GALESBURG — On March 18, Galesburg’s Malik Andre Williams was one of 19 individuals who were named winners of the Carnegie Hero Award. On June 6, 2017, Williams jumped into the Mississippi River, despite being unable to swim, in order to rescue his 6-year-old son. He succeeded, but he died in the attempt. Williams was 25 years old.
The first Galesburg resident to receive the honor was a 32-year-old housewife, Mrs. E. Gertrude Semon.
On Dec. 14, 1910, Mrs. Elizabeth King, 36, was a newly married woman. The former Elizabeth Cleary had married Bert King only a few weeks before. Mr. King had left for work at O.T. Johnson’s that morning. While either tending the furnace fire or while cooking, the edge of Elizabeth’s dress caught fire, without her noticing.
“She sat down to the table to drink a cup of coffee and it was then that she felt the warmth of the flames which were burning around the bottom of her skirt,” read the Evening Mail.
By the time she reached the house, she was completely engulfed in flames. She ran through the house, and the much-smaller Gertrude Semon grabbed her and ripped off the flaming clothes. She held her neighbor down and put out the flames. In the process her hands were burned and her own dress caught fire. Neighbors heard the screams and police and an ambulance arrived. King was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital while a doctor cared for Semon.
King remained hospitalized, expected to recover. However, she took a turn for the worse and died on Jan. 28. Semon recovered from her burns, but between her injuries and the mental toll of the ordeal, she was disabled for over seven months.
On Jan. 5, 1916, children were ice skating on frozen Highland Lake (later known as Gale Lake.) Earl Lowman, Madeline Philblade and Harry Hallock were there together, enjoying the fun. At about 4 p.m. they were getting too cold and started to cross the lake in order to go start a fire and warm up. They were walking along the ice “near the dam between Highland Lake and Chautauqua Lake” when they realized the ice was quite thin under their feet. Then, it suddenly broke.
Madeline and Harry, both 14, fell in. Earl, 13, was farther away from them and quickly rushed toward them. Madeline was able to swim and keep her head up while Harry held the edge of the ice.
When Earl reached the edge, he managed to pull Madeline out of the water. While he did so, Harry was able to get himself out on his own.
Madeline was now unconscious and Earl carried her to the pump house at the park’s entrance, where she was revived and warmed and dried.
On Dec. 12, 1916, 20-year-old Knox College student Hale Douglas Adams, rescued Charles F. Marsh, 46, from a runaway team of horses.
Marsh’s team of horses ran and he was thrown back onto the tongue of the wagon. Seeing this, Adams ran into the street and grabbed the reins.
Adams and Marsh were both bruised, but otherwise alright.
Gertrude Semon ended up moving back to her native Wisconsin, where she died in 1963.
Thanks to Earl Lowman saving her life, Madeline Philblade was able to marry in 1918. She had three sons and by the time of her death in Galesburg in 1986 at age 84, she had nine grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren, and 17 great-great-grandchildren.
Lowman grew up, married, and had children. He worked for the C.B. & Q. Railroad for 23 years. When he died in 1943, his obituary made no mention of his heroic actions in 1916.
Hale Adams joined the military a few months after his rescue of Charles Marsh, and would serve in France during the Great War, including at the front during the Aisne defensive. His company, Adams Pressed Metals Corp., lasted in Galesburg until long after his death. His obituary also did not mention his award.


The U.S. allows citizens of 38 primarily-European countries to enter America without obtaining a visa. After the Paris and San Bernardino terror attacks, however, President Barack Obama signed a new law barring some of those citizens from the waiver program, if they’re also citizens of Iran, Iraq, Syria or Sudan.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not provided details on how it will interpret and apply the dual national provision of the law, saying it wants to prevent malevolent actors from gaming the system.
“By failing to provide clarity in how the restrictions will be enforced, it further feeds people’s perception that they are being discriminated against and that they face increased risk of travel restrictions because of their family heritage,” Jamal Abdi of the National Iranian American Council, an Iranian-American activist group, told Politico.
Others are criticizing the provision because they say it doesn’t do enough to keep bad actors out, and can still be gamed easily. Enforcement of the dual national provision, for example, will require applicants to honestly and accurately assess whether they are citizens of one of the barred countries.
“It’s an honor system with checks and balances,” a senior DHS official told Politico.
On the flip side of the issue, the European Union is considering a measure to require visas from U.S. and Canadian passport-holders who are traveling to the EU, in response to the new U.S. law.


The fist trailer for Doctor Who spin-off Class has been released online following its premiere at New York’s Comic Con.
Class is set at Coal Hill Academy in London, featured in the very first Doctor Who episode in 1963, and will feature teenagers confronting otherworldly beasts.
Former Coronation Street star Katherine Kelly will take on the lead role as a teacher, joined by four unknown actors, Greg Austin, Sophie Hopkins, Fady Elsayed and Vivian Oparah.
Patrick Ness, the show’s writer, has previously revealed that cult US vampire drama series Buffy was one of the inspirations for the series.
Last month, Peter Capaldi confirmed that the next season of Doctor Who will not air until April 2017. Capaldi is rumoured to make an appearance in Class, however, when it launches on October 22 on BBC Three.
Doctor Who fans also have a forthcoming Christmas special to tide them over until next year.


COLONIAL HEIGHTS - Falling temperatures doesn't mean kids have to be left out in the cold to play.
MP, Bounce with Me offers children a place to play in a climate-controlled area on giant, inflatable, play structures commonly seen at community events and birthday parties.
Owner Mike Daughtry was inspired to open the business, which bears the initials of his son Michael Powell, after a trip to the beach where thunderstorms curtailed a trip to the sand and surf.
Looking for something to do on a rainy afternoon while in Myrtle Beach, S.C., three years ago, Daughtry took his son to a mall where there was a business similar to what he now owns. It was a space filled with giant inflatable play structures.
"Family entertainment is what it's all about," Daughtry said.
For $8 on weekdays and $10 on weekends, children ages 5 and older can play on the inflatable structures. Daughtry said it's a great alternative when it is too hot or too cold out for kids to be on playgrounds. It also makes a perfect place for birthday parties or other events.
While the type of business is relatively new to the Tri-City area, their popularity has exploded over the past five years, Daughtry said. When he applied for his business license, he was told he wasn't the first business of the type to consider opening in Colonial Heights.
"We're the only one in the Tri-Cities for right now," Daughtry said, though there are others in Central Virginia.
Daughtry said his son picked most of the play structures.
"His favorites are the obstacle courses," Daughtry said. The business has three such structures.
While MP, Bounce with Me only recently opened, Daughtry said he plans to add a party room so birthday parties and other types of parties can be a bit more private.
The business is located in the Colonial Square Shopping Center at 3107 Boulevard. The hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. For more information contact the business at 804-894-8216.


9. Aaron Smith (New Zealand). Maybe not always at his very best but still the best in this tournament.


Lubbock’s Class 5A volleyball teams were shut out of the playoffs the last two years, because they couldn’t claim one of the top four spots in a 10-team district.
This year, before the District 2-5A campaign even starts, two of the three are guaranteed to get into the postseason.
“It takes a little pressure off,” said Coronado coach Chad Jones, whose Lady Mustangs (24-10) host Lubbock High (7-25) for a district opener at 7 p.m. today.
The district once again comprises five teams — Coronado, Lubbock High, Monterey, Amarillo and Tascosa — and all but one will qualify for the postseason. It’s a welcome development for Lubbock’s teams, and especially for the Lady Westerners and Lady Plainsmen.
possibly both, will be playing in November.
Along with having greater odds of reaching the playoffs, Jones, Leesman and Monterey coach Adrian Stein said there are other benefits to cutting 2-5A in half. Among them are decreased travel — there are no more district road trips to Midland, Odessa or San Angelo — 10 fewer district matches and more time to have prepared for the league slate.
In each of the last two years there was only two weeks between the teams’ season and district openers. This year they’ve had about six weeks to prepare for 2-5A competition, and each Lubbock team has played at least 28 non-district matches.
Coronado and Lubbock High have used the extra time to build a head of steam. The Lady Mustangs have won seven consecutive matches and 12 of their last 15, while the Lady Westerners have rebounded from a slow start to win three of their last five matches.
For Monterey (7-21), which has lost eight in a row, the start of district play offers a fresh start.
Jones and Stein both tabbed Amarillo and Tascosa, which open district play against each other on Saturday, as the favorites. And for good reason.
The ninth-ranked Lady Sandies (24-8) have won four consecutive state championships. The Lady Rebels (19-9) are ranked 18th in 5A by the Texas Girls Coaches Association, and they have arguably the most talented player in the district in 6-foot-2 senior Thea Munch-Soegaard.
But Leesman said Coronado has a chance to unseat the Amarillo powers. So does Jones, whose Lady Mustangs last won a district title in 2004 — the year they advanced to the state-title match.
“It’s not our goal just to make the playoffs this year,” Jones said. “We want to try to go undefeated at home during district and try to pick up a big win on the road at Amarillo High or Tascosa and see where that puts us in that big scheme of things.


