due here in September.
Motoring Petrol and hybrid models’ predicted ascension at Subaru.
Motoring A new range-topping Subaru BRZ tS variant was introduced this year.
Motoring Can it be both a family daily driver and a weekend plaything?
Lifestyle Romance is almost dead for anything but an SUV or a ute.
Lifestyle Long term test of the Subaru Impreza finds there is plenty to like.


Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has asked five agencies to explain why they are allowing WorldCom Inc. to bid on new projects.
After media reports that WorldCom Inc. has received more than $100 million in federal orders since it was suspended almost three months ago, a senator is demanding that agencies explain why they granted waivers to the company.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, has asked five agencies to provide written justification for awarding business to the company or allowing it to bid on new opportunities.
Collins has been one of Congress' most vocal critics of the General Services Administration's handling of the investigation of WorldCom's activities.
The five agencies -- GSA, Armed Forces Retirement Home, Social Security Administration and the Justice and Defense departments -- all had until Nov. 7 to respond.
WorldCom was suspended, and its status referred to the GSA suspension and debarment official after growing criticism from Capitol Hill and the company's competitors that it was allowed to pursue business as usual, despite filing one of the largest bankruptcies in U.S. history and being under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A decision on debarment has not yet been released. A judge Oct. 31 approved WorldCom's plan to emerge from bankruptcy.


"We are answering everything and whatever is required. We are cooperating with CBI, unlike many political leaders who don't," Kanimozhi, who was questioned along with Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu at the DMK headquarters here, told reporters.
This showed their intention to "come out clean" on the issue, she said.
Kanimozhi said she was "asked to substantiate" on the statement issued by Kalaignar TV Managing Director Sharad Kumar on certain financial dealings.
Kanimozhi, who along with Dayalu collectively holds 80 per cent stake in the DMK-backed channel, said DMK never pressured the (Central) government on dealing with the case and added that the Supreme Court was monitoring the probe.
"Do you want me toe the BJP line," she shot back when asked if the Congress-led UPA was trying to use CBI against political parties.
Kalaignar TV had recently denied CBI's allegations that there was a connection between scam accused Shahid Balwa-promoted Swan Telecom and the channel, with the agency telling a court that "it has also come to light that there was a transaction of Rs 214 crore from Cineyug Films Private Limited to Kalaignar TV in 2009".
Kumar had denied receiving pay-offs from DB realty, whose former chief Balwa is in CBI net along with former Union Telecom Minister A Raja.


Dec 19 (Reuters) - India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) sounded cautious on the inflation outlook, while acknowledging a sharp fall in food and crude oil prices, according to minutes of its Dec. 5 meeting published on Wednesday.
The six-member MPC had unanimously decided to maintain the rates two weeks ago, while staying optimistic on growth.
While Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the former Governor Urjit Patel sounded hawkish in the monetary policy minutes, the panel, under the new chief Shaktikanta Das, might be more focussed on boosting growth and cutting rates after the recent sharp decline in inflation.


Residential lot with southern rear exposure. Ready for new home. Ideal location in Northwest Lehigh Acres.


Export Volume of All Items Including Goods and Services (Percent Change) for Congo in year 2015 is -0.862 %.
This makes Congo No. 123 in world rankings according to Export Volume of All Items Including Goods and Services (Percent Change) in year 2015. The world's average Export Volume of All Items Including Goods and Services (Percent Change) value is 2.08 %; Congo is 2.94 less than the average.
In the previous year, 2014, Export Volume of All Items Including Goods and Services (Percent Change) for Congo was -5.70 % Export Volume of All Items Including Goods and Services (Percent Change) for Congo in 2015 was or will be 84.88% less than it was or will be in 2014.
In the following or forecasted year, 2016, Export Volume of All Items Including Goods and Services (Percent Change) for Congo was or will be -0.58 %, which is 32.60% less than the 2015 figure.


Erik Holladay | Kalamazoo GazetteCentral Michigan's Vince Agnew, left, looks to tackle Western Michigan's Brian Fields last fall.
When Vince Agnew was a three-sport standout at Catholic Central High School in Grand Rapids, his first love was basketball.
But when a hoped-for growth spurt never happened, he turned his focus to the track team and a possible scholarship as a sprinter.
Finally, he arrived at Central Michigan University and turned his focus to football.
It turned out to be the right decision.
He acknowledged that he never saw it coming, but Agnew developed into a standout cornerback for the Chippewas and now is looking to take that trade to the NFL, where he hopes to follow in the footsteps of fellow CMU standout Antonio Brown, who helped the Pittsburgh Steelers reach the Super Bowl last season.
The Press recently caught up with Agnew, who has spent the past several months training in Atlanta with the NFL draft approaching this week.
Q: How many teams have you met with?
I met with Jacksonville recently, and Chicago and Buffalo.
Q: What have the scouts and teams been telling you?
I’ve been hearing a lot of good things. Jacksonville has been saying they need a young nickelback and special teams player right away.
Chicago has been looking for more of a straight corneback because they play a more simple defense with the straight Tampa Two, and they love my physicality and sure tackling. Buffalo said they would love to use me as a safety with my tackling ability and high football IQ I’ve been hearing just about the same things from all the teams. It’s been pretty uniform.
Q: How would you sell yourself to teams?
I think I bring a versatility to the table that a lot of guys don’t have. For three solid years, I’ve played nickel and started at cornerback and safety, and I’ve had the ability to have an impact on the game a lot on special teams. I bring a wide range of abilities to the table that another guy won’t have. The Bears told me they like my speed and that it’s going to be hard for a lot of teams to overlook that.
Q: Did they make you take the Wonderlic?
Yeah, but I took a different type of exam for the Jaguars. I think I did good, but there were no words, it was all patterns and shapes and figures. ... I can’t even begin to explain it all to you.
Q: What have you done to prepare for the NFL?
I’ve been training down in Atlanta.I came down in January and started with heavy cardio and started lifting a little more before pro day. Since then, I’ve done more drills that are pro specific. I’ve worked out six days a week, twice a day, but since then I’ve focused more on drills.
Q: What are your plans for the draft weekend?
I hope to get back home and watch with my family. That’s my plan right now.
Q: Where do you think you'll go?
The majority of things I’m hearing is late rounds, anywhere from the fifth to seventh round to free agent. With the way the NFL is right now, if you go in the late rounds it’s really no different than being a free agent. I just want to play. I just want to have the opportunity to come in and compete.
Q: What will you do if the NFL dream doesn't work out?
Maybe I’ll be writing sports articles with you. I was a journalism major.
Q: What are your thoughts on the current NFL labor strife?
I think it’s really hurt a lot of fans, but I think what has been overlooked is a lot of guys, like myself, will end up going in the later rounds or being a free agent and maybe missing a chunk of training camp. We’ll kind of be in limbo over the summer and maybe be a bit behind some of those other guys and it may hurt us in the fall. I just have to try to control what I can control and hope for the best.


'You're a b***h boy,' the 'TM2' star screamed at her second baby daddy.
Javi Marroquin has had enough!
In a sneak peek clip for Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars, the Teen Mom 2 dad and his now ex-wife, Kailyn Lowry, had an explosive argument that made him walk out of the home.
“I think you are a b***h boy,” she yelled at him. After that, Javi walked out.
Watch the clip above! Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars airs Friday nights at 9pm ET only on WE TV.


