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The 2018 Land Rover Range Rover Velar has a sumptuous interior, a pleasant ride, plenty of cargo space, and long list of standard features. However, modest safety scores and a below-average predicted reliability rating push it to the bottom third of our luxury midsize SUV class.
Is the Land Rover Range Rover Velar a Good SUV?
The stylish Range Rover Velar should meet the needs of most luxury midsize SUV shoppers. It boasts a modern cabin with quality materials, along with generous passenger and cargo space. The Velar’s powertrains and ride quality are also refined. Despite all of that, you can’t ignore this Land Rover’s below-average predicted reliability. If you're a cautious shopper looking for good safety and reliability scores, you may feel more at ease with a BMW X5 or a Mercedes-Benz GLE.
Should I Buy the Land Rover Range Rover Velar?
The Range Rover Velar is a good choice for shoppers seeking the latest and greatest tech. The simplistic interior and exterior designs help some of the more unique features stand out – such as its pop-out door handles and dual touch-screen displays. One screen controls most climate, seating, and adaptive suspension settings, while the other operates the infotainment system. The system is eye-catching and useful. The Velar shares a few of the same features with the Jaguar F-Type and F-Pace. For now, however, you can only find the new cutting-edge infotainment system in the Velar.
Should I Buy a New or Used Land Rover Range Rover Velar?
The Land Rover Range Rover Velar is a brand-new vehicle for 2018, so there are no older models to choose from.
Our goal is to make shopping for your next car as easy as possible. You'll find everything you need to know about the Range Rover Velar in our comprehensive review. It combines concrete data (like fuel economy estimates, horsepower specs, and cargo space dimensions) with 16 professional Range Rover Velar reviews.
The Best Cars team – a department of U.S. News & World Report – has been reviewing cars, trucks, and SUVs since 2007. With more than 75 years of combined automotive experience, our group of editors, writers, and analysts ranks a wide variety of new and used cars and issues three annual awards: Best Cars for the Money, Best Cars for Families, and Best Vehicle Brands.
How Much Does the Land Rover Range Rover Velar Cost?
Retail prices for the new Velar start at $49,900. That's similar to what you'll pay for the Land Rover Discovery and Audi Q7 base trims. Powertrain options include a turbodiesel engine (available in the Velar S for $56,200) and a supercharged V6 (standard in the $67,400 Velar SE). Other models include the Velar R-Dynamic, with prices ranging from $60,100 to $67,600, and the range-topping Velar First Edition, which rings up for $89,300 before adding options.
Check out our U.S. News Best Price Program for great savings at your local Land Rover dealer.
Which Is Better: Land Rover Range Rover Velar or Land Rover Range Rover Sport?
Prices for the Mercedes-Benz GLE is an excellent luxury midsize SUV for families. It has an above-average predicted reliability rating, and it's one of the few 2-row SUVs with more overall cargo space than the Velar. The GLE's available 550-horsepower AMG model is a good pick if you want potent acceleration, and there's a plug-in hybrid version for higher fuel efficiency.
Which Is Better: Land Rover Range Rover Velar or Jaguar F-Pace?
The F-Pace is a smaller luxury compact SUV from Land Rover’s sister company, Jaguar. The Jaguar costs about $8,000 less than the Land Rover, but it doesn't have as much cargo space or as many standard amenities. Additionally, its infotainment system is complicated. If you can afford the Velar, you'll likely prefer it over the F-Pace.
How Many People Does the Range Rover Velar Seat?
The Range Rover Velar is a 2-row SUV with room for five people. Its seats are cushy enough for a full day of driving, and the cabin feels airy and bright thanks to its generous dimensions and panoramic sunroof.
The Range Rover Velar comes with the typical list of LATCH anchors: a set of lower anchors on the outboard seats and a tether anchor for every rear seat.
Inside, the Range Rover Velar has a sophisticated styling. High-quality materials are abundant, complementing the minimalistic layout and sleek infotainment screens. If you want to upgrade beyond the standard seats (which are trimmed in synthetic leather and suede), Land Rover offers a perforated, grained leather, as well as a rich wool blend that test drivers admire.
For a vehicle this size, the Velar has a generous amount of cargo room. Behind the second row is 34.4 cubic feet – enough room to easily accommodate a large Costco run or a pair of Labrador retrievers. Fold the three-way split-folding rear seat to create a 70.1-cubic-foot cargo hold.
The Velar's innovative infotainment system includes two large displays: one mounted in the dash that can tilt up to 30 degrees for better viewing, and one mounted underneath. Both touch screens feature stunning graphics, and you can also control settings using two knobs and capacitive buttons on the steering wheel. Once you learn the system, navigating through the menus is easy.
Land Rover offers a trio of engines for the Velar, all of which are mated to a smooth-shifting eight-speed automatic transmission. In addition to a turbocharged four-cylinder (the standard engine), Land Rover offers a supercharged V6 and a turbodiesel. The supercharged V6 is the most potent of the bunch, increasing off-the-line acceleration and boosting towing capacity from 5,291 pounds to 5,511. Some test drivers bemoan the lack of a meatier engine option, like the Porsche Cayenne Turbo's 520-horsepower V8.
The EPA fuel economy estimates for the Range Rover Velar’s standard four-cylinder engine are 21 mpg in the city and 27 mpg on the highway. Those are among the highest ratings in the class. The optional turbodiesel engine is even thriftier, at 26/30 mpg city/highway, while the supercharged V6 is rated at 18/24 mpg.
The Range Rover Velar channels the stable, comfortable ride quality of big brother Range Rover. Its comfort-tuned suspension and torque vectoring systems work together to control body lean and maintain composure through corners, while soaking up unforgiving blemishes in the road. Every model comes standard with all-wheel drive and the Terrain Response system, which features Eco, Comfort, Grass-Gravel-Snow, Mud-Ruts, Sand, and Dynamic drive modes.
These components, paired with the Velar's 8.4 inches of ground clearance and wading depth of 23.6 inches, bestow respectable off-road capabilities. Other off-road features include standard low traction launch (this modulates the throttle to carefully accelerate on slippery surfaces), available All Terrain Progress Control (a low-speed cruise control), an available active rear locking differential, and an available electronic air suspension system with adjustable ride height.
Is the Land Rover Range Rover Velar Reliable?
The 2018 Range Rover Velar has a below-average predicted reliability rating of 2.5 out of five from J.D. Power.
The Range Rover Velar comes with a four-year/50,000-mile limited warranty.
Range Rover Velar crash test scores have not been released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Every Range Rover Velar comes with a rearview camera, rear parking sensors, lane departure warning, rain-sensing windshield wipers, and autonomous emergency braking with advanced emergency brake assist. Additionally, Land Rover offers an impressive list of high-tech safety features, including automatic high beams, a driver drowsiness monitor, rear cross traffic monitoring, traffic sign recognition with adaptive speed limiter, blind spot monitoring, active park assist for parallel and perpendicular parking, active blind spot assist, lane keep assist, a 360-degree camera system, a head-up display, and adaptive cruise control with stop-start functionality and intelligent emergency braking.
Which Land Rover Range Rover Velar Model Is Right for Me?
Land Rover has a peculiar approach when distinguishing between configurations, separating trim levels first by model and then by specification packages. Every model has seating for five and all-wheel drive, and you can select from among three engines, depending on the specification package. The base model is the Velar, which comes as the Velar, Velar S, and Velar SE. The Velar R-Dynamic has distinctive styling and is available in SE and HSE specification packages. The top-of-the-line model is the Velar First Edition.
The base Velar tenders a good value with its lengthy list of posh features. It's a good pick if you want to keep your costs in the $50,000 range. For more power than the standard turbocharged four-cylinder can supply, we recommend starting with the Velar S. You can upgrade to either the supercharged V6 or turbodiesel while enjoying luxuries like perforated leather seats and an alluring Meridian sound system.
A 247-horsepower, turbocharged four-cylinder engine powers the base Velar trim level ($49,900). Its Touch Pro Duo infotainment system features two 10-inch touch screens, Bluetooth, eight-speakers, voice commands, two USB ports, and smartphone integration via InControl Apps. Other standard features include seats upholstered with synthetic leather and suede, 10-way power-adjustable front seats, a leather steering wheel, dual-zone climate control, a panoramic sunroof, ambient lighting, push-button start, a proximity key, a rearview camera, rear parking sensors, lane departure warning, rain-sensing windshield wipers, and autonomous emergency braking with advanced emergency brake assist.
Key additions to the Velar S include perforated, grained leather seats, an 11-speaker Meridian sound system, navigation, automatic high beams, a hands-free power liftgate, and a Wi-Fi hot spot that can connect up to eight devices. Prices for this edition start at $54,700 with the standard four-cylinder engine, $56,200 with the turbodiesel engine, and $64,200 with the supercharged V6.
The supercharged V6 is the only engine available for the Velar SE. This $67,400 edition comes with a 17-speaker Meridian surround-sound system, an interactive driver display, driver drowsiness monitoring, rear cross traffic monitoring, and traffic sign recognition with adaptive speed limiter.
The Velar R-Dynamic SE starts at $60,100 and gets upgraded cabin materials (such as satin chrome and aluminum trimmings), larger wheels, blind spot monitoring, driver drowsiness monitoring, rear cross traffic monitoring, and traffic sign recognition with adaptive speed limiter. The turbocharged four-cylinder engine is standard, and both the turbodiesel and supercharged V6 engine are available. The sticker price increases to $67,600 for the Velar R-Dynamic HSE, which comes with 20-way power-adjustable front seats with massage, heat, and ventilation; active park assist for parallel and perpendicular parking; adaptive cruise control with stop-start functionality and intelligent emergency braking; active blind spot assist; and lane keep assist.
To celebrate this model's inaugural year, Land Rover is offering the Velar First Edition. With the supercharged V6 engine under the hood, this $89,300 trim comes with special badging, an activity key (a wearable, waterproof wristband that doubles as a key so you don't have to worry about your actual key falling out of your pocket), two additional USB ports in the second row, an electronic air suspension system, the Terrain Response 2 system with automatic drive modes, and an active rear locking differential. Advanced safety features include a 360-degree camera system, a head-up display, active park assist for parallel and perpendicular parking, active blind spot assist, lane keep assist, and adaptive cruise control with stop-start functionality and intelligent emergency braking.
The Range Rover Velar contains many of the traits that the larger Range Rover is known for: serene accommodations, sophisticated styling, and polished on-road manners. For $50,000, Land Rover packs a lot of features in this SUV, including a state-of-the art infotainment setup that includes two screens and an easy-to-use interface. Surprising elements such as a Fitbit-like activity key and a lush wool-blend interior are also available. Unlike the Range Rover, the Velar is available with only light off-roading components, but you can still take this 2-row off the beaten path if you're so inclined.