Zot is the new restaurant just off Head House Square. Sous chef Joseph Monczewski samples a house specialty: steamed mussels and french fries.
He's installing a brasserie, which he says will be along the lines of New York's Balthazar. "Not a crazy bar," he says. "A restaurant with a bar." The space is at 700 S. Fifth St., occupied most recently by an Italian joint called Angelina's (which lasted like five minutes) after a series of Thai restaurants came and went.
Neff has no name or projected opening date yet.
Neff, who's owned Sansom Street Oyster House for seven years after a decent run with Cary (on 15th Street, where ¡Pasion! is now), has another project in the works: a baby due in a few months with wife Michelle.
in Olney, Md.) hope to raise the beer list to 500 bottles from the current 110 and boost the wine list to 200 bottles from the current 55. For now, Zot is open Wednesdays through Sundays from 5 p.m.
Early birds can catch an early-morning smoothie at the Main Line raw-food specialist Oasis Cafe & Living Cuisine, which has resurfaced near the car wash in Frazer (134 Lancaster Ave., 610-647-9797). It's open at 7 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays for drinks and continental breakfast plus retail health-food items. Lunch menu (salads, wraps and raw foods) is on from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Store closes at 4.
The crew from Hausbrandt Café (207 S. 15th St.) is behind Academia del Caffé, a mini-chain dishing Italian coffee, panini and salads. The first to open were 620 Chestnut St. on the ground floor of the Public Ledger Building (coincidentally, the Italian consulate is upstairs) and on the first floor of the Marketplace Design Center at 2400 Market St. The biggie, due to open April 2, will be a two-level space across from the southeast quadrant of City Hall at 1 S. Penn Square (between Juniper Street and McCormick & Schmick's front door).
at 116 E. Kings Highway in Haddonfield. Ito won waves at Fuji's previous incarnation in Cinnaminson, which closed in August because its blighted strip mall was razed.
Shula's 347, an American grill backed by retired Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula, is due to open next Thursday in the Philadelphia Marriott West (111 Crawford Ave., West Conshohocken, 610-941-5600). The "347" reflects Shula's number of wins as a head coach; it will serve as the Marriott's hotel restaurant, open from 6 a.m. breakfast through 11 p.m. snacks. Shula's 347 is a sibling to Shula's Steak House in the Sheraton City Center (the former Franklin Plaza). A few years ago, Shula briefly tried a Shula's Steak 2 sports bar in the Sheraton University City.
More on 707, the upscale casual American bistro that Ryan Margolis has under construction for a spring debut at 707 Chestnut St.: Chef will be Dan Soley, a former sous chef at Brasserie Perrier and Jake's, and general manager will be Cyril Addison, also a Jake's alum.
Blackbird, Alex Capasso's upscale-casual BYOB, is shooting for a March 11 opening at 619 Collings Ave. in Collingswood (856-854-3444). Capasso, an alum of Misto and Max's Fine Dining, says he'll keep entree prices at $15 to $26.
Last week, I erred on the address of Clementine's Bistro, the BYOB replacing Albertino's in a couple of weeks. It will be at 1617 E. Passyunk Ave. By the way, Benna's Cafe, the popular cafe at Eighth and Wharton Streets, expects to open a second location at 1601 E. Passyunk Ave. in July.
. Seems to be several weeks away.
What was Porky & Porkie, the short-lived Korean barbecue house at 11th Street and Washington Avenue, is about pho or five weeks from opening as Pho Hoa, a franchise operation unrelated to the Pho Hoa at 501 Adams Ave.


Gold has been on the defensive but has so far held on to the 1,300 handle.
However, Sino/US trade headlines sent a bid into the safe haven and bulls target the rising channel support line and 23.6% fibo upside target.
Gold prices turned south since topping out at the recent highs of $1,326.30 as markets priced in optimism over Sino/US trade.
White House Adviser Larry Kudlow said in an interview with Fox Business Network that a "sizable distance" remains between the U.S. and China in protracted trade negotiations. The news followed CNBC reporting, citing sources, that it is highly unlikely that a meeting betweenTrump and Chinese President Xi Jinping before the March 1 deadline for tariffs to increase on Chinese goods will take place.
Kudlow explained that previous talks covered "a tremendous amount of ground" but said enforcement would be very important, as well as technological and structural issues. This is of no news to investors, anticipating a bumpy road ahead, although the double whammy of news has dented a fragile risk-on bid in the market sending the benchmarks on Wal Street into a sea of red, the VIX on a spike and gold prices 4.5% higher at the time of writing.
Gold is on the defensive but has so far held on to the 1,300 handle. However, recent sentiment has driven a flight to safety across the board which has put in a bid in gold that has otherwise been on course for a break of 1,300, guarding the 1297 9th Jan highs, and then a test of the 23.6% Fibo retracement down at 1,287 comes into play. A break of the fractal low down at 1276 will confirm a change of flow with a target down to the area that has the round 1,250 fractal old resistance and the 161.8% fibo target located at 1,245. To the upside, bulls need to get back into the rising channel at the 23.6% Fibo of the 23rd Jan supporting fractal at 1276 to recent highs of 1326 at 1314. such a move will open 1320 and target R3 at 1323.


By Brad Dokken on Mar 19, 2019 at 3:09 p.m.
A white-tailed deer found dead just south of Williston in late February has been confirmed as testing positive for chronic wasting disease, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department said Tuesday.
"This is unfortunate news because it means CWD is much farther south than the positive deer harvested this past fall in the northwest corner of deer unit 3A1 in Divide County," said Dr. Charlie Bahnson, wildlife veterinarian for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.
CWD is a fatal disease of deer, moose and elk that can cause long-term population declines if left unchecked. Since 2009, 14 other deer have tested positive for CWD in North Dakota — 13 from Grant and Sioux counties in hunting unit 3F2 in the southwest, and the other taken last fall from the northwest in Divide County.
The deer found near Williston is the first documented case of a mortality due to CWD in North Dakota.
"All 14 previous detections were perfectly healthy-looking deer that were hunter-harvested before they got sick," Bahnson said. "This deer was severely emaciated and had an empty digestive tract, which is unusual even in starvation cases that can occur in harder winters like this one. This deer stopped trying to forage some time ago."
Bahnson said the deer probably was not the first to die of CWD in North Dakota, especially since the disease has been documented in 3F2 for a decade. "But this animal happened to die in an area where it was highly visible, and the carcass could be recovered in time for testing," he said.
"In other areas of the country where CWD has reached a tipping point, finding sick or dead CWD-infected deer has become common," Bahnson said. "We need to do everything in our power to ensure that doesn't happen in North Dakota."


Thor’s hammer, Mjölnir, is a weapon of honor and virtue, making it an appealing icon for American soldiers. But its path to becoming an acceptable headstone symbol was anything but easy.
You’re probably already familiar with Thor, Marvel Comics’ weird pagan analog to D.C. Comics’ alien-born super messiah, the Man of Steel. As portrayed by Chris Hemsworth in the Thor and Avengers movies, Thor is a flagon of mead by day, bevy of wenches by night kind of guy–the sort of god whose love for ribald drunkenness is matched only by his love for cratering a frost giant’s face with his mystical hammer, Mjölnir.
The key word there is “worth.” Mjölnir is a weapon of honor and virtue, and a fitting symbol for any noble warrior. So it’s appropriate that American soldiers can now request the symbol for Thor’s Hammer be placed on their headstone if they die in the line of duty. But Mjölnir’s path toward becoming an acceptable headstone option wasn’t easy. It practically took the power of Thor to get it there.
Mjölnir, of course, isn’t just another comic book weapon like Captain America’s shield or Batman’s bat-a-rang. In Norse mythology, Mjölnir (which means “crusher” or “grinder”) is a fearsome weapon that can destroy entire mountains with a single blow. This all despite its curiously diminutive handle, which makes Mjölnir look disingenuously wimpy.
Mjölnir was made for Thor by two master dwarves (in the comics, it is forged of material made from “the heart of a star”), and can only be lifted by Thor with the use of a magical belt and iron gloves. Thor was extremely protective of Mjölnir, so much so that when the hammer was stolen from him, the hyper-masculine but flaxen-maned God of Thunder was willing to disguise himself in drag as Freyja, Nordic Goddess of Love and Fertility, in an attempt to seduce it back. Thor’s reputation didn’t suffer for long, though: Armed with Mjölnir, Thor was a warrior of a ferocity and strength matched only by his honor.
Thor’s hammer is a noble weapon. Even to modern practitioners of Germanic neopaganism–also known as Odinism–it represents honor, virtue, self-reliance, truthfulness, and strength of personal character. Is it any wonder, then, that Thor’s Hammer is a symbol that a growing number of U.S. soldiers feel drawn toward?
There’s a strong warrior ethos attached to Odinism.
To summarize, Thor’s hammer represents heroism, nobility, self-reliance, and honor. It’s a symbol with a history that extends back a thousand years to pre-Christian Europe. And adherents of Odinism, the religion that Thor’s hammer represents, tend to make natural soldiers. Oh, and it also shares a pretty strong cultural heritage with a superhero who is, in his own weird, Technicolor, space viking way, as American as apple pie. How strange would it be, then, if the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs–the organization that oversees cemeteries dedicated to U.S. veterans and ultimately says which symbols can be used therein to represent your religious faith–had a problem with Thor’s hammer?
But for decades, the VA did have a problem with Thor’s hammer. Not so much for what Mjölnir stood for but because it was a pagan symbol, and pagan symbols were verboten.
Mjölnir was a pagan symbol, and pagan symbols were verboten.
This umbrella of convenience, though, has its drawbacks. Pagans may advocate for one another, but the same brush also tars them. That’s what happened with Thor’s hammer. It was guilty of association with another pagan symbol, the Pentacle: a five-pointed star that is the emblem of choice for Wiccans . . . and a symbol synonymous with modern witchcraft. For Thor’s hammer to become an approved symbol for veteran headstones, then, the VA had to first be persuaded that a symbol commonly (and incorrectly) denounced by politicians and the media alike as a blood-drenched grimoire of Satan was OK for servicemen to be laid to rest beneath.
Needless to say, the Department of Veteran Affairs took some legal convincing.
On September 25, 2005, Sergeant Patrick Stewart was killed in action in Afghanistan when a rocket-propelled grenade shot down his Chinook helicopter. An avowed Wiccan, it was Sgt. Stewart’s wish to be buried underneath the Pentacle. His widow, Roberta Stewart, petitioned for her husband to have his wishes respected by the Department of Veterans Affairs, but the VA stuck to their guns, claiming that the Pentacle was not a “recognized emblem of faith.” The matter quickly came to a head, with Americans United for the Separation of Church and State filing a lawsuit on Stewart’s behalf in November 2006, arguing that the VA was showing favoritism for some faiths over others by having an “approved list” of religious symbols under which a soldier could be buried.
“During the discovery phase, a lot of embarrassing information came to light about why the Department of Veterans Affairs was blocking the Pentacle,” Pitzl-Waters says.
Back in 1999, then Texas Governor George W. Bush said in a television interview: “I don’t think witchcraft is a religion, and I wish the military would take another look at [the issue of Wiccan gatherings on military bases] and decide against it.” Under the Bush administration, Americans United found the president’s past comments about Wicca were being cited in internal VA documents and being “interpreted at a high level,” justifying the omission of the Pentacle from the approved list of religious symbols.
On April 23, 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs settled the Stewart case, officially adding the Pentacle to the list of approved emblems of belief. Galvanized, pagans next began to lobby for Thor’s hammer. But it turned out they didn’t have to do much. Two years later, the VA loosened the requirements on getting additional symbols added to the list.
The VA required blood to be spilled before Thor’s hammer could be officially added to the list.
In theory at least, Thor’s hammer was an acceptable symbol of faith in the eyes of the VA for the first time ever. But there was a dark side to the rules change. Like blót, the ancient Norse ritual sacrifice used to worship the gods, the Department of Veterans Affairs required blood to be spilled before Thor’s hammer could be officially added to the list. A soldier needed to die.
Implicit in the VA’s spontaneous recognition of Mjölnir was that someone had died, but who?
Details are thin: His name was Shane, and he was a sergeant in the Marine Corps. He came from an extremely private family of Odinists, and he died in August 2012. After his death, his mother campaigned for the VA to not only allow Shane to have the symbol of Mjölnir placed on his headstone but for the same right to be extended retroactively to her husband, Mark, who had been buried by the Department of Veterans Affairs under a blank headstone under stricter rules. After ten months of red tape, the VA finally relented, and where once the space had been left empty, Mjölnir was carved into both of their headstones.
It’s a weird thing, when you think about it. That somewhere within a sea of headstones at Calverton or some other national cemetery, two soldiers–father and son–lay buried beneath the emblem of their faith: a magic, flying hammer that just also happens to be a pretty cool comic book weapon millions of people around the world know pretty well.
But this is the power of symbols. To most of us, Mjölnir might bring to mind Jack Kirby’s trippy Marvel Comics Asgard, a rainbow-striped city of no fixed point in time. Or it might make us think of an armored Chris Hemsworth bellowing as he smashes his hammer down on Captain America’s raised shield. But it’s also a symbol that represents virtues so profoundly felt that two men lived and laid down their lives for it in service of their country. Great symbols resonate deeply within all of us, but each to our own unique frequency. That’s what makes them more powerful than even Mjölnir.


