Thugs tricked a disabled man into eating a deadly maggot and poo sandwich, and then tried to make him jump into a lake.
Daniel Newell is appealing for help in catching the teenage boys who terrorised his brother Matthew, 32, who has the mental age of a child due to Williams’ Syndrome.
He said Matthew and his 11-year-old cousin were fishing at the lake in Mill Dam Park, Merseyside, last Saturday when two boys sitting nearby began teasing him.
They then grabbed DVDs he was carrying and handed him a sandwich.
Matthew was forced to take a bite before realising it was crawling with maggots and also contained excrement.
This was potentially life threatening as he has a faulty immune system caused by his chronic granulomatous disorder, which means he can catch infections easier.
‘Matthew was in hysterics – traumatised. He hasn’t cried since he was six but he was shaking and crying,’ Daniel, 28, said.
‘He’s never had problems there before. He used to go every day, as we can see it from our house and it’s the only time he has some independence.
His cousin ran to get help after the boys began encouraging Mathew to jump into the lake.
Daniel said Matthew’s aunt rushed over from their house nearby and was met with verbal abuse from the boys before they disappeared.
He’s planning to report the matter to the police but hopes people’s disgust at the story will send a message that deters future bullying.
Daniel said Matthew was delighted by the hundreds of messages of support and gifts that flooded in after he shared the incident on Facebook.


"There are no small teams in Africa" is a well-worn cliché, but like many clichés it has a grain of truth.
And the Comoros are the latest footballing nation to prove it.
They may be 199 out of 207 in Fifa's rankings and have only three year's experience in international football.
But the Indian Ocean islanders have made significant progress at this year's Cosafa Senior Challenge in Zimbabwe.
In 2008 they lost all three games in the competition without scoring a goal.
In this year's tournament they held Botswana to a goalless draw and then beat a well-organised Seychelles side 2-1.
Their hopes of reaching the last eight were dashed by a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Swaziland, but it was still a huge improvement.
"We have players with good technique, but they lack experience," coach Abderamane Chamite told the BBC's African sports programme Fast Track.
"We came here with a completely new squad - our team has been underestimated all along and I think that this marks an improvement for our side."
Captain Mohamed Mouigni is not afraid to take on bigger teams, but he knows that his squad has challenges to overcome.
"The disadvantage we have in Comoros is that there is no youth academy," he told the BBC.
"I started playing when I was 16, in my village team, then I was recruited by a bigger club.
"We are quite aware that we are facing higher-ranked sides with better facilities, youth academies and professional players, when we are just amateurs, but we are not scared."
Comoros are nicknamed the "Coelacanths" - after a rare giant fish that can be found in the Indian Ocean around the islands.
But can they themselves grow from footballing minnows into big fish?
Coach Chamite is hesitant to predict that Comoros will be playing at the Africa Cup of Nations in the near future, especially after a 10-2 aggregate defeat to Madagascar in the preliminary round of 2010 qualifying.
"It's certainly a dream and anyone is allowed to dream, but there are a lot of challenges in front of us," he said.
"For now it's more realistic to aim to be competitive in our region against the likes of Madagascar and Seychelles."
Here in Zimbabwe, the Comoros have started on that long road with admirable style.


TRENTON – Minors would no longer be legally able to buy over-the-counter cough syrups and related products under legislation designed to thwart teens from getting high on the products.
Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, (D-4), Turnersville, told the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee he wrote the legislation (A650) after a visit from a constituent who told him her daughter was getting high on the cough medicine.
“It’s a high apparently similar to PCP,” Moriarty, a committee member, told his fellow legislators.
Moriarty at one point held up some printouts of Twitter feeds he said he’d gotten today simply by plugging DXM into a search. And he said it’s a popular point of discussion among users making plans for using the stuff to get high in what some call “robo-tripping,” a name derived from the Robitussin cough medicine brand.
But other members said they were concerned that the estimated 120 products that use the ingredient would be too much for drug stores or cashiers to keep track of, possibly exposing them to $750 fines for selling to underage consumers.
“I just think it’s going too far to say anything and everything that contains DXM needs to be off-limits,” said Assemblywoman Amy Handlin, (R-13), Belford. She said it’s likely some products containing DXM would be impossible to get high on given the amount that would have to be ingested.
But several lobbyists for pharmacies, including chains and independently owned stores, testified in favor of the legislation, easing the concerns of Handlin and others.
One lobbyist said some pharmacies already keep cough medicines out of the aisles to keep them from shoplifters and teens suspected of buying the product to get high.
The legislation wouldn’t require the products to be kept behind the counter, a concession Moriarty said he made as a compromise with the retailers.
All nine committee members voted for the bill.


Beating the daily record, though, wasn’t their goal.
Paula Hutton said participating in events that force them to do things as a team is something they try to do as much as possible.
Being able to give back, in the meantime, was just the icing on the cake.
They were among about 40 people who teamed up in pairs and participated in the inaugural ’Merica Summer Games through the Moshannon Valley YMCA.
The event was a way to bring people out to participate in what branch Director Mel Curtis called “obscure activities,” and raise money for programs that benefit the YMCA, local school districts and surrounding communities.
It included team games like ’Billy Bowling, knocking down trashcans with old vehicle tires, Cast Iron Skillet Toss, Hubcap Hurling, Bucket Pong, Cow Chip Fling, Toilet Seat Horseshoes and more.
All activities were held at the Philipsburg-Osceola Area High School football field across from the YMCA.
We like to do things you don’t see anywhere else. It’s something different and a little off the wall. Plus we’re recycling old items. I’m mean, haven’t you just wanted to throw an old toilet seat or skillet without worrying about it?
Money raised, Curtis said, specifically goes to the YMCA’s anti-hunger programs.
The YMCA budget for the Summer Lunch Program is $159,000. It’s a program founded in 2004 that serves free meals to local youth at 15 sites in Centre and Clearfield counties.
The program runs through Aug. 26.
The budget for the Backpack Food Program is about $75,000.
Curtis said eligible students from six school districts in Centre and Clearfield counties are allowed to take home backpacks full of food and snacks after school the last day of each week for the weekends. They bring the packs back when school resumes the next week so they can be refilled.
The program serves about 700 students per week during the school year.
The idea to throw a fundraiser like the summer games came about three years ago, but planning started last year.
A kids competition was held during the first part of the day, followed by a competition for adults and dinner catered by Mountain Top Catering.
Curtis said organizers plan to change things up next year with the hopes the summer games will be held in conjunction with Heritage Days — an annual event held in Philipsburg each summer.
“At this point, the goal is to continue to grow the event that can bring so much more good to these programs,” Curtis said.


PARIS: Disneyland Paris on Monday (Apr 15) announced a series of measures to make Europe's biggest private tourist attraction more environmentally friendly, including banning plastic straws.
It currently recycles paper, glass and 18 other types of materials accounting for around half of all its waste, a level it aims to increase to 60 per cent in 2020, said Nicole Ouimet-Herter, the park's environment manager.
Next week, shops in the park will stop handing out free plastic bags, offering instead the option of purchasing bags made of 80 per cent recycled plastic for €1 or €2 (US$1.13-US$2.26).
Euro Disney, the park's operator, said it was also planning to install solar panels on the sprawling 22 sq km site to get more power from renewables.
Currently, renewable energy sources account for only 10 per cent of the electricity used.


Law enforcement officers, including a sniper perched atop an armored vehicle, watch as demonstrators protest the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Mo., Aug. 13, 2014. The police chief of this St. Louis suburb said Wednesday that Brown injured the officer who later fatally shot the unarmed 18 year old though witnesses dispute that such an altercation occurred.
After delivering remarks last night from the White House, President Obama fielded some questions from reporters and made a comment that stood out for me. “[T]he vast majority of the community [in Ferguson] has been working very hard to try to make sure that this becomes an opportunity for us to seize the moment and turn this into a positive situation,” he said.
It sounded like a nice-but-unrealistic goal. Years of systemic problems contributed to these crisis conditions, and the idea of turning the Michael Brown tragedy into something constructive is hard to fathom.
That said, over the summer, there was a fair amount of interest in one specific area: the militarization of local law enforcement. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) chaired a Senate hearing in September, and reforms to the Pentagon’s “1033” program were endorsed by some Republicans, including Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.). In the House, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) drafted legislation.
So what happened? Part of the problem is the political world’s short attention span. Congress was interested in local law enforcement having military equipment for policing, right up until it was time for a debate on whether President Obama was soft on Ebola Terrorists in Mexico.
But as Evan McMorris-Santoro reported, other considerations also played a factor.
Police groups rallied around 1033, scaring off many potential supporters, according to staff involved with moving the issue forward on the Hill. Police lobbyists argue that the equipment provided by 1033 keeps officers safe and keeps them prepared to deal with terrorist attacks and other threats.
“We got a lot of pushback we got from law enforcement,” said one Republican staffer involved in the militarization debate. The police lobby spread “misunderstanding” about the congressional efforts, which were by this point generally united in banning only the deadly equipment from 1033 while leaving the rest of the program largely in place.
The calendar moved into election season, and members grew skittish about putting controversial votes on the floor. “Everybody kind of hit the pause button,” the staffer said.
And after a few months, an extended pause looks an awful lot like a stop.
The odds of a Republican-led Congress tackling this next year are poor, so reform proponents are left to wonder what’s possible during the dwindling lame-duck session. There’s still a defense spending bill that lawmakers have to approve, which could be amended to include new 1033 limits and restrictions, but it’s a long shot.
Radley Balko, a prominent expert on police militarization, told BuzzFeed the result is a shift in focus – away from Washington and towards states and municipalities.
Even if action in Congress is less likely as August passes further and further into history, Balko said lawmakers across the country are re-examining the 1033 program and local police usage of combat gear in general.


