Avengers: Endgame's Empire cover gets an updated version with the heroes' new costumes. As the release date for the culminating MCU movie nears, Marvel Studios marketing is starting to heat up with the surprise release of the film's second trailer and ensemble poster. An early look at Empire's covers for the blockbuster have also been released, including a one that features the founding heroes of the franchise. But one fan took it upon himself to update that image with their latest suits, making it more apt for the Phase 3 capper.
With no reassembly in Avengers: Infinity War, one of the most-anticipated moments in Endgame is the reunion of the original six Avengers. The heroes have gone on different paths after their last mission in 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron. Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) couldn't resolve their differences in Captain America: Civil War putting Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) at the center of their conflict, and resulting in the team's break-up. Meanwhile, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) went on an intergalactic adventure to defeat Hela (Cate Blanchett) in Thor: Ragnarok. The gang being scattered put Earth at its most vulnerable, making it much easier for Thanos (Josh Brolin) to launch his attack. But with the promise of reunion come Avengers 4, not to mention the additional help from Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), the Mad Titan won't know what's coming for him after The Decimation.
Aside from the changes to the heroes' individual suits, the heroes in Endgame will also get a matching red, white and black costume. It's unclear yet what this new armor will be for, but it resembles Hank Pym's (Michael Douglas) ensemble when he went to the Quantum Realm in Ant-Man & the Wasp to rescue Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer). Based on this and the countless times Marvel Studios emphasized how important the alternate dimension is, many are convinced that this will be the team's garb as they travel to the Quantum Realm. What exactly they're going to do there also remains a mystery, but it may be tied to rumors of time travel in the film.
Considering the number of times that the heroes will change costumes in the film (Captain America is also expected to don his old armor and his Captain America: The Winter Soldier suit on top of what's previously mentioned), further questions abound concerning the time expanse that Avengers: Endgame will cover. Past reports claim that several years would've gone by before the current issue gets its resolution, and Widow's hair in the trailers definitely hints at the passage of time. But if the heroes are already messing with timelines via the Quantum Realm, it might not be as straightforward as them taking years to actually defeat Thanos.


Starting March 30, Joe Levy will be the new editor of Billboard. He comes to the weekly mag from Maxim, where he had been the chief content officer since 2009. The move to Billboard puts Levy back in the music journalism world. He previously served as the editor-in-chief of Blender and executive editor of Rolling Stone.


Students at Carlton Viveiros Elementary School are connecting with their favorite Marine from thousands of miles away.
Back in December, Lance Cpl. Mark DeMello visited Viveiros students in grades three to five and shared with them what life is like as a Marine. He had students performing pushups and excitedly asking questions. Shortly after his visit, DeMello was deployed to Afghanistan for his first tour in the Middle East. He is scheduled to return home to Fall River this summer.
DeMello enlisted in the Marines on his 18th birthday in January 2009 and went to boot camp that August. The B.M.C. Durfee High graduate was home on leave when Viveiros Assistant Principal Janet Belanger connected with DeMello’s mother Denise. Belanger asked if DeMello would be willing to come speak to the students about his experiences as a Marine.
"It teaches the kids what war really is," said Denise DeMello. "Some of them think it’s like ‘Call of Duty.’ Speaking to Mark makes it more real, it brings it home for them. As a mom I am concerned for his safety, but I’m extremely proud of him."
To show their appreciation for his visit, the students are writing letters to send to DeMello. They are sharing information about themselves, thanking him for serving the United States and asking him what life is like in Afghanistan. The first set of letters will be mailed out next week.
"They got to meet Mark and build a relationship with him," computer lab teacher Mendy Chrupcala said. "They are hoping he visits them when he returns home."
Fourth grader Brianna Cordeiro met DeMello in the Viveiros lunch room. She hopes the letters bring a smile to his face.
"I asked if he’s having a nice day and what it’s like to be a Marine," Cordeiro said. "We’re trying to make him happy by writing a letter to him."
Classmate Marcos Fernandes showed his appreciation for the sacrifices DeMello and other Marines are making by being away from their family and friends.
"I wrote about how he’s helping to save our country," Fernandes said. "The Marines are doing a lot for the United States."
Audrey Figuerido hopes the letters will provide DeMello the motivation to continue with his mission.
"Hopefully the letters will keep him inspired so he can keep doing his work and helping to save everyone."


Former police officer Amber Guyger had a new look in court Tuesday in Dallas — and that was no accident, legal experts say.
Guyger, 30, struck a softer appearance than she did earlier this month for her second courthouse visit since being indicted on a murder charge in the death of Botham Jean.
A change in body language and clothes is common for defendants trying to win over a judge and jury, legal experts say.
"Every time she is appearing at the courthouse, the public and, ultimately, her jury is looking at her," said George Milner III, a local defense attorney. "A defense attorney would make every effort to have their client present to the media a look that is consistent with innocence."
The result of Tuesday's meeting at the Frank Crowley Courts Building was unclear because a gag order prevents anyone associated with the case from speaking publicly.
Guyger was off-duty but in uniform Sept. 6 when she killed Jean in his Cedars apartment, a block away from Dallas police headquarters. She told law enforcement she mistook his fourth-floor apartment for her own and thought the 26-year-old accountant was a burglar.
Legal experts unaffiliated with the case say Guyger’s attorneys have their work cut out for them. Guyger’s actions made news around the world, and she is regularly reviled on social media.
Jean's mother, Allison Jean, called Guyger "the devil."
For her first court date Jan. 8, Guyger wore an open black jacket and pants with a blue shirt. She pulled her straight dark blond hair into a ponytail.
The look, Dallas defense attorney Robbie McClung said, “screamed law enforcement.” By this week's appearance, the focus had shifted, McClung said.
Attorneys unaffiliated with Amber Guyger's case say the lighter clothes and looser hair she wore Tuesday were intentional, sending different signals than the dark clothes, tight ponytail and downcast look she had during a Jan. 8 courthouse appearance.
On Tuesday, wavy hair fell past Guyger's shoulders and her white pantsuit jacket was buttoned. She looked straight ahead more often.
"You want to go up to her and say, 'I like your suit. Where did you get your suit?'" McClung said.
One of Guyger's attorneys, Toby Shook, declined to comment, citing a gag order by state District Judge Tammy Kemp.
Lee Merritt, an attorney for Jean's family, said defense attorneys are using racial stereotypes and prejudice to help Guyger beat a murder charge.
"Highlighting her golden locks and daintiness is a direct appeal to the American culture's propensity to come to the defense of white womanhood," Merritt said. "They are playing into long-held prejudices of black male criminality and and white purity."
Nothing happened inside the courtroom either day that Guyger appeared at the courthouse this month. But she was photographed and filmed by the media on her way to and from a room reserved for defense attorneys and their clients across the hall from Kemp's court.
Even though jury selection in Guyger's case isn't yet on the horizon, the public and potential jurors are watching news coverage, attorneys say. Every video and photo is an opportunity to reach them.
The new look is deliberate, orchestrated by the defense, Milner said.
His clients include numerous police officers, as well as former Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Josh Brent. He was sentenced to probation for killing his teammate and best friend Jerry Brown in a drunken-driving crash.
Clothes and body language "might make the difference" in swaying a jury, Milner said, although how it works and how well is "very subjective."
Defendants convey innocence by holding their heads up, Milner said. Looking down like Guyger did at her first court appearance conveys feelings of guilt, he said. Milner said he advised Brent to keep his head up as he walked past the cameras but said he didn't have to talk to reporters.
"In a high-profile case, every day is game day," he said.
But, McClung said, if you hold your head too high "you look like you think you're better than everyone else."
Dallas Cowboys player Josh Brent stood trial for intoxication manslaughter at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas in January 2014.
Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Josh Brent was dressed in a sweatshirt and pants as his teammates warmed up before a game in November 2014.
Style transformations are common, attorneys say. Clothes are nicer. Glasses may be added or taken away. Tattoos are covered.
But defense attorney Erin Hendricks said defendants can’t change their appearance so much that they don’t look or act like themselves. A judge and jury won’t buy it.
Not everyone dresses the part for court. It's not uncommon to see defendants wearing pajama bottoms and T-shirts with profane slogans in the courthouse hallways.
Hendricks said she is regularly asked by clients what they should wear or if they should shave or get a haircut. She tells them to dress comfortably but respectfully — like if they were going to a funeral or the principal’s office.
Former Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver first showed up at the courthouse with a beard and dark suits after he was charged with murder in the 2017 shooting of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards.
At trial, Oliver was clean-shaven and wore a puzzle-piece-shaped autism pin on the lapel of his gray suit the day he testified. His son, Tab, has autism.
It's unclear whether the change made a difference. A Dallas County jury sentenced Oliver to 15 years in prison in August for shooting into a car full of teens driving away from a party, killing Jordan.
Like Guyger, Oliver was free on bond when he appeared in court. Dressing clients for court appearances is harder when they're in jail, defense attorneys say.
Roy Oliver was clean-shaven and wore a puzzle-shaped autism pin when he testified before a jury last year at his murder trial. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Roy Oliver sported a beard and a dark suit at a hearing the month before his trial for killing 15-year-old Jordan Edwards.
Milner said he often requests for defendants in jail to be allowed regular clothes instead of jail jumpsuits for hearings, especially when cameras will be present. Judges are only required to allow street clothes for trials, he said.
McClung said she has been scolded by bailiffs for giving her clients lip gloss or a hair brush to help them look more presentable. And, sometimes, jailed defendants wear the same clothes for trial day after day.
Ultimately, McClung said, Guyger and any other client wants to project the same message with her appearance.
“How could they say she did these things?" the attorney said of that message. "She looks too nice. She looks too sweet."