Minecraft Party Join us for a fun event to hang out, enjoy gaming, and learn about modding and programming for Minecraft! Activities Enjoy playing Minecraft with other people at the event Learn how to create mods with Command Blocks Share your great creations with the class and parents Who Should Take This Class Age: 4th-8th gradePrerequisite: Familiarity with the PC version of Minecraft, using an Internet browser, and typing. Your Host The lead host will be Ryan Hunter, instructor and co-founder of TechWise Academy. What should I bring to the event? We have Coding Connector laptops for your use. All you need to bring is yourself! Who should I contact if I have questions about the event? Alexis Dishman at the Innovation Connector will be able to assist anyone who has questions. 765-285-4900 or akdishman@innovationconnector.com What is Coding Connector? Nearly half of the top jobs in demand in the United States are directly related to coding and programming and with an eye on the future of our community, the Innovation Connector launched the Coding Connector on January 1, 2017 to teach children “the new language of the future.” This initiative is intended to reach school aged youth in first through twelfth grades. The courses offered are for females and males, beginners and advanced, and students from all social-economic backgrounds. By teaming with TechWise Academy, the Coding Connector combines a state-of-the-art facility with fiber based internet access, computer resources, an active marketing and business center and the absolute best coding instructors and facilities in our community. What is TechWise Academy? TechWise Academy teaches children the love for coding and technology through fun, innovative and educational courses in East Central Indiana.


YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) Elijah Minnie had 23 points as Eastern Michigan beat Toledo 76-69 on Tuesday night.
Minnie made 4 of 6 3-pointers. He added nine rebounds.
Paul Jackson had 19 points and five steals for Eastern Michigan (12-14, 6-7 Mid-American Conference). James Thompson IV added 14 points and three blocks.
Marreon Jackson had 14 points and six assists for the Rockets (20-6, 8-5). Nate Navigato added 13 points. Willie Jackson had 10 points and seven rebounds.
Eastern Michigan faces Western Michigan at home on Saturday. Toledo takes on Northern Illinois at home on Saturday.


BRUSSELS - NATO has registered a first in its long history, with five women among the defense ministers who turned up Wednesday to attend a policy-making meeting at the alliance's headquarters.
The latest woman to join the ministerial ranks was Italy's Roberta Pinotti, who was sworn in Saturday as her country's first female defense minister. The 52-year-old served as an undersecretary for defense in the just-ended government of Enrico Letta. First elected to Parliament in 2001, she is now a senator. She began her political career two decades ago as a lower-ranking official in what was then Italy's Communist Party.
Pinotti joined Albania's Mimi Kodheli, Germany's Ursula von der Leyen, Norway's Ine Marie Eriksen Soreide and Jeanine Hennis-Plasshaert of the Netherlands. A NATO official said the five constituted the largest number of women defense ministers to serve at one time since the 28-nation alliance was founded in 1949.
Before getting down to business with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and their other male colleagues Wednesday afternoon, the women posed together for news photographers. At first, there were just four of them - until Soreide of Norway realized the Albanian minister was missing. Kodheli was quickly called over, and the picture snapping resumed.
Frances D'Emilio in Rome contributed.


Al Leiter got shelled by the Marlins last night; and while the 22,226 fans at Shea were sweating because of the 90-degree heat, the Mets might be sweating after seeing their highly paid, 37-year-old starter fall even deeper into his extended funk.
Leiter lasted just 5 2/3innings, allowing eight hits and eight runs – seven of them earned. He’s still 8-4, but no numerical makeup could gloss over the way he’s been pitching of late.
Coming into the year, Leiter never had allowed more than eight runs in a game: Last night in an 8-4 loss to Florida, he coughed up eight for the third time in little over a month. After opening 3-0 with a 2.35 ERA, he’s 5-4 with a 7.01 ERA in his 11 starts since, lacking some of his trademark aggressiveness.
“I did find myself for a period working outside so much I did lose sight of my cutter,” Leiter said. “You get into a cat-and-mouse [game] as a result of being inconsistent, thinking too much of what the hitter is trying to do. That’s when you leave the curveball up or you don’t get the cutter in enough. That’s the difference.
It’s not encouraging for the Mets, who gave Leiter a two-year deal that pays $8 million this year and $10 million next year.
He gave up a career-high 10 earned runs May 15 in San Francisco, and then eight runs June 8 against Seattle. Then came last night.
Granted, he was betrayed by his shoddy defense. Shortstop Jose Reyes commited a huge error in the third, when he booted a potential double-play ball off the bat of Ivan Rodriguez to plate a pair of runs, and give Florida a 2-1 lead. Leiter allowed a Mike Lowell double to push the lead to 3-1.
With the Mets trailing 4-1, Florida chased Leiter in the sixth. Luis Castillo hit a two-out, two-run shot and Leiter allowed a Rodriguez double and walked Lowell before being pulled.


LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Neighbors who live along the hill that includes Cathedral of St. Mary, in a neighborhood just up from downtown Lafayette that takes its name from the 152-year-old church, tell about the day in February 2017 when church officials invited them to sit down and see drawings of the congregation’s future.
The pictures, marked as a master plan and snapped into cellphones by St. Mary’s Neighborhood residents, showed a future parish office near the corner of Columbia and 11th streets; an addition to St. Mary School on the other side of the cathedral, along one full block of 13th Street; and a circle drive that would feed what is now the back of the elementary building, leading from Columbia Street.
Ivy Meyer, who lives across from the church on McGrath Street and who works at Northside Music Co. a block away, said several people asked about the house the church had owned since 2000 at 1014 South St. The two-story, red brick Italianate building was on the master plan drawings, too.
Meyer said she and others came away with the understanding that the church planned to keep it and restore it, as the sketches showed, for a rectory. She said she asked about the wrought iron fence that surrounded the property and was just as old as the house. That, too, she said she was told, would stay.
“It sounded great,” Meyer said, noting how odd it had been to meet with church leaders about building plans and architecture, given the rocky relationship in recent years over those very two things.
On Tuesday morning, Cathedral of St. Mary representatives will ask the city to start the clock on a 60-day waiting period for a demolition of the house and the accompanying carriage house at 1014 South St.
Joe Bumbleburg, St. Mary’s attorney, said he and Mike Gibson, the church’s building committee chairman, will bring revised pictures of what the church – the home parish for Lafayette Bishop Timothy Doherty – hopes to build in the coming years.
The demolition permit filed with the city’s economic development office indicates the church intends to clear the lot to build a new rectory – a plan touched off an online petition that had more than 1,000 signatures within 24 hours and a social media call to arms to save a house marked as “notable” in the inventory of structures in the St. Mary Historic District.
And if someone wants the house, as it is? “It’s my guess that we’d go for that,” Bumbleburg said.
Matthew Weller, vice president of the Wabash Valley Trust for Historic Preservation, said he has serious doubts about the one-for-one, new-for-old guarantee on the replacement being proposed.
But Weller said he understands that as far as the city goes, Tuesday’s meeting is more of a formality than a genuine opportunity to stop the demolition permit.
The St. Mary Historic District is one of Lafayette’s 10 National Historic Districts, which offer recognition for the housing stock but very little actual protection from demolition. John Collier, Lafayette’s assistant director of economic development, said the 60-day wait – “more or less enough time to think through whether there are other options,” he said – is the only restriction the city may impose on private property. In local historic districts, such as in the Lafayette’s Downtown and Upper Main historic districts, the city’s Historic Preservation Commission has authority to give a thumbs down to any significant change to the outside of a structure. Not so in national historic districts.
Weller said the petition was more aimed at the conscience of church leaders, to get their attention in hopes of getting St. Mary leaders to back away this time.
Weller, whose group promotes preserving Greater Lafayette’s oldest housing stock and assembles annual lists of endangered, significant structures, called the house at 1014 South St. one of Lafayette’s best examples of Italianate architecture.
According to its listing in the National Register of Historic Places, 1014 South St. was building in 1884 for Meyer Rose, a partner in a cigar factory and an early leader in Lafayette’s Jewish community. The house is brick with a limestone foundation, sills and accents, including limestone crown window hoods. The wrought iron fence was handmade on site when the house was built, according to the National Register of Historic Places.
The house changed hands a number of times in more than a century. The house and the carriage house have been converted into apartments in recent decades.
This would be the fourth 19th century building on St. Mary property to come down since 2011.
Starting in 2010, though, the church went through a protracted fight with its St. Mary Historic District neighbors up and down South and Columbia streets when it announced plans to raze houses at 1211 and 1213 Columbia St.
Neighbors responded by pushing for a local historic district that would have given the city more control over demolition plans. After a year of discussions, the Lafayette City Council rejected the idea, with council members saying they hadn’t heard complete buy-in among neighbors for the tougher regulations.
That was in August 2011. St. Mary offered the houses at no charge – along with cash equal to what it would take to demolish the homes – to anyone who was willing to move them. Estimates at the time ranged in the $200,000 range to get a lot and move the structures. As neighbors tried to work out details, the church eventually pulled the plug and razed the houses to make way for what was going to be a school playground. That was in October 2011.
Weller said moving the building would be difficult and expensive – probably more difficult and so expensive that no one without deep pockets will be in a position to do.
Weller said the Trust is trying to meet with St. Mary leaders. (Gibson did not immediately respond to messages from the J&C this week.) Names keep adding to the online petition at Change.org. And the Trust will be there Tuesday to make its pitch, no matter how futile, to the Lafayette Board of Works, so the concerns are spoken into the record.
The clock starts ticking Tuesday for 1014 South St.
IF YOU GO: A hearing for the Cathedral of St. Mary’s proposed demolition permit for 1014 South St. will be 9 a.m. Tuesday on the first floor of Lafayette City Hall, 20 N. Sixth St.