The New York Times reports that energy drinks, in spite of their macho names like "Red Bull," "Monster" and "Full Throttle," have approximately the same effect as less aggressively named beverages like "skinny caramel macchiatos" and "Mello Yello." Which is to say, they get you kinda high on sugar and caffeine and that's it.
This may come as a blow to those who have to get up early, want to stay up late, or need to think of themselves as "straight edge" while still getting a tremendous rush. Sure, they could switch to Starbucks or Coke, but who wants to support huge corporate brands when they could support slightly less huge brands owned by huge corporate brands?
That's why I'm gifting the world with my five ways to save Energy Drinks.
You know that feeling you get when you lick a 9-volt battery? What if every time you took a swig of your energy drink you also got a buzzing lip? Nothing like a mild and potentially harmless electrical shock to make you feel like dancing and/or studying the night away! With a little understanding from the FDA, we might even be able to provide cattle-prod-level stimulation to those who are willing to sign wavers.
Here's the deal. Instead of your traditional energy drink that comes in one can, these new energy drinks will come in two cans: One includes a deadly poison, the other contains the antidote. Simply drink down the first can and hand the second to a friend, bartender or licensed Energy Drink Warden with instructions not to give you the second until you have successfully danced for three hours straight or gotten showered and dressed for work.
Makers of energy drinks claim – or rather imply in a carefully worded and legally acceptable manner – that their concoctions can improve brain function. While hard science refutes that, there are certainly ways to improve the brain while drinking energy drinks. For instance, require consumers to complete a moderately difficult Sudoku before they can buy one, or make it so you can only open it if you remember the capital of Bulgaria. Now the drink really does make you smarter!
Given that we've already accepted "energy" as a synonym for "the jitters," maybe the solution is just to switch out vague unsupported claims that sound good with vague, completely true claims that sound good. For instance, try the slogan "Red Bull Facilitates Your Krebs Cycle," or "Amp: Contains What Will Eventually Become ATP." If you've ever given Kool-Aid to a college freshman and told him it was spiked with Everclear, you know that beverages often do what the drinker thinks it will do, and also that college freshmen are an endless source of amusement. Make the drink sound exciting, and the drinker will become excited.
In the end, perhaps the best way to make energy drinks more effective is to make people less effective. After all, it may be difficult to come up with legal substances that improve mental performance, it's pretty easy to figure out ways to degrade mental performance in society at large. For instance, we could make highly processed, calorie-rich foods cheap and widely available so that people can eat themselves into a coma whenever they want. Legalize and market substances that interfere with clear thought, like alcohol and marijuana. We could even devise entertainment that requires almost no intellectual investment on the part of the watcher, and then create a culture where discussion of said entertainment replaces most actual conversational engagement. In such an environment, it would be easy for someone to down a few ounces of sugar and caffeine and convince themselves that they're operating on a higher level, rather than merely attempting to imitate basic human competence.
Okay, that last one sounds a little crazy. What can I say, I just pounded a couple cans of Rockstar and I'm kinda buzzing.
Born helpless, naked and unable to care for himself, Lore Sjoberg overcame these handicaps to learn that the capital of Bulgaria is Sofia.


Rottman-SnyderWOOSTER -- Rick and Stacy Rottman of Wooster announce the engagement of their daughter, Nicki, to Cory Snyder of Sugarcreek. He is the son of Scott and Lynn Snyder of Sugarcreek.Miss Rottman is a 2003 graduate of Triway High School and Malone College in 2007, with a bachelor of arts degree in journalism and a minor in writing. She is project coordinator at Shannon English Marketing in East Sparta.Her fiance is a 2001 graduate of Garaway High School and Malone College in 2005, with a bachelor of arts degree in sport management and a minor in business. He is account manager at Express Packaging in Newcomerstown.An Aug. 4 wedding is planned at Church of the Saviour, Wooster.Patton-MitchellWOOSTER -- Douglas and Beth Patton of Wooster announce the engagement of their daughter, Kristine Anne of Greensboro, N.C., to Carl Thomas Mitchell of Germantown, N.C. He is the son of Johnny and Sue Mitchell of Germantown, N.C.Miss Patton is a 2002 graduate of Wooster High School and Ohio Northern University in 2006 in mathematics. She is a math teacher at The Academy at Lincoln Middle School in Greensboro, N.C.Her fiance is a 1996 graduate of South Stokes High School in Germantown, N.C., and North Carolina State University in 2001 in zoology. He is a science teacher at The Academy at Lincoln Middle School in Greensboro, N.C.An outside wedding is planned at the home of the groom on July 14.Crail-JerdonCHARLESTON, Tenn. -- Robin and Steve Adkins of Charlestown, Tenn. announce the engagement of their daughter, Danielle L. Crail, to Shawn M. Jerdon. He is the son of Greg Jerdon of Marshallville and Jeanne Meyer of Arlington, Texas.The bride-to-be graduated from Charleston High School in Charlestown, Tenn. She is employed as a customer service manager at Wal-Mart.Her fiance is a graduate of Smithville High School and is employed by Wal-Mart.A Sept. 22 wedding is planned in Wooster.Mann-TrubeeWEST SALEM -- Mr. and Mrs. Larry Mann of West Salem announce the engagement of their daughter, Emilie, to Kenton Trubee. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Eldon Trubee of Millersburg.Miss Mann is a graduate of Ohio State University and is employed as a dietitian with the Holmes and Richland County Health Departments.Her fiance is a graduate of The College of Wooster and the University of Akron. He is a doctoral student at the University of Akron.A July 14 wedding is planned at West Salem United Methodist Church, West Salem.Jaynor-HuttonSHREVE -- Norene Dawson of Shreve and Robert Jaynor of Wooster announce the engagement of their daughter, Andrea, to Travis Hutton of Wooster. He is the son of Saloma Byler of Wooster.Miss Jaynor is a graduate of Triway High School and is employed by Cambridge Home Health Care.Her fiance is employed by Southwood Lumber.A Sept. 29 wedding is planned at Oak Chapel United Methodist Church, Wooster.Haver-SteinerFREDERICKSBURG -- Jay and Valerie Haver of Fredericksburg announce the engagement of their daughter, Moriah Lynn, to Dustin Drew Steiner of Orrville. He is the son of Dallas and Rhoda Steiner of Orrville.Miss Haver is a 2006 graduate of Central Christian High School and is majoring in nursing at Eastern Mennonite University.Her fiance is a 2006 graduate of Central Christian High School and is majoring in international business and video communications at Eastern Mennonite University.An Aug. 11 wedding is being planned at Dayspring Christian Fellowship.Hofstetter-KisterDALTON -- Everest and Barbara Hofstetter of Dalton announce the engagement of their daughter, Kristy, of Apple Creek to Mark Kister. He is the son of Marvin and Kathie Kister of Lakeville.Miss Hofstetter is a graduate of Dalton High School and Cedarville University. She is employed by East Holmes School District.Her fiance is a graduate of Central Christian High School and Mount Vernon Nazarene University. He is employed by Triway Local School District.A July 14 wedding is planned at Grace Brethren Church, Wooster.Wood-AthertonMILLERSBURG -- Sandra Preuss of Millersburg, announces the engagement of her daughter, Jessica Wood, to David Atherton. He is the son of Shirley Starnes of Killbuck and Ken Atherton of Millersburg.The bride-to-be is a graduate of Rockland High School in Rockland, Mass. Her fiance is employed by Nelson Tree Service.A June 16 wedding is planned at Christmas Run Park in Wooster.


Adidas has partnered with its environmental group Parley for the Oceans to design a 3D-printed shoe created in part with garbage found in the ocean.
As of now, it's in the concept stage and comprises an upper made with plastic sourced from the ocean, and a 3D-printed midsole made with recycled polyester and gillnets (specialized nets used to catch fish and sometimes left in the ocean).
"World leaders forging an agreement is wonderful, but we shouldn't need to be told to do the right thing," says Eric Liedtke, adidas Group Executive Board member responsible for Global Brands. "The industry can't afford to wait for directions any longer. Together with the network of Parley for the Oceans, we have started taking action and creating new sustainable materials and innovations for athletes. The 3D-printed ocean plastic shoe midsole stands for how we can set new industry standards if we start questioning the reason of what we create. We want to bring everyone from the industry to the table and create sustainable solutions for big global problems."
Parley for the Oceans feels the political climate is friendly right now to a product like this, following the "ocean movement" making waves at COP21 in Paris and with the United Nations recently, who made protecting underwater life their 14th development goal.
Adidas has been on an environmentally-conscious spree since partnering with Parley earlier this year, minimizing its use of plastic store-wide and company-wide.


AMARILLO, TX (KFDA) - The Cimarron County Sheriff’s Office has sent out a ‘Silver Alert’ after an 82-year-old man went missing this afternoon.
Officials say that Edgar Francis went missing from his house one mile south of Boise City, Oklahoma at 1:00 p.m.
Francis was last seen wearing a grey fleece jacket, blue jeans and a straw cowboy hat.
Officials say Francis has a walker, cannot speak well due to a previous stroke and has possible onset dementia.
His direction of travel is unknown.
Anyone with information on Francis' whereabouts is asked to call the Cimarron County Sheriff’s Office at (580) 544-2020.


