It looks like one of Marvel's next films "Ant-Man" has found its leading man.
Variety reports Joseph Gordon-Levitt ("Don Jon") and Paul Rudd ("Role Models") are front runners to play the lead role of scientist Henry "Hank" Pym in the film.
In the Marvel universe, the scientist has been known as both Ant-Man — shrinking himself — and Goliath — making himself gigantic.
While Gordon-Levitt and Rudd may be up for the role, neither is a sure bet for the film. Variety reports another unnamed actor may step into the role.
Originally, the film was set to debut in theaters after "Avengers: Age of Ultron." However, after Disney's next Pixar film was moved back, a shifting schedule caused "Ant-Man" to move up to a July 31, 2015 release date.
The "Avengers" sequel is due in theaters May 1, 2015.
Would you want to see JGL or Paul Rudd as Henry Pym?


As promised, Monday morning brought us an extended new feature on the inarguable influence of Virgil Abloh that includes legacy insight from the man himself and an assortment of his peers and admirers.
The inspiring GQ Style piece is divided into chapters, starting with an exploration of Abloh's artistic foundation in architecture. From there, we're given behind-the-scenes recalls of key Abloh moments of art victory ranging from a certain iconic PFW photo to the moment his own design prowess started to truly take flight circa Watch the Throne.
"I often reference the 17-year-old version of myself, because I'm doing in large part the same thing today," Abloh told writer Thom Bettridge.
Don C, who first met Abloh when he was working at Chicago screen-printing shop Custom Kings, noted the instant vibing that occurred just prior to Abloh joining the West team. "When I first met him, we vibed right away because we could talk about ideas," C said. "And at the time, you could only bring people around Ye who he'd vibe with." For Abloh, the opportunity represented a chance to be a part of "another chapter in hip-hop."
As Abloh's role at West's DONDA collective grew, his responsibility to achieving the "broadest possible reach" came into focus. "Ultimately the DONDA project was a mission to raise the taste level of the world," GOOD Music president Pusha-T said of the vision behind West's company. "It was about showing the youth that it's possible for them, and I felt it gave inspiration to the kids of this Internet generation—those who learn beat-making on the computer as opposed to in band class . . . They were changing the aesthetic, right in front of my eyes."
Attempting to condense the full piece here would do it a great disservice, so just head over to GQ for the full experience. ASAP Rocky, Playboi Carti, Takashi Murakami, Fraser Cooke, Heron Preston, and more also contributed comments.
Another notable moment occurs toward the end of the piece, with artist Arthur Jafa comparing Abloh's place in the current pop culture landscape to that of Andy Warhol's decades ago. Abloh himself touched on his work's connection to the Warhol catalog in an interview with Hypebeast last year. By Abloh's estimation, he's a "descendant" of Warhol, West, Pharrell, and Basquiat.


Young Israel thanks Trump, Haley, Pompeo for walking away from UN Human Rights Council.
The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) on Wednesday responded to the United States' announcement that it was withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
Explaining the US decision, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the Council is "not worthy of its name" and cited its "perpetual prejudice against Israel."
"If the Human Rights Council is going to attack countries that uphold human rights and attack those that abuse human rights, then the US should not provide it with credibility," Haley said. "We are withdrawing from the UNHRC, an organization that is not worthy of its name."
"After years of perpetual prejudice against Israel and its continuous attempts to vilify Israel, the UN Human Rights Council exhausted any degree of credibility it may have had, and the United States’ decision to withdraw from this body and hold it accountable for its innate bias and anti-Israel animus underscores just how far it has strayed from its mission," the NCYI statement said.
"Rather than safeguarding human rights around the world, the UNHRC instead chose to turn a blind eye to multiple atrocities and humanitarian crises in order to focus its attention on bullying and belittling Israel.


WWE has announced Rich Swann vs. Brian Kendrick vs. TJ Perkins in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship has been added to the Roadblock pay-per-view lineup.
Powell’s POV: WWE started taking the necessary steps to go with a Triple Threat on last week’s television. I thought we might see that match on Raw or 205 Live, but this actually makes more sense. Join me for live coverage of Roadblock on Sunday night.
Powell’s WWE Roadblock: End of the Line predictions – Will Roman Reigns leave with two titles? Which woman will win the Iron Man match? Can Sami Zayn survive ten minutes with Braun Strowman?


The 1st Crawley Scouts have been gifted £250 by Taylor Wimpey South Thames as part of the donation box scheme which is running at its Forge Wood development in Crawley.
Visitors to the development’s Sales Information Centre are encouraged to vote for one of three local causes to receive a donation from Taylor Wimpey and 1st Crawley Scouts have been announced as the latest winners after receiving the most votes from the local community in September.
Based at the Scout Hut on Oak Road in Southgate, 1st Crawley Scouts cater for children from age six to fourteen and run sessions for Beavers, Cubs, and Scouts every week.
A range of activities including crafts, outdoor learning, singing, exploring nature, storytelling and learning how to be safe in the community, are offered to provide young people with valuable experiences and to encourage social interaction.
Commenting on Taylor Wimpey’s donation Dr Andy Hibberd, Scouter-In-Charge at 1st Crawley Scouts, said: “We cannot thank Taylor Wimpey enough for this donation. We rely on the support of goodwill gestures and the money that we make fundraising to be able to run all of our group sessions and to continue to offer new and exciting activities for our members.
More information about 1st Crawley Scouts is available at www.1stcrawleyscouts.org.uk.


The decision of a federal court to order the creation of an investigative commission for truth and justice in the Ayotzinapa case is an important precedent which could, subject to certain conditions, bring about a substantial change in the way in which serious human rights violations in Mexico are investigated, Amnesty International said today.
“Following four years of continuous failings in the investigation of the case, this decision represents an important advance in the search for truth, justice and reparation for the 43 students who were forcibly disappeared on the night of 26 September 2014,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International.
The ruling of the First Collegiate Court of the Nineteenth District in Tamaulipas, made public on 4 June, acknowledges that in Mexico there is no independent public prosecution service, and that the investigation into the enforced disappearance of the 43 students has been deeply flawed and has not taken the pertinent lines of investigation into consideration.
Among the failings in the investigation by Mexico’s Federal Attorney General’s office (PGR), the court highlighted the consistent and repeated allegations of torture, the substantiation of allegations almost exclusively by means of incriminating confessions, and the failure to investigate facts and authorities relevant to the case, including members of the federal police, the army and the navy.
The court therefore considered it appropriate to order the creation of a special investigative commission, a mechanism sometimes used in order to guarantee the adequate investigation of crimes under international law when it is suspected that these crimes could have been committed by state agents, or when traditional investigative bodies have proved incapable of adequately fulfilling their role.
The court based this part of its ruling on the model protocol for the investigation of extra-legal, arbitrary and summary executions (Minnesota Protocol), the case law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and Mexican constitutional law.
“It seems that it has been proven that the Attorney General’s office’s theory of the case, referring to the alleged killing and burning of the students in a dumpster in Cocula, is scarcely credible and maintained only at the expense of ignoring the facts and tampering with evidence,” said Guevara-Rosas.
The Investigative Commission for Truth and Justice will be made up of representatives of the victims, the public prosecutor’s office and the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH). Other national and international human rights organizations will also be able to join. The court ordered that it should be the representatives of the victims and the CNDH who make the decisions on the lines of investigation to pursue and the tests to be carried out, and that their presence will be required in order to validate any investigative action in the case.
The ruling is in line with and takes into consideration the findings published by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in their reports on the case.
In addition to the creation of the Investigative Commission, the court ordered other measures in order to guarantee the rights of both the accused and the victims. Among others, it ordered the prompt and impartial investigation into the allegations of torture, the proper assessment of the confessions, the review of the legality of the detentions and of the unjustified delay in bringing those detained before a competent authority, and the evaluation of compliance with the right to effective legal representation.
“This legal ruling correctly establishes that the victims are key actors in the processes of truth, justice and reparation and that their ongoing participation enriches and facilitates the investigation into the cases and the access to justice. It is imperative that the state comply with the court’s orders in good faith,” confirmed Guevara-Rosas.


Jaiprakash Associates Limited owes its lenders over Rs 30,000 crore and the sale of its cement assets is a vital component of its debtreduction strategy.
NEW DELHI: ICICI Bank, the lead banker for Jaiprakash Associates Limited (JAL), has invoked the strategic debt restructuring (SDR) provision, setting in play the process that could pave the way for the lenders cumulatively taking over the company. The development comes amid uncertainty over the sale of JAL’s cement assets to Kumar Mangalam Birla-owned UltraTech Cement.
According to people familiar with the development, UltraTech wants to reduce the ticket size of the Rs 15,900-crore transaction by cherrypicking only some of the assets, now possible under the recently amended Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation (MMDR) Act.
Sensing trouble, JAL and its lenders have sent feelers to other potential suitors, including JSW Group, some private equity firms such as KKR, and special situation funds scouting for large distressed opportunities in India.
The Aditya Birla Group has reacted to the developments promptly, and earlier this week UltraTech Cement is believed to have shot off letters to JAL’s lenders saying it has entered into a binding agreement with the company and that it is illegal to engage with anyone else for any negotiations for these assets.
JAL owes its lenders over Rs 30,000 crore and the sale of its cement assets is a vital component of its debtreduction strategy. Unsettled by the uncertainty over the transaction, ICICI Bank initiated the process of invoking SDR in a meeting of the joint lenders’ forum (JLF) on Tuesday.
“JLF will have three months’ time to either approve the SDR or reject it. During this period, the lenders will treat JAL as a regular account,” said a person familiar with the development.
The SDR process can be triggered when a company defaults on its repayment schedule. But until the time the lenders’ forum takes a call on SDR, the loan is not considered a non-performing asset.
A JAL spokesperson confirmed that ICICI Bank has marked the reference date of SDR as June 28. But she did not comment on ongoing discussions with UltraTech or other suitors. “We have nothing more to add,” she said.
ICICI Bank declined to comment. "ICICI Bank does not comment on client specific information," ICICI Bank spokesperson said.
An Aditya Birla Group spokesperson said the transaction with UltraTech was on course but declined to comment on whether letters have been sent to lenders warning them not to endorse the sale of cement assets to any other party.
In February this year, UltraTech agreed to buy Jaypee’s 21.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) cement capacity while leaving out just 10.6 MTPA of their portfolio in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The payment was expected to take place by June.
Banking industry executives say UltraTech now wants to tweak the deal and buy only a few select assets out of the pre-agreed 21MTPA. “UltraTech was also asking to reduce the deal size from Rs 15,900 crore to adjust the transfer fee that they need to pay for transfer of mines under the new MMDR Act,” said one of the persons quoted above.
But the Gaur family, which owns JAL, and their lenders have refused to adjust the amount in the deal size.
There are two conflicting views about the parallel discussions with alternative suitors. A leading financial investor said the lenders and JAL are using these as negotiating tactics to pressure Ultra-Tech to stick to the original deal, and added that the Aditya Birla Group company remains the frontrunner to seal the transaction.
But officials from two banks which are part of the lenders’ forum said negotiations with Sajjan Jindal’s JSW are at an advanced stage and that the Mumbaibased company is willing to offer a better deal, both in terms of ticket size as well as payment schedule, than Ultra-Tech. JSW had held discussions with JAL promoters in the past, but talks had broken down over valuation differences. The JSW spokesperson did not reply to ET’s query on the issue.
KKR, the private equity major, had earlier evinced an interest in the cement assets of JAL and is believed to have been approached again by the lenders. A KKR official declined to comment.
People familiar with the development said if a new party steps in now, it would have to complete the transaction by September 28, as the lenders’ forum will have to take a decision on SDR by then.