A FIVE-way race to secure a seat on Bradford Council for Queensbury ward has been retaken by the Conservative Party with candidate Andrew Senior attracting more than half the overall votes cast.
Residents went to the polls yesterday for the by-election triggered by the resignation of Conservative councillor Lisa Carmody earlier in the year.
It means the Council's composition remains unchanged, with the controlling Labour group on 49 seats and the opposition onservatives on 21.
Councillor Senior gained 2,175 votes, a majority of 1,443 over nearest rival Jason Smith, who ran for the Independents and took 732 of the votes.
In third position was Labour candidate Mobeen Hussain with 697 votes, fourth was Eithne Dodwell, of the Green Party and fifth was Mary Whitrick of the Liberal Democrats.
Speaking after his win Cllr Senior said: "I'm tremendously proud of the people of Queensbury for voting for me. The journey has been amazing but I suppose the hard work starts now.
"I was nervous at the start but I am always quite optimistic and felt I would do well."
Cllr Senior said he did not have a plan yet of how he was going to work in the ward.
"I need to find my feet and listen to the people of Queensbury to see what's important to them.
"I have had a great response from people and lots of help from family, friends and fellow Conservatives. I want to do a great job and don't want to let anyone down.
"It has been an amazing day and I will probably call in at Sunbridgewells and have a pint before I go home."
Bradford Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe congratulated Cllr Senior on his success.
"I want to congratulate the winning candidate. It has been a good campaign and I am proud our own candidate in Mobeen Hussain did so well. He made a lot of friends during his campaign," she said.
The turnout for the Queensbury by-election was 31.8 per cent.
In the town council elections in Baildon South East Cllrs Christine Flecknoe (173 votes) and Matthew Ward (223 votes) were elected.
The other candidates were David Robertshaw (124) and Karen Reddy (117).


Barcelona are becoming resigned to missing out on Ajax defender Matthijs de Ligt.
De Ligt and Ajax teammate Frenkie de Jong are both major targets for Barca, though there's a growing acceptance that a deal for the former is unlikely.
Mundo Deportivo says the road block comes in the form of De Ligt's agent, Mino Raiola, who is expected to place the youngster at the highest bidder.
Barca have little interest in paying out huge agent's commissions to land the Dutchman and instead are prepared to look elsewhere for a new defensive signing.
Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Juventus are also interested in the 22 year-old.


Top Dawg Entertainment's latest signee SiR unleashes the music video for "All in My Head." Throughout the three-and-a-half minute, D.K. the Punisher and Andre Harris-produced clip, SiR pours out his thoughts in an empty parking garage.
The video takes the less-is-more approach. There aren't any flashy visual effects, nor extras, nor lavish set locations. For the entire video, SiR dances around the garage in slow motion and mouthes the words. The subtle, minimalist video allows the music to do the talking.
In other SiR-related news, the 29-year-old artist is fresh off releasing his terrific Her Too EP, which contains six tracks with features from Masego, King Mez and Anderson .Paak.
XXL recently spoke with SiR about his recent signing with TDE and how it all came together. "Man, it started with me working with Jay Rock on his 90059 album and just getting a chance to get in the studio with them, vibe out and really see where I’d be able to contribute or where my lane would be or where I’d be able to contribute," he says. "It really kind of helped me give me an idea of what’d I’d be doing once I got in there. Of course off top I was already excited to be working with those guys just because of who they are."
You can check out SiR's "All in My Head" video below courtesy of YouTube.


The majority of Crawley voters backed the UK leaving the EU in yesterday’s referendum.
The area is the third in Sussex to declare this morning, with the majority of voters in Rother and Eastbourne in East Sussex also backing the leave campaign.
The turnout in Crawley was 73.2 percent, and of those 58 per cent backed leave, compared to 42 per cent voting for remain.
Counting took place at the K2 Leisure Centre.


Car insurance is a necessary evil for all drivers. Of course, if you don’t happen to be accident prone, paying expensive monthly or annual bills is a headache and seems equivalent to setting your wallet on fire. Of course, insurance companies are great at reminding us that the world is a wild and dangerous place and that more coverage equals better protection from the vagaries of the road and those costly surprises. Plus, there’s the fact that auto insurance is required by law.
So, as with airline tickets, hotels and many other necessary purchasing decisions, drivers want to be able to comparison shop for the best rates, deals and packages to limit costs and make an informed buy. In spite of the millions the big insurance companies spend on marketing, the industry remains inefficient, search and discovery is still messy and there really hasn’t been much innovation in recent memory. That’s why CoverHound launched its comparative insurance platform last summer — to introduce transparency and simplicity to insurance shopping.
Founded by veterans of insurance companies like InsWeb, Unitrin Direct and State Farm, the San Francisco-based startup is building a platform that provides consumers with instant, accurate and actionable rates from top carriers. Incubated alongside companies like Astrid, Kismet and Crittercism as a graduate of AngelPad’s startup accelerator, CoverHound allows everyday drivers to not only compare policies by buy and manage their plans directly through its platform.
With the number of policies sold through the platform growing by over 60 percent month-over-month, CoverHoud is announcing today that it has raised a $4.5 million round of series A financing led by RRE Ventures. Bullpen Capital and existing investor Blumberg Capital also contributed to the round, which brings the startup’s total funding to $6.5 million.
While plenty of the largest insurance companies offer comparative rates, CoverHound wants to become the Kayak of personal insurance, a destination that aggregates rates from all the major carriers and acts as an independent insurance agency. Carriers themselves have to hold and support the policies their customers purchase, while issuing and upholding the risk associated with each plan.
By remaining independent, CoverHound isn’t tied to the same risks that issuers are subject to with their customers/shareholders, however, the startup wants to make sure that it doesn’t allow its model to turn into a use to be a hands-off-type middleman.
Instead, the startup provides ongoing service to its policyholders, monitoring and adapting their policies as their needs change in attempt to ensure that they’re getting the best fit and pricing. It does this, in part, by providing its customers with access to professional advice both online and over the phone during the shopping process via its in-house team of insurance professionals.
The platform collects users’ basic personal information and what kind of policy the’re looking for, at which point it presents a list of prices and plans for the user to review. The startup has partnered with carriers like Travelers, GMAC, Safeco, Progressive and others to provide consumers with accurate, personalized rates.
The company is also attacking the B2B2C side of the industry with a portable “Storefront” that enables financial institutions to provide their customers with CoverHound’s rate comparisons and personalized policy vehicle. In other words, with a single snippet of code, banks and institutions can offer the startup’s insurance rates and policies, adding car insurance to the services they already provide online, like loans and credit cards, along with getting access to a supplemental revenue stream.
Now in over 30 states in the U.S., the startup plans to use its new funding to expand its support nationwide, ramp up hiring and continue to pursue partnerships with brands looking to power their own insurance channels. While it’s been primarily focused on auto insurance, CoverHound has begun to move into homeowners and motorcycle insurance and plans to build out support for other personal insurance products.
The startup declined to share specifics on its monetization (although, like any other insurance agent, CoverHound is paid a percentage of the premium for every policy they sell) or how much it’s been able to save its customers on insurance policies, which isn’t always a good sign; granted, it’s still in the early going.
Consumers are increasingly going online to research and discover the best insurance services and solutions, and this macro change in consumer purchasing behavior can work in CoverHound’s favor. Of course, while the online insurance shopping market is growing steadily, there are still plenty of options for insurance shoppers.
The big insurance providers have already established significant presences on the Web, and carriers like Progressive have been loudly touting their comparison shopping tools for years now in TV commercials that seem to air every five seconds. What’s more, the model feels more than a little familiar, to a degree derivative of web insurance pioneers like Esurance, which was the first platform to offer comparison quotes online. Progressive sold to Allstate in 2011 for $1 billion, and this consolidation could work in the startup’s favor.
If CoverHound is able to prove that its algorithmic comparison shopping engine is more refined and its service more personalized and consumer-friendly than these incumbents, there’s no reason to think it couldn’t be a huge business. But there are a lot of options and a lot of noise in this space, and while insurance of every stripe is always in need of greater transparency, startups have to work extremely hard to stand out.
What’s more, CoverHound is competing not just with giants like Progressive and Esurance but brokers as well, who essentially do their own comparison shopping to provide their clients with better deals. In the end, it’s all about who can offer the best rates, and certainly CoverHound could have a leg up by automating comparison shopping and removing the friction.
Find the startup at home here.