Patents that originate from campus-based research can generate significant revenue for universities.
Each day, universities conduct and invest in research that has an impact on science, medical, and technology industries. And while schools of higher education serve a larger purpose, patenting those research results and licensing those patents to industries can generate much-needed funds that benefit those universities.
Patents are assets, even if they are not immediately used. As such, campus assets borne from technology created by colleges and universities usually can be licensed, sometimes later in their useful lifetimes. Dormant patents represent potential revenue sources for colleges and universities who find that those patents are infringed upon.
A growing number of universities are hiring technology transfer managers who are responsible for generating revenue by licensing out university patents to industry.
With apologies to the crusty old prospector in the 1948 western Yellow Sky, “Thar’s gold in them thar patents!” New York University, the University of California, the University of Colorado, Cornell, and Stanford have hit pay dirt pursuing patent infringers. Shouldn’t every university’s leadership team be wondering if they might be sitting on a goldmine?
• 1999: The University of California and Eolas Technologies filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. In 2003, the case went to trial, and the jury awarded UCal and Eolas $520 million. In 2005, Microsoft appealed the decision, and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sent it back to District Court to be retried. In August 2007, the parties settled the claim for an undisclosed amount.
• 1999: The University of California filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Genentech. The case resulted in a $200 million settlement for UCal.
• 2002: Cornell University filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Hewlett-Packard Co. In 2008, the case went to trial, and the jury awarded Cornell $184 million. Hewlett-Packard announced its intention to appeal the award, and the judge reduced the award to $53 million.
• 2003: Texas Instruments and Stanford University filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Conexant Systems. In 2006, the case went to trial, and the jury awarded TI and Stanford $112 million. Shortly after the trial, the parties settled the case for $70 million.
According to Chris Holman of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, in just this decade, universities filed 139 patent infringement lawsuits. Although most of these lawsuits were filed by exclusive licensees with universities joining them as co-plaintiffs, 51 of these lawsuits were filed by universities alone.
Patent and licensing history was made on June 29, 2009, when a jury in Marshall, Texas, granted the largest patent award verdict in U. S. history.
Call it a jury verdict, or perhaps the largest university windfall ever awarded, but Abbott Laboratories was ordered to pay $1.6 billion to Centocor, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, because Abbott Laboratories’ Numira arthritis treatment was found to infringe Centocor’s U.S. patent.


[Bolivia], Mar 29 (ANI): President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday (local time) arrived in Bolivia on the second leg of his three nations tour, and was welcomed by Bolivian President Evo Morales Ayma and Foreign Minister Diego Pary Rodriguez at Viru Viru International Airport.
According to a statement issued by Bolivia's Ministry of External Relations, President Kovind, upon arrival, said: "I have the honour of making the first state visit to Bolivia. Today is a historic day in bilateral relations. "
"I hope to hold my meetings with President Morales tomorrow. I am confident that relations between India and Bolivia will grow, "the President added while addressing media at the Airport.
The arrival of President Kovind in Bolivia marks the beginning of a new historical chapter in the bilateral relations between the two countries, the statement noted.
President Kovind, along with his Bolivian counterpart, is expected to address strategic issues such as lithium, Bioceanic Railway Corridor, technology, health, and others, said a statement released by India's Ministry of External Affairs.
During his three day visit to Bolivia, the President will hold delegation level talks with his counterpart. He will participate in India-Bolivia business forum meeting and also interact with the students at the University in Santa Cruz.
"India and Bolivia are ancient civilizations with rich and varied cultures. Our bilateral relations are warm and friendly, underpinned with abundant goodwill and the desire to forge closer cooperation in areas of mutual interest. Our interactions between the two countries so far have been at ministerial levels or at meetings on the sidelines of regional and multilateral events," the statement read.
"Bolivia is a landlocked country, it is rich in mineral resources. It has large deposits of lithium, gold, silver and gas reserves. Bolivia's lithium and our needs for eMobility and eStorage provides natural synergies. A delegation of companies had visited and has had discussions with Bolivian companies and we also see that as Bolivia would embark on industrialisation of its resources, India could be a partner that could provide know-how technology and skills. Some of our companies are already in Bolivia largely in sectors of IT and even in vehicles we have companies, who are in like, TATA motors, Bajaj Auto, Mahindra & Mahindra, they have business links in Bolivia," the statement added.
President Kovind is currently on is three-nation visit to Croatia, Bolivia, and Chile from March 25 to April 4. He will be in Bolivia from March 28 to March 30.
Following this, President Kovind will be visiting Chile on March 30, marking 70 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
President Kovind earlier held talks with his Croatian counterpart, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, following which four Memoranda of Understanding were signed between India and Croatia, in the fields of tourism, education, sports, to name a few. Kovind also interacted with the Indian diaspora in Croatia on Tuesday.


Bipasha Basu hospitalised due to respiratory problem?
THANE: Actor Arbaaz Khan has admitted to police that he used to place bets on cricket matches with the help of bookie Sonu Jalan, the alleged kingpin of the IPL scam, said inspector Pradeep Sharma.
Khan, who was named by Jalan during questioning, recorded his statement on Saturday. He said that no money changed hands and whenever he lost, Jalan blackmailed him to appear at public events, said inspector Sharma. Khan is likely to be made a witness in the case.
Actor Arbaaz Khan arrived at the anti-extortion cell office around 11am. He was at the office for nearly five hours. Jalan and Khan were brought face to face, said Sharma.
The inspector told TOI that Khan had confessed to having placed the bets through Jalan, who was introduced to him by a common friend seven years ago. “Earlier, Khan placed small bets just for fun and there was no monetary transaction between him and Jalan,” said an officer from the department.
Police said Khan has told them that Jalan never showed him any accounts and would give him special treatment.
“Though Jalan kept records of Khan’s wins and losses, no money changed hands. It was only after a spate of losses that there was an argument between the actor and Jalan. After this, Jalan started harassing him to accompany him to various events like local Ganesh mandals and Holi festivities so that he could flaunt his Bollywood connections and gather more clients,” added the officer.
Jalan would also accompany Khan to IPL matches and use the opportunity to make contacts, said a source. As his family disapproved of betting, Khan reportedly snapped contact with Jalan couple of months ago. “Khan has told us that since he cut off contact with Jalan, the latter had been blackmailing him to resume betting,” the officer added.
Speaking to media outlets, Khan said, “I had come to record my statement and I will continue to cooperate with the investigation.” Police said they may summon Khan again if needed. Meanwhile, two more names — a bookie, Dilip, and a producer — have cropped up. Police refused to divulge details about the producer.
On Saturday, Jalan’s police custody was extended till Thursday. “This is nothing but a media trial,” Defence counsel Sagar Kadam said.


An award-winning Scottish singer-songwriter is next on the bill at the concert series at St Cuthbert’s House in Seahouses.
The concert takes place on Saturday, July 14.
Yvonne Lyon is widely regarded as belonging firmly amongst the best and brightest talent currently playing the circuit.
Her new album Metanoia is her eighth solo studio release, further demonstrating her ability to deliver engaging original material with fresh imagination.
The album is a unique and emotive collection, where Americana, ambient and folk influences fuse in a bold tapestry, showcasing Yvonne’s strengths as an evolving artist.
She has consistently stirred audiences across the UK and beyond with her emotive performances, combining poignant lyrics with creative melodies and demonstrating a beautiful voice that can be both fragile and intense.
Yvonne has shared the stage with Eddi Reader, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Karine Polwart and several other stars of the folk/Americana circuit.
As winner of the Burnsong International Songwriting Competition, she performed her winning song in a concert at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. She has appeared numerous times on BBC TV, and has played several sessions on Bob Harris’ BBC Radio 2 show, and he has described listening to Yvonne’s music as “a life-affirming experience”.
Host Jeff Sutheran said: “We first heard Yvonne supporting a big name in a large arena and she captivated that huge audience with a beautiful performance.


As former sellers on Latin American’s largest e-commerce site, the cousins had found it difficult to build clientele for their electronics-resale business. The two had become the second-biggest seller on the website Mercado Libre but still felt the site limited their company’s potential.
“You were not able to upload a photo or have a brand, so your customers are not able to find you again easily after they made a purchase,” said Gomez in an interview at the company’s office at the Miami Entrepreneurship Center.
Gomez, 27, also found that there was not much security against fraud for customers and sellers. The site did not protect buyers, which made them wary of purchases.
While a safe and seamless online shopping experience is the standard in the U.S., they say this is not the case in Latin America.
So in November 2013, the pair came up with the idea to create an e-commerce site with more discovery infrastructure for business across Latin America.
Gomez received both his bachelor’s degree and MBA from Florida International University, and Arellano has a business degree from a Venezuelan university. Using their business experience, the cousins launched Wuelto.
Wuelto, which went live in February, allows businesses to build an online brand through customizing their profiles.
“You can have a profile so you can start creating a connection with your customers,” Gomez said.
As buyers browse, icons indicate to them which country the product is from. They can use search filters to find sellers domestically or in a specific country.
Wuelto counts major businesses, such as Amazon and Best Buy, as affiliates, and smaller businesses benefit from the traffic brought in by these large retailers. Although these businesses draw in more traffic, they do not have more exposure than the site’s small businesses.
“It is good for young entrepreneurs because they can compete at the same level as Amazon,” Gomez said.
Affiliates are different though in that the purchasing process is redirected to their sites, where as the checkout process is on Wuelto for other sellers. Those sellers are charged a 10 percent commission fee and affiliates pay a referal fee of 6-15 percent. Gomez says they have generated a few thousand dollars in revenue so far.
Another unique component of the site is the social-network feature, which allows users to follow stores and their friends.
“When you are browsing for products you will see that the feed is based on the stores and the people you follow who have styles like you,” Gomez said.
Users can also view their friends’ wish lists to find gifts for them.
Access to Wuelto is also available through an app.
And all of the businesses go through a screening process to limit fraud. Unlike some other e-commerce sites, Wuelto requires that the businesses are properly registered. Buyers are also offered purchase protection.
“It is a little more secure, and we can mediate your purchase,” Gomez said.
There also is a degree of curating their business-approval process to make sure quality products are sold.
Arellano, 33, says one of the most beneficial features of the site is the increased communication between customers.
“You can message back and forth with the owners of the store and talk about the products,” Arellano said.
The site currently serves nine Latin American countries in addition to the United States. More than 3,000 users have signed up since February.
The cousins say their continued success will be based in large part to the site’s social features.
“In Latin America, people trust referrals more than brands,” Gomez said.