Jimmie Lewis Wilhoit, 73, of Osage Beach passed away Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008, at Truman Memorial Veterans' Hospital in Columbia.
Graveside services were at 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, at Siloam Cemetery in New Hartford.
Jimmie was born Aug. 2, 1935, in Bowling Green to Herman and Francis Lewis Wilhoit.
Survivors include Judy Payne of Osage Beach; daughter Merri Wilhoit of Columbia; and nephew Steven Hoeph of Bowling Green.


As an official report into the 2011 London riots is released, an angry, troubled generation is being ignored.
London, United Kingdom - Daniel, an 18-year-old from Newham, in London's east end, has one regret.
"I wish there was more time. More time to have shown them what I really could do."
I asked him: "And what exactly did you do?"
"Enough," he says slowly. "I did enough in what time I had."
I ask again: "What did you do that was enough?"
"I'm not giving you exact details," he says.
"Because I'm not," he says. "If I tell you exactly what I did, they'll get me for it, and they're never going to get me. But I can tell you I didn't loot a thing. I wasn't out to nick a pair of trainers or a telly - it wasn't about that. But put it this way, I went to bed happy that night. I slept well."
Daniel, of course, isn't his real name. He eventually agreed to this interview, but only if his anonymity was protected. We're talking about the night of August 8, 2011, when he took to the streets as the rest of the world watched London burn.
Seven months on from the worst civil disorder in England for decades, discarded in the gutter is a generation of ignored, angry young people desperately crying out for help. No one gives a damn about them, least of all the British government, who can only lambast them from their secure fortress inside Downing Street. Prime Minister David Cameron's esteemed analysis of the riots was: "This is criminality, pure and simple."
I am not attempting to become an apologist for those that set out with the intent to destroy and steal from businesses and homes, but this argument is not about stating the obvious regarding criminal behaviour. This argument is about not accepting and calling to account the oh-so-predictable attack from the indulged governing elite, who label our troubled, frustrated youth as "pure and simple criminals" that behave "in the only way they know how to". I wonder if it has occurred to the privileged, public schoolboys inside Number 10 to step down from their ivory towers and begin to understand why our future generation knows of no other way to express their anger and resentment at their dark, depressing existence, from which many can see no way out.
"This is criminality, pure and simple ... It has to be confronted and defeated."
Ironically, the PM followed his declaration of rioters' criminality with the proclamation: "It has to be confronted and defeated." He is absolutely right on that one. David Cameron has a heavy weight bearing down on his shoulders, and the more he continues to ignore it, the more pain it will inflict on him. Our government and society have an urgent responsibility to "confront and defeat" the destructive cycle that a large proportion of our future generation are trapped within, rather than tossing them back into the gutters, desperately hoping that no one will notice.
Back in Newham, Daniel tells me that if I were to live a day in his life, I too would have been out there rioting. He has been unemployed on and off since leaving school, and says there are no jobs where he lives. He talks me through a typical day of getting up late with nothing to look forward to, hanging around on the streets to avoid going insane in his bedroom and being stopped and searched by the police "so many times it all blurs into one".
Daniel says there is not one day when he is out, as a young black man, that he is not approached and confronted by the police.
"They manhandle me, it‘s always assumed that I'm holding a knife. I'm threatened - unless I hand it over 'things will get nasty'."
I ask: "And are you holding a knife?"
"No. I don't need to, and besides why would I carry one? The amount of times I'm stopped, it would be pretty stupid of me to carry one."
"Are you known to the police then? Are you saying it's because you're a young, black man that you are harassed?"
"They search me every day, they're gonna know me aren't they? I haven't been perfect forever; I'll admit that, nothing serious, just fights when I was younger. The fact is we are targets, I'm not asking for sympathy here, I'm not a victim but it's a different world being a young black guy surviving in a rough part of London. Unless you're trapped in this life, you'll never get it, it's too difficult to explain. The only people that get it are the ones that are in it and they've never known anything different."
Daniel tells me how he desperately wants a different life from the one he has, but admits it won't change as the toxicity of depression, with a lack of both motivation and opportunities, are too overwhelming to overcome. Thousands like him across London are fighting to survive. They are wilted, parched fish, gasping and gulping the fume-filled air as they struggle to keep their heads out of the murky dark waters that surround them. Eventually there is no alternative, but to surrender to the shark infested depths that await below.
Under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, police are allowed to stop and search people - without reasonable suspicion - antagonising and aggravating racial profiling in England. Despite insistence from the Metropolitan Police that "it is used mainly to tackle football hooliganism and gang fights" it appears this "legal right" is and has been abused. The latest research from the London School of Economics and the Open Society Justice Initiative shows under Section 60, black people in the UK are 30 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people.
The 5 days in August report from the Riots Communities and Victims Panel identified ongoing tensions with the police in relation to stop and search. In some instances, these tensions were cited as a motivating factor in the riots, including some of the attacks on the police. The report stated: "Where young law-abiding people are repeatedly targeted, there is a very real danger that ‘stop and search' will have a corrosive effect on their relationship with the police. As these young men become future parents these negative experiences will be passed on to another generation."
"The riots were payback to the police."
"They never listen to us - they did that day."
"They wanted to give the feds [the police] a bloody nose."
"No opportunities, no jobs - why not?"
"[The police] are just the biggest gang on the block - but they weren't that day."
As I read through the reasons from those explaining their involvement in the riots, it struck me how similar the responses were to Daniel's comments, despite him never reading the report. Throughout our interview he tells me repeatedly that the police are, without a doubt, a legalised gang.
"They are the biggest gang going; they rule the whole of London. We're assumed to be in gangs because we're black, young, stand on the street - and on occasions wear hoodies - but we're not going round terrorising people like they are. I'm honestly telling you the truth, I promise you, you wouldn't believe what they get away with."
I ask: "Have you ever filmed anything on your mobile to prove this?"
"Tried it, they take it off me and they've got back up everywhere, there's no point running."
One thing that strikes me about Daniel is that he doesn't seem particularly angry with the police or government, but is resigned to the fact (in a non-emotional way) that he is never going to be helped or supported to change his life from the one he is currently trapped in. I felt both sadness and anger at the way he was so accepting of this.
The Metropolitan Police did not respond to interview requests about the abuse of Stop and Search under Section 60 and allegations of fraught tensions between police officers and young black men.
"We only have to look at countries like Greece, Italy and Spain and the unrest there to see how those examples support the strongest possible social science evidence that the kinds of changes the UK government is pursuing generate social disorder."
Former government adviser Peter Taylor-Gooby has published academic research warning that futher government cutbacks will result in yet more riots. In his paper, Riots, demonstrations, strikes and the Coalition programme, Taylor-Gooby found high unemployment, increasing poverty and privatisation of public services led to increased social disorder.
Taylor-Gooby, a professor of social policy at the University of Kent, examined data from 1980-2005 from 26 developed countries, and found those with the most rapid increases in public spending cuts and poverty were also found in the top third of major civil unrest incidents. The same results were found for job insecurity and reliance on private - rather than welfare state - services.
He told me: "We only have to look at countries like Greece, Italy and Spain and the unrest there to see how those examples support the strongest possible social science evidence that the kinds of changes the UK government is pursuing generate social disorder."
Moreover, the discussion paper, Austerity and Anarchy: Budget Cuts and Social Unrest in Europe, 1919-2009 [PDF], found from the end of the Weimar Republic in Germany in the 1930s to anti-government demonstrations in Greece in 2010-11, austerity has tended to go hand-in-hand with politically motivated violence and social instability. The paper, released by the Centre for Economic Policy Research, examined the extent to which societies become unstable after budget cuts. The results show a clear, positive correlation between fiscal retrenchment and instability.
This coalition government that the UK is lumbered with for the next three years could not be doing any more to fuel the possibility of more social unrest with their current austerity measures. Their number one objective is reducing the deficit, and Chancellor George Osborne clearly has no qualms about slashing £8bn ($12.7bn) from public spending in 2015-16, and a further £7bn ($11bn) in 2016-17. To hell with growth and investment for everything and everyone else.
How can we ensure our future generation ever live in hope, with pirates like these in charge ferociously wielding their swords?
Given the current economic outlook in the UK, I do wonder why our angry youth haven't rioted more. Vital support networks, such as sure start centres and youth clubs, are no more. In a cruel twist of fate, frustrated teenagers in north London, angry over their youth club closures, predicted riots just days before they happened.
Moreover, how can the socially deprived ever have a chance of going to university with the abolishment of the Education Maintenance Allowance - introduced to help poorer students fund A Levels? The real reality of attending university is also now nothing but a distant, hazy blot on the horizon - as the government further let down our young people by trebling tuition fees to £9,000 ($14,300) a year.
"The central thrust of the workfare scheme is 'work for free or lose your benefits'."
The latest youth unemployment statistics from the Office of National Statistics show 1.04 million young people aged 16-24 in the UK are now out of work - the highest level for 16 years. Instead of the fortunate, highly educated (at Eton, for many) ministers tackling this, they are now having to plough their energy into mopping up the mess of one of the worst examples of slave labour they could dream up: the workfare scheme.
The central thrust of the workfare scheme is "work for free or lose your benefits". Needless to say, it has been an absolute disaster, and thankfully many companies, responding to recent public pressure, have realised exploiting our young and adding them to the grinding cogs in their huge corporate wheels equates to slave labour. Even though we all know what the answer is, the Commons work and pensions committee have now launched an inquiry to find out whether the government's approach to youth unemployment is working.
The deeply unpopular Health and Social Care Bill, savage disability reform, the capping of benefits - and projections [PDF] by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that at least 400,000 more children in the UK will be in poverty by 2015 - all make for devastating prospects for our future generation.
Contrary to popular belief, the main purpose of the riots was, for many, not to loot. The forgotten underclass saw a chance to fight back, to take control and be heard. Sheldon Thomas is a former gang member who was involved in the Brixton riots in 1981. After long spells in prison and finding faith, Thomas founded Gangsline, which offers support and exit strategies for those affiliated with gangs. He told me the riots weren't about an opportunity to steal a couple of hoodies or a pair of trainers, but about the invisible becoming visible.
"If they want to steal, they will," said Thomas. "It doesn't matter whether the shop is open or shut, the riots weren't about that. Social mobility in the UK is dead. We're talking about people who are so far below working class they don't exist, they're nothing - and when you're told that and believe that and you have one opportunity to be heard and noticed, you're going to take it.
"[On] the nights of the riots, the invisible became visible. In a sense it is already too late, but I pray the government will get their act together and attempt to reach out to those who critically need help and opportunities."
Reading back through the Riots Communities and Victims Panel's foreword to their research, the final findings of which were published today, I was struck by the following question the panel posed - and answered - which seemed to support the theories and interviews above.
"Will the riots happen again? The answer is quite possibly ‘yes'. This is why we need to work together to develop ideas which deal not only with the symptoms of the riots but with the deep-seated causes of dissatisfaction beneath."
"We have also noted a collective pessimism about the future. We were shocked by the number of young people we spoke to who had no hopes or dreams for their future."
I can't help but wonder if our government feels the same way.