Thad Seymour, who was a key player the development of Lake Nona’s Medical City and has overseen the new UCF campus expected to open in downtown Orlando this August, is poised to lead the university for at least a year until trustees pick a new president.
Thad Seymour, who has been guiding UCF for the past month after overseeing the planned downtown Orlando campus is poised to lead the university for at least a year until trustees pick a new president.
Trustees will decide Thursday whether Seymour should be the University of Central Florida’s interim president on a long-term basis while they search for a successor to Dale Whittaker, who resigned Feb. 21 amid controversy over construction spending. Also Thursday, trustees are scheduled to vote on a $600,000 settlement with Whittaker.
Seymour has been in charge of UCF since Whittaker’s departure, but trustees initially said they intended for him to provide short-term leadership — maybe a few months — while they searched for someone else to fill the interim role for a longer period. But Seymour has “provided much-needed stability and leadership” over the past several weeks, Board of Trustees Chairman Robert Garvy said in a university press release, so it appears likely he’ll stay on longer.
If Garvy’s colleagues agree, Seymour would be in line for a significant raise — his annual salary would grow from $300,000 to $506,000, the same annual salary as Whittaker, who held the post for less than eight months, according to the proposed contract.
Seymour reiterated Wednesday that he won’t pursue the presidency on a full-time basis. Trustees plan to start a presidential search in the fall, with the goal of the new leader starting in June or July 2020.
Previously the university’s vice president for partnerships and chief innovation officer, Seymour, 63, has worked for UCF since fall 2015.
Most recently, he has been responsible for the downtown campus, slated to open in August. Seymour, 63, previously led planning, marketing and business development for Lake Nona’s Medical City as the senior vice president for the Tavistock Development Company. He retired from Tavistock in 2015, the same year he was hired at UCF.
In addition to the trustees’ vote, Seymour’s appointment is subject to approval from the Board of Governors, which oversees the state university system. They could take up the matter during their next meeting on March 28.
Exclusive Orlando Sentinel coverage of the misappropriation of $38 million funds to the construction of Trevor Colbourn Hall, the subsequent investigation and the resignation of UCF President Dale Whittaker.
As for the proposed agreement with Whittaker, a university’s press release justified the cost of the settlement by saying as a president, he was also a tenured professor and entitled a buyout of the present value of that tenure. According to Whittaker’s contract, if he resigned from the university’s top post, he could remain on campus as a faculty member while earning 85 percent of his president’s salary.
By approving the settlement, Garvy said trustees are avoiding a potential lawsuit from Whittaker.
“If Whittaker sued UCF, we could be engaged in a legal battle with our former president for a year or more, paying lawyers to fight over this matter, while disrupting our effort to advance the university with new leadership,” Garvy said, according to the university release.
UCF is also obliged to pay for Whittaker’s legal defense if any former employees sue UCF in connection with their termination from the university while Whittaker was president. Four employees were told they could resign or be fired because of their involvement in the university’s misspending. At least two of them are challenging their termination through an appeals process at the university.
Whittaker couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday. The university release said he had accepted the agreement.
The Board of Governors is still probing the matter.
Trustees also will consider stopping performance bonus payments to Whittaker’s predecessor, John Hitt, who retired June 30 after 26 years at the university’s helm.
Though Hitt refused to sit for a deposition with staffers for the House Committee for Public Integrity and Ethics, their investigation found he and former university Chief Financial Officer Bill Merck dismissed legal restrictions on leftover operating dollars. Hitt couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.
Stopping Hitt’s performance bonuses would save the UCF Foundation more than $300,000, according to trustees’ meeting agenda materials. Trustees voted in January to strip two years’ worth of bonus payments, valued at tens of thousands of dollars, from Merck and Whittaker.


STEVE McCLAREN is back in the spotlight tomorrow, and the weather forecast for Derby is wet and windy. But he is unlikely to use a brolly.
“I’ve been through crazy years, mad years, real lows. I’m at a stage now where I should be using the experience gained,” said McClaren.
It is six years since he stood on the touchline at Wembley, rain pelting down, England-branded umbrella up, as if he was on the fifth tee wondering whether to give up and head back to the clubhouse.
His England team lost 3-2 to Croatia, failed to qualify for the European Championship, and McClaren was sacked the next day after 18 games and 16 months.
Yesterday, in his new job at Championship Derby County, McClaren was relaxed, cheerful, confident in himself, as he prepared for the return to football’s big stage and a televised potential giant-killing of Chelsea.
Just like another former England boss, Graham Taylor, who had ‘Turnip’ added to his name following failure, McClaren will have to live with ‘Wally’.
“After England I wanted to get back as soon as possible, to say, ‘What’s next?’ I had to go abroad and I had a challenge to test me in Holland and Germany. Now I’m back,” said McClaren.
Does time heal? “I don’t know – a few years ago it would bother me. I don’t think it does now.
“In the football world I’ve kind of been respected for the work I do. But it’s absolutely right, I made a lot of mistakes.
McClaren, 52, hair receding, but career back on track, has made a big impact at Derby in three months, taking them from 14th to fourth. Until New Year’s Day and a home defeat by Wigan, they were second.
McClaren has been around that block a few times now. He studied the mind-games art first-hand from Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United’s assistant manager, the job he left Derby for in 1999. He played for Derby as well. So this is home. Safe harbour. Rebuilding. “Absolutely. I was fortunate, I had very good times at United and then as Middlesbrough manager [where he won the League Cup and got to the UEFA Cup final].
“But football hits you and knocks you down. It’s about coming back here and putting that experience I have into Derby, getting back in the Premier League.
“I wanted the fit to be right. It felt right here as soon as I turned round the corner.” McClaren won the Dutch league with Twente Enschede during his mental rehab, went bigger and failed in Germany with Wolfsburg, failed again at Nottingham Forest, and could not find the gold dust in a second spell with FC Twente. “I made lot of mistakes at Forest,” said McClaren. “It’s interesting watching the parallel with Jose Mourinho.
“I remember going back to Holland and the fans still talking about the championship-winning team for a year and everyone asking why we were not winning the same way.
Without Harry Redknapp it probably would not be happening again for McClaren. He took him as a coach at QPR – rivals now for automatic promotion – and it got him noticed by Derby who, sadly, were looking to end the four-and-a-half-years’ good work Nigel Clough had done. McClaren is asked if Redknapp should have been England’s manager. His head goes back as a smile turns into laughter at recognition of a leading question.
“I’m so grateful to Harry for giving me that opportunity. It was a good initiation back into English football,” he said.


The Culver City Planning Commission will consider a revised environmental impact report for the massive Marina Place office project next week, more than a year after members rejected the first version as incomplete.
The commission spurned the first report in January, 1985, after members said it did not adequately address traffic density, air pollution and other effects of the 1.3-million-square-foot project, planned at the end of a narrow strip of Culver City that reaches into Venice.
The revised report, released for public comment last December, suggests that the developer, Prudential Insurance Co., reduce the height of the project to lessen its impact on the neighborhood.
It also said that Culver City should widen some streets to increase traffic flow in the area and require Prudential to conduct a traffic management program to further reduce congestion and pollution.
The commission will consider the report at a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Veterans Memorial Auditorium, 4117 Overland Ave.
Prudential wants to build one 12-story and two 17-story and two 15-story office towers, two restaurants and a parking garage on an 18.3-acre site bounded by Washington Boulevard, Zanja Street.


All of this is the result of the greatest governmental philosophy ever committed to paper: God-given individual rights protected by limited government. We haven't always lived up to that philosophy — in some areas, we've progressed mightily, and in others, we've regressed. But the overall success of the United States should be ringing proof that at the very least, we should be grateful and proud to live here.
In 1789, as America struggled to find her footing after a revolution against the most powerful military and economic engine in the world, then-President George Washington issued a proclamation. He thanked God for "his kind care and protection of the People of this Country," for "the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed — for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness."
If Washington could urge gratefulness in 1789, we'd be fools not to do so now, when our lives are so much better in every material way. This Thanksgiving, let's remember what we have — and let's remember the eternal ideas that provide the groundwork for our prosperity.