The automatic admission policy carries a stigma with it that causes some prospective students to have low confidence about their applications, Stojcic said.
The University follows Senate Bill 175, which requires 75 percent of the University’s in-state admits be automatic acceptances, according to the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost website.
Miguel Wasielewski, executive director of admissions, said the annual decision on whether to revise the auto-admit threshold is based on application data.
“The University of Texas at Austin annually assesses historical application and enrollment rates to determine the automatic admit percentage that will result in 75 percent of the University’s Texas resident population being automatically admitted,” Wasielewski said in an email.
Wasielewski said the University is expecting a similar number of Texas resident applications. Last year, a total of 51,033 freshman applied, according to the Texas Admissions website.
“The University is anticipating a similar number of Texas resident freshmen admission applications, and this contributed to our decision to maintain the same automatic admission criteria,” Wasielewski said.
Sydney Simmons, a former Texas resident, applied to UT even though she knew she was not going to be in the automatic admission threshold.
Simmons said if she had gotten into UT, she would have come to the University.
Stojcic said sometimes the automatic admission causes more anxiety for students who do not qualify for it.


THE plan was to witness the 6th Bugsay Mindanao Paddle for Peace in Cortes, Surigao del Sur on March 17 along with people from Rare, a marine conservation group based in the Philippines.
But to maximize resources it was also decided to include a quick trip to Ayoke.
Ayoke is an island that sits at the edge of the Pacific Ocean. From the Cantilan port, it’s almost an hour boat ride which the Ayoke residents navigate on a daily basis.
While we were nervously tugging the edges of our life vests and swayed with each swell with half-breaths, our guide’s daughter munched on turon and slept afterwards.
When we arrived at its shoreline, Ayoke was pitch dark and it was only then that I remembered that the island had no electricity and relied on solar power and vehicle batteries for power.
Home to around 100 households and almost 600 people, Ayoke Island heavily relies on coconut farming and of course, fishing, in its 2,022 hectares of the almost 42,000 hectares of municipal waters.
Because of the lack of a cold storage facility, fish catch is immediately sold to nearby General Island (the bigger and main island) or carted off to Cantilan.
Rare-Philippines has been helping the island community augment this income by generating interest in dried fish production and teaching financial literacy and organizing savings clubs. These social innovations bridge families in seasonal industries like Ayoke’s.
As expected, most of the members of the club are women and so are those who work on dried fish processing which has been marketed as “Baby Bangsi” (flying fish).
But much is to be desired for Ayoke Island. Though still unruffled by tourist-y structures, its shores have already been invaded by trash washed ashore or from those living on the island.
An early morning walk along part of the shoreline produced three sacks bursting with trash, including disposable infant diapers and countless shampoo sachets.
I was imagining that a whole day’s walk would have produced a hill and a month’s daily collection would have sadly amounted to an islet and that thought was scary.


Most investors will look back fondly at 2014 thanks to the stock market's 12% riseon the year. Energy investors, on the other hand, will remember 2014 as the year the price of oil plunged by nearly 50%, taking most oil stocks down with it. That rapid, unexpected fall ruined what had looked to bean exceptional year for oil-field services companyHalliburton, as this chart shows.
Halliburton's stock handily outperformed the S&P 500 through midsummer. At one point it was up nearly 50% on the year. However, as oil prices began to roll over, so did Halliburton's stock price. While the announcement of a merger agreement with Baker Hugheshalted the stock's slide for a little while, the enthusiasm quickly evaporated as oil prices continued an unrelenting sell-off.
Why oil prices squeezed Halliburton's stockHalliburton makes its money by helping oil and gas companies drill new oil wells. With the price of oil now in the $50 per barrel range, oil companies are slashing capital expenses, which will impact Halliburton's growth and margins in 2015, and likely beyond.
The company is being proactive as oil prices fall. It has experienced the cyclicality of the oil market before and it knows how to survive the rough ride ahead of it.
Investor takeawayLast year started off great for Halliburton investors as the stock surged through the first six months. However, as oil prices turned so did the company's stock price. That being said, the fall in oil prices likely is what made Baker Hughes available, and that deal could pay big dividends down the road for Halliburton. So, while the company is bracing itself for slower growth and lower margins over the near term, it knows how to maneuver through a tough oil market to thrive once normalcy returns.
The article Why Halliburton Companys Stock Dropped 21% in 2014 originally appeared on Fool.com.
Matt DiLallo has the following options: short January 2016 $32.5 puts on Kinder Morgan and long January 2016 $32.5 calls on Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool recommends BreitBurn Energy Partners, Halliburton, and Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool owns shares of Kinder Morgan. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


In the daily outpourings of radio and TV, we all have our own pet annoyances - the faces, voices, mannerisms or adverts that make us lunge for the 'off' button or shout back in fury.
1 Fiona Bruce. For reading BBC main news bulletins in the patronising tones of an ‘auntie’ on old-fashioned Children’s Hour. And persistently wearing those naff blazers with piped lapels.
2 The British Gas TV commercial this past winter that said: ‘We understand how having your gas cut off can turn your world upside-down.’ How wonderful that what we thought of as a faceless, avaracious utility can be so understanding. Such a pity they don’t understand that constantly raising their prices also might turn people’s worlds upside-down.
4 Jeremy Clarkson and his fellow Top Gear presenters, for plumbing ever-lower depths of crude blokeishness. No one exemplifies better than Clarkson our modern mania for celebrating ignorance and prejudice. Recently, huge advertising hoardings quoted a pearl from one of his books: ‘Shakespeare? I’d rather stick pencils in my eyes.’ Please may I help?
6 BBC TV overstaffing and repetition. News anchor Huw Edwards interviewing Political Editor Nick Robinson in the studio, going to three different correspondents on screens, then back to Robinson to repeat what he said a few minutes earlier.
8 Sarah Montague’s laugh. On TV, this presenter made a good impression - elegant but no nonsense. On the Today programme, her terrible whinnying guffaw signals any attempt at wit by her male co-presenters.
9 The Go Compare ad. The chosen theme tune for this car insurance website is Over There, a soldiers’ song from World War I. So why is it sung by a joke Italian tenor in tails and a waxed moustache?
12 Most popular cliche among radio economic commentators: ‘Back in the day’ (pointless phrase for ‘in the old days’) and ‘spike’ (totally unevocative word for sudden increase).
13 The BBC’s obsession with ‘regionalism’ — born out of the terror of seeming too elitist and Londoncentric — which has farmed out programmes and luckless employees all over the country. Thus, a recent item on Radio 4 national news was the resumption of ferry services to the Isle of Skye.
14 The odd new practice of having newsreaders deliver the opening headlines standing up in an open space, and the rest of the bulletin seated behind a desk.
15 The Archers. Once ‘an everyday story of country folk’ centred on a family named Archer; now an enclave of metropolitan misfits, most of whom could equally belong on any inner-city sink estate. Where once an episode would begin with Dan Archer talking to Tom Forrest about ploughing Lakey Hill, it now more likely opens with the sound of hysterical weeping or news of another serial killer at large in Borchester.
16 Hand-waving by TV news reporters and presenters — part of the exorable dumbing-down process. We are all considered too stupid to be impressed by the power of words alone, so can be kept interested only by repeated melodramatic gesticulations. Nowadays, even news anchors seated at desks have to wave their hands.
17 Radio reporters who can’t be bothered to work the names of their interviewees into linking narrative, ie: ‘Home Secretary Theresa May believes that …’ Instead, they just say ‘Home Secretary Theresa May’ like a major domo announcing arrivals at a reception.
18 All Radio 4 ‘comedy’ series after 11pm, and TV comedians called Lee — whether as a first or second name.
19 Simon Cowell’s open-to-the-navel shirts and sweaters with plunging necklines of bare flesh. How can someone who makes a career from criticising the appearance and self-delusions of others walk around looking like that?
20 Radio 4’s endlessly plugged and sublimely pointless History Of The World In 100 Objects. What was the use of discussing 100 different artefacts that listeners couldn’t see? Radio ventriloquism seemed rational by comparison.
22 The new breed of documentary presenters chosen for their puppyish enthusiasm, as typified by Professor Brian Cox. Devotees of Down With Skool will recall Fotherington-Thomas, the ‘utter wet and weed’ who skipped around trilling: ‘Hello flowers, hello sky!’ Just substitute the solar system.
23 The relentless unfunniness of QI’s Alan Davies, whose sole point of interest is that since making those TV ads about ‘life being complica’ed enough’, he has learned to pronounce the letter T.
24 The BBC presenting team at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, and especially transcendentally dim Fearne Cotton, who made Tony Blackburn sound like Walter Cronkite.
25 The perky sign-off favoured by younger weather forecasters: ‘And that’s your weather.’ Not theirs, too?
Joke: Why does the Go Compare advert use the theme tune of Over There, a soldiers' song from World War I?
Simon Cowell to Fiona Bruce: What makes YOU hit the off button?