In Shanghai, angry, middle-class protesters say a high-speed train will wreck their quality of life. This new form of dissent could be one of the biggest challenges China will face.
Shanghai's People's Square has been the site of vigorous middle-class protests over the impact of a high-speed maglev train on local quality of life.
Shanghai is famous for many things, from its eye-catching architecture to its historic role linking China to the world. But within the People’s Republic of China, the city also is revered for its central role in twentieth-century protests.
In the early 1900s, Shanghai workers staged some of China’s first strikes. The Cultural Revolution began in Beijing in 1966 with the Red Guards but peaked in the Shanghai uprising of 1967, when revolutionary groups, modeling themselves after the Paris Commune, took over the city government and the Communist Party Committee. And though the great upheaval of 1989’s Beijing Spring is rightly associated with Tiananmen Square, the student-led protests that paved the way for that epochal struggle took place two and a half years earlier, in Shanghai’s counterpart to that plaza, People’s Square.
This is worth remembering in light of what’s been happening lately in China’s largest city. For the last two weekends, protesters opposed to plans to extend the city’s fastest-on-earth magnetic levitation train–the maglev–took to the streets in marches that organizers dubbed “collective walks,” to avoid seeming too controversial when confronting a regime that often deals harshly with acts of dissent.
The maglev, which can rocket passengers at record-breaking speeds well over 200 miles per hour, currently connects the Pudong airport at the eastern edge of the metropolis to a nearby subway station. The authorities want it to do much more. The first extension in the works would link Pudong’s new airport to the old Hongqiao airport west of the city.
This has angered residents of some largely middle-class neighborhoods through which the new rail line would run. They claim that proximity to the path of noisy maglev trains would make their property values plummet, disturb the tranquillity of their homes and perhaps even pose health hazards to their children.
This is not the first time a novel mode of transportation has triggered a Shanghai protest. A century ago, rickshaw pullers smashed trams that threatened their livelihood. But as a longtime student of Shanghai protests, I can say with conviction that the anti-maglev protests aren’t quite like anything seen in the early 1900s or even Tiananmen times. Describing mass actions as “collective walks” is new, as is coordinating actions via text messages and having videos of marches uploaded onto YouTube.
This decidedly twenty-first-century form of protest in Shanghai resonates with recent demonstrations in other Chinese cities–notably the 2007 protests in Xiamen, again mostly led by members of a burgeoning new middle class, which successfully blocked the opening of a chemical plant. Both protests involve specific goals being pursued by people who do not challenge the government’s legitimacy but simply call on it to do a better job of listening to those in whose name it claims to rule–and make good on its own stated goals, such as working to improve the material well-being and quality of life of the Chinese population.
It would be a mistake to ignore parallels between the current Shanghai protests and earlier events in the city’s history that began with daily-life concerns and calls simply for greater government responsiveness, yet ultimately swelled into broader movements that challenged the legitimacy of an authoritarian ruling party. Protests of this sort took place in the 1940s against the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-Shek, triggered by hyperinflation. When students of the Tiananmen generation first took to the streets in Shanghai in the mid-1980s, their grievances were largely about the living conditions on campuses but mushroomed into a much more radical set of demands that caught the world’s attention in the Beijing Spring of 1989.
One enduring tendency in events of this sort, which is again seen in the anti-maglev agitation, is for protesters to play upon official slogans. The Communist Party has made a fetish of late of valuing “harmony” and “stability” and introducing reforms that improve the quality of life of ordinary people, in part by allowing them to own their own property. The anti-maglev protesters play upon these stated goals, insisting that the new rail line will undermine the “harmony” and “stability” of their neighborhoods and make their living conditions worse.
Protesters insist that what matters most to them is something very basic, which the regime has also promised to deliver–a government that will listen to the concerns of citizens and make a meaningful response.
The slogans of the Nationalists in the 1940s and the Communists in the 1980s were not identical, but the tendency of protesters to call on these regimes to live up to their stated ideals was the same. So, too, was the cry for officials to demonstrate a greater readiness to listen.
There are parallels here even with the Tiananmen protests, which Westerners often misremember as involving the same kind of demand for regime change that was heard that year in places like Poland. By contrast, in China even then the core demand of protesters was simply that the Communist Party make good on its promises–especially its promise to fight corruption–and engage in a true dialogue. Chinese students were willing to have Communist Party rule continue, but insisted that the country needed that organization to be run by people who would be more transparent, avoid nepotism (the most galling incidents of corruption often involve the family members of high-ranking officials), allow a greater degree of individual freedom and show concern for the people’s welfare.
If the current protests call to mind a single historical moment, it is not 1989 but 1986. And this is not just because protesters are again gathering in the same part of People’s Square where I saw students congregate a generation ago.
Then, as now, protesters were largely members of a highly articulate group with reason to feel good about the overall direction in which the country was heading. But this didn’t stop them from desiring a government less arbitrary and more willing to listen to their concerns.
The students of 1986 talked more about abstract ideals–including democracy–than the anti-maglev protesters have. But they also had specific grievances linked to daily life. Some complained about mandatory morning calisthenics. Others were angered that security guards had roughed up youths for dancing in the aisles at a recent concert by Jan and Dean, one of the first foreign pop groups to perform in China.
Chinese authorities today should keep in mind how things that happened in 1987 and 1988 worked to radicalize and alienate China’s university students. Shanghai’s students left the streets readily in 1986, once officials signaled that their patience was wearing thin and expressed concern that the demonstrations could end up harming the very reform process that the protesters wanted to speed up.
The youths felt pretty good, initially, about how things had gone. They had not accomplished anything specific but had been allowed to express their opinions without major reprisals.
But the situation soon deteriorated. The regime launched a campaign against “bourgeois liberalization,” viewed by the students as a step backward in terms of personal freedom. And Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang was demoted for having treated the protests too lightly–something that transformed him into a hero in the students’ eyes.
Even by 1989, many students viewed the Party as something that needed to be transformed, not toppled. But their regard for it had been damaged. This made it easy for protests to escalate quickly, once the unexpected death of Hu Yaobang brought them back out onto the streets.
Things are different now. Middle-class protesters in Xiamen and Shanghai have been more insistently focused on local issues with a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) dimension, such as the damaging effects that development can have to air quality and the danger of noise pollution, than were the students of two decades ago.
Still, China’s rulers should remember how easily authoritarian regimes can lose the good will of even those who like some things that the government is doing. This happened when Deng Xiaoping and company alienated a generation of students in the 1980s, and four decades before, when the Nationalist Party lost the respect of many members of that era’s urban middle class with brutal crackdowns, failing to curb official corruption and caring for little other than maintaining their control of the reins of government.
The history of Shanghai protest is filled with reminders of how dangerous it can be for a regime to appear unwilling to listen. While there may be risks to an authoritarian regime in allowing protests to continue unchecked, it may end up more damaged by leaping too quickly to treating any form of criticism as an unacceptable affront to authority.
In the lead-up to the Olympics, commentators in the West and in China have tended to focus on big issues. Some foreign critics have called for a boycott of the Games because of Beijing’s links to horrific actions taking place in Darfur and Burma. And Chinese Communist Party spokesmen assert that the Olympics will be a proud moment for all citizens of the PRC, since they will demonstrate that China is a major player on the global stage.
Thinking in international terms is certainly appropriate right now, given China’s large global footprint. Still, it is important not to lose sight of the importance of local issues. While some outsiders anticipate that 2008 will be a year when protests with an international dimension break out in China, it may be that the biggest challenge the government faces this year will turn out to be the one posed by a rapidly growing, highly articulate new social group with decidedly local concerns.