During the planning process for my recent trip to Washington, DC, I learned the House Judiciary Committee would be having a hearing entitled, "The Obama Administration's Abuse of Power". As this fits right in with this series of stories, I contacted the committee and Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) to make arrangements to attend the hearing.
The hearing was quite informative as to a wide variety of abuses of power ranging from refusal to answer questions related to Operation Fast and Furious, to recess appointments when the Senate was not in recess, to its refusal to enforce the laws of the land.
Following is my video of Chairman Smith's opening remarks from the hearing and a transcript of these remarks.
Chairman Smith's staff was extremely hospitable in welcoming us to the hearing and showing us the ropes of what we were allowed to do during the hearing.
Smith opened the hearing with a list of allegations of abuse of power by the Obama Administration. Some of these might fall into a category of political policy disagreements, many are borderline, if not in fact violations of the law by those working for Obama. In regards to several laws not being enforced by the Obama Administration, Smith charged, "Just because you don't like a law, doesn't mean you can ignore it. Many people have gone to jail for doing just that."
Smith continued stating, "The President ignored the Senate's constitutional role in the appointment process in order to place partisans in key positions that regulate labor and financial markets. To do so, he took the unprecedented position that he could make a so-called 'recess' appointment even when the Senate, by its own rules, was not in recess."
While I will delve more deeply into the hearing in future articles, it was interesting to note the objections of Democrats on the panel seemed to be more focused on the title of the hearing rather than the actual allegations of abuse of power.
As to President Obama's improper use of Executive Privilege, Smith argued, "Executive privilege cannot apply to documents that don't involve the President or his close advisers if there is any reason to believe government misconduct occurred." Clearly this is the case in Fast and Furious where the government was involved in illegally allowing guns to be sold to drug cartels and exported to Mexico resulting the in the death of US Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry and hundreds of Mexican nationals.
Citing the seriousness of these hearings and allegations, Smith said, "It is easy to think of disputes about the President's power as abstract questions of constitutional theory, unimportant to anyone but law professors and DC insiders. But when the Administration repeatedly ignores constitutional and legal limits on the President's power, it undermines the rule of law, with very real consequences."
In future stories we will look at the questioning by Members of Congress and the responses from the witnesses including Utah Senator Mike Lee who granted us an exclusive interview in the days following the hearing.
We also had an exclusive interview immediately after the hearing with Chairman Smith. That interview will be posted later this week.
This hearing confirms the allegations of this being a "Lawless Presidency". We have an opportunity to correct this problem in November by electing Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan and by electing a Republican majority to both the US House and Senate. We must restore the rule of law and respect for the Constitution to the White House.
Chairman Smith: This Committee has held hearings on many of the ways in which the Obama Administration has abused its power, ignored its duties, evaded responsibility and overstepped the Constitution's limits on the President.
Today's hearing will look at the pattern of ignoring constitutional limits created by all of these abuses.
The Administration has repeatedly put its partisan agenda above the rule of law. In doing so, it has eroded the constitutional and legal foundations that have kept America prosperous and free for over 200 years.
President Obama has to an unprecedented extent failed to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Instead, he has repeatedly issued blanket waivers that exempt large classes oft~e population from duly enacted laws.
For example, the President once acknowledged that for him "to simply through executive order ignore "the immigration laws on the books "would not conform with [his] appropriate role as President."
Nonetheless, he acted contrary to his own words and decided not to enforce some immigration laws.
As a result, in these times of sustained unemployment, American workers will be forced to compete with illegal immigrants who, according to the law should not be given work permits.
Similarly, the Administration has issued waivers to the No Child Left Behind Act and the Welfare reform bill that are so broad that they effectively rewrite the law instead of enforcing it.
Just because you don't like a law, doesn't mean you can ignore it. Many people have gone to jail for doing just that.
The President ignored the Senate's constitutional role in the appointment process in order to place partisans in key positions that regulate labor and financial markets. To do so, he took the unprecedented position that he could make a so-called "recess" appointment even when the Senate, by its own rules, was not in recess.
The Administration also has shown contempt for Congressional oversight of its activities.
In order to hide documents related to the Fast & Furious scandal, the President asserted a broad executive privilege that is not supported by precedent.
Executive privilege cannot apply to documents that don't involve the President or his close advisers if "there is any reason to believe government misconduct occurred."
Operation Fast & Furious and the Administration's misleading statements to Congress about the operation are exactly the sort of misconduct that Presidents may not conceal behind a claim of privilege.
By concealing the truth about Fast & Furious behind an improper claim of privilege, the President has undermined the Constitutional requirement that the Executive branch answer for its actions to Congress and the American people.
The President has also ignored the Constitution's protections of individual rights, most notably religious freedom.
By mandating that employers pay for health care products and services that many employers believe to be morally wrong, he has forced Americans to choose between violating the law or violating their religious beliefs. The Constitution does not allow the government to put Americans to 'such a choice.
Together, these abuses by the Obama Administration form a disturbing pattern. When the Constitution and laws limit the Administration's ability to impose its partisan agenda, the President ignores the Constitution and laws. This pattern of behavior hurts our country, disrespects the Constitution, and undermines democracy.
It is easy to think of disputes about the President's power as abstract questions of constitutional theory, unimportant to anyone but law professors and DC insiders.
But when the Administration repeatedly ignores constitutional and legal limits on the President's power, it undermines the rule of law, with very real consequences.
In 2008, the United States ranked number 1 in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report. In just four years, we have fallen to the seventh most competitive economy in the world.
According to the report, a large part of America's lost competitiveness comes from the decline in faith in public institutions and the government.
The Obama administration's continued abuse of authority contributes to this decline in faith in our institutions and creates uncertainty that undermines America's job creators and businesses.
America has been the most prosperous and free nation in the world in large part because of our adherence to the Constitution and the rule of law. Today's hearing examines how the Obama Administration has ignored this long tradition and how we can return to it.


Stephen Drew has struggled mightily at the plate this postseason. While his lack of production has left a glaring hole in the Red Sox order, he’s also bailed his teammates out with stellar glove work on several occasions.
One of those came during the fourth inning of Game 5, with hot-hitting Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina at the plate. On a 1-1 count, Molina ripped a two-out line drive off Jon Lester that appeared destined to find grass in left-center field. It instead found the webbing of Drew’s glove, however, as the shortstop went airborne to pull down the liner and wrap up the inning for Lester.
The Sox went to win 3-1, setting up a potential series-clinching Game 6 back in Boston on Wednesday.
Check out the grab in GIF form below.