During Xi Jinping's three-day visit to Hong Kong he has taken over two entire luxury hotels Grand Hyatt and Renaissance with more than 1,300 rooms.
More than 1300 rooms have been bocked between Grand Hyatt and Renaissance for Xi Jinping's visit.
Hong Kong, China: China's President Xi Jinping will want for nothing during his three-day visit to Hong Kong after taking over two entire luxury hotels with more than 1,300 rooms between them.The glitzy harbourfront Grand Hyatt and Renaissance, in the business and commercial district of Wan Chai, are usually bustling with guests as well as visitors to their popular bars and restaurants.
But now all entrances are blocked by metal barricades or guarded by security as the politically turbulent city remains in lockdown for Xi's landmark trip to mark 20 years since it was handed back to China by Britain.
Xi checked in on Thursday and will leave on Saturday, with it unclear who is footing the extensive room bill.
Local media said he would stay in the lower-profile four-star Renaissance for security reasons, with the five-star Hyatt for his entourage.
Staying at the Renaissance reportedly costs as much as HK$28,000 ($3,586) per night, with the presidential suite including living and dining rooms, a conference room, and a marble bathroom.
A presidential suite at the Grand Hyatt costs three times as much, according to local media, with guests asked to call direct to organise bespoke facilities. One high-end suite at the hotel comes equipped with a giant glass-walled infinity bath and in-room spa treatments, according to the website.
Booking out both hotels for two nights at even the most basic standard room rate would be worth more than five million Hong Kong dollars -- over 700,000 US dollars.
The Grand Hyatt confirmed to AFP that "one group of people" had booked out all its rooms, while the adjacent Renaissance would not comment on arrangements.
High-profile visitors usually choose the Hyatt, but stop short of booking out the whole hotel and the one next door.
The hotels are next to the convention centre which is the focal point for the anniversary celebrations and is protected by a massive security cordon, including machine-gun toting police officers and two-metre high (6.56 feet) waterfilled barricades.
Authorities are anxious to keep protesters away from Xi, who is visiting for the first time since he became leader in 2013, as political tensions remain high and concerns grow Beijing is threatening the semi-autonomous city's freedoms.
The nearest protest area to the hotels is almost 500 metres (1,640 feet) away and the famous Victoria Harbour has become a restricted flying zone.


Business News›Opinion›ET View›ET View: Rate hike deferred, aiming for compression of the Current Account Deficit via a weaker rupee?
ET View: Rate hike deferred, aiming for compression of the Current Account Deficit via a weaker rupee?
The MPC’s mandate is to target inflation, all other macroeconomic variables being taken into account only through their impact on inflation.
By deciding to hold its policy rates for the time being, even while changing the stance of monetary policy from neutral to hawkish, the Monetary Policy Committee has signalled that it is okay with the rupee declining further. The forex market has fulfilled its wishes immediately, the rupee sliding past the Rs 74 to the dollar mark soon after the MPC decision to hold the repo rate unchanged at 6.5% was announced.
The MPC’s mandate is to target inflation, all other macroeconomic variables being taken into account only through their impact on inflation. The MPC expects inflation to be more moderate than its estimate the last time it met in August. The cut in excise duty on fuels is one factor, bountiful harvests are another, the dissipating effects of the government’s increase in house rent allowance is yet another. Growth for the year is estimated to be 7.4%, unchanged from the August estimate.
When the US Fed has announced yet another interest rate hike and the strengthened dollar and volatile trade and currency flows pose the risk of the rupee coming under pressure yet again, the MPC would raise policy rates a tad — this was the expectation of the majority of market observers. The debate was, would the rate hike be 25 basis points or 50.
By refusing to hike policy rates now, but by standing ready to tighten money supply, if it feels the need to do that, the RBI has set the stage for future tightening. Perhaps, it calculates that the economy should be allowed to consolidate the growth impulse it has begun to experience after the demonetisation funk, and let robust growth counter the vicissitudes of currency flows and higher crude prices. Non-crude commodity prices have softened and that promises to help rein inflation in. Incidentally, the ever-rising import of coal that the MPC takes note of, in spite of India possessing one of the world’s largest reserves of coal, speaks of the failure of government policy on coal so far. The captive mines auctioned off with much fanfare have failed to produce and the government has given up on merchant mining, leaving the country dependent for coal supplies on the notorious efficiency of the state monopoly on coal. What should one expect but a wider current account deficit and a weaker rupee?