As the Senate geared up for a debate on the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill (McFein for short), which bans soft money, Democratic Senator Robert Torricelli was again grumbling about how the bill is flawed because it doesn’t close down the issue-ad loophole. He’s essentially right, but that’s no reason to vote against McFein, which does close another big loophole. If McFein passes, some soft money might be diverted to issue ads, but some would not, its sponsors believe. Sparking more valid concerns is a provision in the bill that bars corporations and unions from spending money on issue ads within sixty days of an election. That worries labor because the plan does nothing to curb individual spending on such ads. There are plenty of wealthy people with pro-corporate axes to grind. So even if corporate funding of issue ads is banned, the pro-business message will flood out in ads paid for by well-heeled individuals. Labor has few individual supporters with such deep pockets. The unions also oppose raising the $1,000 cap on hard money. Campaign reform groups are wobbling on this one, with some risking a compromise that would index hard-money limits to inflation. But any increase in the hard-money limit makes it easier for wealthy special interests to buy influence and access and does nothing to open up the system to ordinary Americans.
EXTRA! GORE WINS FLORIDA! HELLO?
The Palm Beach Post‘s recount of undervotes–hanging, dimpled, pinhole chads–gave Al Gore 784 additional votes in Palm Beach County. If the same recount method were followed statewide, Gore would win overwhelmingly. The butterfly ballots, on which confused voters marked both Gore and Pat Buchanan, cost Gore some 6,600 votes, the Post estimated; another 2,908 voted for Gore and Socialist David McReynolds.
There has been speculation recently that Jeb Bush may not run in 2002 because of “family concerns.” We hope he stays the course. It would be democracy’s loss if he didn’t give African-Americans and other Floridians a chance to register a protest against the electoral shenanigans last fall.
The bankruptcy bill passed by the House denies bankruptcy protection to small borrowers who get in over their heads. The bill contains a special provision exempting American partners in Lloyd’s of London from having to pay their share of the insurer’s added costs from payouts on recent disasters. The bill also protects wealthy deadbeats’ real estate holdings in Florida, Texas and other states that local laws have made into bankruptcy havens. Those laws allow the wealthiest debtors to convert their hidden assets into lavish homes, immune from seizure.
Another of Bush’s conflict-of-interest Cabinet members can join Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, the man from Alcoa, and the boys from Big Oil. Say hi to Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, who served on the board of directors of Northwest Airlines. Nothing to do with the untimely sixty-day cooling-off period Bush slapped on the mechanics’ union at Northwest.


RICHLAND -- The Falcons couldn't rally past the Grizzlies in CBBN 3A action.
Trailing 19-10 heading into the fourth quarter, Hanford's Cameron Wagar caught a 38-yard touchdown pass from Riley Shintaffer, but that was as close as the Falcons would get.
Shintaffer threw for 130 yards and two touchdowns, while Wagar rushed 16 times for 105 yards.
Hanford hosts Walla Walla at 7 p.m. Friday in a crossover game.
Han--Matt Jones 61 pass from Riley Shintaffer (Pete Hanson kick).
Sun--Rafael Salmeron 14 pass from Andrew Daley (kick failed).
Sun--Steven Monterrey 14 run (pass failed).
Sun--Monterrey 1 run (kick good).
Han--Cameron Wagar 38 pass from Shintaffer (kick failed).
RUSHING--S, Monterrey 33-194, Jacob Ross 4-1, Fernando Madrigal 2-7, Daley 7-(-23); H, Wagar 16-105, Shintaffer 3-(-11), Lamar Bowser 3-1, Matt McClendon 2-41, Chris Wilson 5-(-1).
PASSING--S, Daley 10-24-2--181. H, Shintaffer 4-15-2--130.
RECEIVING--S, Madrigal 4-40, Salmeron 3-104, Monterrey 3-37. H, Wagar 1-38, Finn McMichael 1-16, Jones 2-76.
FIRST DOWNS--S, 16; H, 8. FUMBLES-LOST--S, 1-0; H, 5-1. PENALTIES-YARDS--S, 3-25; H, 2-10.


A Bel Air man died after being shot Saturday by a Harford County deputy who was responding to a domestic dispute, a police spokeswoman said. Lt. Christina Presberry said the Harford County Sheriff's Department received a call about noon for a domestic argument in the 1000 block of Ellicott Drive in Bel Air. The suspect, a 23-year-old man, threatened a responding police officer with a knife. The officer felt his life was threatened and fired at the suspect, police said. The suspect was taken to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, where he died Saturday afternoon. The officer, who has served in the sheriff's office for five years, was not injured. Police declined to identify the officer or the suspect.
Two city firefighters were injured during a two-alarm fire Saturday morning in Charles Village. Fire Department spokesman Capt. Roman Clark said firefighters responded to a blaze in two structures in the 2500 block of N. Charles St., including one restaurant, at 7:40 a.m. Saturday. Heavy smoke was also pouring from an adjacent building. Fire officials said that the properties appeared to be vacant. One of the injured firefighters was treated at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center's burn center and released; the second was treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital's Wilmer Eye Institute. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Two adult men were shot in separate incidents Saturday night in Northeast Baltimore, city police said. In the first incident, the victim was shot in the back about 7:10 p.m. in the 1700 block of Ramblewood Road, according to spokesman Donny Moses. About 10:30 p.m., another man was shot in the stomach in the 6100 block of Belle Vista Ave. The victims' names were not released, and no additional details were available.
Baltimore City Councilwoman Helen L. Holton's lawyers have requested that her December trial be postponed while they attempt to appeal a recent ruling against her, according to papers filed Friday afternoon. Her lawyers had argued unsuccessfully that the campaign finance charges that she faces were brought in the wrong court. Holton has been charged with exceeding funding limits by accepting a $12,500 poll paid for by two Baltimore developers; Maryland law prohibits candidates from taking more than $4,000 per election cycle per donor. She is also charged with a funding violation for failing to funnel the payments through her campaign organization. Holton's lawyer, Joshua R. Treem, had made a technical argument that the charges should have been brought in a district court rather than a circuit court. Circuit Judge Dennis M. Sweeney dismissed that argument in a one-page ruling earlier this month.
More than four-dozen residents of a Howard County neighborhood awakened Saturday to find tires on their cars slashed or punctured. Howard County police said that the vandalism took place between midnight and 6 a.m. on five streets in the Clemens Crossing neighborhood of Hickory Ridge in Columbia. About 50 residents who live on Blue Arrow Court, Eclipse Way, Fair Oaks, Quarter Staff Road and White Washer Way were affected.


Lindsay Lohan was a no-show at Saturday’s Life Ball in Vienna, Austria. “At the beginning of the day, they handed out a list of the dressing rooms,” says a spy. “Lohan had the biggest one blocked off for her. But by the end of the day, when they handed out updates, she was off the list. She never showed up.” According to a source, flights and hotels were paid for by the organization, and Lohan missed her flight.
For the record, The Life Ball is one of the biggest HIV/AIDS fundraisers in Europe, and brings in big name singers, gay icons, and even Bill Clinton. And Lindsay couldn’t even be bothered to get on her free airplane to fly to her free hotel because … I don’t know. How much gin do you need running through your veins before any of that makes sense? Trick question! The answer is ALL OF IT.


BOWIE, Md. — The Elizabeth City State women's basketball team lost to Bowie State 70-53 Saturday afternoon at Bowie State University.
WINSTON-SALEM — The Mid-Atlantic Christian men’s basketball team lost to Piedmont International 101-58 Thursday evening.
18 stories in MACU. Viewing 1 through 10.


ESPN.com’s Eamonn Brennan has a nice Wichita State tribute story on the website today. He writes how the Shockers redeemed their undefeated season with their only loss in the classic NCAA tournament matchup with Kentucky. At the end of the piece, Brennan looks ahead to next season, predicting dominance again from WSU in the Missouri Valley.
What we expect to see: Another Wichita State hegemon.
That’s the No. 1 thing to expect. Even without Early and fellow seniors Nick Wiggins and Chadrack Lufile, Wichita State will have Ron Baker and VanVleet, the reigning MVC player of the year, back next year. Another crop of juco big men join them, as do starters Darius Carter and Tekele Cotton. There is no reason to expect anything but another dominant Shockers campaign — especially relative to competition.
How good will that competition be? Northern Iowa will have just about everyone back, most notably junior forward Seth Tuttle — the only non-Shocker to crack the stats-based Pomeroy all-conference list. Indiana State will likely take a step back, but the Panthers should take a major step forward. A 16-15 finish is not the goal. A tournament bid is not outside the norm.
Other than that, it’s hard to find other MVC contenders in the mix. The good news for Wichita State? Even if the Shockers spend another three months beating an overwhelmed conference to a pulp, no one will need convincing come March.