Law enforcement officers are listening. More than ever.
State and local authorities received more than 3,100 wiretap approvals from judges last year, an increase of 34% above the number of authorizations the previous year, according to a report released today.
Federal judges, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts report said, approved 1,207 wiretaps, and 1,987 were authorized by state judges. Historical data reveal applications are rarely turned down. Only one application was denied in 2010.
Wiretap applications in California, New York and New Jersey accounted for 68% of all state approvals. The report is here and click here for last year's data.
Drug investigations accounted for the majority of wiretap applications, last year. The report said 84% of all wiretaps (2,675) stemmed from drug cases, with homicide and racketeering investigations following. The largest number of state wiretap requests were made in California and in New York.
Authorities reported they encountered encryption during six state wiretaps. But investigators, the report said, still managed to obtain the plain text of the communication.
Wiretaps that were reported as terminated as of December 31 were responsible for more than 4,700 arrests and 800 convictions, the report said. In one case, a federal wiretap in the Northern District of Georgia led to the seizure of more than $3.3 million in cash, 48 kilograms of cocaine and 60 pounds of crystal methamphetamine. A wire in Kentucky led investigators to $4 million and 42 kilos of coke.
Last year, authorities reported that a total of 2,582 arrests and 2,504 convictions arose from wiretaps authorized in previous years.
They just keep coming and coming. The number of intellectual property complaints filed at the U.S. International Trade Commission in the first six months of 2011 is well above the pace set in 2010 - which itself smashed previous caseload records.
Between Jan. 1 and June 30, companies brought 42 cases alleging IP infringement under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 at the ITC. If the deluge continues, it will be a 50% increase over last year.
The 2010 docket of 56 cases was an all-time high, up more than 75% over 2009, as reported in December.
The biggest spike in 2011 came in June, when 14 new cases were filed. Among them: Samsung Electronics suing Apple Inc. over iPhones, iPods and iPads; AU Optronics Corp. suing Samsung and others over flat panel display devices – and Samsung suing AU over liquid crystal display devices; Honeywell International Inc. suing Furuno Electric Co. over GPS systems; and OSRAM GmbH suing LG Electronics Inc. over light-emitting diodes.
“The whole world seems to be focused on Section 337,” said Tom Schaumberg, a name partner at Adduci, Mastriani & Schaumberg, which last year was involved in more ITC cases than any other firm.
Several factors explain the surge in cases, he said. More foreign-based companies like Samsung, Nokia and Toshiba are using the ITC offensively, as are Fortune 500 companies like Apple, Hewlett-Packard Co., and Microsoft Corp. The disputes often involve high-tech products with short shelf-lives, and the ITC’s 16-month average turnaround is crucial.
Given the volume of cases, it’s not clear whether the ITC’s six administrative law judges can keep up the pace. Increasingly, they’ve encouraged parties to settle or mediate cases, and have been holding Markman hearings on patent claim construction.
An Alexandria, Va., man is accusing a group of Metropolitan Police Department officers of unlawfully detaining him for taking pictures of police activity, according to a suit filed today in Washington federal court.
Last July, according to the complaint (PDF), Jerome Vorus was taking pictures of a traffic stop in Georgetown. Vorus claims that police officers approached him, asked for his identification and questioned him about why he was taking pictures.
Vorus also claims police officers told him that they can stop anyone they want, which, Vorus argues, is also false. Vorus walked away after police returned his identification, although he was never told he was free to leave.
The complaint alleges violations of Vorus’ First Amendment right to take pictures of police in public places and his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizure, since he alleges the officers detained him without any reason to suspect he had committed a crime. Vorus is also suing for false arrest and imprisonment.
Vorus is the only plaintiff in this case, but he also accuses D.C. police of making similarly unlawful stops in the past.
“On many other occasions, MPD officers have unlawfully ordered members of the public to cease taking photographs of police officers or police activities in public places,” he writes in the complaint.
Arthur Spitzer, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of the Nation’s Capital, is representing Vorus.
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Department was not immediately available for comment.
Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. said this afternoon that a special prosecutor is conducting a criminal investigation of the death of two detainees in United States custody as part of an examination of CIA interrogation abuses.
The special prosecutor, John Durham, who was initially appointed in 2008 to review the CIA's destruction of interrogation tapes, examined the interrogation of 101 detainees who were taken into custody after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Durham’s expanded role to review interrogation techniques came at Holder’s request to determine whether any federal laws were violated during the questioning of detainees. Holder said previously the department would not prosecute any individual who acted in good faith and within the scope of interrogation guidance from the Office of Legal Counsel.
Holder said today in a prepared statement that an expanded criminal investigation beyond the death of the two detainees is not warranted.
Time magazine reported this month that a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., is hearing evidence about the November 2003 death of Manadel al-Jamadi at the Abu Ghraib prison.
A Washington man incorrectly diagnosed with HIV can sue his health clinic for infliction of emotional distress, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled (PDF) today, expanding the ground for similar damages claims for the first time since 1990.
Although previous case law limited claims for emotional damages to cases in which a person was in physical danger and feared for his safety, the en banc court found that "physical endangerment" is too limiting a standard.
"Because care for the body and the emotions are so interlinked, and patients often are dependent on their physicians’ exercise of due care, they therefore are susceptible to suffer emotionally as well as physically as a result of their physicians' negligence," the judges wrote, noting the ruling is not limited to cases involving health care providers.
The judges, who ruled unanimously, expanded on the “zone of physical danger” requirement set up in the court’s 1990 Williams v. Baker decision.
The court’s new “supplemental rule” establishes a three-part test: First, the plaintiff has to show that the defendant’s obligation to the plaintiff is tied to the plaintiff’s emotional well-being; second, that there is an “especially likely” risk that negligence could cause “serious emotional distress;” and third, that negligent actions did cause that distress.
In the underlying case, Terry Hedgepeth went for an HIV test in late 2000 at the Whitman-Walker Clinic, now called Whitman-Walker Health, because he had just learned his girlfriend was HIV-positive. A blood test showed Hedgepeth was not HIV-positive but, due to a “human error,” the lab results form was filled out to mistakenly list him as positive.
In June 2005, a series of new tests revealed he was not HIV-positive. He filed suit against the nonprofit and one of its doctors in District of Columbia Superior Court in August 2005.
The trial judge granted the defendants summary judgment, finding that Hedgepeth had failed to pass the “zone of physical danger” test. The appeals court upheld the lower court’s decision in October 2009. Hedgepeth successfully requested an en banc rehearing, which was held last June.
The ruling today overturns the previous decisions and remands the case back to Superior Court.
Hedgepeth was represented by Washington solo practitioner Jonathan Dailey.
"It's a tremendous victory six years in the making, not only for Mr. Hedgepeth, but for all those who suffered emotional distress at the hands of a negligent party," Dailey said this afternoon.
Marc Fiedler of Washington's Koonz, McKenney, Johnson, DePaolis & Lightfoot filed an amicus brief for the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, D.C., on Hedgepeth's behalf. He said he was pleased the court unanimously adopted the bulk of the association's recommendations.
Alfred Belcuore, also a Washington solo practitioner, argued for Whitman-Walker Health. In a written statement, Belcuore and his client said they were reviewing the decision.
"The Opinion demands committed attention and thoughtful analysis...Once we have completed this study, we will decide what our next steps may be regarding this pending legal matter," they said.
Children’s National Medical Center filed an amicus brief on Whitman-Walker Health's behalf, but a representative there could not immediately be reached.
Health care win: A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld the health care reform law on Wednesday. Our Marcia Coyle reports that the main opinion in the first appellate level ruling on the law was authored by former Supreme Court advocate and Bush appointee Jeffrey Sutton.
Confirmation Changes: The Senate confirmation process is still broken, but the Senate voted Wednesday to subject fewer nominees to it. By a 79-20 vote, the Senate reduced the number of executive branch appointees that need to be confirmed, according to The New York Times.
Coulda been: Richard Poff, the Virginia congressman who turned down an offer to be nominated to the Supreme Court in 1971, has died. As The Washington Post reports, Poff wanted to spare his family controversy over his past civil rights views. Lewis Powell Jr. ultimately got the nod.
Unfriending a Facebook Challenger: DLA Piper withdrew from representation of businessman Paul Ceglia, who claimed he owns more than 80 percent of Facebook. Facebook's lawyers at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher have accused Ceglia of "amateurish forgery" of documents that were supposed to support the claim, according to a report by The AmLaw Daily.
Two federal prosecutors who were held in contempt for allegedly flouting court orders in the Ted Stevens public corruption case in Washington today asked an appeals court to vacate the finding, calling the trial judge's ruling defective.
The prosecutors, William Welch II and Brenda Morris, former supervisors in the U.S. Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, are challenging the contempt finding issued in February 2009 during post-trial litigation in the Stevens case.
Last October, Judge Emmet Sullivan of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia removed Morris and Welch from under contempt. But Sullivan refused to vacate his initial contempt order. The judge did not impose sanctions against the prosecutors.
Hogan Lovells partners Catherine Stetson and Chuck Rosenberg, who represent Morris, declined to comment this afternoon. Welch’s lawyers—Covington & Burling’s Mark Lynch and William Taylor III, a Zuckerman Spaeder partner—also declined to comment. The joint submission in the D.C. Circuit is here.
Welch and Morris remain under criminal investigation stemming from the botched prosecution of Stevens, who was charged in Washington federal district court with making false statements on Senate financial disclosure reports.
The prosecution was thrown out in the post-conviction stages after the Justice Department determined the trial attorneys did not turn over certain documents to the defense that would have undermined the testimony of a key witness.
One big question is whether Sullivan’s finding was criminal or civil. The judge characterized it as civil in his October 2010 ruling. But lawyers for Welch and Morris said today it was a criminal contempt finding. The prosecutors would not be able to challenge a civil contempt finding on appeal.
A former wealth manager who lied about the source of tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions for Hillary Clinton's presidential bid was sentenced today to three years of probation.
Lawyers for Evan Snapper, who pleaded guilty to a false statements charge in January in Washington federal district court, had fought against the imposition of a prison sentence. Snapper faced a guideline sentencing range of between 10 and 16 months.
Prosecutors alleged Snapper “knowingly and willfully” caused the Hillary Clinton for President Committee to file false campaign contribution reports with the Federal Election Commission. The reports falsely showed that more than $48,000 in contributions to Clinton came from 21 people when the source was Patricia Cornwell, the crime novelist.
The Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section did not oppose a sentence of probation, according to court papers filed this month. Much of the government’s sentencing memo is blacked out. In earlier court papers, prosecutors said Snapper had cooperated with the government.
A divided federal appeals court in Washington has ruled against the Federal Bureau of Investigation's refusal to provide a death row inmate information about the men he believes committed a quadruple homicide in Texas in 1983.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 2-1 this week in ordering the bureau to provide documents to the inmate, Lester Bower Jr., about three Oklahoma drug dealers whom Bower alleges are the real killers. In the alternative, the court said, the agency must at least search for records and argue why any document should not be released.
The court said lawyers for Bower proved the public’s interest in knowing whether the FBI is keeping records secret that could exonerate a man on death row outweighs the government’s concern over protecting the privacy of the men whom Bower blames for the murders.
“The fact that Bower has been sentenced to the ultimate punishment strengthens the public’s interest in knowing whether the FBI’s files contain information that could corroborate his claim of innocence,” Judge David Tatel said for the panel majority, which included Judge Judith Rogers. The court's opinion is here.
Bower, represented pro bono by Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in the appeals court, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1984. Since the conviction, two witnesses have come forward to implicate four Oklahoma drug dealers in the murder. A state judge has stayed Bower’s execution and granted a motion for DNA testing of crime scene evidence. The state proceedings are pending.
Bower’s attorneys in January 2008 filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the FBI and the Executive Office for United States Attorneys seeking information about the bureau’s investigation of the killing of four men at a ranch near Sherman, Texas. The shooter used a silencer, according to markings on the 11 bullets pulled from the victims’ bodies.
Rubbing lotion on your skin will not make you thin, the Federal Trade Commission today reminded us all in a $900,000 settlement involving ads for Nivea Skin Cream.
The ad shows a woman getting dressed after applying the lotion to her stomach and thighs. She digs through her closet and finds a pair of old jeans which now - amazingly - fit her. “You can rediscover your favorite jeans. And how they still get his attention,” according to the ad.
The company also allegedly purchased sponsored search results from Google so that when consumers searched phrases like “stomach fat” or “thin waist,” they got Nivea ads suggesting the lotion could tone their stomachs and thin their waists.
Under the proposed settlement, Beiersdorf is barred from claiming that any product applied to the skin causes substantial weight or fat loss or a substantial reduction in body size. If the company does want to claim Nivea (or anything else) will make you lose weight, it has to back it up with two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled human clinical studies.
In February, the company settled a class action over ads for its Good-bye Cellulite products for $3.175 million.


The Baltimore Ravens will allow the due process of the law to run its course rather than making a snap decision on newly acquired linebacker Rolando McClain, according to the Baltimore Sun.
<p> McClain, who signed with the Ravens after being released in part by the Oakland Raiders because of two arrests, was arrested over the weekend and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in his hometown of Decatur, Ala. It was his third arrest in 16 months.
“There is due process on this, and we are paying attention to that,” Ravens senior vice president for public and community relations Kevin Byrne told the newspaper.
McClain had vowed to stay out of Decatur, but the latest incident, which sparked speculation that his stay with the Ravens might be a short one, occurred in a park in the city. He was released on $1,000 bond, though that bond could be revoked due to the two previous arrests.


A robot which talks, climbs stairs and serves drinks has been shown to the public at the Moscow Motor Show. Experts say machines are ready to start working with people. The trouble is – they have an image problem.
Asimo recognizes faces and understands questions. Its computer backpack can be programmed to fetch coffee. Makers, Honda, claim Asimo's the only humanoid robot in the world who climbs stairs.
The developers see old and sick people as first users according to Jean-Luc de Krahe, Events Coordinator at Asimo Studio.
Robots have worked in industry since 1961 but were thought too expensive and dangerous to put among humans. Now IRobot's already sold millions of these $200 home cleaners. Sergey Apresov, Editor in Chief at Popular Mechanics says the next step is direct work with humans, and the only barrier is psychological.
Asimo's already used to carry paper round Japanese offices. Developers are now teaching it human-style learning-by-experience. Show it a spoon and cup, through trial and error it learns to put one in the other. Robots are on the verge of critical mass in three key areas, that's price, looks and safety. That means their time has almost come, in the home, office and TV studio.