Post-party: From left, Alex Bourne, Emma Francis-Snyder, Keenen Gittens, Nicholas Cummings, Andrew Gittens, and Gordon Wilson say cops need to be held accountable for the melee that brought a July 4 barbecue to an abrupt end.
Cops brutally broke up a Fourth of July barbecue in Crown Heights last summer, busting into a house, spraying a crowd with Mace, and arresting four, according to revelers and neighbors who are now demanding justice.
The annual barbecue at the house on Eastern Parkway between Utica and Rochester avenues went sour just after midnight when cops swarmed the yard and then the house, cursing and yelling racial epithets, according to witnesses.
“The cops were yelling ‘get those monkeys’ and ‘get those m------------,’ ” said Gordon Wilson, who was arrested at the 71st precinct when he says he went to file a complaint. Wilson claimed that the collar came in late July but police records put it the night of the party, a half-hour after cops cuffed three others. One arrested reveler made a stop at the hospital before jail, according to police, so that he could get treated for a fractured rib, his friends said.
The outdoor party is an annual tradition of the Gittens family, which lives in the three-story townhouse. The driveway barbecue started in the late afternoon and was bumping at midnight when a patrol car pulled up outside the gate, according to witnesses. Three cops made a beeline for the party, prompting attendees to pull the gate shut, Keenen Gittens among them.
Police demanded that they open up, according to Gittens, who says he asked, “What for?” The officers, by then joined by 10 or 15 more cops, responded by shooting Mace through the bars and muscling the passageway open, neighbors said.
The resulting melee saw one cop get hit in the face and, when officers arrested three men, angry onlookers pelted police with bottles and furniture, according to the NYPD. But Cummins disputes the police version of events, saying no one threw anything.
A piece of footage shot from an upper floor of a neighboring building shows a man in a basketball jersey who is lying on the ground shoved to his feet by officers in blue shirts. In the same motion as he stands, the man appears to strike an officer, whose white shirt indicates a rank of lieutenant or above, in the head. In the moments that follow, some six cops pile onto the man, pummeling him with fists and feet.
A man was arrested at the scene and charged with assaulting an officer, according to a police spokeswoman, but no record of the case appears in online court records.
In the aftermath, another video shows one woman in the largely African-American and West Indian crowd accusing police on the scene of racism for their handling of the incident.
“It’s because we’re black!” she yells.
Emma Francis-Snyder lives on the second floor of the building and was hanging out there when cops swarmed the front yard. She shot the second video, which shows at least five officers barging into the yard and then the house over screams of protest. Francis-Snyder said that cops have visited the holiday barbecue in years past to ask the hosts to keep the noise down, but that nothing at this year’s event merited the response that she said was heavy-handed.
Wilson, the reveler who got pinched when he went to complain to police, faced charges of disorderly conduct, trespassing, and resisting arrest, but a judge gave him an adjournment contemplating dismissal in September, meaning the charges will go away as long as he stays out of trouble until mid-March. Gittens and another man both faced charges of rioting, interfering with officers, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest, but all the charges have been dropped under similar deals.
Gittens ultimately did file a complaint with police, but the internal affairs investigation was dead on arrival, according to Wilson.
“This not going anywhere,” he said.
Wilson learned at a November meeting of the 71st Precinct’s community council that the investigation has been handed down from a captain to a lower-ranged sergeant. He said he has spoken to an attorney about suing, but is waiting until his charges are disposed of to make any further moves.
A civil rights lawyer who frequently sues the city for police misconduct said Brooklyn cops have a reputation for cracking down on black barbecues for no reason.
To come onto private property, police need the permission of residents or must be responding to an emergency, Taylor said, pointing out that law enforcement rarely busts heads at lighter-complexioned block parties.
A community affairs officer at the precinct confirmed that the investigation was handed off from the captain to a sergeant.
I'm glad to see the Bklyn Paper finally publishing an important article about out of control cops. Good job, especially including the videos.
Hey old school Bev Jackson. look at the photo looks like they are multiracial hipsters.
Go back to where you came from!
You should learn to spell.
So typical - two racist men picking on a poor woman.
Ty, bkman... maybe it's you that's a monkey. Not the blacks.
With the way cops and all other city employees are watched by their superiors and the public these days I find it really hard to believe this story. I don't think that they would be stupid enough to risk their jobs by acting in the way they are accused of acting in this article.


Acetaminophen use during pregnancy was linked to behavioral problems in children. Research conducted by JAMA Pediatrics suggests the common analgesic may increase the risk of behavioral issues, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, in children.
The research was conducted over a period of six years. The study began with 64,000 expectant mothers and continued to include their babies, who were monitored throughout early childhood. The study revealed that acetaminophen use during pregnancy increased the likelihood of numerous behavioral issues in children.
Expectant mothers who used the analgesic were 13 percent more likely to have children who have difficulty focusing and controlling their temper. The research suggests that in 50 percent of those children, the symptoms are severe enough to require medication.
The scientists discovered that the risk was increased when expectant mothers used acetaminophen repeatedly or for longer periods of time.
Dr. Jeff Chapa, with the Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said acetaminophen is commonly prescribed during pregnancy. Chapa said the analgesic is an effective treatment for numerous symptoms, including fever and pain. As reported by Yahoo News, the symptoms are often related to viruses and infections, which can be a greater risk to an unborn child.
Although the research has proven a strong correlation, it has not proven that Acetaminophen use during pregnancy causes ADHD in children. Behavioral issues have been linked to numerous environmental and genetic influences.
Until causation is proven, doctors will likely continue prescribing acetaminophen during pregnancy. Expectant mothers who are concerned about specific medications are urged to consult their obstetrician.


Over these past days, I have been reminded again that at our best, to be human, and to be human community, is to live betwixt and between muddle and ambiguity. We are, unavoidably, marked by profound inconsistencies and misdirected hopes. We are an enigma—even, and perhaps especially, to ourselves.
Jason Goroncy is a pastor, theologian, and historian who teaches at Whitley College in Melbourne, Australia. He blogs at Per Crucem ad Lucem, part of the CCblogs network.
Certainly, the spirit of the age in which we live is characterized by efforts to entrench unquestionable power, power that makes unwelcome voices of dissent, and which feels little or no responsibility to those who do not serve its own proximate interests.
a deep unwillingness to have things said or shown that might profoundly challenge someone’s starting assumptions. If there is an answer to this curious contemporary neurosis, it is surely not to be found in the silencing of disagreement but rather in the education of speech: how is unwelcome truth to be told in ways that do not humiliate or disable? And the answer to that question is inseparable from learning to argue—from the actual practice of open exchange, in the most literal sense civil disagreement, the debate appropriate to citizens who have dignity and liberty to discuss their shared world and its organization and who are able to learn what their words sound like in the difficult business of staying with such a debate as it unfolds.
Isn’t that one of the reasons that we place ourselves in communities of faith? I often tell my children that one of the main reasons we go to church is so that we can learn and practice loving people that we don’t really like that much—people who irritate us, people who we find odd and who we’d never be seen dead with otherwise, people who frustrate us and hurt us and disappoint us. We belong to the church because that is how we hope to learn the truth that is required for our being truthful about ourselves and about one another.
What is the Christian community if it is not a unique training ground for learning the lessons of being the kind of community that God intends for all humanity—for learning that to be truly human is to belong to and to relate to and to do life with those who are other than ourselves, those whom God has joined together?
And so we eat and drink—not only with friends, but also with strangers, with enemies and with betrayers, … and with our own inner demons. For that is the context in which Christ makes himself available to us.
Religious satire was once an edgy form of humor celebrated by rebellious teens. Now it’s attracting adults who buy theater tickets.