A Come Dine with Me style auction prize was snapped up in support of the Nepal Disaster Appeal recently.
Chief executive of the Rockinghorse Appeal, Ryan Heal, won this unusual offer with a very generous donation made.
It has been four months since the devastating earthquakes. One of the former chefs at the Grand Hotel is from Nepal and still has family there.
He wanted to raise some much needed funds and approached The Grand’s executive head chef, Keith Mitchell for help.
With the help of two Grand Hotel chefs and serving staff Ryan and Anne invited six friends, including former DJ Ambrose Harcourt, to enjoy the dishes at their Saltdean home.


TOKYO (AFP) - A Boeing Dreamliner operated by All Nippon Airways made an emergency landing in the west of Japan on Wednesday, the airline said, with media reports saying smoke had been seen inside the aircraft.
"It made an emergency landing at Takamatsu because there was an error message during the flight," from Ube in the far west, bound for Tokyo, ANA spokesman Naoko Yamamoto said.
Television pictures showed emergency chutes deployed from the plane at the airport in Takamatsu, on Japan's fourth largest island of Shikoku.
Jiji Press reported smoke had been seen inside the cockpit. If confirmed, it would constitute yet another blow to the Dreamliner's reputation after more than a week of bad news.
ANA said 129 passengers and eight crew on board, with Jiji and broadcast NHK saying none was injured.
"It is true that the aircraft has recently seen a series of troubles," said the ANA spokesman. "But we cannot say if this has something in common with previous problems".


Fueled by a surging stock market and huge gifts from billionaires, charitable giving in the United States in 2017 topped the $400 billion mark for the first time, according to the latest comprehensive report on Americans’ giving patterns.
The Giving USA report, released Tuesday, said giving from individuals, estates, foundations and corporations reached an estimated $410 billion in 2017 – more than the gross domestic product of countries such as Israel and Ireland. The total was up 5.2 percent in current dollars (3 percent adjusted for inflation) from the estimate of $389.64 billion for 2016.
“Americans’ record-breaking charitable giving in 2017 demonstrates that even in divisive times our commitment to philanthropy is solid,” said Aggie Sweeney, chairman of Giving USA Foundation, which publishes the annual report. It is researched and written by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
Giving increased to eight of the nine sectors identified by Giving USA. The only decline was for areas related to international affairs.
The biggest increase was in giving to foundations – up 15.5 percent. That surge was driven by large gifts from major philanthropists to their own foundations – including $1 billion from Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell and his wife, Susan, and $2 billion from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.
Other sectors with increases of more than 6 percent included education, health, arts and culture, environment and animal welfare and public-society benefit organizations – groups that work on such issues as voter education, civil rights, civil liberties and consumer rights.
Despite the record-setting total, Americans’ level of generosity is no higher than it was decades ago. For 2017, giving by individuals represented 2 percent of total disposable income – down from 2.4 percent in 2000 and the same as in 1978. Similarly, total charitable donations have hovered around 2 percent of the gross domestic product for many years; for 2017 that was 2.1 percent.
Una Osili, a dean and economics professor at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, says the school’s research shows the percentage of U.S. households making donations has declined steadily in recent years, from about 67 percent in 2000 to 56.6 percent in 2015 – the latest for which data is available.
She said giving rates for lower- and middle-class families dropped significantly since the 2008 recession, while for the wealthiest 20 percent of households it was relatively steady.
Stacy Palmer, editor of Chronicle of Philanthropy, said many U.S. fundraisers – while pleased with the increase in gifts – are unsure what lies ahead.
Trade wars could weaken the economy to the point at that would deter some donors, she said, adding some also worry middle-class donors may cut back if changes in the new tax law no longer give them a deduction for charitable donations.
June 12, 2018 3:35 p.m.


is a city in the Pomona Valley region of Los Angeles County.
This neighborhood includes Unincorporated La Verne in its area and statistics.
The neighboring communities are Angeles Crest, Claremont, Pomona and San Dimas.
La Verne is one of the 272 neighborhoods in Mapping L.A., The Times’ resource for crime, neighborhoods, demographics and schools.


What does the Oregon federal building standoff really indicate?
The Oregon federal building standoff reveals an institutionally perpetuated process of exploitation that sustains a system of wealth, power, and privilege in our society. This system maintains that European immigrants are superior, are entitled to all material resources and should dominate and rule society. The standoff at the secluded federal building near Burns, Oregon is the latest example of how domestic terrorism is fueled by white supremacy.
On January 2, 2016, dozens of armed white militants occupied the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in protest of the conviction of two ranchers charged with arson. The Oregon federal building standoff militants demand the release of two ranchers and that the surrounding federal lands cede local control. The ranchers were sentenced twice for their arson crimes under the provision of a law called the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. The militants claim that these ranchers have been oppressed by the federal government and hope to draw attention to their cause.
The charges in question stem from a pair or fires on federal land near their ranch. According to Rolling Stone Magazine, the first fire was reportedly set in 2001 to cover up evidence of illegal deer poaching. The fire burned 139 acres. The second was reportedly set in 2006 to protect the ranch from an approaching wildfire, stated Tim Dickinson. The first federal judge to handle the case ruled that the sentence was too harsh and gave the pair a lighter sentence, which they served. However, the U.S. attorney in the case challenged the ruling and the federal government took the rare step of appealing the sentence adding to the ongoing tensions between the federal government and the Western ranchers.
These tensions have developed from a 20-year legal dispute over unpaid grazing fees on federally owned land. In 2014, an armed standoff between supporters of Cliven Bundy and the federal Bureau of Land Management sparked controversy when 145,604 acres of federal land in Clark County Nevada were temporarily closed for the removal of trespass cattle. Bundy currently owes the federal government more than $1 million in unpaid grazing fees and fines. Now his sons, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, are responsible for leading the militant standoff in Oregon.
Rodrique went on to explain the history of tribal treaty law and the importance of respecting and maintaining those laws. “In 1868, the tribe signed a treaty with the federal government that requires the government to protect natives’ safety. According to the tribe, the federal government promised to prosecute ‘any crime or injury perpetrated by any white man upon the Indians.’ She emphasized with great importance that the tribe never gave up rights to the land and actively works with the federal government to ensure its protection.
As the Oregon federal building standoff continues, it is clear that there are many mixed opinions about the armed occupation. An understanding of how the Oregon militants are able to justify their actions in the pursuit of their political agenda may be an essential factor in determining a peaceful resolution. In the meantime, the Oregon militant standoff continues their display of supremacy as the group remains adamant toward their position of entitlement.


The news marks its continued collaboration with Boys & Girls Clubs of America, which has spanned more than five decades.
Radio Disney has set its second Back to School Drive.
Benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs of America's "Tools for Back to School" campaign, Radio Disney stations across the U.S. will hold events inviting kids and families to donate school supplies to support their local BOys & Girls Clubs.
The drive falls under Radio Disney's Project Family initiative, which calls on families to take action and make a difference.
Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a worldwide safety organization, will spotlight online safety messages at 20 local events.
Radio Disney's Project Family school supply drive is a collaboration with Disney Friends for Change, which inspires kids and their families to make a positive change by helping people, their communities and the planet.
Disney has partnered with the Boys & Girls Clubs for more than five decades.
Events in Richmond, Va.; Orlando, Fl.; Delmar, N.Y.; Chicago, Ill.; Tampa, Fl.; Denver, Colo.; Atlanta, Ga.; Guilderland, N.Y.; East Greenbush, N.Y.; Milwaukee, Wisc.; Pittsburgh, Penn., Burlington Township, N.J.; Detroit, Mich.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Sacramento, Calif.; Clifton Park, N.Y.; San Francisco, Calif.; Los Angeles, Calif.; New York, N.Y.; Seattle, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; and Boston, Mass. have been scheduled through Sept. 14.


Amazon Web Services (AWS) has raised the stakes in its ongoing cloud battle with Microsoft and Gmail by confirming the general release of its managed email offering, WorkMail, in Europe.
The managed email and calendar service – pitched as a challenger to Microsoft Office 365 and Gmail – runs in the AWS cloud and was first announced as a preview release in January 2015.
To reinforce WorkMail’s position as an Office 365 challenger, AWS is rolling out tools and advisory documents with the release to make it easier for enterprises to migrate their inboxes from Microsoft Exchange to Amazon WorkMail.
The service is priced at $4 per user per month for a 50GB mailbox, and AWS is also giving enterprises the opportunity to trial it with up to 25 users for 30 days.
In a blog post outlining the details of the release, Jeff Barr, chief evangelist for AWS, said the company has been working hard during the preview phase to add new features and functionality to Amazon WorkMail.
These are in addition to the location control, data encryption, virus scanning and mobile device access tools that were included in the first version.
Amazon WorkMail has now acquired the ISO 27001, ISO 27017 and ISO 27018 certifications, which are often pursued by firms wanting to assure potential customers of their adherence to information security best-practice protocols.
The service also gives users the option to stipulate which AWS datacentre or region they want their mailboxes to be stored in for data sovereignty reasons, and it can also be used to process meeting room or conference equipment booking requests.
The startup community has keenly adopted the cloud technologies of Amazon Web Services to disrupt the enterprise market, and now enterprises are fighting back.
Amazon Web Services leads the cloud infrastructure services market, its operation bigger than the combined businesses of its four nearest competitors.
“Amazon WorkMail now supports clients that run on OS X, including Apple Mail and Outlook,” Barr’s blog post said.
The move marks a new phase in AWS’s bid to acquire a larger share of the cloud-based business productivity space, where Microsoft and Google tend to rule the roost with their respective Office 365 and Google Apps product suites.
This strategy has also seen the company embark on forays into desktop-as-a-service, through the rollout of Amazon WorkSpaces, as it looks to expand its dominant position in the infrastructure-as-a-service sector.