Multiple world kayaking champion Aimee Fisher was inspirational as Hawke's Bay's Manuz & Jeminaz produced the upset of the national waka ama championships at Lake Karapiro on Saturday.
The Haeata Ocean Sports club crew of Roni Nuku, Te Waia Nuku, Fisher, Geni Walters, Annie Cairns and Kaye Ross won the premier women's W6 1500m turning race. Among the teams they beat in the final was Horouta's Kaiarahi Toa from Gisborne, the 2018 world champions who were aiming for a 10th consecutive title in this event.
"Aimee brings more than her muscle. She is a powerhouse who was doing a turning race for the first time after paddling for us in the straight races last year and she loved the turning race. She was great when we had our fine tune talks after each race and focused on the fixables," the oldest of the MJ'z, Ross, explained yesterday.
"Aimee loves the waka scene ... it's her happy place. She loves the Maori environment as it's a different vibe for her and there isn't the same pressure she is used to," Ross said.
"Ladies you are all absolutely incredible. I've been in some pretty epic races over the years but I can honestly say that the 1500m final is my all time favourite race. Everyone showed so much courage and determination. So perfect. I love being apart of this family," Olympian Fisher, a two-time Hawke's Bay Sportsperson of the Year award winner, told the crew afterwards.
One of the original crew members from 2011, Cairns and Roni Nuku are the others, Ross, 51, said the MJ'z knew Kaiarahi Toa were beatable at the 30th annual nationals.
"We always go into events wanting to perform well but the difficulty with this crew is we didn't have a full training together before the nationals because Aimee is based in Auckland and Annie is busy with her Fire Service work in Palmerston North."
Kaiarahi Toa went into the final with the fastest qualifying time by 15 seconds. MJ'z shocked the world champions by sticking with them at the second turn. Kaiarahi Toa had no response for this unfamiliar pressure which MJ'z capitalised on going on to win by 11 seconds. There was a mixture of shock and elation from the supporters and spectators with many saying "this was the race of the whole regatta".
Maori Television commentator Te Arahi Maipi expected Horouta to "pull" MJ'z back by saying "with all that talent and experience, you can bet they will have some trick – they will have something left" but he quickly adjusted his comments when MJ'z continued to pull away and this time saying "it's not just the fact that MJz are leading, it's the fact they are dominating this race".
He finished his commentary with "MJ'z – with one of 'THE' performances of this year's nationals."
The MJ'z were the only Hawke's Bay crew to win a premier title at the nationals. They also won silver in their 500m final and bronze when they combined with their club's under-19 crew to compete in the W12 500m event.
Nuku paddled alongside two of her daughters, Te Waia and Pareputiputi in the W12 crew while Ross paddling with her daughter Mahina. Other members of the W12 crew were Rosalia Samia, Natalya Roberts, Kamoe Fabish and Honoria Ropiha.
Ross pointed out the W6 crew is hoping to be available to attempt a second consecutive title next year. Several of the crew are already focused on competing at the August 2020 world championships in Hawaii.


Saskia Lewis made history for Wakefield Trinity Ladies on Sunday. PIC: Mike Robey Photography.
Saskia Lewis made history on Sunday as she became the first player to score for Wakefield Trinity Ladies in Women's Super League.
Wakefield were beaten 58-4 by last year's league leaders Leeds Rhinos in their first-ever top-flight game on Sunday afternoon.
Lewis crossed for Trinity's only try of the game in the first half as Leeds led 34-4 at the break.
The Challenge Cup holders built on their lead in the second half but head coach Wayne Hirst felt there were plenty of positives for his side.
"It was a frustrating game but one we needed to get out of the way," said Hirst.
"Leeds are a good side and a lot of the stuff we did today was really good. But there are just little things we need to learn.
Wakefield Trinity Ladies' Lisa Taylor. PIC: Mike Robey Photography.
"It was always going to be tough. We have a lot to learn.
"First 20 to 25 minutes we seemed to be a bit like a rabbit in the headlights and we really let them come at us.
"But then we got a score and settled down and competed a hell of a lot.
"We did some really good stuff but there are little things that we need to be smarter at, but we will learn from it."
Maddison Hirst was one of seven players making their competitive debuts for Trinity. PIC: Mike Robey Photography.
Trinity fielded a new-look side for the league opener with Caitlin Clifton, Chloe Billington, Emma Ryan, Erica Zanre, Hannah Dickinson, Maddison Hirst and Kirsty Musgrave all making their competitive debuts.
Hirst, aged just 16-years-old, made the step up from under-16 rugby to open age and fronted up well against the Rhinos pack.
Trinity travel to York City Knights next weekend and head coach Hirst feels his side have good chance to get their first win.
York were hammered 80-0 by Castleford Tigers in their opening league fixture yesterday afternoon.
Hirst added: "York will be on a similar par to us and it is one we are going to target.
"We know what we did well [against Leeds] and the things we need to change for this coming week.
"We will train hard and go into next week confident that we can put in a better performance."


If a lawsuit aimed at preventing Aurora from using the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project to move water out of the Arkansas River basin prevails, Aurora plans to build more storage to physically move its water from the basin.
The Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Denver federal court, claiming the Bureau of Reclamation violated federal environmental law and ignored its own policies in issuing a 40-year contract for Aurora to store water at Lake Pueblo and exchange water to Twin Lakes in a paper trade.
The complaint raises 106 legal citations and primarily asks the court to declare the contract null and void. It also seeks injunctions on the contract and a finding of no significant impact, asks the court to require a full environmental impact statement and asks that the bureau comply with Department of Interior standards for environmental justice.
The bureau had no comment because its policy is not to talk about active lawsuits, said spokeswoman Kara Lamb.
Aurora's alternative is spelled out in the environmental assessment, and plans have not changed, said Jerry Knapp, Aurora's Arkansas Valley operations manager.
"It gets pretty hypothetical, because I don't know what the results of the lawsuit would be," Knapp said. "But, those alternatives haven't changed. We would still be looking at new projects."
Lower Ark Chairman John Singletary said Aurora's future plans sound more like threats, and should not be viewed as concrete proposals.
"To the best of our ability, we're going to watch everything they do and make sure it's done right," Singletary said.
Aurora's plans involve future projects in Pueblo and Lake counties. Pueblo County is in the Lower Ark district and Lake County voters are expected to vote in 2008 for potential inclusion in the district.
"They keep threatening us with 'here's what we're going to do,' " Singletary said. "I am a little offended by their arrogance and the idea that they think they can come into the valley and bully everybody."
In the short term, Aurora would anticipate a five-year period to amend its water right applications in the valley to include additional points of diversion, storing water in Lake Meredith and Lake Henry and exchanging water from there to its accounts in Turquoise and Twin lakes.
Although the mountain lakes are operated by the bureau, Aurora has its own accounts in each. It is allowed to use space in Lake Pueblo only through an excess-capacity contract.
The bureau's environmental assessment also notes: "In the interim period before Aurora's decrees could be modified, the associated water rights that cannot be used would likely be traded or sold to other water users."
In the long term, Aurora would construct or work in partnership with other interests to build a 10,000 acre-foot reservoir below Pueblo Dam.
"It would probably be in Pueblo County," Knapp said. "We would need storage below Pueblo to comply with the Pueblo flow program."
Aurora has an option to purchase a gravel pit operation 6 miles east of Pueblo for use as a future reservoir site, and development probably would take about 10 years.
Aurora also is working on a plan to construct the Box Creek Reservoir, between Twin Lakes and Turquoise Lake in Lake County, and possibly could look for other storage upstream of Lake Pueblo, Knapp said.
Regardless of whether the bureau's contract stands, Aurora would continue to work with other large water users - ditch companies, Pueblo West, Pueblo Board of Water Works and Colorado Springs - on leases, cooperative agreements and efficiencies, Knapp said.
In 2004-05, Aurora leased water from the High Line Canal, and has filed a water court case seeking to obtain future exchange rights for High Line water.
This year, Pueblo West leased some of its transmountain water to Aurora.
The Pueblo Board of Water Works has a long-term lease and exchange contract with Aurora.
Colorado Springs and Aurora are partners in the Homestake Project, which brings water from the Colorado River into their respective water systems through Turquoise, Twin Lakes, the Otero Pumping Station and Homestake Pipeline. They also are the major shareholders in the Colorado Canal and associated reservoir companies in Crowley County.
All four of the municipal suppliers are partners in the Twin Lakes Reservoir Co. and own the overwhelming majority of shares.
Aurora also has an intergovernmental agreement with the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District that promises to pay $25 million to the district over the life of the contract. The agreement also limits the amount of water Aurora may lease and export in the next 40 years.
Aurora has an agreement with the Upper Arkansas Water Conservation District that reduces the water that may be taken from the valley in order to soften the effects of a call on the river to upper basin users and provides $1 million toward Preferred Storage Options Plan development on behalf of the district.
There also is a provision for a $2 million payment to help Southeastern and the Upper Ark jointly develop storage after 2028.
Aurora, a city of 300,000 east of Denver, bought agricultural water rights in Crowley and Otero counties in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Lower Ark lawsuit claims Aurora will be able to move 14,000 acre-feet more per year than it otherwise could with the bureau contracts, drying up at least 7,000 acres with an economic impact of about $4.3 million per year.
The suit claims the contract would damage potential water leasing programs in the valley as well as reducing the availability of water to farmers.
Those actions and effects are contrary to the purposes of the Fry-Ark Project, and were approved contrary to federal policy, the lawsuit claims.
The bureau has leased excess-capacity storage space in Lake Pueblo on a year-to-year basis to Aurora since 1986. Aurora pays about twice as much as users within the Southeastern district. Under the proposed contract, its rate is $43.76 per acre-foot, $49 per acre-foot for exchange and almost $20 per acre-foot for operation, maintenance and replacement.
The contract allows Aurora to lease 10,000 acre-feet of space in Lake Pueblo, with the provision that Aurora's water is the first to spill if the reservoir fills. The exchange contract is for up to 10,000 acre-feet of Aurora's native water to be traded, on paper, for Fry-Ark water in Turquoise or Twin Lakes, with the bureau determining how much and when the exchanges may be made.