LOUIS VAN GAAL will be given another £150million to spend on "several" transfer targets this summer, it has been confirmed.
The Manchester United manager parted with a similar amount last pre-season in a huge spending spree that included record signing Angel Di Maria for £60m.
And top of Van Gaal's list for this summer is Borussia Dortmund defender Mats Hummels, who is valued at £30m and appears ready to leave Germany.
A senior club source told the Daily Star: "No deal has been done but he is someone we want to sign, like several others this summer."
United failed to sign a commanding centre-half last summer after reported talks with Hummels following the World Cup in Brazil broke down.
They will lodge a £30m bid once the transfer window re-opens, with Red Devils bosses willing to offer the 26-year-old a four-year contract worth £160,000 a week.
United have been linked to a host of Europe's top stars this spring after failing to significantly add to their squad over the January transfer window.
They are reportedly considering a £29m bid for Palermo striker Paulo Dybala, while Inter forward Mauro Icardi is said to be valued at the same price, as is Napoli's Gonzalo Higuain.
Van Gaal has already promised fans he will sign a midfielder during the off-season and the club are expected to let loanee Radamel Falcao and forward Javier Hernandez go.
As for Hummels, his impending departure from Dortmund is seen as the end of an era in the Bundesliga as manager Jurgen Klopp also jumps ship.
This week Klopp announced he was to quit Dortmund in search of a new post after a torrid domestic campaign.
And he said United can expect to wrap up the Hummels deal as soon as the transfer window opens.
"He's good enough for Manchester United. He's told me he's thinking things over," he said.


Chronic pain is the most common condition identified by the study.
Just one joint smoked before age 14 could increase gray matter volume in the brain.
Cannabis affects memory functions in teens. The good news is that the effects can be reversed fast with abstinence.
There’s such a thing as cannabis withdrawal syndrome, and it’s symptoms have been associated with a variety of psychiatric disorders.
Scientists figure out why weed gives you the munchies.
This is a serious condition that has sent many to the ER multiple times.
In states where both recreational and medical marijuana was legalized, opioid prescriptions dropped about 14%.
Men experienced sexual dysfunction when consuming alcohol or taking molly, while women had problems when smoking pot.
Herb could prove a worthy ally in our fight against opioid drugs.
Let’s stick to what’s scientifically proven, shall we?
Legal or not, teens aren’t that interested in cannabis anymore.
The findings suggest that both foods could have a therapeutic effect against diabetes and colitis.
This new research center is set to deliver quite a buzz.


Since fiscal year 2012, the number of Indiana children who entered foster care because of parental drug abuse has increased 230.6 percent.
Indiana has more children in its child welfare system than any surrounding state — including those with nearly twice Indiana’s overall population.
Republican legislative leaders in Indiana said the higher number of Hoosier children in care indicates the Indiana Department of Child Services has problems that go beyond funding.
"There’s something wrong systemically," House Speaker Brian Bosma said Wednesday.
Indiana had 29,315 children in foster care during fiscal year 2016, according to federal data from the Administration for Children and Families. During that same time period, there were 23,646 children in care in Ohio; 19,998 in Illinois; 18,194 in Michigan and 13,016 in Kentucky.
Questions about Indiana's handling of child welfare cases hit fever pitch last month after former DCS Director Mary Beth Bonaventura sent a scathing resignation letter that accused Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office of cutting funding and services for families and continuing policies that "all but ensure children will die."
In the wake of public outcry, Holcomb hired the Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group, an Alabama-based nonprofit, to conduct a complete DCS assessment. That assessment began Wednesday. Paul Vincent, director of the Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group, did not respond to IndyStar's repeated requests for comment.
Republicans rebuffed Democratic lawmakers' demands for a concurrent legislative investigation, arguing the nonprofit consulting organization is best positioned to look into the issue.
"I think as long as we have an open and fair and transparent and very public vetting of what this group finds out… that we will accomplish the same goal," Senate President Pro Tempore David Long said.
The governor's spokeswoman, Stephanie Wilson, said Holcomb asked the Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group to provide at least two progress reports during the legislative session.
"Ultimately, the governor wants the facts and to ensure kids are healthy and safe," she said in a statement. "He will continue to be fully transparent."
Bosma committed this week to allow the legislative council — composed of leading lawmakers from both chambers — to review the consultant’s recommendations. He said he expects that to happen after the session ends.
"We added $600 million, well over half a billion dollars, to the DCS budget just this biennium," Bosma said, "so it’s not a money issue. We have a systemic issue."
What that may mean is unclear. Child welfare officials have argued the additional funding was needed because of an influx of children in the system due to the opioid crisis. But others question whether the money is being spent efficiently.
Micah Vincent, the governor's top budget official, said the state added $450 million in funding for DCS over the course of the two-year budget, far more than the $254.8 million the agency initially requested. In addition, the state provided a $137 million bailout in June after the agency ran out of money.
Vincent did not dispute Bonaventura’s claims that staffing was capped, contract amounts were reduced by $15 million and a $45 million upgrade of the state's child support computer system was put off. Nor could he say exactly how that money was used instead.
"I'm making a broad statement that of course we should be looking at whether particular items are the most effective way of using the dollars," he said.
Long and other leaders say the opioid epidemic doesn't sufficiently explain Indiana's high number of foster care placements. Other states are also struggling to combat opioid abuse, but have not seen such a dramatic spike in their child welfare placements.
But statistics show that the number of children entering foster care because of parental drug abuse — of any kind — has climbed significantly faster in Indiana compared to neighboring states, according to an analysis by Child Trends, a national research organization focused on child well-being.
Since fiscal year 2012, the number of Indiana children who entered foster care because of parental drug abuse has increased 230.6 percent, data shows. Meanwhile, Illinois' number of children in care rose 79.4 percent, Ohio's moved up 21.8 percent and Kentucky's increased 22.7 percent. Michigan's number of children entering foster care declined 2.3 percent in that time period.
Sharon Vandivere, a senior research scientist at Child Trends who specializes in child welfare, cautioned that the federal data only requires judges to provide one reason for the child entering foster care. Many cases involve multiple factors. That means parental drug abuse also may be a contributing factor in other states’ cases.
Still, Vandivere said, the data for Indiana is concerning.
"The upward trend in entries into foster care in Indiana due to parent drug abuse is pretty alarming," she said. "And it's a pretty steady increase across the years. And it really makes me worry about what’s happening in future years and whether the system would be able to help these families and kids."
Vandivere also questioned whether foster families and relatives would have the capacity to help the families that need it. She said it's critical that effective treatment for opioid addiction be put in place in Indiana and that opioid addiction be prevented, so kids don’t have to be separated from their parents.
While abuse and neglect are harmful to children, Vandivere said, so is the trauma children experience when they are removed from their parents.
Tackling the opioid problem is likely to feature prominently in the 2018 legislative session, which kicked off last week. Holcomb has made it a top priority and House Republicans plan to introduce a bill that would add nine new addiction treatment centers across the state.


SPRING PLANT EXCHANGE: Exchange your extra cuttings, bulbs and plants with other gardeners. Bring them in labelled, leak-proof containers, free. Saturday, May 11 at Sherwood Library, 9:30-11:30 a.m., Crouch Library (outside), 10 a.m. to noon, Beacock Library (lobby), 2-4 p.m.; Saturday, May 18, Westmount Library (outside) 9 a.m. to noon, Carson Library (outside), 9:30-11:30 a.m., Stoney Creek Library (outside), 10 a.m. to noon, Masonville Library (outside), 10 a.m. to noon; Saturday, May 25, Lambeth Library (outside), 9:30-11:30 a.m., Landon Library, (outside), 9:30-11:30 a.m., Jalna Library, 10 a.m. to noon, Pondmills Library (outside), 10 a.m. to noon; A master gardener from the London Middlesex Master Gardeners may be on hand to answer questions.
PERENNIAL SALE AND PLANT AUCTION: Parkhill Area Horticultural Society, Wednesday May 15, 6:30 p.m. – Outdoor sale of perennials and other plants. 7:30 p.m.- Indoor auction of hanging plants, garden tools and accessories, books, gift certificates, and more with Elliot-McGregor- McKay as auctioneers. Spring raffle draw, lunch, fun for all Parkhill Leisure Club.
LAMBETH HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY ANNUAL PLANT SALE: Saturday May 18, 8 a.m.- noon.; new location: Lambeth United Church parking lot, corner of Colonel Talbot & Longwoods Road‚ lots of Annuals, Perennials, Herbs, Grasses Etc. And Great Compost. Come one and all.
PLANT AND COMPOST SALE: London Fanshawe Horticultural Society annual event features perennials, herbs, grasses, shrubs, garden art, plants, garden tools and more, Saturday, May 18, 8 a.m.-noon at Eastern Star Temple, 800 Fanshawe Park Rd. E. Visit www.gardenontario.org/site.php/fanshawe.
GARDEN REPURPOSING: Workshop is a great gift for Mother’s Day, Saturday, May 25, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at Habitat for Humanity, 5-40 Pacific Crt. Cost: $40/person. Contact: Nicole Rombouts, 519-455-6623 ext. 228 or e-mail nrombouts@habitat4home.ca.
MAY COURT HOMES OF DISTINCTION TOUR: Tour six unique and fabulous homes in London and area, enjoy tea, coffee and goodies at the Carolinian Winery and Eatery, Saturday, May 25 and Sunday, May 26, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; passports: $25 can be purchased at various locations and online; all proceeds fund May Court Club of London work with children and youth in the community; 519-439-4811 or visit www.homesofdistinctionlondon.ca.
ST. MARYS GARDEN FAIR: More than 20 garden related vendors in an outdoor setting, hosted by the St. Marys Horticultural Society, Saturday, June 1, 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at Milt Dunnell Field (The Flats), Water St. N., St. Marys. Discover everything from hanging baskets to birdhouses, unique perennials, annuals, shrubs and interesting garden decor.Heirloom tomatoes will be for sale, grown by our Horticultural members. Free admission, refreshments on site and lots of free parking. Contact: Ron Hunter, 519-284-2382 or e-mail rbhunter@hotmail.com.
PLANT SALE AND EXCHANGE: The Old East Village’s annual plant sale and exchange with compost and mulch sale, Saturday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. at Lorne Avenue elementary school. Bags for mulch and compost will be available, but bring your own bags and wheelbarrows to save.
POETRY IN BLOOM: Juried Floral Design and Horticultural Show, tea room available, demonstrations, Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at Civic Garden Complex, 625 Springbank Dr. Admission: adults $5, children 12 and under free. Visit gardencluboflondon.ca.
THAMES SHOWCASE AND SALE: Wednesday, noon to 7 p.m., Thursday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Choose from: (all taxes included) perennials $3 and $5, specialty plants $1.60/4”pot, Zonal Geraniums $1.90/4”pot, hanging baskets $10 and $13, planters and urns $15 and up. Supplies are limited. Shop early. Also for sale: welded garden accessories, woodworking, concrete garden statuary, handmade soap, a variety of baked goods (fresh and frozen), barbecue lunch and dinner on Wednesday. Cash or debit only, 785 Trafalgar St., parking at rear of school.
PLANT SALE: The Stratford and District Horticultural Society is holding its yearly spring plant sale May 11, 8 a.m.-noon at 4140 Quinlan Rd., Stratford. Large assortment of perennials, annuals, herbs and vegetables all grown and donated to the sale by their members. Obtain advice on a myriad of horticultural topics to help you with your gardening needs from Master Gardeners. Visit tinyurl.com/2013PlantSale.