Commemorating the centenary of the Armistice together has “strengthened the bond” between Britain and Australia, the country’s minister for veterans has said.
Some 331,000 Australians served overseas during the First World War, the vast majority of whom fought on the Western Front alongside British soldiers and their allies.
However, of the more than 60,000 Australians who perished, only one returned home as an identified casualty.
Speaking to the Press Association, Australian minister Darren Chester said the First World War had marked a “coming of age for a young nation” and the centenary commemorations have “served to increase Australians’ understanding of the major contribution we made”.
As part of events marking 100 years since the end of the conflict, a British unknown soldier has been laid to rest with two Australian comrades at Tyne Cot Cemetery near Ypres.
“In many ways, the centenary commemoration activities have brought our nations nations even closer together, as we work together on commemorative events on the Western Front, and it’s strengthened the bond between our two nations,” the minister said.
On November 11 each year thousands of people gather at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra for the national ceremony of remembrance.
The event is expected to be significantly larger this year. Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, will deliver a commemorative address and wreaths will be laid.
The names of each of the 66,000 Australian First World War casualties are displayed in the memorial’s Hall of Memory, including Major General Sir William Throsby Bridges, the only identified Australian soldier to have his body returned home.
More than 45,000 Australian lives were lost on the Western Front, while thousands more died at Gallipoli – a battle that stills holds special significance Down Under.
April 25 serves as another day of remembrance for Australia and is also marked in New Zealand.
Originally held to commemorate sacrifices at Gallipoli, Anzac Day is a national holiday in Australia and is viewed by some to hold greater significance than November 11.
“Anzac Day has an enormous place in the national calendar because it commemorates the tragic battles at Gallipoli, where a young nation first took its place on the world stage,” Mr Chester said.
Among the hundreds of thousands of Australians who enlisted after the outbreak of war in 1914 were Aboriginal men who had in fact been denied citizenship in the land they called home.
The contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander soldiers remains unclear, owing to the fact that race was often not recorded on enlistment forms.
Mr Chester said: “If there was one alarming gap in our knowledge and appreciation of defence force personnel over the past 100 years it has been in relation to indigenous contribution.
“I think in the past decade we have found a deep appreciation for our indigenous soldiers involved in every major conflict, even before they had the right to vote in Australia.


LAPORTE - Martin Robert Johnson, 67, of Seattle, WA, formerly of LaPorte, died Wednesday March 7. He was the son of the late Robert Johnson and the late Kathleen (Boyer) Johnson. He is survived by his son, Mr. M. Robert Johnson of Swanton, OH; two brothers, Kenneth Johnson of Seattle and David Johnson of Bend, OR; and two grandchildren. Arrangements are being handled by Haverstock Funeral Home, 602 Maple Ave., LaPorte. Burial of ashes will be at Patton Cemetery, LaPorte, at a later date.


Over 1,000 people demonstrated in front of the offices of Charles Schwab to denounce the Social Security privitization scheme of the Bush Aministration. Unions, senior centers and community groups came out in large numbers.
The Bush Administration has launched a major campaign to privitize Social Security which in reality will mean a massive transfer of wealth from working people to Wall Street, banks and corporations. This is coming at time when the illegal occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan is costing over $200 million a day and there are huge tax cuts for the rich.


While open code repositories can increase efficiency in R&D, they also raise issues of security vulnerabilities. Today’s developers are under pressure to deliver new software at an increasingly rapid pace, leading to the more frequent use of open source code, with the growing trend of developers using open code repositories to reduce cost and time in order to co-develop applications.
But, according to CyberInt’s research, code repositories such as GitHub, launched in 2008 and recently acquired by Microsoft, have potential security issues. Developers posting work on these sites routinely put private files into their repositories, which are then being copied into public repositories and made searchable.
Attackers are well aware how commonly open source code is used. They monitor repositories to see who contributes code and which have been identified as problematic.
Many organizations have also failed to monitor their developers’ open-source activities correctly. Often there are few records concerning which versions of open source software have been used, leaving corporate security officers in the dark when trying to discover vulnerabilities in their in-house apps. Innocent inclusion of personal information details in the code can also introduce new vulnerabilities.
Repositories such as GitHub shrink time to market by allowing developers to work on programs together as a team, regardless of their location. Each developer can work on their own version of a piece of source code, and only commit changes to the public repository when satisfied with it.
Most companies are unaware of their code repository vulnerabilities, which can have a potentially devastating effect on their client and investor confidence, brand image and bottom line. Even though individual code repository data itself may reasonably be considered of low importance or value, when repository codes are altered, it can result in an entire shut down of systems or applications.
The identification and collation of technical indicators such as hostnames, IP addresses and service configurations allow a threat actor to build up a picture of a target organization’s infrastructure. This can be used to identify high-value targets. It can also be combined with techniques such as social engineering in locating potential targets, infrastructure attacks, whaling attacks and PII and credential theft as was the case in the Uber data breach in 2016.
Such sensitive information allows attackers to focus on locating vulnerabilities in high-level technologies. Given the ease with which information of relevant vulnerabilities can be obtained from a publicly-accessible repository, threat actors do not need to conduct a full-code analysis and could potentially leverage an attack against any deployed code.
The 2016 Uber data breach is a stark example; hackers broke into the source code repository on GitHub opening up infrastructure attacks worldwide. The online taxi service saw the personal data for seven million drivers and 50 million customers compromised.
Developers also frequently gain access to repositories from their personal email accounts, making these accounts especially vulnerable, particularly after developers leave. Further complications arise when developers are granted access to all of the company's repositories instead of the one most relevant to their task, exposing the company to additional potential threats.
Lack of monitoring of developers’ external communications can increase the risk of a cyber breach. One developer choosing to access dozens of repositories could be an early indicator of an insider threat. An organization whose developers use open repositories has three ways to protect itself: security awareness training, audits, and penetration testing.
Training and guidelines: It is essential that developers are given clear guidelines on the data they are permitted to share on repositories such as GitHub and the data they must not. It is, for instance, crucial to ensure that company-wide confidential and personal data is removed or redacted before publication. Developers must also be trained to exercise caution when sharing screenshots or posting comments that are publicly viewable as these frequently contain useful intelligence.
An audit or review of existing code repository permissions will ensure that repositories for internal-only use are configured with appropriate permissions versus those suitable for public consumption. Developers must be given precise instructions if there is an overriding reason to make an exception. Such audits need to take place periodically.
Ongoing testing - It is also vital that companies commission an external intelligence-led penetration test in order to gather exposed data and identify incoming attacks and mitigate against them. In order to continue to protect themselves against incoming attacks from code repositories and elsewhere companies should also consider using a real-time intelligence service on a permanent basis.


Love it or hate it, you have to admit that Guy Ritchie's update of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle classic Sherlock Holmes looked fantastic. 19th century England was rendered perfectly in all its drab and rainy glory, every brick and stone as authentic as the next.
Now, thanks to HeyUGuys across the pond, we are getting a glimpse at what the film makers had to work from when crafting the overall look and feel of the film. Memorable scenes such as the shipyard fight and the hilarious exchange at Blackwood's tomb can be seen below sketched out in great detail, except for the actor's faces of course.
The movie has long been out on DVD, but with a sequel being fast tracked through the Hollywood system, this is likely Warner Bros. whetting our appetite to get the quippy detective and his trusty sidekick back on screen. Scope out the images below.