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Through intense bombardment, seeing friends killed before her eyes and living without power, Layana Darwish stuck it out in Syria’s Aleppo through four years of civil war, even completing her degree despite the devastation.
What finally drove her to leave wasn’t the snipers or the bombs. It was the constant struggle to find safe water.
Civilians have borne the brunt of fighting between Syrian government forces and an array of insurgent groups in Syria’s divided commercial capital, a city of two million people where upended buses and cars stacked on top of each other shield residents from sniper fire.
With the city divided between a government-controlled west and rebel-held east, both sides have been able to deprive the other of water, which the United Nations and Red Cross say amounts to using it as a “weapon of war” against civilians.
“The water crisis is the catastrophe,” said 28-year-old Darwish, who left government-held Aleppo for Turkey just weeks ago.
“Can you imagine life without electricity? Well, we’ve tried that. We managed to adapt to all kinds of shortages and risks. But water is a different issue - how can you possibly live without it?” she said, speaking to Reuters over the internet.
Residents have resorted to digging makeshift wells, she said. But water drawn from them may be unfit for consumption. Her brother, who drank well water, contracted a kidney illness.
A worker for UN children’s fund UNICEF said cases of typhoid and salmonella had been reported from polluted water.
Fouad Halaq, a volunteer rescue worker in eastern Aleppo, said impoverished families were being forced to choose between purchasing food or clean water.
“A 1.5 liter container of water costs around 75 Syrian pounds ($0.40). A family of six can’t spend this much on water alone, they’ll have nothing left for food,” he told Reuters.
UNICEF worker Maher Ghafari said even bottled water sold by private enterprises was not necessarily safe, but nonetheless families were forming hours-long queues to buy it.
“A little girl waited in line for four or five hours, only to realize that the two gallons she had to carry were too heavy, and she fell over and started crying,” Ghafari said.
Aleppo residents on average have access to running water for only half the month, according to the Red Cross’s Pawel Krzysiek, who spoke from Damascus.
“This is not enough, even if people try to apply contingency measures such as a water tank,” he said. The Red Cross is working to facilitate access to clean ground water, producing online maps so people can locate their nearest source.
Accidental damage to water and electrical supplies has caused shortages. Recent fighting hit a power line and clashes have denied engineers access to fix it, Krzysiek said.
But the water crisis is also attributable to tactics by warring parties who intentionally deprive civilians of basic needs, international aid groups say. UNICEF said in August it had recorded 18 deliberate water cuts during the year.
Water supply to Aleppo is particularly vulnerable because at various stages of its journey it passes through different areas of control.
The initial pumping station on the Euphrates River is held by Islamic State, while the next pumping station, in the city’s eastern district of Soleiman al-Halabi, is controlled by rival insurgent forces. The final station is in government hands.
Islamic State cut off the supply from the Euphrates for a few days early last year. In July this year, Ghafari said, it reduced the supply to just 40 percent of the usual flow, drastically cutting water supplies for two hot summer months.
Fighters from the Nusra Front, a rival hardline Islamist group, have also exploited their control of Soleiman al-Halabi, cutting off water for three weeks in July to pressure the government to restore electricity, he said.
All the pumping stations depend on electricity supplies which are controlled by the government. While cities across Syria face shortages, Aleppo residents say they often get only an hour of electricity per day - or sometimes none at all.
When there is no power to operate the pumping station at Soleiman al-Halabi, water is often lost into the Quweiq river that runs between it and the final station.
UNICEF is helping install tanks and purification units downstream to save and store that water for collection, Ghafari said.
So far, there is little sign that either the government or the various rebel groups will be able to break the stalemate and assert control over Aleppo to allow normal life to return. Civilians, meanwhile, bear the brunt of the fighting.
Of 577 people killed in Aleppo city from January through September, 559 were civilians, monitoring group the Syrian Network for Human Rights said.
Vast areas have been reduced to rubble, with destruction hitting markets and mosques in the UNESCO World Heritage-listed old city.


GOOGLE'S new robots BigDog and Wildcat are agile on rough terrain and run faster than humans. Watch them in action.
THEY run faster than people and are agile over rough surfaces and terrains that are challenging for most human beings.
Wildcat is the latest mobile robot acquired by Google to join BigDog, Cheetah and Atlas.
The internet giant has bought the machines in an acquisition of US company, Boston Dynamics, which has designed mobile research robots for the Pentagon.
Boston Dynamics has created machines which walk and stay upright over difficult terrain and run fast like big cats.
Why Google is buying up the machines is unstated, but it's thought the company may be working on systems to replace warehouse workers or carry out home care.
A video of BigDog shows a noisy, gas-powered, four-legged, walking robot that climbs hills, travels through snow, skitters precariously on ice and even manages to stay upright in response to a well-placed human kick.


Uganda stands to benefit from Trinidad and Tobago's vast experience in the development and management of the oil and gas industry. So said Irene Muloni, that country's Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, as she wrapped up a study tour to T&T over the weekend.Muloni, who called for the deepening and broadening of the bilateral relations between the two countries, added: "I am extremely happy about Trinidad and Tobago's success in in oil and gas sector which has improved the country's economy as well as people's standard and quality of living."Sher said Uganda is keen to learn the best practices of managing its infant but nascent oil and gas industry and avoid the pitfall so that the resources can be used to transform Uganda to middle-income and developed nation in the medium and long-term.
Muloni led a ten-man Ugandan delegation on a week-long visit on the invitation of the T&T government. The delegation comprised of the Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom, His Majesty Solomon Gafabusa Iguru accompanied by his administration and technical team from the petroleum exploration and production department of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development.
Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine, who bid farewell to his Ugandan counterpart at a cultural function held at the Hotel Normandie and arranged by the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC), reiterated the T&T government's commitment to support Uganda's quest for capacity building, investments and trade."We are strongly committed in further assisting Uganda in the development of its energy sector. We are ready to invest in Uganda, provide technical assistance and building technical skills for Ugandans," he said."We have talked for long and this is the time to progress and put the talks in action. We shall support Ugandan whenever we are requested to do so."
During their study tour, the Ugandan delegation visited the NGC's offices, NGC's facilities in Guayaguayare, the UTT campus at Point Lisas, Petrotrin, Atlantic and the Point Lisas Industrial Estate. They also attended the Emancipation Day celebrations in Port-of-Spain. Muloni, said Uganda has confirmed 3.5 billion of barrels of oil in reserves in just only 40 per cent of the hydrocarbon potential Lake Albertine basin. She also said there was a substantial amount of gas confirmed but studies are on-going to establish the actual quantity."We want the people of Uganda get involved in the oil sector and therefore building their capacity is our priority so that they can get jobs. We are promoting entrepreneurship skills so that Ugandans take the opportunity created by the oil and gas sector and we have encouraged them to form joint ventures," Muloni said."We are going to use the oil revenues to build power stations to provide electricity for our people, railway system to improve our transport, invest in agriculture so that we add value to our produce and earn more income."


Taipei, Taiwan, 22 March 2012 - GIGABYTE Technology Co. LTD, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, is pleased to introduce the latest GV-N680D5-2GD-B graphics cards. Built with the highly anticipated GeForce® GTX 680 GPU, GV-N680D5-2GD-B utilizes the latest 28nm fabrication process, features GDDR5 memory and adapts 1536 CUDA cores. GIGABYTE GV-N680D5-2GD-B supported Microsoft DirectX® 11 and PCI-Express 3.0 which not only improves the processing ability but provides gamers a faster, smoother and richer gaming experience. Supporting NVIDIA® 3D Vision Surround, 3D Vision, PhysX®, and 3-way SLI®, GV-N680D5-2GD-B guarantees gamers an ultimate gaming experience. Equipped with the innovative GPU Boost technology, GV-N680D5-2GD-B delivered dynamic clocking with different clock rate - Base clock and Boost Clock. It automatically boosts the clock speed of the GPU to offer enthusiastic gamers extra performance.
The next-generation SMX units have replaced SM units, and substantially improve the processing ability. It pushes the breathtaking performance of the GV-N680D5-2GD-B to new levels with NVIDIA® GPU Boost. This technology dynamically maximizes clock speeds to bring out the best performance in every game.
NVIDIA anti-aliasing FXAA is 60% faster than 4X MSAA. The Performance and quality of TXAA is better than 8X MSAA. Get ultra-smooth gaming with NVIDIA gaming innovations like Adaptive Vertical Sync! GV-N680D5-2GD-B dynamically adjusts VSync to current frame rates for maximum playability. Gamers can achieve a smoothly gaming performance and to have the best experience with realistic visuals.
GV-N680D5-2GD-B supports NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround. Users can experience broader, richer gaming environments with the latest technological advancements. Bring games to life with NVIDIA Surround multi-monitor gaming on a single card, supercharged PhysX and 3D Vision, plus the unbeatable power of SLI.


Realtor.com and Keurig are pulling their advertisements from Sean Hannity's Fox News show. Both faced criticism on Twitter about continuing partnerships with Hannity after his controversial coverage of the sexual assault allegations against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. Biotech company 23 and Me, retailer Eloquii and Nature's Bounty will also stop sponsoring the show, USA Today reports.
None of the companies explicitly cited the Moore coverage as its reason for backing out.


Construction of the Tesla Gigafactory in February of 2015.
Local labor leaders are upset that Tesla contractor Brycon Corp. is bringing in workers from Arizona and New Mexico, said Todd Koch, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Northern Nevada.
... Construction work at the $5 billion, 10-million-square-foot factory has been proceeding ahead of schedule. Tesla said in an e-mailed statement that the nonunion contractor involved in the dispute Monday, which it didn't identify by name, is using more than 50 percent Nevada workers and that more than 75 percent of the factory workforce is residents of that state. Tesla didn't say how the walkout is affecting work at the site.
However, the automaker's statement also emphasized that the walkout had nothing to do with the company's treatment of the workers.
The Gigafactory will get up to $1.25 billion in tax breaks over the next 20 years from the state of Nevada, as long as it employs 6,500 in-state workers, Bloomberg reported.