Google announced the other day that it has added Blogger and Google+ Pages to Google Takeout, meaning that users can more easily export their data out of these services if they would like to leave.
Meet us at https://www.google.com/takeout, and together we will export each of your blogs as an Atom Xml file. Or, if you’ve enjoyed exporting data from your Google+ Stream and Google+ Circles through Takeout in the past, but are looking for something more, join us now and download html files with your posts and json files containing the circles for each Google+ Page you own. If you don’t want to rush into things, we can also just export a single blog or page of your choice. Either way, give us a try. Life will never be the same.
A couple months ago, Google added some new features to Google Takeout, enabling users to maintain their original folder hierarchy when exporting files from Google Drive, and letting users pick a single resource within a service to download.
Google also recently added Reader and Latitude data to the Google Takeout menu, and started letting users download all their YouTube videos together.
Alabama Shakes Own "Saturday Night Live"


Tumblr has introduced sponsor packages for advertisers in its first attempt at generating substantial revenue. Packages, which start at $25,000, get advertisers access to Tumblr’s 120 million daily impressions through prime spots on Tumblr Radar, which features the site’s most popular posts, and Spotlight, a curated showcase of creative content. The company has no plans to require users to host third-party ads on private blogs, Tumblr tells Fast Company. “Users can host ads on their own if they wish,” Tumblr spokesperson Katherine Barna says. The outlet is already a favorite of brands such as Coca-Cola and Calvin Klein, but Tumblr has resisted advertising since its inception–founder David Karp told the L.A. Times in 2010 he would rather sell the company’s desks than resort to advertising.


Two women mistakenly shot at by the Los Angeles Police Department when their newspaper delivery vehicle was mistaken for the truck driven by rouge ex-cop Christopher Dorner in February are being compensated $40,000 by the city.
The tax-free settlement covering the pickup and other property came quickly after the women's attorney, Glen Jonas, rejected Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck's offer of a replacement truck because the women would have had to pay taxes.
Margie Carranza and her 71-year-old mother, Emma Hernandez, were delivering papers around 5 am on Feb. 7 when LAPD officers guarding the suburban Torrance home of a Dorner target blasted at least 100 rounds into their Toyota pickup.
Hernandez was shot in the back and Carranza sustained minor injuries.
Jonas said the women were still not doing well.
The deal announced on Thursday specified no admission of liability.
'Margie's still very emotionally impacted and Emma is suffering from her injuries,' he said.
Jonas, who noted he has waived all his fees, said he hoped that all other issues including personal injury can be resolved without the need to file a lawsuit or have a trial.
City Attorney Carmen Trutanich said the truck compensation was one of the fastest resolutions of a case he can remember in his term.
The women were expected to receive the money in two to four days.
The errant shooting in Torrance occurred just hours after Dorner shot and wounded a Los Angeles police officer in Riverside County and then ambushed two police officers in the city of Riverside, killing one and wounding the other.
Dorner was on the run in a Nissan Titan pickup after being named as the suspect in the murders of a retired LAPD captain's daughter and her fiancé.
The former captain had represented Dorner at an LAPD disciplinary hearing that led to his firing. The double-murder investigation led to discovery of a manifesto posted online by Dorner that vowed to wage war on Los Angeles police.
Dorner hid out in the San Bernardino Mountains until Feb. 12, when he tried to flee but law enforcement converged on him.
Dorner killed one sheriff's deputy and wounded another in a gunbattle that ended with fire consuming the cabin he holed up in. Authorities believe he killed himself with a gunshot to the head.
The attack on the women's pickup truck wasn't the only mistaken police shooting that morning in Torrance.
Moments later, nearby local police opened fire on a pickup truck driven by a surfer heading to the beach.


Sadly our brother, George, passed away February 28, 2019, at the Dorothy Ley Hospice, Etobicoke, Ontario, with his long time and loving companion, Olga Perka at his side. Born October 31, 1943, George was the son of the late George and Margaret MacLeod of Sydney/Mira Road. In his younger years, he enjoyed playing hockey, but his main interest was boxing. George trained and was managed by the late John Chechetto. George also had a long and successful career in the Canadian Armed Forces. He loved fishing and returned home to Cape Breton every May to catch “The Big One”. George is survived by his faithful and loving companion, Olga Perka and her family; his sisters, Peggy (Mike Mercer), Audrey MacQueen, Anna MacLeod, Sharon (John Bailey), Barbara MacLeod and Edwina (Junior Jaquard). He will be sadly missed by his life long forever friends, Ron and Lois MacDonald, Francis and Carolyn Jones, Gunter Blatter and his favourite fishing buddy, Allan Stapleton. George was also blessed with numerous nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. Cremation has taken place in Etobicoke. We will have a service for George in Cape Breton at a later date. George fought his last battle with courage and dignity. He will be forever loved and never forgotten. Rest in peace, Dear Brother. Arrangements under the direction of Sydney Memorial Chapel. Words of comfort can be sent to the family at www.sydneymemorialchapel.ca or e-mail sydneymemorialchapel@ns.sympatico.ca.


Could Snapchat see its valuation disappear?
With US economy on track, when will Fed hike rates?
With higher rates coming, which US bank stands to benefit?
The Federal Reserve's first interest rate hike in a decade is expected as early as this fall, an action with far-reaching implications for every corner of the world economy—from your mortgage rate to emerging-market trade. Our ongoing coverage—and what it means for your money—is being collected here.
Is it too late to finance your home?
Should investors dump their bonds?
How will Main Street react to higher interest rates?
What do rising rates mean for online lenders?


Innovative and inspiring social and environmental entrepreneurs can win a tailor-made support package to help expand their business, as part of the 2013 SEED Awards, which opened last month.
The SEED Awards aim to develop the most promising social and environmental start-up enterprises in emerging economies, developing and least developed countries.
SEED are seeking entries from innovative start-up entrepreneurs who aim to generate environmental, social and economic benefits at the local level in a country with a developing or emerging economy.
2 SEED Gender Equality Awards, for enterprises in other countries (except countries that are OECD or EU members).
Candidates can apply until, and no later than, 12 June 2013, 23:59 CET.
SEED Award Winners in the previous round of SEED Awards in 2011 included enterprises that transformed groundnut shells into fuel briquettes in The Gambia; developed solar ovens in Burkina Faso; trained and employed street youth to collect waste materials in Ghana, which they then transformed into handmade designer products;; and employed women to produce aloe-based skin care products in Kenya. The gender equality prize was won by a women's environment committee, supported by the local municipality, which organised waste collection and recycling in Nepal.
Details about these and other SEED Winners are at www.seedinit.org.


Mayor Bill de Blasio had good intentions.
That was the mayor's response Friday morning when asked about his administration's bungled civic engagement campaign, which sent thousands of letters to voters across the city this week warning them that their registration status was inactive.
The letters, sent to 400,000 New Yorkers, encouraged voters to check their registration status just weeks before the November primaries, and days before the registration deadline. At least 30,000 letters were also sent in error, City Hall said this week — after initially blaming the Board of Elections for compiling a bad list.
The mistake caused a brief panic among some voters, who then flooded the Board of Elections wondering if there was a voting scam underway.
De Blasio acknowledged Friday that the city had mismanaged the effort — the first spearheaded by the recently created “Democracy NYC” office, which de Blasio created as part of his push to increase civic involvement.
“There is no question that this was a good idea where there was a problem in the execution,” de Blasio said Friday during his weekly appearance on "The Brian Lehrer Show. "
“With the information that I have today, 8 percent of the names should not have been on that list, but if that proves to be true in the end, that means 92 percent of the names were people that needed to be reached out to,” he said.
The city paid upward of $20,000 for a list of names from third party software vendor Civis Analytics, which procured the list from the Board of Elections. In the days since the letter was sent, there was confusion about how the list was compiled, procured and ultimately used by the city.
Civis issued a statement this week saying there was nothing wrong with the database it compiled, instead saying a filtering of the information, which was handled by City Hall, had caused the problem.
On Thursday, aides to the mayor sought to take responsibility for the error but insisted the city had worked with Civis to filter the list.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated how much New York City paid Civis Analytics. The city paid upward of $20,000.


FILE - A campaign staffer stands in an election tent promoting Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister and leader of Ukraine's Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) political party, in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Nov. 26, 2018.
A 90-day political campaign period has opened in Ukraine, where the incumbent president's future is uncertain.
President Petro Poroshenko hasn't yet announced whether he plans to run in a March 31 election, although he is expected to seek re-election. Monday marked the official start of campaigning.
A poll of 2,017 eligible voters published last week put Poroshenko's approval rating at just over 14 percent. Another likely candidate, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, had support from 16 percent of those surveyed.
Other presidential hopefuls trailed behind the two. The Razumkov Center poll had a margin of error of 2.3 percentage points.
Ukraine has been hit hard by the tug-of-war with Russia, which annexed Ukraine's Crimea and backed a separatist insurgency in the country's industrial heartland in the east.