Bitter skirmishes are raging between motorists and councils all over the country. But could automation, big data and disruptive technology provide a solution?
Samantha Moore may seem jolly, perched among the jars of fudge and flying saucers at her sweet shop on Fore Street in Brixham, the picturesque Devon fishing town. But there’s one subject sure to sour her mood: parking. Moore and her family live above the shop and pay Torbay district council £50 a year for an off-peak permit, which allows them to leave their Peugeot hatchback in the nearby town-centre car park between 3pm and 10am.
Along the coast in Totnes, the tourists have noticed, too. The Totnes Times recently devoted its front page to a letter from Mark Lee of Bradford on Avon, who professed himself “shocked and disappointed” by the lack of free on-road parking anywhere in the outwardly charming market town. “Totnes well and truly takes the biscuit as the most visitor-unfriendly town or city we have probably ever visited,” Lee wrote.
South Devon is the site of several such skirmishes in the endless war over parking space, a topic that inspires angry letters to local newspapers up and down the land. Meter charges are as fraught an issue as bin collections or the price of a pint of milk. Simon Lee, a DJ with the local radio station Torbay Sound, recently launched a Change.org petition to protest against the district’s latest parking rate hikes. It has attracted more than 700 signatures.
Britain is home to more than 30m cars, which on average spend 95% of their time parked. In London, minimum parking requirements for new properties were abolished in 2004; according to the Economist, the average parking provision in new residential blocks soon fell from 1.1 spaces per flat to 0.6, putting street parking space at an even greater premium.
What has changed, of course, is the price of a space. Research conducted by the RAC Foundation suggests parking fees and fines produced a collective surplus of £756m last year for 353 local councils in England. That’s a 34% increase since 2011, leading some to suspect that, in straitened times, councils are using drivers as a cash cow.
Terry Falcão, the outgoing mayor of Teignmouth, spent three months of his year-long tenure preparing a paper on parking to submit to Devon county council, which oversees the town’s on-street parking. The council took up his recommendations for a residents’ parking scheme, but he says they also added meters to a stretch of the seafront without consulting him. “Motorists are perceived as an easy target to raise revenue,” says Falcão, who vacated the mayoralty in May, and so can no longer park his Renault Clio in the mayor’s reserved spot.
English councils reportedly spent £4.3bn on transport-related services in 2015-16, of which the £756m surplus from parking charges accounted for just 17%. Brighton and Hove made more in surplus parking fees than any other council outside London but, according to the city’s annual parking report, almost all that money was spent on providing 46,000 free bus passes for older and disabled people.
In Nottingham, the city council places a “workplace parking levy” on businesses that offer parking space to their employees, to both fund and encourage the use of public transport. Introduced in 2012, the levy – the only scheme of its kind in the country – raised almost £35m over four years to pay for trams, buses and the redevelopment of Nottingham rail station.
At least 50 local councils make no money whatsoever from parking – or even make a loss – to keep their town centres busy and support high street retailers. Councils aren’t the only parking providers, though. The RAC Foundation also says private parking firms requested more than 4.7m vehicle-keeper records from the DVLA in 2016-17, a year-on-year increase of 28%. Most of those requests were probably made for the purpose of issuing fines to drivers.
In April, the public service union Unison released a report on the extortionate amounts some hospital staff are being forced to pay for parking at their own places of work. Among the most expensive were the Royal Free Hospital car park in north London, at £85.38 a month per space, and a Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals Trust car park, at £79.50 a month. Hospital car-parking fees were abolished across Scotland and Wales in 2008, and Jeremy Corbyn has said a Labour government would do the same for England.
Hospitals aside, however, free parking is not an unalloyed good, says Shoup, a world authority on the economics of parking. Rather, space is a commodity – in some areas, a very valuable one – and people ought to pay market value to use it. “Some cities have agreed on a formula for the price of parking: it’s the lowest price the city can charge and still have one or two open spaces on every block.
“If the price is too low, there won’t be any spaces and drivers will keep cruising around, polluting the air, congesting traffic, interfering with pedestrians and cyclists. If the price is too high, too many spaces are vacant, stores lose customers and the space is wasted.” Arriving at the appropriate price point is a process of “trial and error”.
Technology, automation and big data may soon make parking and parking management less painful. Already, most UK councils have introduced cashless parking: rather than insert cash into a meter, drivers type their car’s registration number and a parking location code into an app. The UK’s largest cashless parking service, RingGo, purports to process more than 2 million parking sessions every month, and has been used by more than 6 million individual motorists.
The problem with this system is that drivers have to keep downloading new apps depending on where they park. London boroughs use several different apps, including RingGo, ParkMobile and PayByPhone. Teignmouth car parks (run by the Teignbridge district council) use RingGo, but the town’s on-street parking meters (Devon county council) use PhoneAndPay. In Torquay (Torbay district council), it’s ParkMobile.
At least one app is trying to reduce the confusion: AppyParking was launched in 2013 as a parking information service, to let drivers know where to find a space and how much it would cost. Now, it acts as a single payment portal to several apps, such as RingGo and PayByPhone, which between them control some 85% of the country’s cashless parking locations.
The trial was conducted with vans used by the plumbing firm Pimlico Plumbers, which claimed it had saved more than £100,000 in parking fines over the year and reduced the average time to find a space from 20 minutes to 30 seconds. The ultimate goal is for cars to inform their drivers whether they can park in a certain spot, and to then automatically pay for the spot until the driver returns. “We want to make parking forgettable,” says Hubert.
In April 2016, BMW bought ParkMobile, the Dutch cashless parking provider, which is also RingGo’s parent company. This January, PayByPhone was acquired by Volkswagen, which already controls 92% of Germany’s biggest cashless parking provider. It’s a natural move for car manufacturers, which, says Hubert, “don’t see themselves simply as car manufacturers any more; they see themselves as ‘mobility solutions technology companies’”.
Perhaps carmakers are simply insuring themselves against the possibility of a decline in car ownership. In cities, at least, ride-sharing services such as Uber and car clubs such as ZipCar and DriveNow are making it increasingly impractical to pay for the upkeep – let alone the parking costs – of one’s own vehicle.
The logical next step is the self-driving car, which could render parking obsolete. Everyone from Uber to Google and Tesla to BMW is working to build an autonomous vehicle for the masses. As and when they do, that vehicle will be able to drop off and pick up its owner wherever they choose. So why would it ever need to park?


Today, on Mobile Threat Monday: The developers of a flashlight app have been smacked with an fine from the FTC, and a look at how ad networks can reveal your personal information.
When we talk about ad networks, it's important to remember that they are not inherently evil. Without them, free and $0.99 apps might not exist at all, and there would be decidedly less excitement about developing for mobile platforms. After all, everyone needs to make money.
The trouble is that users don't always have control over how much of their information is sent to ad networks, or whether those networks use proper security techniques to keep their information secure. We'll look at both of those problems today.
Flashlight apps are the ones people used to point to when making tired arguments about how mobile devices were just a passing fad. It turns out the real sin of flashlight apps wasn't that they were useless (they are), but that they sucked your information out of your phone.
But consent was at the center of the FTC's case against the developers of Brightest Flashlight Free. While the app gave users the ability to accept or reject a EULA which included transmitting location data, the FTC pointed out that it didn't matter. Even before users could make their choice, the app was already collecting and transmitting user data to third parties. Developers Goldenshores Technologies are now in danger of receiving a hefty $16,000 fine.
When Lookout started their crusade against adware earlier this year, the idea of user consent was key. The trouble is that most of the time, apps don't give users any indication that their data is being harvested. Some security applications, like Lookout, now include app reputation services and can provide alerts about apps that request an inordinate amount of access. Ultimately, though, it's up to the users to decide if they're willing to part with their information in exchange for apps.
In late November, Bitdefender demonstrated another reason to be wary of ad networks when they demonstrated how to pull user information from an ad-serving framework called Applovin. While it was just a proof-of-concept, the security company showed how your data can be intercepted when ad networks don't use proper security techniques.
Bitdefender told SecurityWatch that their experiment hinged on the fact that Applovin (aka Vulna) did not encrypt its data while in transit, nor did it require authentication to access the data. Bitdefender used a man-in-the-middle attack to intercept the data, and noted that their attack could have been stopped if Applovin had used HTTPS.
"We cannot say if the Google Play application review process will prevent the creation of other SDKs or individual apps that present such functionality in the future," Catalin Cosoi, Chief Security Strategist for Bitdefender told SecurityWatch. "Google should definitely give some attention to the issue, as otherwise a malicious programmer might publish a perfectly legitimate app with such a backdoor function and turn it into a data-stealing Trojan later."
Thankfully, the latest version of Applovin does not include these vulnerabilities, which appear to be presented only in versions 2.0.74 through 5.0.3. Unfortunately, users will have a hard time knowing if developers are making use of Applovin, not to mention what version is involved. Bitdefender notes that their Clueful app should detect the vulnerability.
"We have fixed these issues with the release of our more recent SDKs. We first learned of the issues with our SDK on July 24th, when a security firm notified me to let us know that our Android SDK had a couple security vulnerabilities. My team and I took immediate action and released a new Android SDK version 5.1 on 8/1/13 that fixed these issues. We have diligently contacted all of our developers, alerted them to the issue, and provided assistance in updating to the new version. At this point, over 90% of our developers have updated their applications with our newer SDKs. The rest are expected to do so by the end of the year."


If a defense attorney, a prosecutor and a judge were to walk into a music hall what would be the first thing they�d do?
�Spend a half-hour arguing legal motions,� veteran Los Angeles lawyer David Waller says one of his colleagues told him when he learned Waller would be toting his cello to a rehearsal of the fledgling Los Angeles Lawyers Philharmonic Orchestra.
The orchestra had just two hours to run through Johannes Brahms� �Hungarian Dance No. 5,� Edvard Grieg�s �Triumphal March� and a rousing John Philip Sousa number, followed by a couple more classical and pops pieces.
In just a few days the group�s 60-plus members would be decked out in black tie, playing their biggest gig to date � the grand opening of the Los Angeles County Bar Association�s new downtown office. Not that anyone in the ensemble of brass, woodwind, string and percussion sections seemed to be showing any nervousness.
�We�re not just a bunch of lawyers playing music. We�re actually a good orchestra,� maestro Gary S. Greene, who organized the ensemble earlier this year, said confidently before putting his players through their paces.
Greene, a litigation attorney, didn�t threaten to sue anyone who intruded on anyone else�s solo. But he did bring his baton down quickly whenever various musicians wandered off to the beat of their own drummer during the rehearsal at Wilshire United Methodist Church, a cavernous but acoustically stunning old cathedral in a particularly tony section of Los Angeles� west side.
The orchestra hit its stride this month at a Christmas-week holiday concert in which it performed a mixture of classical and pops pieces. At the end of the two-hour performance emceed by actress June Lockhart, a longtime friend of Greene�s, the audience of more than 300 rose to give a standing ovation.
But unlike those ensembles, which either augment their ranks with non-lawyers or are led by a professional musician, the LA group recruits only attorneys and is under the baton of Greene, who in his spare time is also concertmaster for the Los Angeles Junior Philharmonic.
�It�s the only environment where lawyers are making harmony as opposed to dissonance,� she joked.


If you enjoy aerobic exercise but find the impact of jogging uncomfortable, consider inline skating. This low-impact exercise provides numerous health benefits and burns calories. The pace you'll adopt while inline skating is considerably faster than jogging, so travelling a mile won't take long.
The length of time it will take you to travel a mile while inline skating depends on the speed you're able to maintain. If you travel at 8 mph, it will take you 7.5 minutes to travel a mile. If your average a speed of 10 mph, you'll reach the end of your mile-long skate in just 6 minutes. Skaters able to sustain a pace of 12 mph will take 5 minutes to travel a mile.
Although the speed you average during your inline skate plays a key role in the length it takes you to travel a mile, several factors can influence your speed. You might travel faster than your normal pace if much of the route is downhill, for example. On the other hand, it will take you longer to travel a mile if the route is uphill or contains such obstacles as traffic lights.
If you've set a goal of inline skating a mile or more per day, the process of mapping out your mile-long route is simple. Use a pedometer or GPS app on your mobile device to travel a mile, and then note the nearby landmarks. For example, you might travel a mile from your driveway to a specific mailbox. Although a variety of mobile apps can track your speed, a simple math equation can give you the answer. Divide 60 minutes by the length of your skate to get your speed. For example, 60 minutes divided by 9 minutes equals 6.7, which means you traveled at 6.7 mph.
Inline skating is an ideal way to elevate your heart rate, increase your aerobic capacity and build your muscles. The sport creates less of an impact to your joints than running, which makes it a suitable activity to consider if you frequently experience joint pain during high-impact exercises. Before you hit the pavement for your inline skating session, ensure you're wearing the proper protective gear to keep your body safe. Always wear a helmet, elbow pads, knee pads and wrist protectors and ensure your skates fit correctly and are correctly fastened. Avoid traveling on the road and stick to sparsely populated sidewalks and trails. Maintain a safe speed at all times and familiarize yourself with effectively using your brake.
Rollerblade: To Wear the Gear or Not to Wear the Gear?