The Vice Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Professor Eyitope Ogunbodede in this interview with Funmi Ogundare, explained why universities in the country must be repositioned, contribute meaningfully to governance and solve some of the challenges confronting it, saying the move will oblige government to assist them.
You graduated from OAU, how has it been transiting from being a student to becoming VC?
I was a student on this campus , had my Masters on Dental surgery, then I joined the university as a medical training fellow and became a professor in 2000. I was Dean of the faculty of Dentistry and also Provost of the health sciences from 2007 to 2009 and also served as a member of the council of OAU between 2007 and 2009. There is a little deference between a student and a professor in a university because you are reading all the time. As the students are reading, you must also read ahead of them .
In terms of your day-to- day routine, its almost the same, but you are giving some powers and authority as a staff which you will not be able to exercise as a student. You must know that some of these positions are very transient. Your status as a senior lecturer or professor is permanent. The university system is almost transient, you are dean or director, but as VC, I also realised that it is a transient position . It is a five- year term and already I have just completed one year and I am just starting the second one.
One year on, how has it been managing your authority as VC?
It has been quite interesting because each day has it own experience. What you see on day-to-day basis, is not something you expect most of the time. You find that on daily basis, there are changes. They are not things that you read in a text book , neither are they things that you have to find a source for you to be able to solve the problems. Its a gamut of experience to be able to attend to some of those issues. In terms of administration, I have gone through that, but in terms of management of human beings and the unions, you never can say you have all that is required, because each situation will dictate the way you approach it.
So over the last one year, I am happy that I have been able to lay a very solid foundation for the university. I came in at a time when the university was having quite a lot challenges. But for now, we have been able to let people know what we have come to do and the way we ought to approach it . People are beginning to understand the strategies for development in the university. We have now being able to engender an atmosphere of peace and progress, we have also been able to harness the resources that have been lying waste over the years.
With the African Centre of Excellence (ACE) project, how has OAU being to promote regional specialisation among participating universities and strengthening their capacities to deliver high quality training and applied research?
As far as the project is concerned, we are able to recruit postgraduate students from all West African countries, and for the first time, we are able to boost our international students enrollment. It is compulsory that we train people from French- speaking countries in English, so we have been able to work with our department of English to strengthen them in the use of the language in their first three months of been here. Already, we are opening up the West African environment to ICT.
Aside just bringing them to OAU, we also travel to their different countries to train them. We have exchange programmes with universities in Senegal , Ivory Coast and Ghana. Many of the universities come to OAU and our students are free to also go there, but the ones that have been so productive is their coming to audit our masters and PhD courses. There are over 50 of them here. So far, we are the only university in Nigeria now that can boast of some specialised areas of ICT like cyber security, information technology and we have also developed some programmes in software engineering. There is no other university in Nigeria that can boast of such. There are 15 programmes approved by the NUC for masters amd PhD only for OAU.
Would you say these programmes have helped to boost student’s competiveness globally?
I wouldn’t say globally because most of the student we have on the programme now are from West African countries, so OAU has already positioned itself as the regional hub for postgraduate training in the area of ICT.
What projects has your institution embarked on to position the students globally?
Part of the project is the development of an incubation centre which means when you have an idea, the project will assist and nurture you to bring that idea to the level of marketability . What is happening now is that we are producing directors who have already registered their companies to develop software, patent it amd work with the industries to put it in the market . Already we have the Intellectual Property Transfer Office (IPTTO) to patent their products. We also have a project that help people develop and refine ideas. They give you the space to work on it technologically . Once you are able to refine the idea, they help you to register it , and give you an incubation center where you will now grow your business. Once you are able to stabilise your business, you leave the centre so that others can come in.
With all the projects, where is OAU on the webometric ranking and what moves are you making towards moving up the ladder?
We have 106 programmes at OAU, so when you talk about a programme in ICT, its just one of them. Ranking can be in terms of programme or course, or university as a whole. But when it comes to ranking in ICT, OAU is number one in Nigeria. It is the only university that can talk of a centre of excellence in software engineering, even in Africa. So when you talk of ranking in Nigeria, presently, we are ranked number three. It depends on the attention you give to your website, the number of PhD students you have produced and how you input them on your website. What we have discovered is that most of the things we are doing are not really on our website and that is why we are number three, but we are working on it to ensure that everything comes on our website.
Funding seems to be a challenge in public institutions, how can they overcome these challenges?
I tend to disagree that funding is a challenge, I think a greater challenge in our public institutions is leadership. Take OAU for instance, we have over 100,000 alumni making waves all over the world who are actually ready to contribute to the development of the university. But what are we doing? Are we actually extending our requests to them? In terms of funding, we need leadership and vision , you need to be able to convince the resources out there to support your university that you are capable and able to utilise what they give you.
But what I see in Nigerian universities is that the resources are there, we cannot harness the resources, except with their dependence on government. So when government gives you the money, the capacity to utilise it, is not even there . We can do with more funding. In OAU, we have our funding to be doubled by the federal government, but it doesn’t mean that with able leadership, doubling your funding will translate to progress . Even with the funding coming into the universities , what is their contribution to development, governance and the general problems of the country on employment, herdsmen attack and terrorism? It is virtually nil .
So we need to reposition the universities. When they are positioned in such a way that they can contribute effectively to development in the country, the government will be obliged to make more contributions. Even individuals will come to the university to seek for solutions for their problem. But when the universities have not been able to solve their own problems internally , how then will they be able to solve external problems? That is what we are facing and that is why we are trying to reposition the university in such a way that we can blaze the trail and let people know that these things are possible and the universities can be useful , effective and efficient and we can also solve our own problems internally without necessary asking those who are looking up to us for leadership and governance, to help us.
Recently, OAU had problems accrediting some of its programmes with NUC, how were you able to sort it out?
Twice in a year, the NUC go round all Nigerian universities to accredit courses and once you are accredited, its for five years, if it is full accreditation, its for two years, it could also be an interim accreditation. So what happens is that the NUC came to the institution in December last year and accredited about 37 courses, so from our 106 programmes that we have, we had 101 with full accreditation. These five programmes had interim accreditation, that means they are not up to full accreditation, but they are deemed to be okay for you to go ahead. But then, because they were already on interim, before the last accreditation, it is interpreted as denied .
In terms of the standards of those programmes, they are not worse than what is going on in other Nigerian universities. But then, they are not qualified for full accreditation because they got interim. There are some universities that do not have 50 per cent of their programmes accredited. If you go to some first generation universities, most of them have courses that are not accredited. Here in OAU, for instance, we have done our beat. In Dentistry, we have more than N83 million released through the TETfund to augment the dental programme in the university. So we are sure that by November or December when the NUC come back for accreditation , all the issues raised will have been sorted out . For the law programme, it has to with the number of students in the class and lecturers that we have.
What is your Benchmark for Minimum Academic Standard?
When you talk about standard, it is a comparative thing. As far as OAU is concerned, our standard is to be the best in Africa. We may not be able to attain the best in the world for now , but in the next two or three years, we can become the best and that is the standard we are aiming for.


LAKE WYLIE -- Xtreme Youth Sports football practice is under way at Crowders Creek schools. Practice goes through Aug. 15.
Xtreme Youth Sports has been asked to be one of the teams to host the televised NFL Little Panthers Game of the Week and will play at Memorial Stadium in September. The children will get autographs from NFL players and shake hands with Sir Purr.


The judge conducts an 'undemocratic' hearing, refusing to hear all sides, defense lawyers say.
Can Thi Theu’s 20-month term coincides with a construction boom and new scrutiny on human rights.
They have destroyed the structure and moved all statues and other belongings to a new location, the abbot says.
The place of worship sits in an area that is planned for a lucrative development project.
No one appears to have been injured or detained, a villager says.
Thousands take to the streets in the central coastal region because residents still have no jobs and children cannot return to school.


President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday arrived Bauchi, the Bauchi State capital, on a two-day visit to the state.
The president, who arrived the Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa International Airport, Bauchi at about 10.22am went straight to inspect a guard of honour.
He then performed the official commissioning of the Nigerian Air Force Reference Hospital, NAF Base, Bauchi.
While in Bauchi, the president is expected to commission some other projects especially roads and flag off the distribution of 500 tractors to farmers in the state.
Earlier in a broadcast to the state, the Bauchi State Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar had enjoined the people of the state to come out en mass to receive the president.


The former Viking star is the leading scorer at NCAA Division III Wisconsin Eau Claire, in the town his father's family is from.
If you are wondering what happened to Cole Rabedeaux, the 6-foot guard who lit up local basketball courts with his high-scoring performances for North Kitsap, we have found him.
Rabedeaux, the second athletic son of Stephanie Kunold – Beau is the oldest – is in his junior year at NCAA Division III Wisconsin Eau Claire and doing quite well for the Blugolds. He’s the starting two-guard, is the team’s leading scorer at 17.1 points and is shooting 45 percent from the three-point line (42-93).
He was named Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) athlete of the week in early January for his impressive performance during the Music City Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. In the Blugolds' two games, Rabedeaux went off for 74 points, scoring 30 in an 80-77 overtime loss to Bridgewater State of Massachusetts and a career-high 44 the next night in an 81-47 victory over Mt. Aloysius of Pennsylvania. Against Mt. Aloysius, Rabedeaux set school records for made three-pointers (11) and attempts (18), making 16 of 25 field goal attempts in 33 minutes of play.
Rabedeaux had an even bigger scoring game in high school, dropping 46 on Jan. 5, 2016, in a 71-54 North Kitsap win over Port Angeles. That is four points from the school record of 50 set by Tim Heins in 1983 against Central Kitsap, and one point from the 47 that Jerry Hogan scored in a 1988 against Olympic.
This is the second year at Eau Claire for Rabedeaux, a 2016 graduate of NK. He spent his first year out of high school at Peninsula College in Port Angeles, where he averaged nearly 15 points a game.
Last year, Rabedeaux moved into the starting lineup after the team’s second game and averaged 6.7 points for the Blugolds, who struggled to a 4-10 record in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) and 12-13 overall. This year the Blugolds are doing much better and are 3-3 in conference and 10-7 overall.
Rabedeaux's late dad, Jason Rabedeaux, was a three-sport star at Eau Claire Memorial High School. He was all-state in basketball and baseball and quarterbacked the football team to the state semifinals his senior year. People around Eau Claire still remember him.
The summer after his first year at Peninsula, Rabedeaux went to Eau Claire to visit his grandmother and uncles Jeff and Jack Rabedeaux. One of his uncles told him the college was holding open gym and that he should go play.
Coach Matt Siverling liked what he saw.
“We connected a little bit and I asked him if he would like to play for us,” said Siverling, who could see that Cole was tenacious on the court, could handle the ball and shoot it and had a passion and work ethic for the game.
So Rabedeaux decided to stay and live with his grandmother. Athletic scholarships are not offered at the D-III level, but Rabedeaux nevertheless has found a place where he fits in.
The WIAC is a very high level of D-III competition. Wisconsin-Stevens Point has won four national D-III championships since 2004, Wisconsin-Whitewater won national crowns in 2012 and 2014 and last year Wisconsin-Oshkosh finished second.
Wisconsin-Eau Claire lost the title game in 2000 and Wisconsin-Platteville won three titles from 1995-1999, including back-to-back in 1998 and '99.
So the competition is good for guys like Rabedeaux, whose work ethic is on full display as he spends much of his time in the gym.
This all started when Rabedeaux was two years old and the family – his mother, brother and sister Riley – moved to Bainbridge to live in his maternal grandmother’s home.
Rabedeaux played other sports until the eighth grade, when he realized basketball was his best sport and decided to focus on that.
Rabedeaux is hoping that if he continues to perform well this year and has a good senior season next year, he can transition into playing professional overseas.
Coaching is in the family. Cole’s dad Jason, after playing at California-Davis (he is in the school’s Hall of Fame), was an assistant coach at Washington State and Oklahoma and head coach at UTEP before going overseas to coach. He died in Saigon in 2014.
Brother Beau played baseball at Jamestown in North Dakota, leading the Jimmies to three national tournaments, and is in his first year as graduate assistant baseball coach at William Penn (Iowa) while studying for his master’s in business leadership.