Maybe it's the jet lag. Maybe it's the culture shock of being back in DC for the first time in a year. Maybe it's my inborn crabbiness. Whatever the source, I find myself more more incredulous with each passing hour that Chinese media authorities could have thought it as necessary or smart to censor live coverage of an event being watched intently in every other corner of the world: the inaugural address of America's first black president and current champion orator.
I have been trying to think: in what other country might this occur? Burma, perhaps. North Korea, no doubt. Perhaps other tinhorn states. But a real, important, powerful, rich country that in many ways (eg, finance) is America's most important partner? It is almost literally incredible.
It's all the more surprising because of something that might not be obvious to the average US viewer. I have met a lot of Chinese people in the last few years, in lots of stations of life. Big shots, farmers, dissidents, factory workers, party bosses. And I cannot think of a single one of them who would have been put off his or her feed by hearing a new American president talk about the virtues of dissent or America's struggle against Communism. Even if they don't agree with those sentiments themselves (and many would agree), all of them know that this is the way Americans talk and think. How on earth could it seem threatening to hear an American president talk about basic American beliefs?
Here is the "there must be an explanation" explanation. As I tried to explain in this recent article in the Atlantic, the people in charge of China's propaganda apparatus are among the least worldly and most rigid-minded people in the entire country, with absolutely the least feel for how people in other countries might react or think. So apparently some of these ignoramuses considered it a good and prudent idea to cut off Obama -- even if the vast majority of their fellow citizens would consider such paranoia to be extreme and bizarre. Also, within a part of the government where orthodoxy is everything, an official takes no risks by being too hard-line, but could get in trouble by being too permissive. Still; it is an incident whose importance may grow as time goes on. They couldn't even stand to hear Barack Obama speak!
After the jump, in the same spirit as the previous post, a couple of interesting reactions on this theme from people in and around China. Maybe this will all make sense to me when I catch up on my sleep.
I have a little anecdote regarding [a popular but vaguely dissident Chinese author]. We just got copies in of his latest book, and naturally, I wanted to send the author some copies, especially since he would like to give free copies to reviewers in [major Chinese city], where he will be for some kind of conference. His agent asked me to send the copies directly to his [other major Chinese city] address by express mail, instead of to her, which is my normal practice.
I too just returned from China and I too am depressed to find how readily one accepts what one cannot change. The thing that I found depressing is not just that I accepted it, but that, generally speaking, I did not perceive how obnoxious it was. Living in China, and becoming familiar with their system, I am beginning to understand that the freedoms we enjoy in the United States are not a natural state of affairs, that our "basic" freedoms are a tremendous cultural achievement (achieved long before I was born), and not to be obtained and then just protected.
I think what you started to write about regarding the effectiveness of the Firewall being enhanced by its unpredictability somehow gets at some larger issue here. This inability to see clearly where the lines are drawn make it harder to plan and harder to fight in a way. It is harder to maintain opposition to such a vague oppression. It really is someone else arbitrarily exercising power over you. And moreover it is incredibly effective. I think the capriciousness and the unpredictability are quite intentional in many cases. In some cases clearly it is just bureaucratic bumbling and ham-handedness (as youhave pointed out) and general messiness and disorganization. But Ithink the day the Communist Party starts explaining itself too clearly setting transparent rules (however restrictive those rules may be) is the day the lose their grip on power.
The truth is, as an American, I have done nothing to help build, create or strengthen our system. The farthest I have gotten is having cultivated a personal appreciating for how lucky I am and a willingness to take advantage of my freedom to be, do and say what I want without facing unnecessary consequences. After living in China, I now think freedom is a vigorous enterprise on an individual level, and that responsibility ultimately falls on the individual to keeping increasing his experience of freedom. But that way of thinking is a luxury, and it is one I did not earn. One can hardly think like this in a system like that in China today.
This is an extremely rich topic with more discussion to come.


Haiti, the only country to emerge from a successful slave revolt, wasn't always a nation in shambles. Western powers refused to allow it to succeed.
About 50,000 Haitians might be forced to return to their homeland by mid-2019 if the Trump administration is successful in ending the special immigration status granted following the catastrophic 2010 Port-au-Prince earthquake.
Haitians living and working legally in the United States since the earthquake that killed 200,000 could have to go back to a country that is the most impoverished and environmentally degraded in the Western Hemisphere.
Though the number of Haitians living temporarily in Greater Cincinnati and is believed to be small, strong ties exist in the area with the Caribbean nation. Two local relief organizations maintain a regular presence in Haiti.
Matthew 25: Ministries, based in Blue Ash, operates a mission hotel north of Port-au-Prince, in Bon Repos, as a base for its and other organization's humanitarian and medical trips to Haiti. A Child's Hope International, based in Sharonville, has sent hundreds of thousands of nutritious, pre-packaged and rice-based meals to Haiti and other impoverished nations over the past decade. Both organizations had teams on the ground in the wake of the January 2010 earthquake.
A number of other faith-based organizations in Greater Cincinnati are involved in relief drives and have or continue to send teams to Haiti.
The situation in Haiti remains dire. Advocates who favor extending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians say the country has been hit since 2010 by a series of natural disasters – a cholera outbreak and a cycle of hurricanes and drought – that have created a humanitarian crisis. Water, food and medicine remain in short supply.
Sending tens of thousands of Haitians back would strain the small country's limited resources, endanger the lives of those returning and sever a financial pipeline from Haitians working in the United States that is helping to keep family members alive in Haiti.
Yet Haiti wasn't always a nation in shambles. As the only nation to emerge from a successful slave rebellion, its history and survival are remarkable.
The island of Hispaniola, today shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, was once the richest colony of the New World. The western third of the island – today Haiti – was known as Saint Domingue and was the central destination of the transatlantic slave trade. At the height of Saint Domingue's prosperity, colonial power France had brought in 800,000 enslaved Africans from the nations of Senegal, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Slaves provided the muscle for an economy that during the 1780s – the decade before the slave revolt – produced 60 percent of the coffee and 40 percent of the sugar consumed in Europe. Indigo and cotton were other big cash crops that earned the colony the nickname "Pearl of the Antilles."
At one time, the land yielded 30 percent of the world's sugar, and the French drove their cane-cutting Haitian slaves especially hard. From the plantations came a former slave, Toussaint Louverture, skilled in veterinary medicine, who at age 50 became what historians call an effective self-taught military strategist and leader.
The 13-year Haitian Revolution started in 1791, ended with Haiti's independence in 1804 and influenced events across the Americas. Napoleon, defeated in his attempt to reconquer Haiti, accepted defeat in the New World, which included negotiating the Louisiana Purchase with Thomas Jefferson in 1803.
In the Caribbean, Jamaica was poised for the next revolution, and the British would not have been able to win, say many historians. Eventually, the slave trade ended altogether by 1808, and Western policies have been punishing Haiti ever since for winning its independence.
"The problem was not politics or commerce. The central issue was the not to have the specter of blacks ruling themselves," said Barrymore Bogues, professor of Africana Studies and director of the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University. "The fragile example of ex-slaves ruling themselves, the Western powers had to make sure it failed."
After its independence, Haiti was a fledgling country trying to find its place in a world dominated by slavery across the Americas and in the United States, Bogues said.
"Their question was, 'Are we going to be able to survive?' " Bogues said.
The answer: Barely. In 1825, Haiti started to pay France the equivalent today of $21 billion in reparations to French slaveholders it had fought to overthrow.
The United States, fearing that the rebellion would give slaves across the U.S. South ideas about staging their own revolution, refused to trade with Haiti and would not diplomatically recognize Haiti until 1862.
The United States then invaded Haiti in 1915 and didn't leave until 1934, holding veto power over all Haitian government decisions during that time.
"Haiti has been ruthlessly exploited by Western powers many times in its 200 years of independence," said Madison Smartt Bell, an English professor at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, Louverture biographer and author of a trilogy of novels about Louverture and the slave revolt.
Along with the exploitation of people, ecological exploitation predates Haitian independence.
"When Columbus' crew got there, though they thought they were in paradise, they went about destroying the place," Bell said.
Haiti's arid soil and erosion are caused by its excessive deforestation, which Bell said started in the late 17th century when Europeans started harvesting its forests to make furniture.
Scholar Bogues said the Western powers' propping up of ineffective Haitian governments, including U.S. support for dictators Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who ruled Haiti from 1957 through 1986, cemented the idea in the minds of everyday Haitians that the government did not care for them.
"The Americans did not want another Cuba," Bogues said, referencing the communist regime of Fidel Castro. "In the countryside, people retreated, and there was a strong sense they had to make do however they could, even if that meant cutting down all of the trees."
Despite government corruption, acute poverty and environmental destruction, Bogues and others say Haitians are among the world’s most resilient people.
"It's in their art, their artistic practices, in which Haitians show their spirit is not broken," said the Jamaica-born Bogues. "It's as if they're saying, 'You can bend us, but you will never break us.' "
Mark Curnutte, the race and social justice reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer, has written extensively on Haiti since the 2010 earthquake. He is the author of "A Promise in Haiti: A Reporter's Notes on Families and Daily Lives."