86, of Wailuku, Maui, died on October 6, 2017 in Kapaa, Kauai. She was born Wailuku on May 28, 1931. Visitation: 10:00 a.m.; Services: 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 4, 2017 at Nakamura Mortuary. Burial: 2:00 p.m. at Maui Memorial Park.


OTTAWA—Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau laid out an ambitious plan Tuesday to shake up the way Canadians vote while accusing Prime Minister Stephen Harper of throwing a cloak of secrecy over the federal government and undermining the integrity of Canada’s democracy.
“Mr. Harper has broken Ottawa and we need a real plan to fix it,” he declared in a speech with nearly 200 Liberal MPs and election candidates lined up behind him.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says if elected, his government would get rid of the first-past-the-post electoral system. NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair says proportional representation has always been important to his party.
Trumpeting the slogan “real change,” the Liberal leader unveiled a package of initiatives that touched on everything from open government, to revamping federal institutions, to mail delivery.
But the most ambitious pledge was overhauling federal elections. If Liberals take power after the Oct. 19 vote, Trudeau vowed it would be the last federal election held under the first-past-the-post electoral system.
This winner-take-all system is blamed by many for supposedly distorting the result of national votes, making it possible for a party to win a majority of seats in the Commons with only 40 per cent support.
Under a Liberal government, a special, all-party parliamentary committee would be given 18 months to examine proportional representation, ranked ballots and other possible replacements for the first-past-the-post voting system. Trudeau promised to introduce legislation to overhaul Canada’s federal electoral routine based on the committee’s recommendations.
The Liberal leader also said he would encourage better voting turnout by young people by working with provinces and Elections Canada to register students to vote as part of their high school curriculum. The Liberals would also move to extend parties’ electoral spending limits to the period before an actual election campaign starts.
NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair also favours changing the workings of the federal voting system. His party had proportional representation as an election vow in 2004.
With recent polls showing him losing ground to Mulcair, Trudeau came out swinging as he laid out a series of policies he said were intended to reverse the legacy of Harper’s time in government.
“The Harper Conservatives have been in power for a decade,” he said. “And year after year, they have grown more closed off from Canadians.
“Stephen Harper promised us principled government. But he has delivered partisanship and petty politics,” Trudeau remarked.
Broadening Access to Information rules to include requests for information held by the Prime Minister’s Office and other ministers’ offices.
The creation of a non-partisan, merit-based process to advise the prime minister on Senate appointments.
An all-party oversight committee to oversee the activities of Canada’s national security agencies.
Allowing government scientists to speak freely about their work and create the position of chief science officer.
Restoring door-to-door mail delivery by Canada Post.
Giving youth a greater voice in government, ensuring gender-based analysis of federal policies and a pledge that a Liberal cabinet would have an equal number of men and women.
Considering a mandatory voting system.


China's largest search engine Baidu posted strong earnings for the second quarter, driven by growing traffic and increased spending by advertising customers.
Net profits for the quarter ended June 30 were US$252.6 million, an increase of 95 percent from the same quarter last year.
Revenues were $528.4 million, up from 78.4 percent from the same period last year. The company previously forecast revenues reaching $493 million to $504 million.
It expects revenues in the current quarter to range between $611.1 million to $626.6 million, a year-on-year increase of up to 79.5 percent.
Baidu, a Chinese company founded in 2000, has a 76 percent share of Internet search engine revenues in China, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International. Google, which closed its China-based search engine last year after years of disputes with the country's Internet censors, is a distant second with a 19 percent share, according to the estimates.
Baidu's online marketing, which drives the company's revenues, saw a boost in the second quarter from advertising paid by China's group buying sites, according to company CEO Robin Li. The country now has more than 4,500 group buying sites, which operate like the U.S.'s Groupon and offer discounts to users.
Baidu has been busy in the past month announcing new partnerships. The company will now start paying three major record companies to offer licensed music downloads.
The company has declined to say how much it will pay the music companies. But on Tuesday, Baidu's chief financial officer Jennifer Li said during an earnings call that the agreements to pay the music companies would not "significantly affect the cost picture" for the search giant.
The company also made a partnership with Microsoft to use its Bing search engine to power the English-language search results on Baidu. Starting last week, Baidu began displaying the Bing search results for English terms.
Baidu has also started offering downloads to a public beta of its new Internet browser. The company hopes to use it to further increase its search traffic, said Baidu CEO Robin Li during Tuesday's earnings call.
Robin Li also said Baidu is working on a "number of mobile phone related services and systems," but declined to offer details. He also reiterated that the company is looking to expand to overseas markets by launching a new platform that will offer multiple languages simultaneously. He declined to offer specifics.


In 2005, Yeshiva University established a Center for the Jewish Future, a think tank and outreach organization seen by some as a more flexible counterweight to the university’s affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.
This year, the center launched a new program that offers a glimpse into how the new unit is attempting to establish itself as a complement to rabbinical study as traditionally defined at Y.U. In January, the center sponsored a two-day retreat devoted to the subject of spirituality, a topic often overlooked in the Riets curriculum.
Penner, who in addition to his position at Y.U. is a pulpit rabbi at the Young Israel of Holliswood, in Queens, described a sort of spiritual malaise in Modern Orthodoxy today. “Everyone feels that in our synagogues, there’s a lack of spirituality. There’s less singing. There’s a lot of rote behavior,” he said.
What, exactly, is Y.U. talking about when it speaks of spirituality?
The retreat, which was held at a hotel in Tenafly, N.J., was co-sponsored by the Jerusalem-based educational organization Isralight, a group founded with an eye toward reaching out to unaffiliated Jews that now has become involved in training people in outreach.
This story "At Retreat, Y.U. Rabbis Talk God" was written by Gabriel Sanders.


What happens when two struggling industries collide?
Here's just what banks don't need after the housing crunch: a stake in struggling media companies.
But it may work out that way, thanks to bankruptcies. When media companies can no longer pay their debts, as is often the case these days, it's their lenders -- often big Wall Street banks -- that end up holding the bag.
This raises a basic question: If restructuring efforts fail, will Uncle Sam step in to save newspaper companies much like lifelines tossed to General Motors, Chrysler, and American International Group (AIG)?
The idea of government-owned media companies is abhorrent because it would gut the watchdog role long claimed by newspapers and TV stations, but it's not difficult to imagine Congress taking action to "save" jobs.
Banks certainly don't want to be in the media business -- especially newspapers, as their circulation and advertising continue to decline. But through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has taken over the Journal Register Co., the publisher of about 20 newspapers in six states, including New York, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.
It's a tough predicament to be in: Who would want to buy second-tier small and mid-size newspapers when major media properties such as The Boston Globe, owned by The New York Times (NYT), the San Francisco Chronicle, owned by Hearst, and Business Week, owned by McGraw-Hill (MPH), draw tepid interest from prospective buyers?
Freedom Communications may be next up for JPMorgan. Freedom, publisher of The Orange County Register and about 30 other papers, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy September 1, and secured lenders, led by JPMorgan Chase, stepped in.
If the reorganization plan works as intended, Freedom's current owners -- descendants of founder R.C. Hoiles as well as private equity firms Blackstone Group and Providence Equity -- will have their equity stakes reduced to about 2% when the company emerges from bankruptcy. If Freedom meets certain financial targets, Blackstone and Providence can each exercise warrants to gain an additional 10% stake over the next five years.
But there's no reason to believe the newspaper business will improve in five years, suggesting Freedom Communications could be a continued drag on creditors. Blackstone and Providence might cut their losses by just sitting tight.
Federal limits on cross-ownership of TV stations and a newspaper in the same market may complicate JPMorgan's efforts to sort out the bankruptcy of the Tribune Co., which publishes about 10 newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, and owns 23 TV stations.
The Wall Street Journal (NWS) reports that Citadel Broadcasting has offered lenders, including JPMorgan Chase and General Electric (GE), a deal that would swap debt for equity. Citadel is the nation's third-largest broadcaster with about 220 stations in about 50 markets, and FCC rules limiting cross-ownership could complicate shuffling assets.
Federal limits on cross-ownership in a single market are intended to promote competition, but the law is an anachronism in the digital age because the Internet has exploded the idea of a single company dominating a media market.
But don't look for Congress to repeal ownership limits anytime soon, even if it would help banks regain their footing.
It may be time to ask: Why are any legacy media companies indispensable? Whatever happened to creative destruction?