Hi, I'm Rich Brown, senior editor for cnet.com. Today, we're gonna take a look at the editor's choice winning Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 9. So, this right here is one of the most expensive gaming mice we've ever seen. It comes in at a 150 dollars. So, it's definitely for the more committed PC gamers out there. That's it. This is also one of the most customizable mice we've ever seen and it's also a great performer. We recommend it to anybody looking to spend a lot of money on an input device for game. So, the RAT 9 comes with a lot of features we expect on a high end gaming mice these. That's a 5600 dpi laser sensor. That means it's very fast, very accurate. This is a wireless mouse, but Mad Catz does sell wired version for a little less. Now, this button right here lets you move through various dpi settings you can make the most more less sensitive as you're playing. You can also use the included driver's software to customize the settings, so you can really tweak and feel the mouse to exactly how you would like it, if you flip it over, you can see it done. At middle here, there is a series of weights that come upon this post. You can actually unscrew. There's cuff here to take the weights off and set the weight of the mouse you want it. That's actually a nice little feature and it really helps improve the overall feel of the mouse. The top of the posts are actually doubled as an Allen wrench with slots to adjust various points in the mouse to really make it feel good in your hand. Now, the thumb side of the mouse, you can use the Allen wrench to move this piece here, either up and down or you can loosen it so that it comes out an angle. That gives you a better position for your thumb potentially and the 2 side buttons as well as red button here as the red button is actually we haven't seen before. The idea is that when you are playing a shooting game and you have a sniper rifle, so you wanna run around really quick, you get have the position, you wanna have the nice fast cursor control so you can see you can see where you're going, but then when you zoom in on some somebody, you might want a little bit better control. So, when you push that button, you lowers that dpi of the laser sensor a little bit and let's you get better beat on whoever you're to tract and we get to the pinky side of mouse, you assumed the there's another screw here, you can use the Allen wrench. and take this piece off and Mad Catz includes 2 other pinky pieces you can put in, of different textures and different sizes, so lets you customize that side of mouse as well. Mad Catz also includes a carrying box that you will put all the various pieces that you're not using outside. No for the last part of our customization, you see this wrist rest here. It's little tough on bottom, push it in and you can slide wrist piece right off. You get 2 other wrist piece options. To set up a little higher on this track, one sit is closer to flash. What's cool about this track is that you cannot only slide in new wrist pieces depending on the kind of feel you want there. You can also set them to be longer or shorter. So, if you got a bigger hands or smaller hands, you can adjust the wrist piece, so it fits perfectly. Now, running at the mouse, you get a lateral scroll button here. That's actually an awkward design. It's not the most natural feel of kind of like Logitech's version where the lateral scroll well built in to the main screw area tilting function but one thing we love about this mouse is actually it comes with batteries, so you can chard the second while you're using the other. Now come to the charging station, also access of USB receiver, pop the battery in there, and this will appear hold to cylinder that holds extra weight when you're not using. So there's a lot going with the RAT 9. It's one of he most customizable mice we've ever seen. It's got some features we've never seen before and it also has great performance. It really sort of justifies 150 dollar price tag, which is why given editor's choice award. So, I'm Rich Brown, this is the Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 9 wireless gaming mouse.


Republicans will still head back to the polls Tuesday night to participate in the precinct conventions, but Democrats will stay at home.
This year, Democratic precinct conventions will be March 22, right before senate district conventions.
Republicans say they aren’t moving their conventions.
“We feel like it’s important to have it at those grassroots levels that night,” said Jennifer Hall, who heads the Tarrant County Republican Party.
Local and state conventions are held every two years; national conventions every four years, for presidential elections. The next round of national conventions will be in 2016.
At precinct conventions, delegates are chosen to move on to the senate district convention and any ideas that might be incorporated into the party platform are submitted.
An often quiet step in the political process, these gatherings drew national attention to Texas in 2008 when Democrats wanting to weigh in on the historic presidential primary battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton showed up in such large numbers that they overwhelmed organizers.
More than 20,000 Democrats attended local senatorial conventions that year, swamping decades-old systems and procedures.
Such crowds haven’t been seen since.
Normally, a very small percentage of the state’s population — perhaps 2 percent — attend these gatherings, said Tom Marshall, a political science professor at the University of Texas at Arlington.
For Republicans, precinct conventions will begin at voting sites shortly after the polls close at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Delegates chosen there move on to the senatorial conventions, which will be March 22. And delegates chosen there will attend the party’s state convention in Fort Worth this summer and participate in a highly touted presidential straw poll.
“We are seeing a big increase in people wanting to attend because the state convention is in Fort Worth this year,” Hall said.
Senate District 9 will meet at Pantego Bible Church, 8001 Anderson Blvd. in Fort Worth; District 10 will gather at the Mansfield school district Center for Performing Arts, 1110 W. Debbie Lane in Mansfield; District 12 will meet at Birchman Baptist, 9100 N. Normandale in Fort Worth; and District 22 will gather at Beckham Elementary School, 1700 Southeast Pkwy in Arlington.
Democrats will begin their process March 22. They will choose delegates during precinct conventions to go to senate district conventions.
Delegates chosen during the senatorial district conventions ultimately will attend the party’s state convention this summer in Dallas, listening to candidates make pitches as to why they should be elected and voting on the party platform.
The precinct and senatorial conventions will be March 22 at the Tarrant County College South Campus Rotunda, 5301 Campus Drive in Fort Worth. Registration opens at 8 a.m., a general assembly will be at 9:30 a.m. and the convention will be called to order at 1 p.m. Those who want to participate may preregister online at http://register.txdemocrats.org.
“We’ve been reaching out to let people know,” Peoples said.


Chanatry's Wednesday, Red Kettle Drive!
Hey, if you're in South Utica, please stop by and say hi, shake a hand, and make a donation into the kettle, as we team up once again with the Salvation Army to help with their Christmas fund drive, to help those who need it most! All day long, at Chanatry's in South Utica!


Remember William Hung From 'American Idol?' He's Married!
Please tell us he sang "She Bangs" at the wedding!
William Hung won our hearts but not our ears in 2003 when he was torn apart by Simon Cowell while auditioning for season three of American Idol, and now he's a married man!
PEOPLE reports that Hung, 31 married Jian Teng in Alhambra, Calif. on June 18.
After his audition, Simon Cowell called Hung one of the worst singers he'd ever seen, but he was so beloved by audiences that he landing a record deal anyway, and stayed with music for some time before bowing out a few years later. He has since hung up the mic and is an an administrative assistant for the L.A. County Department of Public Health.
Watch below to relive Hung's legendary Idol audition.
Someone who's music career is just taking off is Ariana Grande. She talked to ET and set the record straight about her comments that her ex was cheating with another guy. Watch that below.


Foreign investment will be critical to growing Long Island’s struggling small businesses in 2015, state and local lawmakers said Friday.
It’s been a crazy 10 days for Kevin Beyer. the president of the Long Island Gasoline Retailers Association and owner of Performance Fuels in Smithtown.


Dr Gabriel Scally is satisfied the HSE has put adequate resources into acting on his recommendations following CervicalCheck.
Scally report finds disclosure was “handled badly in most cases”.
The Scally review recommends an overhaul of the CervicalCheck screening programme.
'Let responsibility lie where it lies': What exactly is the CervicalCheck inquiry looking at?
The results of the investigation are due by the end of June.


Custom home to be built on over acre. Beautiful 3 bedroom 2 bath plus a den. Open floor concept. Hurry now to be able to customize it to your taste! In the City of Surprise and on paved roads! Incredible mountain views. On paved roads.


Former racehorse Diamond Beau, who also once served as a therapy animal to autistic children, was recently saved from slaughter by the very age group he once helped.
A gentle-eyed horse that adores children and loves to soak up human attention has a new chance at life.
Former racehorse Diamond Beau, which also once served as a therapy animal to autistic children, recently was saved from slaughter by the very age group it once helped.
“Perhaps it is fate that he was saved by kids after serving children and being their best friend for years,” said Hannah Power of Stoneridge Stables and Rehoming, a Stratford-area rescue that works with a network of people to save horses destined for slaughter.
One hot chocolate, and one or two dollars at a time, a group of pupils from Embro, named the Hoof Club, wanted to give a horse a second chance.
Spearheaded by Brenna Parkhill, a pupil at Zorra Highland Park elementary school, the club’s goal was to raise money to rescue a horse from the kill pen by selling hot chocolate on their school breaks.
He’s a very sweet and well-mannered horse and he absolutely adores children.
Brenna and her mother Jill Bowery, who owns 10 horses, rescue animals sent to slaughter for meat markets in Quebec, France, Belgium, Kazakhstan and Japan.
In 2017, 33,494 horses were slaughtered in plants across the country. An additional 12,273 horses were imported from the U.S. for slaughter. The number of live horses sent to Japan for slaughter totalled 4,846.
Brenna said she was thrilled with the final total of $825 and that she was able to raise awareness about the issue.
They discovered the 18-year-old chestnut gelding in a kill pen of horses.
Diamond Beau was calm and gentle when taken for a walk. At that time, they knew nothing about its heritage.
The Hoof Club at Zorra Highland Park elementary school in Embro helped save a race horse from slaughter. Celebrating are club members Kyra Fraser, left, Olivia Townsend, Lilli Taylor, Calleigh Robillard, Lochlann Rember, Arianna Bojanowski, Marley Haight, Kylie Leversage, Hailey Minler, Brianna Vandersar, Brenna Parkhill, Morlee Dubuque, Karlee Needham, Zoe Jarrell, Alexis Finch, Abby McIntosh, Coral Lilley. Missing: Hannah Houston, Tapanga Dzieciol, Addison Haid, Kassandra Dewit, Ashley Hewitt, Addison Haid. Submitted photo.
But what happened next was a surprise to the duo who decided to explore its pedigree by researching its tattoo.
“When we checked his pedigree, we were amazed,” Bowery said.
Born in 1999, the 18-year-old chestnut gelding is a registered thoroughbred and the great, great, great grandson of Northern Dancer, a Canadian thoroughbred that won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 1964.
Diamond Beau also descended from Canadian champion Regal Classic, Northern Dancer’s grandson. Both came from Windfields Farm in Oshawa.
“He is uniquely Canadian,” Bowery said.
First a racehorse, then a riding horse, Diamond Beau no longer can be ridden due to arthritis in its hind hock. For the last 10 years, it has worked with children with autism.
Power said Diamond Beau would have been shipped to Quebec for slaughter, had it not been intercepted.
“Hopefully someone has the room in their heart to give this special guy the love he so deserves,” Power said.
Power said they run their rescue from pocket funds and donations.
“The donation we got from the kids was one of the bigger ones we’ve ever received,” she said.
Horses sell by the pound, and Beau, at 1,180 pounds, cost about $600. It is gaining weight at a foster home.
“We knew absolutely nothing about him, other than that he seemed very kind and gentle and incredibly friendly,” Power said.
After she posted information about it on Facebook, a few of its past owners sent messages saying they were shocked about where it ended up.
She also learned one of its owners thought she sent it to a safe retirement home, but somehow it ended up in a kill-pen.
The remainder of the money raised by the Hoof Club was put toward a little pony that also deserved a second chance.
“These kids are amazing, they’ve done such a good deed and deserve to be recognized,” Bowery said. “Beau is alive literally because of these kids, and once he’s rehomed, the funds from him will go back into the rescue to be put toward another horse.