Weary, jet-lagged and without a single note of music prepared, the musicians soon to be dubbed the World Peace Trio stepped off three planes from three places, meeting for the first time, and headed into the studio a few hours later. They emerged that evening with the bulk of a self-titled debut album: a stunning set of improvised, intuitive and instrumental landscapes. Ironically, by the time this music would be heard by the public, two years later, the viability of the group’s peace-seeking message would already be in jeopardy.
That trio comprised British political activist and woodwind firebrand Gilad Atzmon, Indonesian piano maestro and composer Dwiki Dharmawan, and UAE-based Jordanian oud and guitar fusionist Kamal Musallam. Individually renowned for channelling their distinct musical heritage through the prism of jazz, each soloist is a celebrated bandleader with an extensive back catalogue.
While offstage drama means there is a distinct possibility this all-star trio might never play again, for fleeting moments their disparate voices, visions and egos were balanced in this singularly spellbinding union, thankfully captured on the excellent World Peace Trio album.
Of course, such a controlled conflagration could only be the result of design, not luck. The group was hand-picked by MoonJune Records founder Leonardo Pavkovic for a one-off festival appearance. The day before that gig, at the Kota Tua Jakarta Jazz Festival in October 2015, studio time was booked.
The sonics Pavkovic dreamed up were particularly utopian. Musallam is renowned for his wiggly, fret-crunching jazz-rock fusion, translating Arabic scales onto blistering, distorted electric guitar. These are perhaps best captured on his 2008 album Out of My City, a love letter to the 47-year-old’s adopted home of Dubai.
Dharmawan, meanwhile, filters Javanese gamelan traditions through hypnotic piano harmonies, assimilating broader Eastern influences on his recent double-disc spectacle Pasar Klewer. That 2017 release also features Atzmon, a prolific superstar of the European jazz scene since winning the BBC Jazz Album of the Year for 2003’s Exile. Renowned for filtering klezmer, Balkan, Turkish and tango inflections through his searing bebop saxophone workouts, Atzmon has also been a member of The Blockheads for two decades, recorded a pair of LPs with Robert Wyatt and was called in to play on Pink Floyd’s 2014 swansong, The Endless River.
Meeting musically for the first time in a crusty old studio attached to Jakarta’s Komunitas Salihara culture centre, with a skeleton crew of one engineer, this perplexing trio jammed with little direction or dialogue, locked into an implicitly telepathic discourse. Joined sparingly by local Indonesian percussionists Ade Rudiana and Nasser Salameh, the stark soundscapes conjured are marked by wide open spaces – simple hypnotic vamps, both soothing and spiritual. They offer each player ample space to stretch out on soulful, searching solos that recall wandering across an open terrain without any destination reached, or even in mind.
A promotional video on the band’s website captures the very first notes the trio played together: the session begins with Musallam spinning out a series of airy, rumbling oud runs, before Atzmon picks up his clarinet and lets forth a poignant, meditative cry, setting the tone for the sympathetic, spontaneous dialogue to come.
The trio reunited two months later (in December 2015) at the Bali World Music Festival. “After the gig, we looked at each other and said: ‘Let’s do another session, but in a different way,’” says Musallam. “A different studio, a different time, a different place.” Perhaps inspired by Atzmon’s unique, amplified “electronic clarinet”, this time, Musallam broke out his electric guitar – a special signature model designed for Ibanez, with extra frets to voice the quarter tones distinct to Arabic music.
Dharmawan, meanwhile, switched to electronic keys, and star drummer Asaf Sirkis, formally a member of Atzmon’s trailblazing Orient House Ensemble for close to a decade, was brought in to offer a stronger percussive pulse.
Having amassed close to six hours of music from the two dates, an album was proposed. Here, however, the first cracks began to appear within the band itself: while all agreed about the quality of what was captured, there was little such cohesion about which parts of the sprawling, improvised stew should be used.
“We ended up with so much music, we were listening for many, many months to whittle it down to 60 minutes – and just throw the rest in the garbage,” says Musallam. They eventually agreed to tracklist the five spontaneous lengthy jams alongside the Palestinian traditional Ramallah, Atzmon’s Gaza Mon Amour – which also opens the Orient House’s eighth LP The Whistle Blower, released last year – and a conspicuous, turned-on-its-head take of Duke Ellington’s In a Sentimental Mood. But in the meantime, the proposed record company had gone bust, and when the band reconvened in summer this year for their first European tour, ahead of the album’s eventual release on Enja, the cracks would deepen.
Personality clashes were exacerbated by the polarising presence of Atzmon on European soil. Since fleeing his homeland in 1994, and denouncing his Israeli citizenship, the 54-year-old has led a second career as an outspoken anti-Zionist essayist and commentator, authoring such charged tracts as 2011’s bestseller The Wandering Who? This vehement critique of Jewish identity, politics and culture has made Atzmon’s concerts the target of boycotts, protests and lobbying.
The stress buckled when a concert at one of the prominent European jazz festivals had to be cancelled due to external pressure. “We got paid for it, but it was heavy on the band – morally and viably,” Atzmon explains. “You have to be strong to play with me, and know deep in your own heart that what I’m doing is a peaceful approach. I wasn’t convinced we had this energy between us. All these [European] gigs were on my back, based on my reputation – I don’t see myself doing that again,” he adds.
“The answer is, because you’re searching for that special thing – that magic of music,” he concludes.