Every day we interact with people with a variety of personality issues. Sometimes we recognize these issues and put names to them; co-dependent, enmeshed, addicted, loner, passive-aggressive. These behavior patterns are ones that we mostly know about and even how to deal with.
These new friends don’t know the people pleaser and thus can’t judge them. It’s easier to be nicer to the people who don’t know you well. The People Pleaser (PP) works hard to let these new friends know that they are important.
Invite them to events, make them the center of attention. The new people feel really wanted. The down side is the moment other new people appear on the scene, the PP moves on.
Because the PP has difficulty in how they view themselves and how others view them, validation from others become all important. If someone challenges them they will avoid this person at all costs or eliminate them from their circle of friends.
Appearances are of utmost importance to the people pleaser. They need to make sure that they are doing the "cool" things. With the use of social media, it has become easier for the PP to keep up appearances.
No one likes confrontation normally, but a PP will lose sleep because of a potential confrontation. Because of the desire to appear cool or hip, numerous shallow relationships are often the key. This is because deeper relationships take work and often include confrontations or critiques of behavior.
A PP is constantly moving to avoid rest which then could possibly lead to self-reflection. They will make commitments to others that they will consistently get out of or not complete.
They will look good for the fact that they agreed to do this thing, and then come up with what seems to a perfectly legitimate excuse on why they can’t keep the commitment.
A PP gets stuck emotionally because they are compelled to be nice instead of expressing how they really feel about things.
If they were to express how they really feel, someone may not like it which would then lead to a possible confrontation. This leads to a PP feeling overwhelmed because, somehow, they are less of a person if someone were to think poorly of them.
Due to the constant pressure to perform and keep up appearances a PP often suffers from anxiety and discontentment. These mental health issues can often go unrecognized, and the PP sees this simply as a fact of life. It can affect family relationships in a negative way if they don’t get the right help.
If you run into this type of personality, they need your help and understanding.
It's difficult to go deep and help this person see where they need help, but they need someone like you in their life. They need someone willing to accept their ways, while also being willing to make the consistent attempt to help see that there is another way to interact with people.
It will be a challenge, but ultimately worth it.
This article was originally published at The website of relationship expert David Simonsen. Reprinted with permission from the author.


Come enjoy Summer days or Fall hunting season. 2 Bedroom 2004 Coachman 40 ft.RV all set up on a 20 x 40 poured pad. Electric all on the premises. Second Stone pad with RV also included all set up with utilities also Drilled Well and 1000 gal Septic system to Allegany County Codes. Electric on Site. Lot is partially wooded and some open field areas. State Lands with in 3 miles of property. Get ready for Summer Fun!!


The first half all-area team, including the outstanding offensive and defensive players, top athlete and top coach.
With the first half of the season in the books, here’s a look at the top players from the first half of the season.
Celidonio lead the Treasure Coast with 13 touchdown passes, has thrown only two interceptions and helped the Fighting Indians knock off two perennial powers (Venice and Pahokee) on the road. Celidonio arguably could be the area’s most improved player this fall as he has made major strides in his second season under coach Lenny Jankowski. If he stays healthy, Celidonio will break the area’s all-time career passing yards record in the second half of the season.
Grace (No. 11 on the TCPalm Super 11) has been everything the Eagles thought he would be this season. He’s been a ball hawk and lead the team with five interceptions (not including the one he had in the Kickoff Classic). He’s been solid against the run. The Eagles have allowed only two touchdowns in five games this season and Grace is a big reason for their success.
It’s hard to imagine a player opposing coaches are more afraid to see with the ball in his hands. Thompson (No. 6 TCPalm Super 11) is a threat do something great every time he’s on the field and has done it against some big-time opponents. Thompson scored rushing touchdowns against Lake Wales, Cocoa and Martin County. He had two takeaways against both Cocoa and Mainland. Thompson had over 200 kick return yards against Lake Wales and has special teams scores against Lake Wales and Cocoa.
Just look at Treasure Coast’s success during the first half of the season. The Titans have four wins, which is the same number of wins the team had in 2017. That includes a win over a Cocoa team that beat them by 48 points last fall. Treasure Coast has scored 202 points, which is more points than they scored all of last year. Jones spent plenty of time with the offense during the offseason and that unit has responded by breaking the school record for points in a game twice this fall. Tough district games remain, but Jones has the Titans in position to be a playoff team for the third time in four seasons.
Wide receiver: Demarcus Harris (Vero Beach), Jacob Krauza (John Carroll Catholic), Cole Mistretta (St. Lucie West Centennial).


These marriage license applications were recorded in Richland County between March 25 and 29.
Ala Tchnavia Alston of Mansfield, 28, Social Security, to Marissa Danielle Donohue of Mansfield, 27, food service.
Daniel Lee Belcher of Lexington, 43, factory, to Catherine Eileen Michalski of Lexington, 47, medical billing.
Lamar Sensenig Zimmerman of Shiloh, 21, carpenter, to Erma Nolt Zimmerman of Shelby, 21, homemaker.
George David Humphreys of Mansfield, 61, factory, to Glenda Sue Davis of Hickory, North Carolina, 67, retired.
Timothy D. Mead Jr. of Mansfield, 30, truck driver, to Ashley D. Bertram of Mansfield, 31, nurses aide.
Robert Langdon Larrick of Mansfield, 56, corrections, to Diane Renee Estep of Mansfield, office manager.
Christopher Todd Allen of Lexington, 49, postal employee, to Kristin Marie Galownia of Mansfield, 36, sales manager.


Zanzibar. CUF secretary general Seif Shariff Hamad yesterday refuted claims that he was planning to join another opposition political party-ACT-Wazalendo.
He said the matter was not at all in the agenda of the meeting that brought together six opposition parties in Zanzibar recently and that the only resolutions that came out were the ones briefed to the media.
Earlier yesterday, Lipumba-allied CUF secretary for Security and Defence committee, Mr Khalifa Suleiman Khalifa, told a press conference in Unguja that Mr Hamad’s plan to join ACT Wazalendo was among issues discussed during the meeting held few days ago.
“Principally, ACT Wazalendo and Mr Hamad have agreed on the deal on conditions that while Mr Hamad will control the party on the Zanzibar side, ACT Wazalendo’s party leader Zitto Kabwe will command the party on Mainland Tanzania,” he told a press conference.
But, Mr Hamad told The Citizen during an exclusive interview that since CUF had pending cases at the court, his faction had alternative plans that would be implemented after the court judgement.
“Earlier, I told the public that we have Plan B that would be executed after judgements have been made in our cases. This is regardless of whether we win the cases or not and that is what should be considered at the moment,” he said.
He said claims that they were planning to join ACT-Wazalendo wasn’t among the said alternative plan, noting that being one of the CUF founders, it wasn’t easy for him to leave the party as some people were thinking.
Speaking to The Citizen, Mr Kabwe said ACT Wazalendo had no agenda of lobbying CUF leaders to join them, saying Tanzania required strong and best opposition to strengthen its democracy and that disputes within the second largest opposition party were weakening struggles they were making through democratic paths.
He said his party would support the best opposition and that political parties with disputes would not be part of the best opposition, noting that was the reason ACT Wazalendo wished wrangles within CUF could end even tomorrow.
“We won’t turn into a hyena that awaits for a fight to end so that it would grab the victim in order to benefit ourselves. Our party believes that by doing so we will be committing a political sin,” he said.
Mr Kabwe called on CUF leaders to wait for court judgements, noting that his party would continue supporting Mr Hamad in respecting court judgements to be made.
However, during a press conference, Mr Khalifa said CUF would not be disturbed by Mr Hamad’s defection and that the party would remain stable and stronger even after his defection.
He said CUF would respect similar decisions that would be made by other leaders insisting that they were also free to leave.
For his part, a member of the CUF governing council who doubles as the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) legislator, Mr Mohamed Habib Mnyaa, said a faction under the party’s chairman Prof Ibrahim Lipumba was prepared for any decision that would be made by Mr Hamad and that the party will remain stable.
CUF has plunged into disputes that has split the party into two factions; one led by its national chairman Prof Ibrahim Lipumba and the second aligned its secretary general Hamad.
The disputes started when Prof Lipumba announced to resume his chairmanship after he had resigned few months to the 2015 General Election.


In Mohanlal’s highly-stylised political thriller and melodrama ‘Lucifer’, there’s a sea of men wearing crisp white shirts and white mundu (Kerala’s traditional garb), but their warped actions are in direct contrast to their pristine wardrobe choice.
The key players in this star-driven vehicle are morally ambiguous and merrily Machiavellian.
Actor Prithviraj Sukumaran’s directorial debut drives home the perception that politics can be a dirty game in a snazzy but long-winded way. With a run time of more than 160 minutes, ‘Lucifer’ is compelling and cathartic in parts, but deeply flawed too.
In Prithviraj’s world, the characters kill, maim and double-cross in their pursuit of power and they do it in a slow-motion, dramatic crescendo. The director, who is an A-list actor, seems to have channelled his inner Amal Neerad, another Malayalam director known for his highly stylistic films.
The first 20 minutes, which lay the foundation of the principal characters and their back stories, are painfully pretentious.
There are times when ‘Lucifer’ comes across as an unapologetic vanity project to showcase Mohanlal, the superstar, and his fist-pumping histrionics like tucking in his mundu before bashing up the bad guys and twirling his moustache. Mohanlal plays the larger-than-life title role with incredible street cred. With just one call from a jail in Kerala, the all-conquering hero Lucifer can obliterate a smoothly-run drug empire run in Mumbai with dandily-dressed henchmen doing the dirty work.
Written by Murali Gopy, ‘Lucifer’s’ most banal dialogues like ‘the battle isn’t about good vs evil, but evil vs evil here’ will have soaring music and slick camera work. But the degree to which you will enjoy this film depends entirely on how much you adore Mohanlal.
If you can stomach a 58-year-old hero kicking the baddies, by folding his white mundu, revealing his hairy thighs and showing us a peek of his white underpants, then you are in the right place. The majority of Mohanlal’s punchlines land, but they overdo it towards the end. There’s an aura of mystery around Lucifer and director Prithviraj does a good job of keeping the suspense alive.
However, if you are looking for a riveting storyline about the murky power games in dynasty politics and an astute commentary on how political campaigns are funded by criminals, then you are barking up the wrong family tree. Everything you see in the film is strictly superficial. There’s not much depth to bite into.
This one is a mother of all Mohanlal potboilers where collective forces are at work to glorify the superstar’s legendary swagger. His punchlines often precede a pretentious quote from scriptures, but if you can get your head out of all those wordy dialogues, you might find yourself whistling.
In terms of star power, there’s no beating ‘Lucifer’.
To watch top Malayali talent Manju Warrier as a grieving daughter of a political leader, who dies suddenly, leaving a political vacuum in her family and her political outfit, is pure gold. Warrier as a troubled mother and wife Priyadarshani — who unearths a string of dark secrets within her family circles — is heartbreaking. In limited screen-time, she comes across as a paragon of vulnerability and strength — an indication to the strength of her acting prowess.
Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi is suitably effective in his role as a smarmy, sharp-suited power broker.
But it’s actor Indrajith as a fearless, unhinged Khadi-wearing vigilante who gets my vote. Even in a half-baked role, Indrajith shines bright. Tovino Thomas — as the heir apparent to a political dynasty — is spot-on. You see a bit of soul in him, amidst all that swagger.
Actor Saikumar, who plays a manipulative politician, is also impressive and manages to hold his own in an ensemble drama.
Don’t be surprised if the movie reminds you of the parallels between India’s iconic Gandhi political dynasty and the fictional one in ‘Lucifer’.
Be warned, ‘Lucifer’s’ flashy story isn’t likely to blow your mind away, but it doesn’t bore you to death either. Watch this political thriller if you are a true blue Mohanlal fan. ‘Lucifer’ is singularly focused in making Mohanlal shine and will whet the appetite of a fan.