Newton North's Ezra Pemstein (30) and Ethan Wright (14) put the defensive squeeze on Brookline's Blake Burke (11) in Tuesday night’s Bay State Conference clash.
The top-ranked Newton North boys’ basketball team often follows the lead of star senior Ethan Wright, but the Tigers are not a one-man band.
On Tuesday afternoon, Newton North wrapped up its 13th consecutive win against Eastern Mass. competition by pulling away from Bay State Conference rival Brookline for an 80-69 road victory.
While Wright had his usual standout effort with 34 points — on 15 of 34 shooting from the field — he struggled to find his offense as Brookline (10-5, 5-3) took a 27-16 lead early in the second quarter.
In stepped Aaron Cooley to spark the Tigers.
The 6-foot-5-inch sophomore led a 12-2 run in the second quarter, trimming the deficit to 36-32 by halftime.
Then Cooley helped Newton North (14-3, 7-1) seize control with 11 points and five rebounds in the third quarter as the Tigers outscored the Warriors, 26-8,to take a commanding 58-44 lead into the fourth.
Cooley shot 8 of 9 from the field and a perfect 7 for 7 at the free throw line for 23 points. He added a game-high 12 rebounds.
The Tigers won the rebounding battle, 47-21, and scored 52 points in the paint, including 16 from Cooley.
After going scoreless in the second quarter, Wright began to heat up in the third quarter and caught fire down the stretch, scoring 22 second-half points.
His second 3-pointer of the game gave North its largest lead (66-49) with 6:26 remaining, and the Tigers were able to hang on from there.
Abington 83, Calvary Christian 63 — Bryson Andrews scored 19 points to lead the Green Wave (9-6).
Franklin 63, Taunton 51 — Senior Jack Rodgers led the Panthers (15-1) with 16 points.
Cohasset 69, Southeastern 45 — Junior Thatcher Stone recorded 25 points as the Skippers (10-6) qualified for the state tournament for the eighth straight year.
Malden 79, Saugus 40 — Senior guard Tyler Holness scored 36 points for the Golden Tornadoes (11-5) in the road victory.
Lynn Classical 78, Danvers 35 — Senior forward Edwin Solis led the Rams (11-4) with 15 points.
Bellingham 70, Norton 50 — Junior guard Corey Chiappone had 19 points and junior forward Michael Reissfelder added 18 points for the Blackhawks.
Winchester 48, Reading 37 — Guard Joe McCarron scored 18 points for the Sachems (12-5).
King Philip 68, Oliver Ames 60 — Senior guard Pharoah Davis scored 19 points and junior forward Kyle Layman had 17 for the Warriors (3-12).
Hamilton-Wenham 59, North Reading 54 — Jake Lanciani (19 points) led the way for the Generals (13-2).
Brockton 90, New Bedford 59 — Senior Jarice Harris led the No. 5 Boxers (15-1) with 17 points.
Whitman-Hanson 71, Pembroke 56 — Sean Leahy scored 21 points and Jacob Hanson-Bartlett added 17 to spark the Panthers (11-4, 9-2).
Rockland 56, East Bridgewater 40 — Senior Zach Sharland paced the Bulldogs (12-2) with 13 points.
South Boston 73, Fenway 72 — Yanniel Balbuena scored 21 points to eclipse the 1,000-point milestone and lead the Knights (9-6).
Scituate 75, North Quincy 51 — Senior Abel Lopes Jr. scored 22 points for the Sailors (10-5).
Austin Prep 55, Saint Joseph Prep 31 — The Cougars (10-3) qualified for the state tourney for the third straight season.
Westford 54, Weston 39 — Senior captain Robbie Hudson led the Grey Ghosts with 14 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.
Apponequet 74, Somerset Berkley 69 — Andy Johnson led the Lakers (15-0) with 23 points.
Quincy 62, Duxbury 41 — Senior guard Damyan Markov (14 points) powered the Presidents into the state tourney.
Cardinal Spellman 76, Arlington Catholic 60 — Sophomore Craig Faria pumped in 27 points and senior AJ Jaramillo had 18 for the Cardinals (11-5).
Bancroft 75, Gann Academy 61 — Anthony Marguerite (27 points), Carlo Mannina (25 points, 15 rebounds) and Randy Pierce (11 points, 4 steals) paced the host Bulldogs (8-9) past the Red Heifers (7-9).
Bourne 48, Wareham 39 — The Canalmen (8-7) were led by Emma Fenton (16 points, 9 rebounds).
Matignon 61, Pope John 40 — The Warriors (14-0) continued their undefeated season, led by Katty Haidel (22 points, 18 rebounds).
Shawsheen 58, Minuteman 19 — Junior Shannon Fitzgerald led the Rams (10-3) with 15 points.
Newton South 52, Concord-Carlisle 32 — Senior Veronica Burton poured in 27 points as the top-ranked Lions (14-0) rolled to a Dual County League win.
Pentucket 60, Ipswich 21 — Jess Galvin recorded 15 points for the No. 18 Sachems (16-1).
Lincoln-Sudbury 80, Waltham 49 — Sofia Rosa scored 19 points for the Warriors (8-7).
Hingham 49, Plymouth South 25 — Sophomore Ryley Blasetti’s 13 points and five rebounds paced the Harborwomen (7-8), while sophomore Grace Bennis added nine points.
Mansfield 58, Attleboro 40 — Senior center Meg Hill (21 points, 12 rebounds) closed within 7 points of 1,000 for her career for the No. 10 Hornets (14-4).
Whitman-Hanson 51, Pembroke 36 — Junior Erin Leahy paced the Panthers (11-5) with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Everett 61, Marblehead 37 — Senior Yasmeen Guerrier scored 25 points for the visiting Crimson Tide (10-4).
Abington 44, Carver 42 — Shooting guard Lauren Keleher had 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Green Wave (11-5).
Hopkinton 57, Dover-Sherborn 29 — Senior Ivy Gogolin had 16 points and 13 rebounds for the No. 8 Hillers (12-4).
North Reading 53, Hamilton-Wenham 36 — Junior guard Casey McAuliffe had 19 points to lead the Hornets (11-4) at home.
Scituate 49, North Quincy 41 — Junior Jaycie Rojik paced the Sailors (10-7, 9-2) with 20 points.
Franklin 69, Taunton 42 — Sophomore forward Ali Brigham had 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Panthers (11-6).
Westford 65, Weston 34 — Junior guard Brooke Pillsbury paced the fourth-ranked Grey Ghosts (12-3) with 18 points.
Lowell Catholic 43, Marian 19 — Emily Bartlett paced the Crusaders (6-7, 5-1) with 15 points in the Catholic Central League matchup.
Archbishop Williams 53, Bishop Fenwick 36 — Behind 14 points from Asiah Dingle and another 12 from Jess Knight, the No. 3 Bishops erased a 6-point halftime deficit for a Catholic Central win.
Silver Lake 49, Hanover 41 — Sophomore guard Holly Reeder-Morning had 16 points to lead the Lakers (11-4) on the road.
Milton 52, Fontbonne 41 — Senior Jeanmarie Fallon had 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots as the host Wildcats (7-8) stunned the 17th-ranked Ducks (11-2).
Junior Meghan Kelly added 12 points.
Norton 66, Bellingham 47 — Senior center Meg Nichols lifted the Lancers (5-9) with 24 points.
Malden 35, Saugus 31 — Junior forward Tiffany Tortora finished with 14 points for the Golden Tornadoes.
St. Mary’s 3, BC High 2 — Senior forward Anthony Bono scored the winner — his ninth goal of the season — with 47.4 seconds left to lift the No. 13 Spartans (10-3-4) past the second-ranked Eagles (12-4-1) at UMass Boston, halting BC High’s 11-game winning streak.
Nobles 4, Groton 0 — Junior center Maddie Bayard scored a pair of goals for the Bulldogs (17-2-2).