FERGUSON, Mo. (CNN) -- Police named the officer involved in the shooting of Ferguson teenager Michael Brown on Friday, then released documents containing a bombshell: The 18-year-old was the "primary suspect" in the robbery of a convenience store moments before he was killed.
The release of Darren Wilson's name satisfied a key demand of protesters and critics of the handling of the case by the Ferguson Police Department.
However, the claim that Brown was involved in a strong arm robbery immediately met with skepticism among some in the community, who have accused Ferguson police of attempting a cover-up to protect the officer.
One resident interviewed by CNN said police are "tarnishing this young man's name."
"Anyone could walk in the store and they could get surveillance and take a picture," the woman said. "I don't see that he's robbing the store. I just see a picture of a young man."
On Twitter, community members and activists expressed disappointment and outrage.
"How can they not release info on the shooting but link #MikeBrown to robbery. Shame on them," @NafisMWhite tweeted.
Ferguson's police chief addressed the crowd and reporters.
Initially it was understood that Wilson, a six-year veteran of the department, was responding to that robbery call when he encountered Brown.
However, a few hours later, during a 2 p.m. news conference Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson said Wilson's "initial contact was not related to the robbery." Wilson first noticed Brown because he was "walking down the middle of the street blocking traffic," the city's police chief said Friday.
Jackson said he was required to release the surveillance video after so many Freedom of Information requests were filed by the media and others.
Additionally, Michael Brown's family expressed outrage at the release of the video and pictures related to the robbery.
According to the documents, Brown roughly handled a clerk trying to stop him before walking out of the store with a box of Swisher Sweets cigars, worth about $48.99. The documents claim Brown roughly handled the clerk who was trying to stop him from walking out of the store with the cigars.
The unidentified police officer who wrote the incident report on the robbery said he identified Brown by comparing surveillance images of the incident to the body of the slain teen.
In light of the robbery allegations, the release of Wilson's name is unlikely to quell protests in the city and elsewhere over the death of an unarmed African-American man at the hands of a police officer.
A key complaint of protesters has been that witnesses say the officer shot Brown as he stood with his hands in the air.
Police have said the shooting occurred during a struggle for the officer's gun.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, who had earlier put the State Highway Patrol in charge of protest security after a series of tense clashes between local police and protesters, applauded the release of the new details.
"I'm pleased that the people of Ferguson and the region began to get some long-overdue information today, and I will continue to call for openness and transparency as the parallel investigations into this tragedy proceed to their necessary conclusions," he said in a statement.
"For the sake of the family, the citizens of Ferguson and the entire region, it is vital that the investigations into the shooting death of Michael Brown move forward in a thorough, open and transparent manner to ensure that trust is restored and justice is done," he said.


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Vito A. Cannavo brings his corporate and municipal litigation experience to perfectly complement the trial skills he has developed in all areas of the Firm’s practice. A seasoned trial attorney, he has earned his outstanding reputation through hard work and dedication. Vito’s work ethic is confirmed by his numerous multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements in medical malpractice, premises liability, motor vehicle and firefighter- related litigation.
Vito recovered $5.6 million for a client who sustained brain damage as a result of improper medical monitoring and he obtained a $5.5 million verdict in a case where the radiologist failed to diagnose breast cancer. His versatility and value to the Firm was evidenced in a $6 million recovery for a firefighter injured by falling debris during a firefighting operation.
Vito is a regular speaker on trial issues and is considered a leading authority in the state on municipal and premises liability. He has been listed in New York magazine and Super Lawyers magazine as one of the top lawyers in New York, and he has received the highest rating (AV®) from Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings.* Vito has also been listed in The Best Lawyers in America. He is currently serving as President of the Columbian Lawyers Association of Brooklyn. Cornell Law School awarded his legal degree in 1978. Prior to joining the Firm, Vito served as law clerk to United States District Court Judge Mark Costantino. He then joined Simpson Thacher & Bartlett as a litigation associate. His years at the New York City Law Department Office of The Corporation Counsel proved him to be a formidable trial attorney, prompting the Firm’s decision to ask him to join us in 1988. Mr. Cannavo, a Member since 1992, is in charge of one of the Firm’s General Negligence departments.


Perhaps you remember pictures of the big hole in the roadway of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge that was caused by the 1989 earthquake. After that, the state of California decided to replace the landmark span with an "earthquake-proof" New Bay Bridge. Along with the engineering challenges, the cost has turned out to be a problem.
The 2004 Olympics begin next week, but the celebration in Athens is already under way. Tonight, to open the Hellenic Festival of the arts, Simon Rattle conducts the Berlin Philharmonic and pianist Daniel Barenboim at the seat of the ancient city.


“The Look of Silence,” a documentary directed by the American filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer and an anonymous Indonesian collaborator, is a painful, profoundly empathetic work of moral reckoning. Like its companion film, “The Act of Killing,” released in 2013, it examines the mass killings that began in Indonesia in 1965, when at least a million people were slaughtered in the aftermath of a military coup.
Mr. Oppenheimer, filming in Indonesia over more than a decade, found that this ideology was still very much in place. “The Look of Silence” visits a classroom where young children are taught that the killings were justified. Elsewhere, they are celebrated. Early in the film, two elderly men stroll down an overgrown path to the banks of the Snake River, gleefully demonstrating how they beat their captives, dragged them by the feet and then hacked them to death with knives and machetes. Their laughter is all the more horrifying for seeming free and un-self-conscious, as if they were recalling incidents of youthful mischief.
We watch video of the two men, around 10 years after it was shot, in the company of Adi Rukun, a soft-spoken ophthalmologist whose brother Ramli was killed by the Komando Aksi, a paramilitary organization in the Aceh Province of Indonesia. Mr. Rukun was born in 1968, and he is haunted less by traumatic memories than by their terrible absence. His mother recalls the day of Ramli’s disappearance with unbearable clarity and undiluted sorrow, while his father, who is frail, mostly blind and over 100, drifts in and out of awareness.
Mr. Rukun sets out, along with Mr. Oppenheimer and a film crew, to confront his brother’s killers. Sometimes he conducts eye exams while asking questions, his professional bearing blending with his gentle, insistent manner of interrogation.
The encounters are, for the most part, unnervingly calm and decorous. For half a century, survivors have lived among those responsible for the deaths of their loved ones. Political authorities, neighbors, even relatives and friends have blood on their hands, and acknowledge as much. A few go further, telling of how they drank their victims’ blood, a practice they credit with saving them from the madness that afflicted some of their colleagues.
Amid the laughter, the boasting and the superstition, there are some of the expected evasions and excuses. The killers were only following orders, or targeting bad people, or caught up in the chaos of the times. It was so long ago, Mr. Rukun is told. Why stir up bad memories?
Even when specific atrocities are admitted — or bragged about — ultimate responsibility is pushed away. Death squad members say they were fulfilling the mandates of the military, while politicians insist that the slaughter was the spontaneous expression of popular will. It’s suggested at one point that the “Communists” offered themselves up, asking to be killed as punishment for their transgressions.
With a single exception — an old NBC news report from the mid-1960s — Mr. Oppenheimer avoids the archival footage and explanatory material that usually fill out historical documentaries. His approach is more like Claude Lanzmann’s in “Shoah,” which surveyed the Holocaust by rigorously focusing on the faces and words of witnesses, survivors and participants.
The mood of “The Look of Silence” is tranquil. Its settings — modest houses and sun-dappled gardens, far from the urban bustle of “The Act of Killing” — are peaceful, and Mr. Rukun is a quiet man, contemplating his family’s tragedy more in sorrow than in anger. But this atmosphere has the effect of making the violence at the film’s heart all the more shocking. Movies have helped make even extreme brutality seem banal (that was part of the message of “The Act of Killing”), but hearing a simple, factual account of an atrocity can be almost unbearable.
“After such knowledge, what forgiveness?” T. S. Eliot asked that question, in his poem “Gerontion,” almost a century ago, and it has hovered over much subsequent history. Mr. Oppenheimer and his collaborators pose it with renewed urgency and poignancy, and also suggest the ways that, in Indonesia, forgiveness is still premature. The silence they discover is not a failure of acknowledgment, but the refusal of apology.
“The Look of Silence” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Extreme acts of violence, rendered in words rather than images.