It sounds boring, but one of the most important frontiers in technology right now is how mobile can make paying for stuff easier. And while this year's Mobile World Congress might have been a little lacking in four-star hardware, there were some serious steps taken towards replacing your wallet with your smartphone.
MasterCard's MasterPass lets retailers make their own apps to let you pay for stuff in different ways—sort of like Apple's checkouts. You can use NFC, QR codes (please don't!), mobile credit card readers, or MasterCard's own MasterPass wallet.
For web and mobile use, it simplifies the way you can buy things. It rounds up your payment and authentication data in its cloud service, and lets you plug that into places online. Think of it this way: anywhere you're used to seeing a PayPal option, you might see MasterPass too. Instead of typing out your name, address, card number, etc, you'd just enter your MasterPass password.
Visa announced a new partnership with ROAM, which is a point of sale company. Basically, ROAM makes checkout terminals that you'll find in stores, and has payment tech that helps turn phones into check-out counters, too. That's right: dongles. This will help get Visa Ready—the company's mobile payment initiative—into actual stores.
Visa also partnered with Samsung to pre-install its Visa payWare app on all next-gen phones. That's supposedly going to start with the Galaxy S IV, and will more than likely end up as simple bloatware for a lot of people since there aren't many places to actually, you know, use it yet.
PayPal Here—the company's response to Square—has been available in the US since last March, but it's finally also available in Europe. Why the delay? European countries use a different technology in their credit cards that you'll find stateside, meaning they don't swipe the same.
The Here dongle works in conjunction with an iPhone or Android app, and it accepts payment from credit cards, checks, cash, or your PayPal wallet. Receipts are spit out from a printer, over email, or as an SMS with a link.
Samsung's new Samsung Wallet app is basically Passbook for Samsung phones. The app stores tickets, deals, boarding passes, and membership/loyalty cards. Also like Passbook, it can push location-aware notifications to your phone, so you know when you're near a deal you've opted into. Samsung Wallet won't have any NFC capabilities, though, payment or otherwise. Any NFC payment would fall to partners, like Visa, which Samsung just partnered up (see above).
Samsung already has a number of partners lined up for Samsung Wallet, but we'd expect a few more to pop up on March 14 for the launch of the Galaxy S IV.
Isis, the NFC payment system backed by the collective might of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, didn't make a peep at WMC. Neither did Google Wallet, an NFC dream deferred going on nearly two years. The biggest NFC payment pushes so far have been conspicuous only in their absence, which means that it's unlikely this will be the year NFC finally gains a foothold. And if not now, will it ever?


Singapore: Qimat Rai Gupta became a billionaire as shares of Havells India Ltd., the nation’s largest electrical parts maker by market value, surged to a record.
Gupta, 77, and his family control almost 62% of the company, according to exchange filings, a stake valued at $1.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Anil Sharma, a spokesman for Havells, confirmed the family stake in the company based in Noida, near New Delhi.
The maker of lighting products, cables and fans has benefited from rising incomes in the world’s second-most populous nation as consumers shift to branded products, Firstcall Research said in a report on Tuesday. Havells owns Sylvania, a European maker of Lumiance lighting products.
They have shown steady and quality performance in terms of growth and earnings, said Gautam Chhaochharia, head of research at UBS Securities India Pvt. in Mumbai, who has a buy recommendation on the Havells. That’s given investors confidence in the stock.
The stock rose for a fifth day, advancing 1.1% to a record Rs1,067.55 at the close in Mumbai. The shares have surged 35% this year, twice the gain for the S&P BSE Sensex benchmark gauge.
Gupta, who’s the chairman of Havells, controls the fortune along with his family, including son Anil Rai Gupta and daughter-in-law Sangeeta Gupta.
In 1958, Gupta, then 21, quit his job as a school teacher in India’s Punjab state and moved to Delhi. With less than $200, he started a trading company selling fixtures and electric cables to businesses, according to Havells’ website.
He bought the Havells brand more than a decade later and expanded it from a garage-based manufacturing and distribution company to a business with about a dozen factories in India, as well as in Europe, Latin America, Africa and China, according to its website.
The company acquired SLI Holdings Inc.’s lighting business for €227 million ($309 million) in 2007 and sells electrical products under brand names including Crabtree, Concord and Standard, according to its website.


Two Baltimore men were arrested Thursday and charged with the theft of a case of Tylenol.
Robert Buckner, 37, of the first block of Seabright Ave., and Joseph Kaufmann, 38, of the first block of Pike Hall Place in Baltimore, were arrested in Baltimore County.
Police said Mr. Buckner stole a $1,000 case of Tylenol from the Price Club in the 500 block of Ordnance Road in Glen Burnie and sold it to Mr. Kaufmann for $360. Mr. Kaufman intended to resell the Tylenol at flea markets, police said.


ORANGE -- Authorities on Saturday said a 16-year-old boy was charged with murder in the slaying of a livery cab driver, who was found shot to death after his car crashed on a city street.
The teen, whose name was not released because of his age, is also accused of felony murder and weapons offenses in the killing Wednesday night of Jonas Larose, 55, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray and Orange Police Director Todd Warren announced in a joint statement.
Authorities also charged the teen with a robbery that occurred about 24 hours before the shooting, according to prosecutor's office Chief of Detectives Quovella Spruill.
Police found Larose, of East Orange, unresponsive in his wrecked livery cab around 11 p.m. on the 200 block of Snyder Street, according to the prosecutor's office. Officers were initially called for a vehicle crash and discovered the driver had been shot.
1-year-old boy, 21-year-old man shot to death last month, according to authorities.
The livery cab apparently crashed into a parked car, hit a tree and a fence. One nearby resident said he heard at least two loud pops and a crash late Wednesday.
Members of the Essex County Prosecutor's Office Homicide Task Force were credited with making the arrest.
The prosecutor's office also on Saturday announced the separate arrest of a 28-year-old Maplewood man on murder and other charges in the killing of a toddler and the child's uncle in Orange.


Thinking about getting that pool table or on-site massage chair for your employees? You might want to think again: Research by benefits platform Namely found that employees don't want superficial perks — they'd rather have improvements to core HR processes, benefits and compensation packages.
Ten members of the Forbes Coaches Council share the "gimmicks" that just don't resonate with today's employees.
From top left to right: Rebecca Bosl, Sheri Nasim, Yuri Kruman, Liesa Taylor, LaKisha Greenwade, Sunil Harrypersad, Sherry Swift, Kevin Leonard, Jessica Miller-Merrell, John O'Connor.
Let's say a core value at your company focuses on collaboration. Having a Friday Yogurt Bar Chat won't do it. One off and once a week meetings are gimmicky. If healthy living matters, make it a daily habit, reinforced by offering incentives and options every day. If collaboration is a core value, then encourage recognition for work groups that solve problems. - John O'Connor, Career Pro Inc.