Union members protest against council cuts outside the City Chambers, Edinburgh. Ann Henderson, Assistant Secretary at the Scottish TUC.
LABOUR’S attempts to choose a candidate for a key city ward for this year’s council elections have run into trouble – again.
Party members in Morningside originally chose former MP and councillor Sheila Gilmore to stand for them in the May 4 poll – only to discover she was not eligible.
But when they re-ran the selection process to find a replacement, the vote was tied between the two would-be candidates.
Now a third attempt will be made at a meeting this week.
The contest is between STUC assistant secretary Ann Henderson, a long-standing Labour activist in Edinburgh South and a supporter of Momentum; and Mandy Watt, an accountant and treasurer of Edinburgh Central Labour Party.
Paul Godzik, the Labour councillor who currently represents Morningside along with one Tory, one Scottish Nationalist and one Green, is standing down at the election.
In a bid to achieve gender balance in its council group, Labour decided the selection in Morningside should be women-only.
When the original candidate search began, Ms Gilmore, a former housing convener on the council, who lost her Edinburgh East seat at Westminster in the 2015 general election, emerged as the sole contender.
But after she had been selected it was discovered that she could not stand because she had accepted a £16,000 “golden goodbye” payment to stand down from the council in 2007 as part of a drive to “refresh” local government.
Anyone who took the money was disqualified from ever seeking election to local government again.
The selection process began again and it came down to a straight fight between Ms Henderson and Ms Watt.
Ms Watt said: “I’m treasurer of Edinburgh Central CLP, a member of the Local Government Forum and the Edinburgh Women’s Forum. I also helped organise the recent anti-cuts conference.


USA Nordic has announced that Sarah Anderson has joined the governing body as development director.
She will focus on "strengthening existing partnerships" as well as "identifying new opportunities", "developing strategic relationships" and "assisting in the planning and execution of fundraising events".
Her role has been created especially to "capitalise on the organisation's continued growth", USA Nordic said.
Anderson is a parent of two ski jumpers who practice at the Nordic Ski Club in Park City, Utah.
"Her extensive skills in organisation and fundraising were evident in a variety of volunteer roles," USA Nordic said.
USA Nordic is based in Park City, a venue for the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
"Initially, a lack of understanding my daughter's sport made me become more involved at a club level," Anderson said.
"It just snowballed into volunteering my time on a larger scale."


A district in Turkey’s Mediterranean resort city of Antalya set the country record for most rainfall in a day, according to national weather service statement on Dec. 18.
The Turkish State Meteorological Service said that Antalya’s Kemer district received 490,8 kilograms (1082 pounds) precipitation in 24 hours, breaking Turkey’s rainfall record.
The previous record was 466 kg (1027 pounds) precipitation in 24 hours in Marmaris, a district of the Aegean Muğla province, in 1992.


The allure of the iconic Taj Mahal in Agra, which lies around 230-km from Delhi, is hard to resist. One of the Wonders of the World since it was built in 1648 (by emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife, Mumtaj Mahal), the Taj is famous for its distinctive dome and minarets, born out of a blend of Persian, Central Asian and Islamic aesthetics. Guides will tout for your custom both inside and outside the complex.
If you can spare more than a day, Agra is certainly worth an overnight stay, and if you can time that with a full moon then even better. The Taj is possibly at its most exquisite when seen by the light of a full moon. Although it remains closed on all other nights, the Taj Mahal will open on full moon nights and two days before and after. Viewing takes place from 8.30 pm to 12.30 am in 8 batches comprising a maximum of 50 people, with 30 minutes allotted to each batch.


July 31 - Facebook gets back to IPO price and looks similar to another networking stock. Plus, Michael Dell's bid for Dell faces more hurdles.
Mogul appears to mobile cheers. Basically it's finally broken through its IPO price of thirty dollars a share. Concerns about growing the business as users move to mobile devices now practically erased by its earnings out last week. Mobile advertising revenue shot up 75%. In the span of just three months try expectations. The stock gained about 25%. The day after its earnings and his client to ever spent. Topping the 38 dollar mark in the first few minutes of trading Wednesday before losing some ground. It's FaceBook about four and a half months to get back to its offer price hasn't -- seem to be believers and its mission. Other stocks had an easier ride like Google. Priced at 85 dollars in August of 2004. It closed at 100 the first day went sideways for a week and that soared fourteen and a half months later about 370. They got just the opposite. As -- gaming business suffered after going public it priced at ten dollars in late 2011 and and fourteen and a half months later treated just 350. While Linkedin doubled on day one from its 45 dollar price. But four and a half months later it would still trading near that level as some questioned its business like FaceBook. The stock nearly doubled from there the question now could FaceBook follow -- Tim Cook to try to do something about Apple's weak spot China. This CEO meeting with the chairman of China Mobile in Beijing Wednesday. Apple still have to cut a deal with the country's largest mobile carrier to offer iphones and ipads. The visit comes a week after apple -- -- sales in China fell 43%. From the previous quarter. It also comes after China labor watch report accused supply there of labor violation. Shares of apple up fractionally. Holding above 450. US regulators have IBM in their states. The company says an SEC investigation is focusing on how reports revenue from cloud computing business. I -- disclosed the investigation in a quarterly report. It's that -- learn about the investigation back in that day. IBM stock down fractionally today below 200 dollars. In our best of the rest today Dell Michael Dell in -- relates 24 point four billion dollar takeover bid to take a hit today. The kind of special committee rejected their request to change the voting roles and exchange for a slightly higher -- her. A person familiar with the matter telling Reuters Michael Dell in -- really expect it to collapse. Unless the voting change happen. Currently shares that aren't voted are counted as no votes which makes it more difficult for Michael Dell's bid to win approval. Activist investor Carl Icahn is often made that for now. Shares -- 2% today more dollar below the thirteen 65 and thirteen 75 bids from Michael now. Soaring today is -- out. The make of marketing software posted better than expected revenue at that one new customers. Also raised its revenue forecast. Shares up more than 20%. Uttering is -- networks the -- products maker missed its revenue forecast and cut its revenue guidance. Shares down more than 20%. That's kept putting this Wednesday remember you can follow us on Twitter at RT are at equity. I'm Sharon writes and this is going to.


A United Nations international drug report says the world is facing an increase in the smuggling of both illegal and legal drugs through the international mail system. .
The International Narcotics Control Board annual report warns that the smuggling of illicit and legal drugs by mail has become a major threat to law enforcement. The INCB called for greater screening of the mails - including mail sent by international courier.
The report estimated that the smuggling of legal drugs - especially tranquilizers ordered through the Internet and forwarded by mail - is worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
Akira Fujino, the UN Office for Drugs and Crime representative in Asia, says the smuggling of illegal drugs is also growing.
"According to the board, almost all regions of the world have experienced an increase in the smuggling of drugs, both narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances - particularly psychotropic substances - and seizures are increasing."
The report says that in the United States, Mexico and Canada, the non-medical use of prescription drugs - such as the painkiller Oxycontin - rivals the abuse of all other drugs. It says Mexicans are abusing such drugs nearly as frequently as they abuse cocaine.
The report expressed alarm over the illicit manufacture of methamphetamines in many parts of the world, including North America, Africa, Eastern Europe, Oceania, and especially Southeast Asia.
Mike Chapman is acting regional director for East Asia of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. He said a raid of a mega-laboratory near Jakarta last November uncovered a thousand kilograms of methamphetamine, and the lab had a capacity of 10 ,000 kilograms. He said Southeast Asia is a major production point for the drug.
"Its astronomical, the amount of methamphetamine that is being produced in this region."
The INCB recommended a rethink of alternative development projects being used to control drugs. It said that while crop substitution programs in Burma and Laos had succeeded in reducing the output of opium, for example, such programs had done little to promote development and reduce poverty in those regions.


Throughout your career, you will participate in many, many job interviews. In all of these interviews, there are a few questions you will hear time and time again. What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? Why should we hire you? Even though these questions are incredibly cliché, there's a reason so many interviewers rely on them.
Your answers to the cliché questions say a lot about you. They can make or break your chance at landing the job. It's essential to prepare original answers for the cliché questions you know you'll hear at your next job interview. The strongest answers are unique and will give you a leg up in the competition.
1. Tell me about yourself. Employers will often begin the interview with this one. Because it's so vague, this answer truly needs to be prepared ahead of time. You can answer using your elevator speech. Talk briefly about three areas of your career: job history, most impressive accomplishments, and relevant goals. Your interviewer already has your resume, so rather than memorizing your background, you need to expand on what makes you different and emphasize your passion. Remember to keep it concise.
2. Why do you want to work here? This question is designed to show hiring managers if you've done your research before the interview. You should enter the interview knowing plenty of background information about the company, recent news surrounding the company and industry, and specific details about the position. Understand the company culture and mission. Use what you learn to highlight the detailed reasons you want the job and why your background makes you a perfect fit for the company.
3. What are your biggest strengths? Your strengths and weaknesses tend to be paired together by interviewers, so it's important to have answers for both. When it comes to your strengths, you need to tailor your answers to the job description. In addition to a laundry list of responsibilities, job descriptions will often list soft skills required for the role. If you have these qualities, list them as your greatest strengths in the interview. It's not enough, however, to just say your biggest strength is your ability to communicate. You need to show them why by telling a story that showcases a time when you used your skills to accomplish a goal.
4. What is your biggest weakness? On the flip side comes your weaknesses. This one is tough because it's extremely easy to give a cliché answer. Avoid giving a strength disguised as a weakness like, "I'm a perfectionist." Interviewers know this is a cop-out. Instead, choose a real weakness and put a positive spin on it. Talk about the fact that you realize it's a problem, and discuss the ways you're working to improve. For example, "I tend to rush through tasks because I want to get them done quickly, but I am learning to step back and put a bit more emphasis on quality than speed. I've started to become both efficient and effective."
5. Where do you see yourself in five or 10 years? Your answer to this question should demonstrate your desire to commit to the job and grow within the company. Talk about how you want to learn everything you can and expand your skills to benefit the company. Mention your desire to move up in the company over time. Explain that you want this job to be the start of a long career with the company.
6. How do you handle conflict? When interviewers ask this (or similar questions about teamwork, leadership, etc.), they are looking for you to describe specific examples of your experience. Describe a time when you faced conflict in the workplace. Explain the situation, how you handled it, and what were the results. Don't forget to tell the story from start to finish to show how you accomplished your goal.
7. Why should we hire you? This question might be one of the last things you're asked in an interview. Like #1, it's pretty vague so it's important to have an answer prepared. Talk about your best skills and accomplishments that show why you, and you alone, are the perfect person for the position. Use specific details from the job description and emphasize why you are capable of doing them best. If you're not asked this question, you might be asked, "Is there anything else you'd like to tell me?" Use the same principles to answer this question. End your interview by proving why you're the only person for the job.
Even though all of these questions are fairly cliché, you can use them to truly shine in your interview. The fact that they're so cliché is an opportunity. Expect to be asked these questions and answer them with stories tailored to make you the best candidate.