The city's Southern Delivery System is closing in on the finish line of early 2016 when the pipeline from Pueblo Reservoir will deliver water to Colorado Springs and other locals, including Fountain and Pueblo West.
So it was a bit surprising to see an item onTuesday's City Council agenda for land acquisition for the pipeline on Bradley Road. The item seeks Council approval to pay $253,000 for 39 acres owned by Jennifer Enriques, property the El Paso County Assessor says is worth $159,295, or 58 percent less than Utilities will pay.
A photo of what the city is buying is to the right.
Colorado Springs Utilities' pipeline is coming in under budget but still approaches $1 billion, without financing costs. Enriques is far from the biggest recipient of cash for their land. Gary Walker probably qualifies as that landowner.


UberBADD, or Bars Against Drink Driving, seeks to raise awareness about responsible drinking and the need for easy access to transport late at night.
Uber says the anti-drink driving initiative is being encouraged by the Kolkata police.
Ride-hailing service provider Uber launched a programme in Kolkata in partnership with bars, restaurants and nightclubs to discourage drink driving.
UberBADD, or Bars Against Drink Driving, seeks to raise awareness about responsible drinking and the need for easy access to "reliable and affordable" transport late at night, Uber India Head (Central Operations) Pradeep Parameswaran said in a statement.
Uber says the initiative is being encouraged by the Kolkata police. Under the partnership, Uber will set up cab kiosks at bars, nightclubs and restaurants to discourage driving after drinking beyond the permissible limit, Mr Parameswaran said.
"We are happy to receive the encouragement and support from Kolkata Police and look forward to provide solutions to help reduce drink driving incidents in the city. There is a growing need to raise awareness against drink driving and we will continue to work across cities to provide alternative mobility options like Uber," Mr Parameswaran said in the statement.
Customers can approach the kiosk to book a cab. They don't need to use the Uber app. The kiosk will track the trip.
"We are pleased to partner with Kolkata's top bars and restaurants to help Kolkatans make decisions regarding better safety when drinking or on a night out," Mr Parameswaran said.
A Kolkata night club spokesperson said, "We are confident UberBADD will ensure safe ride for our patrons after spending quality time and we will extend all help."


You will fall in love with this house from the minute you drive up and see the huge tree in the front yard. When you walk in the front door you see the beautiful original wood floors and the fireplace in the living room with a very efficient Fisher wood stove insert. There are two extra rooms, the first could be used as a potential bedroom, hobby room, office, etc. and the second is behind the garage so it would make a great workshop. This home is fully fenced with RV parking in the backyard. This home has it's own well but a meter is already on the property for city water, please check with the Town of Star Valley for cost to hook up. Please also check into flood zone status.


The terms "emerging markets," "developing nations" and the antiquated "Third World" have always rubbed me the wrong way and not just because I grew up in Mumbai, live in Singapore and do business across Southeast Asia. These terms bother me because they prevent people from seeing how dramatically the world has changed, especially over the last decade. For investors, this means not just missing the train but not even realizing that there is one.
The traditional view of Southeast Asia, for example, is that it's a fragmented region of countries with more differences than similarities. The practice of labeling some countries as emerging and others as developed prevents investors and policymakers from seeing the opportunities. If investors look at what these countries have in common, rather than what they don't, the opportunities become obvious.
Consider the skyrocketing use of the internet and social media in the region thanks to the increasing ubiquity of smartphone and mobile technologies. Now the region has the third-largest number of internet users in the world with 350 million, more than the population of the U.S., according to a study published Nov. 18 by Google and Singapore's Temasek Holdings. Over the last three years, more than 3 million Southeast Asians have gone online for the first time every month, according to the study. Internet users in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia spend four hours or more on mobile internet, "among the top 10 globally in terms of engagement," according to the study, compared with just two hours in the U.S. The region's internet economy is expected to more than triple to $240 billion over the next seven years, according to the Google-Temasek study.
A young middle-class woman in Singapore today probably has more in common with her counterpart in Ho Chi Minh City, in terms of consumer behavior, than with someone from a different socioeconomic class in her own country. There is now a huge, increasingly mobile- and internet-savvy potential market of young consumers in Southeast Asia that didn't exist less than a decade ago. This digitally native and highly connected generation of Southeast Asians is becoming a key driver of consumption-led growth. We're witnessing the creation of new category leaders that use technology to transcend geographic fragmentation in many industries.
Take iflix, which launched in 2015 in Malaysia and the Philippines and which Jungle Ventures invested in a $133 million round in August 2017, as well as in earlier rounds. It was created to serve a projected 1 billion global middle-class consumers who may not be able to afford Netflix but can pay a lower cost — the price of a cup of coffee — to access content from their mobile phones on a pay-as-you-go plan. Iflix now has more than 15 million subscribers across nearly 30 countries in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East following 250% growth over the first two quarters of this year. This is a $40 billion market opportunity that didn't exist just a few years ago.
FinAccel, launched in 2016 in Indonesia, is on its way to becoming the preferred digital credit card provider for millennials of Southeast Asia. (Jungle Ventures participated in the latest $30 million round in July and also invested in the company previously.) The company's flagship product, "Kredivo Buy Now, Pay Later" product gives e-commerce buyers an easy way to access instant credit via an app. The company is focused on consumers who primarily use mobile phones in countries with a scarcity of consumer credit. The market size is an estimated $150 billion across Indonesia alone.
Go-Jek, recently valued at $5 billion, launched its motorbike-hailing app in Indonesia just three years ago and now offers food delivery, housekeeping, consignment shipping, auto repair and electronic bill payment, among other services. Its target market is young urban professionals who used to go to brick-and-mortar stores for these services. Go-Jek has 20 million monthly users on its app, operates in 25 Indonesian cities, recently expanded to Ho Chi Minh City, and is looking next to the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand as the region's ride-hailing market more than triples to $28 billion by 2025.
Each of these companies — and many others across the region — is proof of opportunities that investors miss if they categorize entire regions like Southeast Asia as an emerging market. When we try to put the world into these neat, but inaccurate, binary buckets, we miss the tremendous promise of horizontal markets that cross borders.
Amit Anand is co-founder of Jungle Ventures, Singapore, an early-stage venture capital firm and an early investor in iflix and FinAccel. This content represents the views of the authors. It was submitted and edited under P&I guidelines but is not a product of P&I's editorial team.


If American television lacks freshness, why not look overseas? It might help spread globalization.
Ripper Street Season Two veers away from Jack the Ripper, but has plenty of interesting cases with historic context.