This story was co-published with the Albany Times-Union and WNYC.
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration — which the governor pledged would be the most transparent in state history — has quietly adopted policies that allow it to purge the emails of tens of thousands of state employees, cutting off a key avenue for understanding and investigating state government.
Last year, the state started deleting any emails more than 90 days old that users hadn't specifically saved — a much more aggressive stance than many other states. The policy shift was first reported by the Albany Times Union.
A previously unpublished memo outlining the policy raises new questions about the state's stated rationale for its deletions policy. What's more, the rules on which emails must be retained are bewilderingly complex – they fill 118 pages – leading to further concern that emails may not be saved at all.
Employees specifically save individual emails in a special folder. They can also "save" them by printing them out or pasting them into Microsoft Word documents.
The state’s rules for which emails have to be saved run to 118 pages and include 215 separate categories — including two separate categories dealing with office supplies.
"If you're aggressively destroying your email, it looks like you're trying to hide something," said Benjamin Wright, a Dallas lawyer who has advised companies and government agencies on records retention.
ProPublica obtained the memo through a public records request.
In the June 18, 2013, memo, Karen Geduldig, the general counsel of the state's Office of Information Technology Services, described New York's decision to automatically delete emails as a way to cut down on the state's "enormous amount of email data."
But the state implemented the policy as part of a move to Microsoft's Office 365 email system, which offers 50 gigabytes of space per email user — enough to store hundreds of thousands or even millions of emails for each state worker. The state's version of Office 365 also offers unlimited email archiving.
The Office of Information and Technology Services declined to comment on the record. An official in the office said even though the state can store large quantities of email, it can still be difficult to manage.
"Just because you have a big house doesn't mean you have to shove stuff in it," the official said.
Geduldig's memo also pointed out that some federal government agencies and corporations automatically purge employees' email. "Such a system will aid the State in improving its email management," Geduldig wrote.
But many states take a different tack.
Florida, for instance, requires state employees to keep routine administrative correspondence for at least three years, and emails dealing with policy development for at least five years. Connecticut requires employees to keep routine emails for at least two years. Washington State requires workers to keep emails dealing with public business for two years, and emails to and from top officials for four years. Those states also do not automatically delete email.
"It shouldn't be an automatic process," said Russell Wood, the records manager for the Washington State Archives. "There should be some point of review in there."
Emails that qualify as "records" are supposed to be preserved under New York's policy. But determining which emails qualify and which don't — a task left up to individual state employees — can be mind-numbingly complicated.
The state's rules include 215 different categories of records — including two separate categories dealing with office supplies.
"We don't think it's plausible at all that agency personnel are going to meticulously follow" those rules, said John Kaehny, the executive director of the good-government group Reinvent Albany. If the rules for preservation aren't followed, emails will be purged by default.
The length of time emails are required to be kept varies by category. Any emails related to "human rights training," for instance, must be kept for six years. Emails concerning "agency fiscal management" must be kept for three years. Emails about "the development of internal administrative policies and procedures" must be kept for a year, but emails "used to support administrative analysis, planning and development of procedures" can be deleted as soon as they're "obsolete," according to the rules.
The governor's office has its own rules detailing which emails must be saved, with 55 categories, from emails of weekly reports to emails "related to Native-American affairs." Anything that doesn't fall into one of the categories "should be deleted" once they've been opened, the governor's office advises.
There is no internal or external watchdog to make sure the rules are being followed, Kaehny said.
The state also doesn't have a standardized system for preserving emails that do have to be saved, according to the Office of Information Technology Services official. State workers can save their emails by printing them out, pasting them into Microsoft Word documents or placing them in a special folder in the email program itself.
"Everyone does it differently, and some people are still learning how to do it," the official said.
Emails related to potential litigation and freedom of information requests are not supposed to be deleted under New York State's policy. But Karl Olson, a San Francisco lawyer who has represented news outlets including the Los Angeles Times in freedom of information lawsuits, said that deleting emails after such a short period of time might mean they're gone by the time reporters need to request them.
"It may take a while for evidence of misconduct to bubble to the surface," Olson said.
Emily Grannis, a fellow with the nonprofit Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said New York's automatic deletion policy "strikes me as inconsistent with the goals of [freedom of information] laws, and to have such a short timeframe is particularly troubling."
Government agencies often adopt deletion policies to help protect themselves from potential lawsuits and freedom of information requests, said Mark Diamond, the chief executive of Contoural, a records management consulting firm. Getting rid of emails after 90 days, though, risks deleting correspondence that employees might need down the road. "I don't think it's a well thought-out strategy," he said.
Cuomo's aides have also developed a reputation for using their personal email accounts to conduct state business — a move that can make it more difficult to seek the emails under the state's freedom of information law. The Cuomo administration has denied that it does so, but a ProPublica reporter and others have, in fact, received such emails from officials.
New York isn't the only state that destroys unsaved email after 90 days.
California's governor's office, for instance, has automatically deleted employees' sent and received email after 90 days for more than a decade. But the office also requires employees to save far more than in New York, including official correspondence, memos, scheduling requests and other documents.
If you have information about or experience with the state's email deletion policy, please contact Theo Meyer at [email protected].
Related articles: Read our coverage of how Cuomo administration officials have used their private email accounts for public business, and how the administration has denied that it does so.


R. Kelly may have a serious shot at beating this case! Peep the circle.
(AllHipHop Rumors) Oh. My. God. It is really looking like R. Kelly is going to beat this new case. It looks like the lawyer named Michael Avenatti might have helped botched the whole thing. But, even moreover, it seems to be NO NEW CASE. After listening to this white guy aka R. Kelly’s lawyer, I tend to believe that this is a wrap. Here are some of the bullet points for you all. It seems like Michael Avenatti represents witnesses in each of the cases against R. Kelly, which dudes says its crazy. Avenatti is also practicing law in Illinois without a license to practice in that state,it is “improper.” Apparently, they allege that M.A. also pressured Kim Foxx to file charges against R. Kelly, but that does not seem to make sense to me. Foxx is the State's Attorney for Cook County, but why would she bow to pressure from a thirst dude like Avenatti? Not sure. Anyway, it seems like these cases are not knew as was peddled in the media. They are all quite old to the tune of 15 years. The tapes are clearly not new. TAPES! They don’t even make “tapes” anymore, damn it!
Furthermore, it seems like all of these cases had been rejected years ago, so the assertion that the tapes are new is a complete fabrication, says the opposition. Some victims lied about their age in an attempt to trap R. Kelly, allegedly! That’s weird, but after he got off the first case, it only makes sense that his young girl hustle improved.
At the end of the day, these cases are all old.
I have written about this a ways back, but it really seems like the homie might beat the case.
Questioned - "The homie might beat the case" Really, Illseed???? R. Kelly needs to face some consequences for his actions. Who is the "Homie," because I've been on this site for over a decade and I know you don't condone that type of behavior bruh?!?


For Wall Street, bigger seems to be better.
The possible merger of two pharmaceutical companies, which would be the largest corporate coupling ever, caused a late rally in stocks yesterday.
Word of the merger talks, between SmithKline Beecham and American Home Products, lifted the stocks of many drug companies as investors took the discussions as a sign that the industry might consolidate further.
The American Stock Exchange's 15-company pharmaceutical index rose 5.1 percent yesterday. The index is up 8.8 percent this year, making it one of the year's best-performing stock indexes.
The news also fueled a larger rally, which pushed the Dow Jones industrial average up almost 120 points as broader market indexes also gained more than 1 percent.
If SmithKline Beecham was to buy American Home Products, the deal would surpass the largest corporate combination to date, Worldcom's planned $37 billion purchase of MCI Communications, and would create one of the world's largest health care companies.
''It underscores that there's still financial deals to be done,'' said Andrew Brooks, a vice president in charge of equity trading at T. Rowe Price Associates in Baltimore.
American Home Products' stock, which closed at 94 1/4, is trading at the lofty level of about 28 times estimated 1997 earnings. At such a price, ''if it's a value to the people who run these companies, then there's value for shareholders,'' said Steven Goldman, chief market strategist at Weeden & Company, in Greenwich, Conn., explaining why investors pushed up the stock 13 9/16 points.
Gathering steam from the drug stock rally, broad market indexes sailed higher. In its initial day of trading after the stock market's first observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.5 percent, or 119.57 points, to 7,873.12. Last week the blue-chip index rose 173 points.
The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index gained 17.09 points, or 1.8 percent, to 978.60 yesterday. And the Nasdaq composite index rose 1.7 percent, to 1,590.14, a 27.26-point gain.
Calmer markets in Asia provided a favorable backdrop for the market's surge. After posting strong gains on Monday, equity markets in Indonesia, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan were modestly higher.
The lack of any new financial routs from that region, as well as a round of strong fourth-quarter earnings reports from American companies, heartened investors and sent buyers back into the market yesterday afternoon, analysts said.
The telephone equipment maker Lucent Technologies and the investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, as well as Continental, Northwest and America West airlines, all reported earnings that topped analysts' expectations, while companies like Lockheed Martin, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Paine Webber Group posted earnings in line with forecasts.
But some financial services companies -- including Merrill Lynch and multinational banks like Citibank, J. P. Morgan and Chase Manhattan -- took a hit as Asia's market turmoil cut into earnings. Such earnings reports reminded investors that Asia's woes could still affect the future earnings of American companies, some analysts said.
''The full impact of the events in Southeast Asia has not hit some of these companies,'' said Robert Freedman, chief investment officer at John Hancock Funds in Boston.
''The worst of the crisis has not fully been realized,'' he said, adding that he still expected investment banks and multinational banks, as well as some technology concerns, to see earnings crimped because of the Asian crisis.
Mr. Freedman anticipates that retail stocks, health care and some technology issues, as well as regional United States banks, will do well because of their limited exposure to the Southeast Asian economy. However, banks with a big international presence may continue to suffer.
In December, analysts' forecasts of fourth-quarter earnings growth for the companies in the S.& P. 500 index fell from more than 13 percent to about 8 percent, Thomas Galvin, chief equity strategist at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, told investors in a recent market comment. However, forecasts for the first quarter and all of 1998 are still too high, he said.


WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) has announced its 2018 roster of newly elected and incumbent Chapter Board Officers.
Each NAMIC chapter contains a board of directors that is responsible for understanding and implementing NAMIC's strategy in their communities. These boards effectively execute valuable networking and professional development events and programs and, most importantly, they are responsible for effectively engaging members in their markets.
"I'm excited to be working with this talented group of professionals who represent a broad cross section of the communications industry," said Eglon E. Simons, president and CEO of NAMIC. "We appreciate their leadership and commitment to the NAMIC mission and to the advancement of diversity and inclusion in our industry."
President – Sandra Garcia-Lowery, Manager, Marketing Solutions, Clear Channel Outdoor; Vice President – Rahdiah Barnes, Account Manager; Treasurer – Kiana Sinclair, Senior Account Manager, WebMD; Secretary – Morgan Johnson, Content Distribution Coordinator, Revolt TV & Media; Past President – Nicole Granston, Senior Manager, Showtime Networks, Inc.
For more information on the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications visit www.namic.com or contact NAMIC National headquarters at 212-594-5985.
NAMIC (National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications) is the premier organization focusing on cultural diversity, equity, and inclusion in the communications industry. More than 3,500 professionals belong to a network of 18 chapters nationwide. Through initiatives that target leadership development, advocacy and empowerment, NAMIC collaborates with industry partners to grow and nurture a workforce that reflects the cultural richness of the populations served. Please visit www.namic.com for more information about NAMIC and its many opportunities.