A House committee is receiving significant attention for approving an amendment requiring women to register for the draft, but the same Republican-controlled panel incorporated early Thursday morning into a major defense spending bill a measure that would undermine President Obama’s executive order prohibiting anti-LGBT workplace discrimination among federal contractors.
The amendment, introduced by freshman Rep. Steve Russell (R-Okla.), would require the federal government when contracting with religious organizations to afford them exemptions consistent with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the American with Disabilities Act. Since neither of those laws prohibit anti-LGBT bias, the amendment would enable religious organizations doing business with the U.S. government to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
The amendment provides an exemption for “any religious corporation, religious association, religious educational institution or religious society” contracting with the U.S. government. All of those terms are undefined in the amendment, but the lack of definition for “religious corporation” could allow courts to construe the term broadly to any federal contractor — not just religious organizations — in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in the Hobby Lobby case.
The House Armed Services Committee approved the measure by a largely party-line 33-29 vote, including it as part of the House version of the fiscal year 2017 defense authorization bill. Reps. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) and Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.) joined Democrats in voting against the amendment.
The committee also reported out the full legislation to the House floor, but when the Republican leadership will take it up is unknown. The next opportunity to remove the amendment will be through a floor amendment when the full House considers the measure, but the House Rules Committee would first have to approve the measure, which would be challenging because the panel is stacked heavily in favor of Republicans. If not a House floor vote, the next opportunity to remove the measure will be the conference committee when the House and Senate lawmakers hammer out the different versions of their legislation.
David Stacy, government affairs director for the Human Rights Campaign, condemned the measure in the aftermath of the committee vote.
Jeff Tiller, a White House spokesperson, said the administration opposes “attempts to roll back non-discrimination protections for LGBT workers” in response to an inquiry over whether President Obama would veto the defense bill over the language.
But the Russell amendment wasn’t the only measure approved the committee approved as part of the defense spending bill relevant to LGBT people. The panel approved by unanimous vote in an en bloc package another measure introduced by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) enabling transgender veterans to change their name on discharge documents.
Under current policy, transgender veterans who change their name to reflect their gender identity after leaving the service cannot receive amended discharge documents, or what the Pentagon calls the DD-214, to reflect that name change (although the U.S. military has broken this policy in a handful of cases). Every time they use this paperwork to prove their military service, the inconsistency in names forces the veteran to disclose they’re transgender.
Speier’s amendment would allow a trans veteran to update their discharge papers to reflect their new name following a change in gender identity or expression.
Who was saying that the Kim Davis’ reaction to the SCOTUS decision was a flash in the pan?! The repercussions continue to emerge both on the state and now federal level. The struggle is far from over!
And that is all the more reason for LGBs and TQs to remain united in our common struggle for human and civil rights.
BS It is not about YOUR rights, it is about Destroying MY Rights, and the ethnic cleansing of Whites.
and the Rights of the American people. This is cultural Marxism and you are its tools.
I wonder what kind of businesses and groups donated to his campaign for Congress? Contractors? Banks?
Kudos to HRC for prioritizing resistance to this anti-LGBT bigotry.
Straw man argument, and a diversion from the truth by a Cultural Marxist. Nothing of what you say is relevant.
Congress has never upheld the First Amendment rights of LGBT Americans.
Gender identity illness is part of Cultural Marxism.


Why Did Rouhani Say 'No' to Obama?
There’s nothing surprising about Iran’s actions this week because Khamenei still calls the shots.
It may not have been a flat-out rejection, but Iranian President Hassan Rouhani certainly surprised a lot of people by declining to meet with President Obama yesterday. We don't know anything approaching the whole story. Letters between the two, back-channel messages, and in all likelihood, secret conversations between representatives of the two countries have been going on for quite a while. The secret diplomacy has been conducted for decades, even though Rouhani was only recently elected.
So far, the plot of “hopes and expectations raised, then a slap in the face” follows the usual script. Just ask Bill Clinton or George W. Bush, both of whom believed they had reached agreement with the Iranian regime, a “grand bargain” that would put the two countries on the path to better relations, lift some American sanctions, and, in Bush's case, end Iranian uranium enrichment. At the last minute, Iran said “forget it.” Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and her top deputy, Nicholas Burns, had flown to New York in the fall of 2006 to welcome the Iranian diplomat Ali Larijani to the United Nations, where the Grand Bargain was to have been signed. But he never left Tehran. Clinton got a public rebuke from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, currently Rouhani's boss.
There is nothing particularly new or surprising in Iran's behavior this week. Khamenei, who is the ultimate authority in Tehran, hates the United States, and is not at all eager to reach an agreement with us unless it is a clear triumph for the Islamic Republic. That probably means the United States would lift all unilateral sanctions, accept Iran's “right” to enrich uranium, speed up our withdrawal from Afghanistan, and recognize Iran as the most important country in the region. It might also include American acceptance of the linkage between Syrian surrender of chemical weapons and Israeli surrender of nukes.
It isn't likely that any American president would agree to all that in exchange for Iranian promises to limit uranium enrichment and give greater access to UN inspectors of Iranian (non-military) nuclear facilities. To begin with, the United States can't deliver Israeli nuclear disarmament, so the sort of bargain that might satisfy the supreme leader isn't possible, at least for now (the Iranians, in declining Obama's invitation to talk, said this isn't the right moment). But that certainly does not mean that any and all negotiations are off the table. On the contrary, negotiations serve Iran's interests because they provide still more time for the regime to pursue its immediate ends: the clear victory of Bashar Assad in the Syrian War and the successful completion of the nuclear weapons program.
You can expect Foreign Minister Zarif to propose more negotiations when he sits with Secretary of State Kerry in a couple of days.
The Iranian “no” to Obama gives the supreme leader the personal and ideological satisfaction of humiliating yet another American president. After all, it was Obama who pursued Rouhani (after failing to engage Khamenei for more than four years), not the other way around.
Meanwhile, Rouhani continued his “charm offensive,” delivering a carefully crafted speech to the General Assembly insisting that he didn't want to do anything to worsen relations with the United States.
Even as he stuck his finger in Obama's eye.
Michael Ledeen is a scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former special advisor to Secretary of State Alexander Haig. His most recent book is Virgil's Golden Egg and Other Neapolitan Miracles.


Police in Scotland have said they have received reports of historical child abuse within football.
They are the latest force in the UK to confirm they are looking into allegations following claims of sexual abuse in England by former players.
A UK hotline set up for sexual abuse victims in the wake of the claims has received more than 250 reports since launching less than a week ago.
A Police Scotland spokesman said: "We can confirm we have received reports in connection with non-recent child abuse within football.
Detective Chief Superintendent Lesley Boal, Police Scotland public protection, said: "We will continue to work with partners, including the National Police Chiefs Council through Operation Hydrant, the Scottish Football Association and the NSPCC to ensure a co-ordinated police response is in place and that we maintain an accurate picture of child abuse investigations.
"Speaking out about any form of child abuse is incredibly difficult and disclosures are often made many years after an incident took place.
"Police Scotland will listen to any such disclosure, regardless of the passage of time, and will investigate as well as work with partner organisations who have access to advocacy and support during the process of disclosure and investigation.
"We appreciate that sometimes finding a safe place to first talk about experiences helps eventual disclosure and would encourage anybody who feels this would assist to contact a support organisation.
"Details of such organisations can be accessed via Survivor Scotland.
Last week the Scottish Football Association (SFA) joined the campaign supporting players who suffered abuse by coaches to speak out in the wake of revelations south of the border.
Fraser Wishart, chief executive of players' union PFA Scotland, said it would be "naive to think that these allegations are unique to one part of the UK'' and vowed to protect any players that come forward.
The Scottish Government was earlier urged by a Conservative MSP to launch a "focused investigation'' into abuse of children in sports clubs.
Tory MSP Rachael Hamilton said there have been pleas for the SNP administration to launch a wider inquiry covering areas such as sport as the sector is not included in the current historical abuse inquiry.
The Government has already faced criticism that the inquiry - looking into treatment of children who were in residential care, those who had long-term stays in hospital, boarding schools and those under foster care - is too narrow.
"The current inquiry risks not going far enough in helping victims of child abuse,'' Ms Hamilton said.
Mr McDonald said: "We do take seriously any indications or reports of sexual abuse in sporting bodies and ... we will continue to monitor the number of calls that are made to the hotline and determine alongside other bodies whether any further action is required in this specific area.
SNP MSP Christine Grahame insisted the SFA should not have an investigatory role in any abuse allegations due to potential conflicts of interest.


Loading up Apex Legends for the first time, I saw two black women as playable characters. It was a strange and arresting feeling to see them. I’m still trying to understand my feelings about it.
I’m usually quite wary of falling into what my coworker Riley MacLeod calls “the diversity trap,” which is to say, giving a game a lot of credit simply for doing the bare minimum. I know that most companies are in the business of making money. While having diverse casts may meet some altruistic goals, it also could open up the appeal of that media product to more people who will spend money on it. Apex Legends, the new battle royale game from development studio Respawn, is a free-to-play game, but it does have loot boxes and, if you want, you can use real money to buy more loot boxes. Because of that, I can understand why someone might be cynical about the game’s visibly diverse cast.
Still, the game has a diverse cast, and you can tell from the first glance. There’s a character who is a Pacific Islander, multiple women, men of varying races and body shapes, and—in an achievement that few games can boast—there are two black women. In fact, you have to play as one of them in the tutorial mission, during which you go through the basic moves as the support character Lifeline. As soon as I completed that mission, I went and queued up for a game with my friend Julian and my other coworker Paul Tamayo; I then selected the other black woman, the rough and tumble soldier Bangalore.
Like Overwatch, the stated backstories of these characters don’t matter much when you’re actually in the fray. Bloodhound, who has been confirmed by the developers to be non-binary, doesn’t say “I don’t fit into the binary definition of gender” when they kill someone. Nor does Gibraltar, whom the developers have said is gay, talk about how he is gay while you play as him. Still, there’s something nice about a game where I can run into other players who have chosen a character who isn’t a white, straight, cis male. When I played with Julian and Paul last night, almost every single team had someone playing as Bangalore, since her air strike ability can be devastating and great for flushing out squads.
Just seeing those characters, and knowing those small lore details about them, does actually make a difference to me. It makes me want to explore more of the game and its systems, spend more time in the world, and figure out how to be even better at it. It reveals, and then invalidates, my innate fear of playing competitive games. I was made fun of so much as a kid and a teenager for looking the way I do—being mixed race, being a girl, and liking the things I like. Seeing characters that look like me—not just one, but two—being played and embraced by the community makes me feel like I won’t be made fun of for my core identity. I might just get made fun of for not being good at the game. And that’s something I can change, with practice.