A Christmas gift to the Kaiser.
Surely this rotten luck of being separated at Christmas can’t go on forever.
— John Davey, Dec. 26, 1916.
In the early months of the Great War it was widely believed the fighting would be over in short order. “We’ll be home by Christmas” was a common assumption. But as the fighting ground on and the casualties mounted, with neither side able to achieve a decisive victory, Canadians — soldiers and civilians — gradually realized the magnitude of the war.
The letters soldiers sent home to their parents, wives, girlfriends and others reflects this realization.
In October 1914, two months after the war began, more than 30,000 men sailed to England as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. After a couple months of training they were shipped to the Western Front, where the opposing armies had settled into a jagged line of trenches that stretched 1,000 kilometres from Switzerland in the east to the North Sea in the west.
The Canadian Expeditionary Force soon established a reputation as a formidable fighting force. For example, between April 22 and May 25, 1915 the 1st Canadian Division and the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry took part in the Second Battle of Ypres during which Germans bombarded the Allied lines with poison gas. Only the Canadian line held. More than 6,500 Canadians were killed, wounded or captured — one man in three. A year later, during the Battle of the Somme in 1916, the Canadians suffered more than 24,000 casualties.
By the end of 1916, 300,000 Canadians were in uniform. They were farmers and clerks and bankers and students. They came from every strata of society and from every region of the country. The fact that most every town and village saw someone’s father, son, brother, nephew, or neighbour march off to war lends soldiers’ letters a sharp poignancy.
What is perhaps most telling is how the letters tend to avoid detailed descriptions of the fighting.
“In some ways they were trying to protect their families from the trauma of what was going on in the trenches,” says Reid. “Instead, soldiers ask for news about home life: Are the crops in? Is the shop doing well? Has the roof been repaired?
“Part of it is the reassurance that the home life, the farm or the business, is managing without the husband or the son or the brother. And part of it is the normalcy of home compared to what they see around them everyday.
Bernard Freeman Trotter. Regimental #82066, 11th Battalion, Leicestershire. Born in Toronto on June 6, 1890, he became a teacher after graduating from the University of Toronto. Like many Canadians with connections to the Old Country, he joined the British Army on April 17, 1916. Rising to the rank of Second Lieutenant, he was killed a year later — on May 17, 1917 — while working on battalion transport duties. He was 26.
This has been the weirdest Christmas Day I have ever spent. Just before dinner last night the Adjutant sent for me and three other officers and gave us orders to take parties of men for entrainment. We were to start at 11.15. We did. Got to our destination about 1:00 o’clock this morning, and then waited about three hours for the train. Before we got the men on it began to rain; and we had a lovely hour getting back to camp. I turned in about 6:00, got up at 9:00 for some breakfast, and went to bed again until 11:30. After lunch went for a walk, had tea, and dozed again until nearly dinnertime. We had a real Christmas dinner — turkey and plum pudding and nuts, etc. … It was really very considerate of them to give us Christmas at the base.
David McLean. Regimental #799658, 15th Battalion, 48th Highlanders Regiment. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on Sept. 22, 1880, McLean emigrated to Canada before the war and worked as a distiller. Married to Letta McLean and with an infant son, he nonetheless enlisted in Toronto on Jan. 21, 1916. He was killed 15 months later on April 20, 1917. He was 37.
I received your letter of December 5th two days ago and was pleased to hear you were keeping well. This is Christmas Day and we’re back in billets for a time. The morning was wet but it is clear and cold now. We had our Christmas dinner in a big tent we put up for the occasion. Big enough to seat the whole company. So we sat down about 12 and our menu consisted of roast pork with mashed potatoes, carrots, cabbage, beans and applesauce and custard pudding with prunes, orange nuts, cigars, cigarettes, tobacco and I received a small parcel of handkerchiefs and chocolate and a parcel from the officers and men of the 134th which contained a pipe and chocolate and our officers waited on tables. And we were well looked after too and the pipe band was in the tent playing while we were eating and we had speeches and singing and altogether we had a splendid time which was far better than ever I expected under the circumstances. I was only wishing that you would be enjoying yourself at home as well as we were.
I received a box last night Christmas Eve from Winnipeg and I suppose it was from father … It was the best box that I have got yet. There was a pair of socks, a fruitcake in a square tin box, a box of chocolates, a bottle of malted milk tablets, a box of cough tablets, zam buck, sardines, handkerchiefs, gum, peppermints, Oxo, insect powder. Alex sent a small stove so we have a hot drink often.
Many thanks for letter & card with Christmas wishes which I received today … It’s not so cold down here but we had quite a snowstorm on Christmas Eve. It’s quite a novelty to see a real white Christmas. This is the first I have seen for years.
Well darling one week has passed since I was measured for my leg. I wish I could say that I was to have it by the New Year so as to be able to start the year on both feet again. It will soon be two years since I walked like a human being. It seems a long time to talk about it, but I can picture those fields & imagine I can see the exact spot where I fell as though it only happened yesterday. I guess it will be a long day before I forget it … But I hope all the dark days are behind us now sweetheart and that we just have to be happy & live long to make up for it all.
Roy Clarence Armstrong. Regimental #874936, 78th Battalion. Born in Winnipeg on Feb. 22, 1898, Armstrong worked as a clerk before enlisting on March 20, 1916. He was killed on Oct. 30, 1917 during the Battle of Passchendaele. He was 19.
Received the parcel & letters yesterday & they sure helped to make it look more like Christmas in this beastly camp. Take it from me a lot of fellows do not appreciate their homes half enough … Perhaps this will make you think that I am home sick but I am not got quite that far yet although at times I often wish I was in Dear Old Canada. I was chosen with thirty others from this battalion to go to Worthing, a fair sized town about 5 mi. from here, to a party that the ladies had arranged for us. They had quite a spread in the Connaught Hall & afterwards they gave a concert which was sure worth hearing. One of the ladies invited me to her home anytime I wish to go & I sure am going as, well, she has a swell looking daughter.
John McLean. Regimental # 754576, 119th Battalion. McLean was born on Feb. 16, 1894, in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., but later moved with his family to Echo Bay, Ont., where he enlisted on Jan. 4, 1916. He was killed in action on Feb. 2, 1917. He was 23.
I would like to tell you more but it wouldn’t do. I can do that when I get home. Now you are doing too much worrying. We are all right if a man is careful.
I guess you will be wondering how I spent Christmas this year. You’ll will be surprised to hear we had a most enjoyable time. You see there is seven of us in the dugout and we put a few francs together and got something. We had a dinner of beef heart, mince pies, plum pudding, not forgetting a drop of wine, but of course we got this ourselves as the government were kind enough to supply bully beef and a little bread.
We are not having a hard time as things are quiet and so far we have received 50 Christmas parcels from different places. It seems rather funny, but although the life is rough, there is always lots of fun. You mention on the card to put one in for you. Well look at this card. These are a few of what we took on the Somme … It is a nice little gun they have, and a curse to all who see the effects of it. But it is all in a life time, so we must make our mottos always merry and bright, and look forward to the time we come back to Burlington.


BBC Sport looks back at Alan Pardew's turbulent reign as Newcastle United manager, after he is named as the new boss of Crystal Palace.
Pardew took charge at St James' Park in 2010, and was named both Premier League and League Managers' Association manager of the year in 2011-12.
But he has also attracted criticism and controversy during his time at the Magpies, most notably for headbutting Hull City player David Meyler in March 2014.
Crystal Palace sacked Neil Warnock last weekend, opening the way for Pardew to take charge of a club he played for from 1987 to 1991.