Saudi Arabia is using cash recovered from officials and princes arrested in a corruption crackdown to ease the pain of austerity.
The kingdom says it has lost at least $100 billion to corruption, and some of that is now being handed back to the government as part of settlements agreed with suspects.
"We have received some money in the bank," Saudi finance minister Mohammed Al Jadaan told CNNMoney's Richard Quest on Thursday. "But most of the assets are unlikely to be in cash. As you can imagine it is in assets, real estate -- it is going to take some time to be liquidated."
Speaking earlier at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Al Jadaan said some of the cash recovered will be used to fund handouts for the 70% of Saudi nationals who are state employees.
At a cost of about 50 billion riyals ($13 billion), the government earlier this month announced an annual bonus for all state employees, and a monthly allowance of 1,000 riyals ($266) for government employees for a year. There was also a 10% stipend increase for students, a bonus for soldiers and a tax break for first-time home buyers.
The measures were aimed at easing the pain of austerity designed to reduce Saudi Arabia's budget deficit. They came less than a week after the government introduced a 5% sales tax on most goods, and doubled gas prices.
Saudi Arabia is experiencing rapid change as part of its Vision 2030 to diversify the economy away from oil.
The corruption clampdown is part of that.
In a surprise sweep in November, Saudi authorities arrested dozens of royals, businessmen and senior government officials. Those arrested included billionaire businessman and global investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Saudi media mogul Waleed Al-Ibrahim.
The unorthodox detentions -- the suspects have been confined to the luxury Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh while they negotiate their release -- initially rattled investors.
But the Saudi stock market has since bounced back, and foreign investors are looking for opportunities to take advantage of the opening up of the biggest economy in the Middle East.
Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone, said the changes were "astonishingly bold."
"The more change, the more opportunity for something to go wrong. It's important not to overreact when that happens," he said in Davos.
It would take a while for the international investors to commit, he added, but Saudi Arabia was clearly an opportunity "you can't miss."
Al Jadaan said the crackdown would pay dividends in the long term.
"We are creating a level playing field," he told CNNMoney. "Our country's message is very clear that we have zero tolerance to corruption and we want to move ahead and create an investment environment."


Crunch time: It's just one day before the midterm election. The polls, at least in everything besides the U.S. Senate race, are close. Are you ready?
Get ready: Kyle Kondik, the political analyst for the University of Virginia and Ohio native, is the guest on the latest episode of Ohio Matters, the cleveland.com politics podcast. If you don't subscribe yet, you should. You can sign up on iTunes or Google Play, just to name a couple of options.
Legendary: Musician John Legend on Sunday made campaign appearances in Cincinnati and Cleveland, where he shared the stage with Democratic governor candidate Richard Corday and Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. Legend closed the Cleveland rally by singing a song from his Grammy-award winning song, "Glory," writes cleveland.com's Hannah Drown. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez also was on hand for the Cincinnati and Dayton events.
Republican governor candidate Mike DeWine had a busy weekend of campaign stops, including appearances in Cleveland, Geauga County and Toledo. U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, the Republican Senate candidate, campaigned Saturday with Rep. Bill Johnson in Columbiana County and then Sunday with Sen. Rob Portman in Bowling Green.
For your watchlist: Cleveland.com's Jeremy Pelzer ran down his 12 top Ohio state legislative races to watch. They include Ohio's Senate DIstrict 3 between Republican Anne Gonzales and Democrat Tina Maharath and Senate District 5 between Democrat Paul Bradley and Republican Stephen Huffman.
Deja vu: Former Vice President Joe Biden made his second trip to Northeast of the week when he headlined a Saturday get-out-the-vote rally for Democratic hopefuls. As cleveland.com's Seth Richardson reports, his speech was essentially the same as one in Youngstown earlier last week, but with a noted emphasis on pushing people to the polls.
Hitting pause: Zack Space, the Democratic state auditor candidate, canceled his scheduled appearance at the Biden event to visit his mother, who is in failing health, according to a statement issued by the Space campaign.
Trumped up stakes: Tuesday's midterm election is a referendum on Donald Trump's presidency, Eric Trump said during a campaign stop in Canton on Friday. "He's 100 percent on the ballot because if we don't hold the House, if we don't hold the Senate, it's going to be so much harder to get anything done," Trump said, according to cleveland.com's Andrew Tobias. "They will make his life miserable." Trump was there to boost Renacci's campaign for Senate and Rep. Bob Gibbs' re-election campaign.
As a reminder: President Donald Trump is appearing in Cleveland this afternoon. His campaign says the rally at the IX Center will start around 3 p.m.
Also today: Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will campaign in Cleveland Monday morning at the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party headquarters with Steve Dettelbach, the former Northern Ohio U.S. Attorney and current Ohio attorney general candidate.
Air raid: Bloomberg News analyzed more than 3 million 2018 election ads across the country and mapped the results of what types of commercials are playing where. Health care was unsurprisingly number one, but deeper trends were also explored, such as there being more ads critical of Trump from Republicans than Democrats and Democrats running more agricultural-related ads than Republicans.
Fitz sighting: Ed FitzGerald, the former Cuyahoga County executive and 2014 gubernatorial candidate, was among those who wrote a letter of support for a businessman convicted of embezzling from his company's employee pension fund, writes cleveland.com's Eric Heisig. C. David Snyder, 66, nonetheless was sentenced to two years in federal prison on Thursday.
Another rare sight: After largely making himself scarce in the race to replace him, Ohio Gov. John Kasich made a campaign appearance for Mike DeWine in Columbus on Friday. "He looks at politics like we're all part of his family," Kasich said, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer's Jessie Balmert and Jackie Borchardt.
Also on Kasich's schedule: The possible 2020 candidate has scheduled Monday appearances on CNN, MSNBC, The View and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, according to the Columbus Dispatch's Randy Ludlow.
RIP: Daniel Best, a pharmaceutical executive from Bay Village who was appointed in March to lead U.S. Department of Health and Human Services initiatives to lower prescription drug prices, has died, writes cleveland.com's Sabrina Eaton. HHS Secretary Alex Azar announced Best's death in a Thursday statement.
Yikes: Listeners of a Cincinnati radio station were subjected to ads spouting an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory over the weekend. The Cincinnati Enquirer's Scott Wartman writes that WLW management said under federal law, they had no choice but to run the campaign ad purchased by Jim Condit, Jr., a Green Party candidate for Ohio's 2nd Congressional District. The local Green party and 2nd District candidate Jill Schiller, a Democrat, both denounced the ad on Twitter.
Yikes again: In a Friday article, Ludlow excerpted passages from State Sen. Kris Jordan and Delaware County Recorder Melissa Jordan's messy divorce trial. Mrs. Jordan described an incident in which she said her husband, a Republican now running for the Ohio House, broke a car window with a snow shovel and then fired a gun into the ground. The same testimony, which Kris Jordan denied, made its way into a recent campaign commercial from Cory Hoffman, Jordan's Democratic opponent.
Five things we learned from Rep. Timothy Schaffer's April 9 financial disclosure statement. Schaffer, a Lancaster Republican, is running for re-election in House District 77.
1. Schaffer is the executive director of the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers, earning $25,000 to $49,999. In the Ohio House, he earned $66,943.93 last year.
2. Schaffer also is the executive director of the Engineer Foundation of Ohio and the Ohio Society of Association Directors, although he didn't report compensation for those positions.
3. He is investing in a pension with the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, a 401(k) in Lincoln Financial and has an annuity with Great American Insurance Group.
4. The House reimbursed him $1,530.88 for mileage between home and Columbus. He received a $1,218.81 reimbursement for 2016 travel to a National Conference of State Legislatures event.
5. He received a $149 legislator of the year award from the International Interior Design Association.
"Thank God this is ending."
- Cincinnati Enquirer politics columnist Jason Williams on the nasty 1st Congressional District election between Republican Rep. Steve Chabot and Democrat Aftab Pureval.


The Bank of England looks set to raise interest rates on Thursday (2 August) to their highest level since the financial crisis, defying warnings that it is taking a gamble ahead of Brexit, the terms of which remain unclear.
The Bank of England said a transition period after the Britain leaves the European Union would give banks more time to make orderly changes as Brexit poses risks to financial stability.
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney called today (7 April) for Britain and the EU to reach a sweeping deal to recognise each other’s bank rules after Brexit or risk a potentially damaging hit to financial services across Europe.
The Brexit vote has shaken the City of London but will not destroy it despite creating uncertainty, the newly-installed Lord Mayor of the financial hub told AFP.
British retail spending bounced back in July as sales promotions and good weather outweighed any immediate concern about the consequences of Britain's decision to leave the European Union, a survey showed on Tuesday (8 August).
The Bank of England on Thursday slashed interest rates to a record low 0.25 percent and announced a vast stimulus package to combat economic fallout from Britain's looming EU exit.
Activity in Britain's crucial services sector sank in July following the vote to leave the EU, a survey by the research Markit group showed today (3 August), making a recession more likely.
Sterling traded below a recent one-month high against the dollar on Monday (8 February), as uncertainty about Britain's place in the European Union and diminishing rate hike prospects kept investors cautious.
Former EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has warned eurosceptics that a British renegotiation of its relationship with Europe after a ‘Brexit’ would take up to a decade.
The European Union's plans to boost market-based financing for its flagging economy risks harming consumers unless there is more emphasis on investor protection, Britain's top markets regulator said on Monday.
Mark Carney, the Governor the Bank of England, has urged the eurozone to move towards fiscal union and end its hardline austerity policies in a bid to promote growth.