Nope, and neither has anybody else. But Shyft, a logistics platform company based in San Francisco, is hoping to change that.
Originally named Crater, the company announced today a re-brand of its name and mission to focus on helping improve the corporate relocation process for millions of movers per year. The company is bringing with it three years of experience developing software and technology to help moving companies provide better estimates and service to customers.
The process works two-fold. First, Shyft is continuing its partnerships with moving companies and selling its software to them in order to help update their portals and make the process as seamless as possible for their existing customers. As part of these partnerships, Shyft is able to create a reliable network of moving companies and services that it can utilize in the second part of its service — connecting with corporate Fortune 500 companies to help their transferees easily and intuitively complete their moving process.
Through the platform, employees planning a move can fill out information like how many boxes they’re moving, what their housing needs will be and even what kind of food they like and dietary restrictions they have. With this data, Shyft will help direct them to the services they need and work to help them best integrate into their new communities.
Shyft works with corporate companies’ lump-sum funds to help employees find the best price possible for their move. And transferees can use the services for free (or be reimbursed the difference).
In a recent collaboration with eBay, the company says it has seen large increases in the number of employees using its portal instead of trying to figure out logistics on their own.
Alpert says that Shyft is now focusing on growing and refining its service, and this summer was accepted to join Moderne Venture’s summer Passport Program. The seven-month industry immersion program is designed to help companies refine their go-to-market strategies and network with others working in the real estate, finance, insurance and home-services spaces.


Ali Moore and co-host Neil Pigot speak to Alan Rhodes, Richelle Wathell and Ian Mannix.
Ali Moore and co-host Neil Pigot were joined by Ian Mannix, Alan Rhodes and Richelle Wathell to chat about the upcoming fire season.
Ian Mannix heads ABC Local Radio's Emergency Services and Community Development team in Adelaide. He is responsible for the radio coverage of national disasters. He has been a journalist for 30 years and is the former station manager of 774 ABC Local Radio.
Alan Rhodes is responsible for CFA's community education and engagement programs including the joint agency Fire Ready Victoria strategy to increase community preparedness for bushfire. He is also responsible for CFA's community research and evaluation section and has conducted several studies of major bushfires throughout Australia. He recently appeared as an expert witness at the South Australian coronial inquest into the 2005 Eyre Peninsula bushfire. He is also a researcher with the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre working on the stay or go project and the evaluation of community safety programs.
Rachelle Wathall is a volunteer with the Lilydale Fire Brigade and has been for five years. She was involved in the 2006 Briagolong/Dargo fires, Woori Yallock fires last year and Morwell open cut mine fires to name a few. Her brigade is in close proximity to the Dandenong Ranges, so they are in a high risk and very populated area.


When I first prized the FZ18 from its box, two things, the small size, and the rather uninspiring plastic build struck me. Even turning the thing on, which is a fleet affair, takes less than a second and the enormous zoom range on offer does not make itself apparent at first. This is because the impressive lens only protrudes an inch at the full 504mm end of the zoom; at the wide end, the lens protrudes less than a quarter of an inch.
That lens also has a respectable maximum aperture range providing an F/2.8 to F/4.2 at the extremes of the zoom. This becomes important because you need as much light as you can get into the thing, as those zoom ratios increase, helping prevent camera shake (hand wobble) problems. But Panasonic has dealt with that too.
The FZ18 has OIS or Optical Image Stabilisation in two modes (and an off setting) that provide continuous stabilisation (mode 1) and stabilisation only when the shutter release is pressed (mode 2), which is actually the more effective of the two.
In short, the FZ18 is a camera that will be as at home among bird watchers and wildlife photographers as it will among family snappers or those who prefer shooting wider vistas.
But it’s not all lens. The camera also features a set of features and handling capabilities akin to the growing band of consumer DSLRs. The bridge-style design means the prominent hand grip offers reassuring one handed control (though even with OIS, you not want to shoot one handed at full zoom) and allows easy reach for your fingers across all the top late controls, the zoom lever and the overly recessed shutter button and is the one control that seemed to have an unattractive handling foible.
Having said that, the large top plate mode dial is great to use, even wearing gloves, it is deeply knurled for “gripiness”. Here you can get at the main shooting modes that include a set of subject program modes (including portrait and landscape modes) and the key manual options of program, manual, aperture and shutter priority.
Add to this an intelligent auto mode that picks the most appropriate subject program mode (portrait MODE for a portrait, for example), ideal for novice users, or those wanting to get snapping as quickly as possible.
Add to this custom setting options, where you can quickly call upon up to three previously saved setup options, a VGA, 30fps movie mode and get access to a further 14-subject programs including party, fireworks and a high sensitivity setting. The latter has a downside however, as it cuts the resolution available to a maximum of 3-megapixels in the 4:3-ratio shooting option.
And speaking of image format ratios, the camera can be adjusted to shoot at the 4:3 ratio as above but also at 3:2 and 16:9 widescreen ratios, these modes crop part of the sensor (with a commensurate drop in resolution) but they offer further flexibility.
As you can already tell, the FZ18 is packed full of kit, but further features of note include user-defined intelligent ISO settings which can be capped to use any ISO setting up to ISO 400, ISO 800 or ISO 1600, depending on how far you want the camera to switch under given lighting.
Manual focus control is included and a superb macro setting can get you as close as 1cm from the subject, so almost touching the lens. The 2.5-inch screen is nice to use and includes display information from framing guides to an active histogram and an animated display for mode selection, reflecting the operation of the top plate mode dial.
A small rather fiddly joystick control on the camera’s back, just above a four-way controller allows you to adjust and scroll around settings such as aperture changes, manual focusing and exposure compensation adjustment. If feels superfluous to me (why not use the four-way jog for all such controls?) but does offer a familiar control interface.
The electronic viewfinder (EVF) is actually rather good, as EVFs go, with an 188,000-pixel resolution and 100% field of view mirroring perfectly the larger screen.
Other advanced controls includes an AF/AE lock and the AF provides face detection AF, multi-area focusing with 11 selectable focus zones, you get two high speed focus modes that restrict the AF to one large central AF zone or three smaller ones across the frame or you can fix the AF to a single, small AF zone. Auto bracketing is in there too as is, in playback mode, a clever image group mode, by date for example and there’s a neat calendar view.
And so to image quality and performance. Images are very nice overall with images a little too vibrant out of the box; of course, you can adjust such things to your own liking. Images are detailed and both metering and focusing is actually rather good.
The camera’s small 1/2.5-inch sized sensor means noise rears its head at ISOs above 400 but it is never terrible and thanks to the ability to cap the top ISO setting, you can combine maximum apertures and OIS to help get the shot you want in lower lighting without resorting to the highest sensitivities.
The small sensor can capture most of the detail the lens is capable of producing, noise processing can affect detail (see comments on higher ISOs above) but not overly, which means Panasonic has done a darn good job working around the compromises of sensitivity, noise and image degradation because of both issues.
Add to this mix RAW capture and although it’s one of the more expensive superzoom models on the market, it offers a superior package to any of them.
This camera is a combination of high end features, nice handling and good image quality with an astonishing 18 zoom lens crowbarred in to a compact body making the Panasonic DMC-FZ18 a real contender for those looking to buy a camera that can be (almost) all things to all photographers.
Compact, easy to use, and stuffed full of great features and whopping lens, the FX18 is a very good and very clever camera indeed.


Thinking the Twentieth Century lets us listen in on conversations between distinguished colleagues, the intellectual historian Tony Judt and the Eastern Europeanist Timothy Snyder. It conveys the sort of conversation that two scholars may have when they share the same knowledge, references, and opinions.
I can think of older historians possessing a greater range of scholarship and biographies of more significance—among writers on modern Europe, Eric Hobsbawm or Peter Gay—whom one might want to hear from before Judt in this unusual format. But this book was motivated by tragic circumstances. Judt suffered from ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease. Snyder began his interviews after the point at which his senior colleague had lost the use of his hands and had begun to dictate rather than write.
Judt’s courage and clarity of mind were celebrated, as he continued to deliver important public addresses in the early stages of the disease and produced two more short books. One was an impassioned defense of the welfare state titled Ill Fares the Land (2010). The final book was a moving, short memoir in vignettes, The Memory Chalet (2010), which spoke with a historian’s mind of warmly personal things (the school system Judt was raised in, the public-transit system that charmed him as a child). It also hinted at the work Judt intended to pursue if he had lived: a history of trains and modernity, to be called Locomotion, along with a long-planned history of 20th-century social thought.
Thinking the Twentieth Century is something of a substitute for those books that could not be composed. It uses its interview format to review Judt’s earlier books chronologically and in biographical context, from his early specialist histories of socialism in France to his engagement in the 1970s and 1980s with the freedom movements of Eastern Europe to his major synthesizing achievement, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 (2005). With the best intentions, however, it perhaps inevitably cannot live up to the work Judt accomplished himself, both before these interviews and—so admirably—after. Judt does not rethink his positions here, Snyder does not challenge him, and the two men defer on points of difference. These conversations also occurred before the introspection that began to emerge when Judt composed The Memory Chalet in the last phase of his illness.
The beginning of each chapter in Thinking the Twentieth Century supplies an installment of autobiography made up of pages of continuous first-person narrative run together, with Snyder’s interview questions removed. Judt was born in 1948, in London’s East End, to Jewish parents of Eastern European descent. His father was a socialist, of the dissenting cast of mind that hated Stalin early and sided with Trotsky. Judt outlines the facts of his London childhood and his sojourns on kibbutzim in 1960s Israel, culminating in a disillusioning spell as a volunteer translator for the Israeli army after the Six-Day War. Teenage Judt, after absorbing the literature of Marxist sectarianism, turned to ardent Zionism, until his experiences opened his eyes to an Israel that was also, in his estimation, “not the fantasy world of socialist Israel that so many Europeans loved (and love) to imagine—a wishful projection of all the qualities of Jewish Central Europe with none of the drawbacks. This was a Middle Eastern country that despised its neighbors and was about to open a catastrophic, generation--long rift with them by seizing and occupying their land.” Though he was 20 in 1968 and joined protests against the Vietnam War, he did not sympathize with the New Left and remained preoccupied with the Old Left and the conflicts that had agitated his father.
Judt retained a power, however, to upend expectations and turn his genuine individual knowledge to account in an interruption of some fixed and stagnant debate. His kibbutznik background led him, in the midst of stale talk about an Israeli two-state solution, to write his famous 2003 account of a one-state solution in The New York Review of Books. Late in his life, he used his social and economic erudition as a postwar historian to offer, with the seemingly out-of-the-blue Ill Fares the Land, an un-ideological and pragmatic defense of forgotten principles of social democracy. An excellent chapter at the end of Thinking the Twentieth Century, worth reading on its own, reprises the history told in that book, tracing the Western welfare states from their roots in the turn of the last century’s “social question” through their robust rise after World War II, and contemplating how we might argue once again for them now. When Judt begins to speak about contemporary American politics near the end of the book, though, one is grateful for the presence of Snyder, whose origins Judt characterizes as “deepest Ohio” and who emerges from the shadows to prove himself an acute observer. Elsewhere, too often, the un-self-conscious satisfaction in limitedness of this book undermines the whole.
Mark Greif is a founding editor of n+1 and an assistant professor of literary studies at the New School.