Jan. 9, 2018, 3:25 p.m.
Bill Patzert, climatologist for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, said mudslides are par for the course in this region.
Patzert said the worst debris flows happen during an “atmospheric river event,” when 6-10 inches of rain falls in the course of two or three days. It’s fortunate, he said, that Tuesday’s mudslides weren’t preceded by more rain. It could have been worse.
Jan. 9, 2018, 3:22 p.m.
The concern over mudslides shifted to burn areas in Los Angeles and Orange Counties as the storm system that caused deadly flooding in Montecito moved east.
Flood alerts were issued for area burned by recent fires in Anaheim Hills and the canyon near Sylmar.
Jan. 9, 2018, 1:32 p.m.
A driver on the 5 Freeway says he looked out from his small Prius and saw a large truck come tumbling off the 118 Freeway overpass above.
Jan. 9, 2018, 12:58 p.m.
The U.S. Coast Guard’s work in the Santa Barbara County flooding began before sunrise Tuesday, when firefighters asked for help rescuing two people injured in a storm-related house explosion, officials said.
Area roads were buried under mud and blocked by big boulders. So a Coast Guard crew was dispatched about 6:15 a.m. from the Los Angeles/Long Beach base on an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter usually used for rescues at sea.
The crew hoisted two people and flew them to Santa Barbara Airport, where they were airlifted to a hospital for their injuries, said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer DaVonte Marrow.
Jan. 9, 2018, 12:22 p.m.
Residents of Country Club Drive in Burbank were ordered to evacuate their homes Tuesday after heavy rains caused a morning mudslide.
Burbank police released a video of cars that were caught in the slide.
The mudslide occurred just before dawn along a stretch of Country Club Drive at the base of the Verdugo Mountains.
Jan. 9, 2018, 11:14 a.m.
Roadways around the perimeters of the Thomas and other recent fires have been closed due to mudflows triggered by heavy precipitation.
Jan. 9, 2018, 10:13 a.m.
Just before 9 a.m. Tuesday, Caltrans worker Demauriel Myles sat in his truck, parked perpendicular across Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Four signs that read “Road closed” formed an impromptu blockade just south of Grand View Drive.
Caltrans crews had started to dig out the mudslide using a truck with an attached plow, Myles said, but they were proceeding cautiously because Tuesday’s forecast called for more rain throughout the day.
Jan. 9, 2018, 9:32 a.m.
Jan. 9, 2018, 8:28 a.m.
Jan. 9, 2018, 8:21 a.m.
The 101 Freeway was hit hard by flooding and mudslides as heavy rains slammed the Thomas fire burn area Tuesday morning.
The freeway was shut down in both directions for more than 30 miles in the Thomas fire burn area because of flooding and debris flow, spanning an area from Santa Barbara to Ventura, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Highway 33 also has been closed between Fairview and Rose Valley roads north of Ojai, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.


Free Harem of Perfect Virtual Girlfriends?
Benefits of the Cloud: Servers, Capacity, Storage...Girlfriend?
They say e-mail and IM is the death of interpersonal communication. Well, if the latest dating service in front of me right now is any indication, love could be following the same path. Enter Cloud Girlfriend, a new service which allows you to have a fantasy romance online.
The site categorizes itself as "a mix between Match.com and Second Life." Indeed it is: Unlike other more traditional dating sites, there's no requirement that you present yourself as who you really are. So say you're a 5'2" guy who weighs 110 pounds soaking wet. Have no fear, you're now a 6'3" 220-pound gym rat.
After creating your profile on Cloud Girlfriend with who you want to be (rather than who you really are), the site's algorithms then proceed to search through other profiles in order to find you a match. Now this person probably isn't real either, so you have no clue who you're really talking to.
Like what you see? You can request a "date." If you start connecting with this person somehow, you can choose to reveal your actual identity through social networks. You use uses Facebook Connect to register for Cloud Girlfriend. However, your Facebook identity is never disclosed nor is anything posted to your Facebook Wall without your permission.
At least these folks say they have your personal privacy in mind, but I have to argue that if you just enticed somebody into talking to you with a fake profile, why the heck would want to tell them who you really are?
The site's co-founder David Fuhriman seems to have a rather lofty vision for the site, saying that his idea will help people to manage real relationships by transferring what they've learned in Cloud Girlfriend to the real world. He also equates the whole fantasy aspect of the service to those daily affirmation calls that while fake, still offer the positive benefit of making you feel better about yourself.
Call me crazy, but that argument isn't too scientifically sound. If anything, using Cloud Girlfriend is going to keep you in the house even more. So while you're busy maintaining your relationships in the cloud, opportunities for a real-world girlfriend (or boyfriend) may be passing you by.
The site claims thousands of users after a late March launch. It also has changed its premise from a site that was intended to have a staff of women answering as the "girlfriends," to one that connects users to one another.
While Fuhriman and company may have a noble premise on which they're basing the service on, I personally feel this does more harm than good. I'm no expert on love but I'll say this: Get out of the house. You're never going to fix whatever shortcomings you may have when it comes to love on a computer.


These chats are hosted by volunteers who give up some time and energy each week to provide a chat room for others to gather in and share a topic.
In respect of these volunteers, I would again remind and ask our members to show common courtesy to them and their fellow members when they enter a hosted chat.
- Show up to the chat on time. Chats start at a specific time and often the chat leader will discuss any rules he or she might have for their chat, as well as their chat topic (if there is one for that week).
- Be aware that each chat leader is free to set their own chat rules (as long as they are in keeping with our community guidelines). It is your responsibility as a member to be familiar with these rules (either by showing up on time, or asking the chat leader about any rules ahead of time in a PM).
- Be aware that each chat leader is free to set a specific chat topic for the week. If you are late to the chat, you can respectfully ask the chat leader if such a topic is set and what it is. But again, if you show up on time, it's far less disruptive to the chat, and helps the chat leader not have to repeat the same information 3 or 4 different times (which can get frustrating and knock the chat off-track with its flow).
- Respect the chat topic if one is set. That means stick to the topic, don't ask off-topic questions or try to derail the chat into a personal discussion if it's not related directly to the topic at hand.
- Do not show up to a hosted chat in the last 10 or 15 minutes and expect to be brought up to speed on the topic, the chat rules, etc. It's both rude and inconsiderate to both the chat leader and your fellow members to do so.
- Treat chat leaders with respect and respect their requests. Chat leaders are there for a reason -- to lead the chat in an orderly discussion or to help the members in a room share in emotional support with one another. If they ask you to do something (or to stop doing something), please respect their requests. Chat leaders are my representatives, so if you disrespect them, you're disrespecting me.
Remember, chats are a free member benefit, but they also come with a minimal degree of responsibility on your part if you choose to participate in one. Showing up at the start of the chat will help address most of these issues, but barring that, you should be respectful if you come in late.
Please respect our chat leaders and their volunteering of their time to host a chat.
In regards to being on time to chat here is a way to be able to change the calendar to show your time zone. This is the easiest way I have found.
This should set the calendar to your time zone so you know when chats start for you.


Reviewer. Journalist. Malay. Singapore. Daughter. Sister. Wife.
This self-labelling exercise was prompted by an intimate and thought-provoking one-man show performed by British-Indian playwright Joe Sellman- Leava about the comforts and limitations of labels.
The hour-long play sees labels with words such as "BRITISH", "INDIAN" and "FOREIGN" slapped onto his shirt (these are just the mentionables), while he tells his family history and tackles anti-immigrant rhetoric prevalent in his native Britain and elsewhere, including President-elect Donald Trump's America.
The main thrust of the play is that everyday occurrences of racism and easy labelling are not far removed from larger socio-political crises, such as countries tightening their borders.
Overall, it is an effective and urgent call for people to make a greater effort in understanding the humanity that lies beyond a label.
A versatile actor, Sellman-Leava plays multiple characters, from a young child who calls him "ARABIAN" on the street, to Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, who sings a nursery rhyme with the N-word in it, to Ugandan dictator Idi Amin to Trump.
The performances are great and he nails the accents, though he is surprisingly nervy when he speaks as himself.
Perhaps due to deference, he never fully mimics the strongest character in the play - his father - citing the reason that he cannot do justice to his powerful voice.
A Uganda-born Indian man who goes to Britain after being forced to flee his homeland during Amin's reign, Sellman-Leava's father ends up marrying a British woman and having three children.
To get a job more easily, he changes his surname from Patel to Sellman-Leava, which is a combination of his wife's maiden name and a subcaste in India from which the name Patel is derived. He switches accents depending on whom he is speaking to.
The richness of Sellman-Leava's family background is hard to convey when someone wants a simple answer to the question of where he is "really from". Even more painful is when that same person deduces, quite wrongly, that "he ain't English".
The show also draws the audience into the story by way of interaction. In one scene, he makes one female audience member read out messages sent to him by a revoltingly racist Tinder match. After learning about his bi-racial background, she mistakes his Internet speak for poor English language skills.
The actual stick-on labels Sellman-Leava puts on himself could easily have been gimmicky, but become integral to the story as the play progresses.
Strewn on the floor, they become bits of snow under his feet as he recounts his father's first steps in wintry Britain. The shredded pieces of paper later become wreckages of downed planes in war. In another scene, a white sticker affixed to Sellman-Leava's back brands him with a particularly offensive name that he cannot bring himself to say out loud, but knows that people have called him by.
There is a flipside to the story, though. Sellman-Leava also argues that labels can be comforting and convenient.
"Whoever we are, we write out our labels and stick them on," he says.
For example, his father's self- invented surname creates a new label for his family to attach new meaning and new histories to.
When the play comes to a close, Sellman-Leava holds up the final label, "THE END", wordlessly.
It is abrupt, seeming to suggest that the story of labels has not quite ended and that people will never stop using them, both as crutch and weapon.


As Washington sends mixed signals on whether or not it will introduce new sanctions against Iran, Tehran is considering other options should a new round of penalties come to pass, says Seyed Mohammad Marandi, professor at the University of Tehran.
The United States delayed the announcement of new penalties, which reportedly seeks to punish several companies and individuals from Iran, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates that the US believes have been involved in Iran’s ballistic missile tests.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is an agreement designed to oversee Iran's nuclear program reached in Vienna on July 14, 2015 between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States—plus Germany), and the EU.
The real reason the US is fundamentally opposed to Iran is because the Islamic Republic successfully freed itself from Washington’s rule many years ago, he argues.
“The United States has not forgiven the Iranian people over three and a half decades for gaining their independence from the United States and becoming an independent actor in this part of the world.
Yet the nuclear issue, he says, is not the main point of contention between the two countries. What really irks Washington about Iran "is not the nuclear program, but rather Iran’s political independence of the US,” he asserts.
In fact, according to the academic, Tehran has many options open to itself should the US impose a new round of sanctions, including seeking the cooperation and partnership of other countries – both non-Western and Western alike.