A 12-year-old girl joined what she thought was a 5K, but instead ran a half marathon.
More than 3,500 runners took part in the annual Rochester Regional Health Flower City Half Marathon and Wegmans Family 5k through Rochester on Sunday. (April 24, 2016) Video by Victoria Freile.
When LeeAdianez Rodríguez hit the pavement Sunday, she planned to run 3.1 miles.
Instead, the 12-year-old Irondequoit girl accidentally ran her first-ever half-marathon, giving her mother a major fright for more than an hour.
LeeAdianez, also known by friends and family as Lee or Adi, was running late when she rushed to the start line of the Rochester Regional Health Flower City Challenge Sunday morning. Mom Brendalee Espada had dropped her off around the corner and went to park her car.
Lee joined thousands of runners at the starting line on the Broad Street Bridge, not realizing she'd started running the half-marathon route through Rochester. She was registered to run the Wegmans Family 5K, which starts on the same bridge 15 minutes after the distance runners set off.
"She just saw people running and thought it was her race," said Ellen Brenner, co-owner of Fleet Feet Sports Rochester and YellowJacket Racing, which operated Sunday's races. "The last time I saw this was a few years ago at Rochester Marathon where people would accidentally miss the turn on East and Winton."
That error sent a full marathoner to the half marathon course.
It is not often that a runner follows the wrong course in a race, Brenner said. It happens more frequently on training runs from Fleet Feet stores.
Sunday's run was meant to be Lee's second 5K race. Instead, she finished 13.1 miles in 2:43:31, according to race results. She placed 1,885th of 2,111 finishers and was among the youngest to run the race. Five other 12-year-olds completed the course, as did one 7-year-old, according to race results.
"She gave me a really big scare," Espada said.
For nearly two hours, Espada searched for her daughter in and around the finish line and adjacent to Blue Cross Arena at the Community War Memorial, where post-race festivities were held.
Espada first waited near the finish area, but when Lee's expected completion window passed without a glimpse of her daughter, Espada grew nervous. She approached race officials and Rochester police officers in the area and shared her concerns.
As Lee ran on, Espada was shocked to find out that her daughter never started the 5K. Lee, meanwhile, started to wonder why her race was taking so long, Espada said. About halfway through the course, Lee learned she was running with the wrong group.
But by then, she had logged more miles than ever before. So she kept running, not knowing that police were trying to find her. She simply wanted to finish the race.
In her final few miles, police and course officials spotted Lee running, Espada said. They spoke with her as she ran on.
"She just wanted to finish the race," Espada said. "Two hours after I started looking for her, I see that one of the officers found her. And I see she has a medal."
After a teary reunion filled with hugs, Espada said she was floored to know that her daughter completed the hilly 13.1-mile course.
"It was such a scary moment, but rewarding for her in the end," Espada said. "I don't even know how she did it. I'm so proud of her."
A sixth-grader at Genesee Community Charter School, Lee started running this year with the Monroe Milers, a volunteer-led running program for youth. She followed her big run with a nap, large meal and a hike.
Espada said her daughter loved the race and all of the encouragement she received from runners around her.
Next, she plans to run The Color Run in May.
"But this one? We'll run it together at the same pace," Espada said. "Even if she wants to run ahead, she's staying with me."


It's Queen Helena's birthday and she's determined to make it memorable. Get debriefed on this week's episode of "The Royals" with Jasper. Watch!


SpotMini hopes to be your robotic-canine pal for all those menial house duties.
Google’s holding company, Alphabet, has a new robotic dog from its Atlas-making Boston Dynamics subsidiary capable of clearing up after its human masters.
SpotMini is the quietest and smallest Boston Dynamics robot yet, designed to navigate within the tight confines of a home and able to shimmy under tables and pick up objects with its articulated arm.
Most of Boston Dynamics’ other robots, including the humanoid Atlas and large L3 packhorse have been bulky, dirty and noisy, designed to operate outdoors and on variable terrain.
The new small robotic dog takes the design of Spot and shrinks it, adding a new articulating arm to its back, which is capable of lifting and holding objects as fragile as a glass. It weighs 29.5kg (65lbs) with its arm attached and will run for about 90 minutes between charges.
SpotMini can also climb stairs and navigate around the various obstacles such as chairs, pick itself up when it slips on a banana skin and pass you a can of drink, even if it struggles to let go.
For years, house-bots have been the stuff of science fiction, but now they’re starting to become a possibility. SpotMini is the closest anyone’s got to a robot that’s physically helpful around the house.
Dreams of a Google robot, however, might be premature, as Alphabet is reportedly in the process of trying to sell Boston Dynamics after the US military rejected its robots.


MANCHESTER UNITED are planning to offer Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba £155,000-a-week in order to lure him to Old Trafford.
The France international has seen his stock rapidly rise since joining Juventus from United on a free transfer in 2012.
Pogba's form in Italy has caught the attention of Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid but Red Devils boss Louis van Gaal is keen to bring him back.
Last October, the 22-year-old penned a new Juventus deal until 2019 worth £70,000-a-week but reports in Italy suggest United chiefs are ready to blow that contract out of the water and hand him £155,000-a-week to sign in the summer.
The Serie A side's boss Massimo Allegri recently admitted the club will struggle to hold on to their £75m-rated midfielder.
Allegri said: "Everything in life has a price, unfortunately. I don't think it is a problem we need to consider right now.
"It is difficult to replace world class players, but it can be done, as football goes on.
"Having said that, Pogba is only 21 years old, has a good 10-15 years ahead of him and more importantly has the qualities to do much better than he is now.
"To win games you need great players, otherwise there wouldn't be players that clubs pay €100m for. As with every profession, there are levels."
Old Lady legend Alessandro Del Piero also believes Pogba won't stick around in Turin for much longer.
Del Piero said: "Pogba is turning out to be a player who has a great future ahead of him.
"It is obvious that he will cost a lot and it is also normal that people want him at their clubs.
"The leaders know what to do, but in situations like this it is difficult for them to keep a player like him at the club."


The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Audu Ogbeh, has said the ministry will begin the paddock development (growing of special grasses for cattle) in August.
Ogbeh, who made the disclosure at an interactive session with journalists yesterday in Abuja, explained that after some time, the country would become an exporter of the grass to earn foreign exchange.
He said the ministry had started bringing the special seeds of grass (fodder seeds) into the country.
“The Saudi Arabia is asking that if Nigeria can grow enough grass, they will buy to feed their cows,” he said.
He assured that with the paddock development, the clash between farmers and herdsmen in the country would be put to an end.
“The clash between farmers and herdsmen has been getting worse by the years and by the grace of God I will bring it to an end,” he said.
The Cable reported that the minister said no farmer would allow his crops to be eaten by cattle.
“No farmer in the world would like to plant his crops and arrive to see that cows have eaten everything up,” he said.
The minister noted that the problem had persisted because, over the years, successive governments had not done enough to check the problem.
He said most of the conflicts were been perpetuated by Fulanis from some West African countries such as Senegal, Mauritania and Mali.
Ogbeh cited an instance where some of the herdsmen arrested could not speak any Nigerian language.
He said there was a need for the country to end the herdsmen roaming with cattle even it was a culture.
“Whether it is a culture or not, we cannot afford it any more; it has to stop,” said Ogbeh.
He said after the development of ranches, it would be an offence for any herdsmen to allow his cattle to roam the streets.
The minister said land has been allocated to government in some states that would be used for ranches for herdsmen to acquire for their cattle.
He said cattle produce more litres of milk when they are kept in one place than when they walk about in search of food.
Ogbeh noyted that the ministry was collaborating g with the ministry of interior to provide security at the ranches to check activities of cattle rustlers.