HMS Trincomalee staff Lorraine Fenwick, left, and Joanne Walker.
More film screenings could be on the way on a historic ship after the success of a festive showing.
HMS Trincomalee held a Christmas Eve screening of Polar Express. It was the first time a film had been tried, and it worked wonders.
Children were encouraged to come along in their pyjamas, and bring their Teddy bears and blankets. As they got ready to watch the film, they were handed hot chocolate and cookies. After the film was over, they got a present from Santa Claus.
The debut event was a huge success and ship bosses are now considering more shows, especially as the ship’s projection system has also been recently upgraded.
This has already proven to be a very useful addition to the function of the professional sound system and the quality of film screenings that the HMS Trincomalee Trust is able to host on board ship.
The screening of Polar Express was held in the captain’s cabin using the new system, which attracted lots of favourable comments. As a result, further film screenings have been requested.
The screening is just one example of the increased interest in the ship.
The trust will also begin to focus more on its plans for fundraising for the 2017 bicentenary celebrations.
“They will begin in earnest at the end of March and run for two years effectively. We are making the ship function ready,” said Mr Olsen.
HMS Trincomalee is berthed afloat at Hartlepool’s Historic Quay, where she has been a major tourist attraction for the past 27 years.


Set off with Dorothy and Toto to find The Wizard Of Oz at the White Rock Theatre in Hastings from Wednesday October 17 until Saturday October 20.
The production is from Hastleons and the cast features a wide range of age-groups, from early years Munchkins through semi-professional dancers all the way to members that have been producing shows for over 30 years.
The show will feature local talent including Natalie Spencer (Dorothy); Tom Golby (Scarecrow); Chloe Hurst (Tin Man); Rick Baker (Lion); and an amazing Tracy Sutton as the Wicked Witch. Performances at 7.30pm with matinees on Thursday and Saturday.


One thing is certain! Coke is all set to make another ad with Hrithik Roshan, which will be shot in Jaisalmer. The interesting news is that this advertisement will also feature Tinnu Anand and his wife, Shehnaz, along with Hrithik Roshan. Shenaz is the sister of Jalal Agha and daughter of the late Agha. It may be recalled that she played the leading lady opposite Amitabh Bachchan in SAAT HINDUSTANI and was recently seen in the Parker pen ad with Amitabh Bachchan. Meanwhile, Tinnu and wife Shehnaz have been signed for the Yash Chopra film, to be directed by Muzaffar Ali’s son. The film stars Vivek Oberoi in the lead.


A year after announcing his retirement as the foremost kingpin of the city's illegal numbers rackets, Raymond Marquez was in jail yesterday facing a familiar charge: running a multimillion-dollar gambling operation.
Along with 24 people accused of being his aides, Mr. Marquez was arrested over the weekend and accused of reviving a gambling empire that handled more than $6 million a year in illicit bets. In raids begun on Thursday, Police Department officials said that they had closed 22 gambling parlors on the Upper West Side and in Harlem linked to Mr. Marquez's numbers network.
For almost 50 years, Mr. Marquez, 68, known as Spanish Raymond, has been a well-known figure in Harlem and East Harlem, acquiring a reputation among numbers gamblers for paying the highest odds and paying promptly. Mr. Marquez, who lives in a $1 million home in Great Neck, N.Y., and who once owned a 62-foot yacht, was denied bail yesterday and was being held in the Manhattan House of Detention.
In July 1997, while locked in a legal battle to prevent the city from confiscating $7.5 million in court fines and back taxes stemming from another gambling case, Mr. Marquez said in an interview that he had quit the numbers business to concentrate on writing his autobiography.
Mr. Marquez's lawyer is his son, R. David Marquez, who denied yesterday that his father was back in the numbers racket. ''These latest accusations are nothing more than pure vengeance by prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney's office who have tried unsuccessfully for years to put my father in prison,'' the son said.
A complaint filed yesterday in Manhattan Criminal Court asserted that Mr. Marquez was the head of a gambling ring that handled bets totaling more than $500,000 a month. The latest charges suggested that the enterprise Mr. Marquez is accused of running had shrunk since his last arrest in 1994, when he was said to be grossing about $3 million a month in wagers and controlling 56 locations where bets were processed.
The complaint by Detective Raymond Alamo of the Manhattan North Public Morals Division said that evidence against Mr. Marquez had been obtained from court-authorized interceptions of his cellular telephone conversations with top aides in May and June. Detective Alamo said that the gambling network had been in operation since last September and that Mr. Marquez had been under surveillance since January.
According to the complaint, the gambling spots were located mainly in stores that pretended to be legitimate businesses or in the rear of real businesses, including a barber shop and a bagel shop.
After Mr. Marquez's arrest in 1994, he was indicted on 221 counts of running an organized crime enterprise. In 1996, in a plea deal with the Manhattan District Attorney's office, he pleaded guilty to two felony counts and agreed to pay $1 million and serve 90 days in jail.
But the jail sentence was found to be invalid under state law, and Mr. Marquez sought to withdraw his guilty plea and requested a trial on the charges. A State Supreme Court justice refused to rescind the plea bargain but, instead of a jail term, sentenced him to five years' probation in addition to the $1 million fine.
Mr. Marquez is appealing the ruling barring him from a trial, and he wants the District Attorney's office to return the $1 million fine. He also is challenging the city's claim that he owes $6.5 million in business taxes from profits he made from his gambling operations in the early 1990's.
In a July 1997 interview, Mr. Marquez defended the numbers business, calling it an honorable profession. He said that he offered petty gamblers, who rarely bet more than $1, better odds and larger payoffs than state-authorized lotteries and gambling games.


Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop have endorsed some strange beauty ideas.
Want glowing, youthful skin like Gwyneth Paltrow's? All you need is a whole lot of money — and a willingness to get stung by bees.
Her beauty tips often veer into the same territory. Goop sells and recommends plenty of cosmetics with steep price tags (no surprise considering Paltrow spends a rumored $18,000 a month on her beauty routine). The site is rife with beauty tips based on skimpy — sometimes nonexistent — scientific evidence. And Paltrow herself has used her platform to promote some eyebrow-raising procedures, including the aforementioned bee stings.
Here's a look at some of the absolute worst beauty tips that Paltrow and her brand have tried to push.
BAD TIP #1: Take supplements for beauty.
Supplements aren't as trustworthy as you might think.
Goop sells its own line of supplements for $90 a month. The site also quotes experts who recommend all manner of vitamins, minerals, and herbs. This post alone extols the supposed beautifying effects of of folic acid, vitamin B12, magnesium glycinate, fish oil, ECGC (a green tea extract), n-acetyl cysteine, s-acetyl-glutathione, biotin, zinc, silicon, iron, vitamin B6, leucine, vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin C, pancreatic enzymes, and lycopene. That's (literally) a lot of pills to swallow.
The major problem with this advice: Many supplements are useless at best and dangerous at worst. They aren't required to undergo any kind of safety or efficacy testing before they hit store shelves. That means you might be shelling out money for something that doesn't change your appearance or your health in any way. Even worse: People get hurt and even die because of supplements — they send about 20,000 Americans to the ER every year.
But if you really want to try a supplement, talk to your doctor and check out this buyer's guide.
BAD TIP #2: Get a threading facial.
Threading is a controversial anti-aging procedure promoted by Goop.
Goop describes threading as an "under-the-radar" face lift "that's sending A-listers flocking to Europe and Asia." That's because it's no longer allowed in the United States.
Allure reports that threading facelifts — in which a doctor uses a barbed thread to lift sagging skin — were approved by the FDA back in 2004. But enough women reported adverse side effects that the procedure lost FDA approval.
Even if you could get it in the states, you might not want to: A 2009 study found the facelifts don't offer lasting results. Also, they cost up to $11,000.
BAD TIP #3: Soak in a "detox" bath.
No, you can't be "detoxed" by a bath.
As a general rule, most products or diets that claim they'll "detox" you are total bunk. Our livers and kidneys do the work of detoxification whether we use Goop-approved products or not.
So while it might feel nice to soak in the "Digital Detox" bath sold on the Goop website, there is little reason to believe that it "draws out toxins associated with excessive exposure to technology."
BAD TIP #4: Use an infrared sauna to sweat out toxins and get beautiful skin.
Infrared saunas have some benefits, but sweating out toxins isn't one of them.
Infrared saunas are a lot like regular saunas: You sit inside a heated room and sweat. But these saunas use infrared light to heat up the body from the inside, rather than heating up the air around it. It's actually the same technology used to keep premature babies warm in hospitals.
Goop promises that sitting in one of these saunas "intensifies the elimination of toxins." That's not really true.
Doctors say infrared saunas don't appear to be harmful, and early research shows that they may help heart health and relieve chronic pain. Sitting in the sauna could certainly make you feel great — but it's not because you're sweating out toxins.
"We do not have data that shows one can sweat out toxins in any meaningful way," Dr. Catherine Forest, of Stanford University's School of Medicine, told the New York Times.
BAD TIP #5: Sprinkle "beauty dust" in your morning smoothie.
This "dust" probably won't help your skin.
Goop's online store hawks this $30 jar of "dust" that's "alchemized to expand your beauty, luster, and glow from within."
The first ingredient in the dust is goji berries — a staple in traditional Chinese medicine and a longtime Paltrow fave. Too bad a 2015 review found "unclear or conflicting" scientific evidence that the berries make skin look younger.
BAD TIP #6: Take up oil pulling for whiter teeth.
Oil pulling is not a proven way to whiten teeth.
"Oil pulling is an ancient Indian practice for both cleansing and whitening teeth that detoxifies," Goop promises. "The oil literally pulls the toxins from your gums and teeth."
Wrong again. The practice of swishing oil around your mouth might be beneficial, but there's really not enough evidence to back up these big claims, according to the American Dental Association.
BAD TIP #7: Use a foam roller to banish cellulite "forever."
Foam rolling can temporarily change the appearance of your skin.
Foam rolling actually can temporarily improve the appearance of cellulite — but don't believe Goop's claim that it can banish dimples "forever."
The Mayo Clinic explains that cellulite happens when fibrous connective tissue pulls down on the layer of fat cells that sits just beneath the skin, creating a dimpled look on the surface of the skin. Foam rolling might cause a small amount of swelling that appears to smooth out cellulite. But the effects won't last more than a few days, Health magazine reports.
"It's a very transient effect...so we don't consider that a viable treatment for cellulite," dermatologist Dr.S. Manjula Jegasothy told Health.
BAD TIP #8: Buy beauty products that have been prayed to.
Some manufacturers pray or chant or sing to their cosmetics before selling them.
One Goop article recommends products made with "intention" — in other words, creams and cleansers that have been chanted to, prayed to, or meditated over by the people who make them. The idea is that "intention" gets infused into the products and makes them somehow better. Maybe that's why de Mamiel — a skincare line mentioned in the article — charges $114 for a 0.7-ounce bottle of oil.
To back up these claims, Goop cites three pieces of "evidence": 1) people bless food; 2) hospital patients who are prayed to do better than those who aren't; and 3) the experiments of Dr. Masaru Emoto, who believed saying nice or mean things to non-living objects could change their physical properties.
Of course, blessing food does nothing to its nutritional value. Also, science shows praying probably won't a big difference in sick people's health. (In one 2006 study, patients who received prayers actually had more complications than ones who didn't.) And finally, Dr. Emoto's experiments are widely considered to be ridiculous.
Sorry, Gwyn: Intention is probably not "the new secret beauty formula."
BAD TIP #9: Get stung by bees!
We know beauty is pain, but this seems excessive.
Paltrow once told the New York Times that she'd undergone something called apitherapy. Basically, it means getting stung by bees on purpose.
"It's a thousands of years old treatment," Paltrow told the Times. "People use it to get rid of inflammation and scarring. It's actually pretty incredible if you research it. But, man, it's painful."
And it could be seriously dangerous. Dr. Clay Jackson, vice president of the board of the American Academy of Pain Management, told Business Insider that people shouldn't try apitherapy as a first resort for health issues.
"Many people are allergic to bee venom and also there have been reported side effects, such as hemorrhagic strokes," he said. "Some people mistakenly assume that because something is natural, it has no side effects, and that is not the case."


Heavy damage was seen at a house in Middletown after a car crashed into it on Friday.
It happened around noon on Friday, on Camp Street.
The driver of the car was taken to the hospital, police said.


(Reuters) - Olympic hopeful Satoko Miyahara clinched an emphatic victory in the ladies' competition at Skate America on Sunday ahead of Japanese compatriot Kaori Sakamoto.
Miyahara, who missed part of last season due to a hip injury, built on her lead from Saturday's short program with a near flawless performance in the free skate in Lake Placid, New York.
She secured a season-best 143.31 points to finish with 214.03, ahead of Sakamoto on 210.59. American Bradie Tennell was third on 204.10 in her senior Grand Prix debut.
Miyahara's victory, however, was not enough to clinch a place in the Grand Prix final in her home country in two weeks' time. She will be first substitute for the Nagoya competition.
"I am very happy and satisfied with today’s performance and to get my best scores," said the 19-year-old, who completed seven clean triples skating to 'Madame Butterfly'.
The 2015 world silver medalist missed the world championships earlier this year due to a stress fracture in her left hip.
"After the injury, this is the first big step. The most important event, the Japanese nationals, are coming next month," said Miyahara, who faces a big challenge to make the Japanese team for February's Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Sakamoto was also satisfied with her personal best in the free skate but said she can get even better.
"In the short program I did a mistake on the spin and I have so much room to improve my performance -- the jumps, the spins and the grade of execution," she said.
In the ice dancing competition, American siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani took the title after accruing 194.25 points.
"This was the competition we wanted to have before the Grand Prix Final," Maia said.


show became one of the most popular programs in Japanese television history.
there is a full array of Oshin dolls, Oshin posters, Oshin songs and even Oshin sake in Japan. Even foreign leaders, who have visited Japan, have not forgotten to mention Oshin as a symbol of Japan’s postwar emergence from devastation.
by Japanese Script writer Sugako Hashida.
Oshin has been aired in more than 70 foreign countries, with subtitles and dubbing. Rupavahini is the first Sri Lankan channel to telecast foreign tele dramas. The most popular of them was Oshin, dubbed in Sinhala. Oshin was first brought to Sri Lanka by the veteran artiste Henry Jayasena from Japan in 1989.
The task of dubbing the program in Sinhala was assigned to Titus Thotawatte, a man in abundance of innate skills, a veteran of Sinhala cinema.
Titus and his colleague Athula Ransirilal with a team of 250 dubbing artists did the job to a level which was eventually admired by all Sri Lankan television viewers.
The young Oshin was played by an unbearably cute 10-year-old named Ayako Kobayashi. Kobayashi, now 45, was in Sri Lanka last Friday for the opening of Japan Expo Premier Sri Lanka – 2017 at the BMICH, which showcased both Japanese business and culture.
Kobayashi was one of the star attractions of the exhibition and she also spoke with fans before the film Oshin was screened at the main theatre at BMICH on Friday morning. Here are excerpts from an interview with Kobayashi.
Q: It is many years since you gave life to the childhood character of Oshin. Yet the character is still alive in the memory of fans all over the world. Did you ever imagine that Oshin would become a household name in Japan and abroad?
A: I am surprised actually. I never thought Oshin will be so famous in the first place. But today I am very happy about it. Oshin was shown here in Sri Lanka more than 20 years ago. Before coming here I did not have a good idea about how famous Oshin was in Sri Lanka.
But when I got here and got down from the plane I was surprised by the reception I got. The people I met had big smiles on their faces and they greeted me with much enthusiasm and affection. I had to take a lot of pictures with most of the people I met.
I only played the childhood character of Oshin. Now my appearance has changed a lot.
But people tell me that when they see me they see the cute little face of Oshin.
In Sri Lanka I have been quite moved and delighted by the warmth and love shown to me. Now I have a clearer idea of how famous Oshin is in Sri Lanka.
Q: What is the purpose of your visit? Is it only for the Japan Expo?
A: Yes, it is for the Japan Expo. I was invited and am very happy to be a part of this great event. I was able to promote the newly released version of the Oshin film here too. I was able to talk with fans at the opening ceremony. They were thrilled to meet me and I was thrilled to meet them. I will be carrying home both fond memories and new friends.
Q: How can serials like Oshin develop links between Sri Lanka and Japan?
A: I think programs like these are very important to build strong links between two countries both culturally and otherwise.
I think Oshin has helped us to show the life style of the Japanese people, the resilience we showed to rise from the devastation of war, our history etc.
After visiting your country for the first time I think Oshin has definitely helped to strengthen friendly relations between Sri Lanka and Japan.
Since I got down from the plane I never felt like a stranger here.
The warmth I have been received with has left lasting impressions.
From the moment I got down from the plane I got the feeling that I am among old friends.
Q: What are your thoughts on Sri Lanka and its culture?
A: From the information I have gotten you have a rich cultural heritage like in Japan.
I did not have much time to visit a lot of places in Sri Lanka as this was a very short visit. However, I saw beautiful beaches, trees and a lot of nature from the plane. It is really amazing!
I also like the buildings and structures here.
They are very lovely. Most of all I like the Lankan peoples’ affection and their hospitality. Sri Lankans are very warm people. I am impressed with their lovely smiles as well.
Q: What is your fondest memory acting in Oshin?
A: I will never forget my first shooting as Oshin. It was a very emotional scene.
In that scene little Oshin has to be separated from her mother at a river bank. The parting between the mother and daughter was very emotional.
The shooting was done in deep snow at Yamagata in the northern part of Japan. It was so cold. I can still remember it very vividly.
Q: What was the most challenging scene you had to take on?
A: The most challenging was to play Oshin in the cold river waters in Yamagagata in the dead of winter.
I was very small and the water was freezing.
Q: Oshin was later made into an animated movie. And you did young Oshin’s voice. Tell us a bit about that experience.
A: I did not have any difficulty although I was much older at the time. I always remembered the role I played as little Oshin. It all went very smoothly.
Q: What is the response you get from people in Japan.
A: Oshin was telecast in Japan more than 30 years ago. But still people there relate to me as little Oshin. The show is still famous in Japan.
Q: Have you been involved in any Sri Lankan TV or film productions?
Q: Do you have a message for your Sri Lankan fans?
A: It may surprise you when you see me as an adult and not as the little child you have seen. But still I am the ‘little Oshin’ that you loved dearly. I will be very happy if ‘Oshin’ helps build a bridge between Japan and Sri Lanka.