Fears of a double dip recession were revived today as shock figures showed an economic decline of 0.5 per cent for the end of last year.
The Government blamed the unexpected plunge between October and December - which ended 12 months of growth - on the big freeze and refused to change course.
But experts insisted it was not solely to blame and raised serious concerns about the strength of the economy to withstand the coalition's drastic spending cuts.
The fall in GDP - the first since the third quarter of 2009 - was driven by a 0.5 per cent drop in the key services sector which makes up more than 75 per cent of the economy.
Taking the drop into account, the total growth for 2010 stands at 1.4 per cent which is well below analysts' forecasts.
The figures, from the Office for National Statistics, are preliminary estimates and subject to revision but will spark fresh questions about the Government's approach.
The City responded with alarm with the FTSE-100 in the red and Sterling falling.
They also pile pressure onto Bank of England governor Mervyn King who is tasked with taming inflation and supporting growth.
He is due to give a speech later today but analysts warned the contraction meant an imminent rates rise - needed to offset soaring inflation - was now inconceivable.
Howard Archer, chief European& UK economist at IHS Global Insight, said: 'This is a stunningly bad outcome - it is a performance far worse than even the most pessimistic of forecasts.
Experts had expected growth of between 0.2 and 0.6 per cent in the fourth quarter, although had warned the weather made it hard to predict.
The dramatic contraction in GDP will seriously damage prospects over the next year as the coalition rolls out an £81billion cuts package.
And it will shake confidence that the private sector is robust enough to pick up the slack as the public sector suffers swingeing cutbacks.
Chancellor George Osborne admitted the numbers were 'obviously disappointing' but remained defiant, blaming the weather.
'We have had the coldest weather since records began in 1910 and this has clearly had a much bigger impact on the economy than anyone expected,' he said.
'It's notable that sectors of the economy that are less affected by the poor weather, such as manufacturing, continue to perform strongly, helping to rebalance our economy.
'There is no question of changing a fiscal plan that has established international credibility on the back of one very cold month.
David Cameron, at a Cabinet meeting today, also insisted the coalition had to stand firm and insisted 'choppy' growth was to be expected.
Public borrowing rose another £16.8billion in December, new figures revealed today.
The total was some relief as it was a significant year-on-year decline from the £21billion borrowed in December 2009.
Overall borrowing for the year to date now stands at £118.4billion, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The Government's target is £149billion for the financial year.
Today's level will ease fears borrowing was in danger of overshooting forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
His spokesman said the Cabinet were agreed that the strategy on the deficit was correct and has to be followed through.
An ONS spokesman said GDP would probably have been flat at 0 per cent in the final quarter had it not been for the weather.
A series of grim figures have resulted from the Arctic conditions of last month with retailers, housebuilders and transport firms all seeing a slump.
Retail sales in the UK suffered their worst December on record as the high street battled with freezing temperatures and heavy snow.
Construction output, which had been rising and helped boost growth in the second and third quarter, ended in the fourth and fell 3.3 per cent.
Manufacturing provided some reprieve with output up 0.9 per cent across the three months.
New shadow chancellor Ed Balls said the figures were a 'matter of great concern' and pointed out that even without the weather, economic growth would have been flat.
'With families and businesses already facing both rising unemployment and rising inflation, the fact that the economy is now shrinking means the Conservative-led Government's claims to have saved the economy and secured the recovery will ring very hollow indeed,' he said.
'It is now becoming even clearer that when David Cameron and George Osborne complacently congratulated themselves in the autumn for securing economic recovery, this was in fact the result of decisions taken by the Labour government to get the economy moving again.
'The Government inherited an economy that was strengthening, with growth of 1.1 per cent in the second quarter - thanks to decisions we took to support jobs and get the economy moving. It also meant last year's deficit came in £20billion lower than previously forecast.
Gordon Brown led Labour attacks on the Government's plans in his first major intervention in domestic politics since he quit as PM in May.
Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics, described the figures as 'shockingly bad' and raised serious concerns over whether the economy is strong enough to withstand the coming fiscal tightening.
The analyst expects the economy to rebound this quarter but fears other adverse forces, such as the impact of the latest VAT hike, could limit the size of the bounce.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'Bad weather or not, these are truly awful figures, much worse than anyone expected.


Jacques Maghoma's late goal for Birmingham City earned the Championship's bottom side victory over in-form Leeds United.
The midfielder smashed the ball in from close range after Jota's shot was parried by Felix Wiedwald to give Blues their first victory in eight games.
David Davis almost opened the scoring but his low shot was saved by Wiedwald.
Leeds' best chance saw Pablo Hernandez's strike palmed onto the top of the crossbar by David Stockdale.
In a match which was low on quality until the final 15 minutes, Birmingham looked to be heading for a 15th game of the campaign without scoring.
But having enjoyed better spells of possession against a below-par Leeds side, Steve Cotterill's team were finally rewarded when Congolese midfielder Maghoma followed up in the box ruthlessly.
Thomas Christiansen's Leeds had won four-straight matches before their visit to the West Midlands but failed to create any clear cut opportunities until Hernandez was sent through by Samu Saiz.
The Spaniard could not capitalise and Birmingham went on to record just their fifth win of the season.
"The season is only halfway through and we can build on that good performance. I thought we got what we deserved for the 94 minutes. We were the better team and I am really pleased for the players.
"It was a big win and after 10 minutes play I thought it was going to be a good day for us.
"There was a massive vibe around the ground from our fans and that was very important and why we got the performance we produced."
"From my point of view it was a horrible game. There were not many opportunities, with each goalkeeper making one good save.
"It was a difficult game as we were aware what the opponents would do, with Sam Gallagher their target man.
"It was disappointing not to take three points. When it was goalless I thought it wouldn't be a bad result in the situation that existed."
Match ends, Birmingham City 1, Leeds United 0.
Second Half ends, Birmingham City 1, Leeds United 0.
Foul by Sam Gallagher (Birmingham City).
Conor Shaughnessy (Leeds United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Birmingham City. Nsue replaces Jacques Maghoma.
Substitution, Birmingham City. Cheikh Ndoye replaces David Davis.
Attempt missed. Pablo Hernández (Leeds United) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right.
Substitution, Leeds United. Pierre-Michel Lasogga replaces Ezgjan Alioski.
Goal! Birmingham City 1, Leeds United 0. Jacques Maghoma (Birmingham City) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the high centre of the goal.
Attempt saved. Jota (Birmingham City) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by David Davis.
Attempt missed. Sam Gallagher (Birmingham City) header from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Jota with a cross following a corner.
Attempt missed. Craig Gardner (Birmingham City) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left from a direct free kick.
Corner, Birmingham City. Conceded by Felix Wiedwald.
Attempt saved. David Davis (Birmingham City) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Substitution, Birmingham City. Jota replaces Jeremie Boga.
Attempt missed. Samuel Sáiz (Leeds United) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Gaetano Berardi following a corner.
Corner, Leeds United. Conceded by David Stockdale.
Attempt saved. Pablo Hernández (Leeds United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Samuel Sáiz.
Attempt missed. Pablo Hernández (Leeds United) right footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Samuel Sáiz.
Foul by Maxime Colin (Birmingham City).
Substitution, Leeds United. Mateusz Klich replaces Kalvin Phillips.
Attempt missed. Ezgjan Alioski (Leeds United) left footed shot from the left side of the box is high and wide to the left following a corner.
Corner, Leeds United. Conceded by Maxime Colin.
Jonathan Grounds (Birmingham City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Pablo Hernández (Leeds United) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Offside, Birmingham City. Maikel Kieftenbeld tries a through ball, but Jacques Maghoma is caught offside.
Kemar Roofe (Leeds United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Marc Roberts (Birmingham City).


“Mr. Jones, I think I’m going to go to my death bed wondering what happened to you,” said Soto, the chief judge of Miami’s 11th circuit.
Because of current legal questions involving Florida’s juvenile sentencing structure — Bowen and Jones were both minors at the time of the murder — Soto’s options were limited.
Originally, Soto told lawyers Wednesday, she planned to give Jones 40 years in prison. But a recent appeals court decision seemingly revived the long-abolished parole system — but just for juvenile defendants like Jones.
So in the end, saying her hands were tied, Soto sentenced Jones to life in prison, but with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
A Miami-Dade jury convicted Bowen and Jones last year in the December 2008 murder of infant Derrick Days and another man, Pierre Roche, 26.
Prosecutors say Bowen and Jones, members of the New Moneii gang, targeted Roche in a dispute over drug turf.
On the day of the killings, Bowen saw Roche outside the Annie Coleman housing project playing dominoes at table with a group of men, including Derrick Days, Sr., who was holding his infant son.
After asking Jones to drive him, Bowen popped out of the gang’s stolen car and intentionally aimed for the baby, thinking that Roche was the father, investigators said. The child was sitting in his father’s lap at the time.
Bowen and Jones were 16 and 17 respectively at the time of the murder.
In years past, a conviction in Florida for first-degree murder carried an automatic life sentence without the possibility of parole. But in June 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court barred automatic life sentences without the possibility of parole for juveniles convicted of murder. The ruling does not ban life sentences without parole in those cases, but judges must take a defendant’s age into consideration.
Another wrinkle: Florida long ago effectively abolished the parole system, and despite court rulings, Florida lawmakers have refused to change juvenile sentencing laws.
In Bowen and Jones’ case, Judge Soto held an all-day hearing on Aug. 13, listening to testimony from psychologists and relatives about the defendants’ difficult childhoods.
Two weeks later, the state Fifth District Court of Appeals in Daytona Beach ruled that juvenile first-degree murder sentences should “revert” back to the law before the sentencing laws were changed in 1994. That means youths convicted of first-degree murder should get life sentences — but with the chance for parole after 25 years.
Soto sentenced Jones, though not Bowen, under the appeal court’s decision. Ultimately, the Florida Supreme Court will have to iron out just how the state deals with sentencing murderers who were minors when they committed the crime.
The judge criticized lawmakers Wednesday, saying they’ve had the chance to change the law.


The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has revealed the initial list of those who are vying for national and local positions in the coming May elections.
According to the poll body, the list is still subject for verification and editing as the outcome of the various disqualification cases filed against presidential, vice presidential and senatorial bets could still trim the number of candidates.
On the list are eight people who are seeking the presidency—almost six percent of the 130 aspirants who filed their certificates of candidacy last October.
Poe and Duterte are both facing disqualification cases while Valencia has a pending motion for reconsideration before the full commission to appeal the petition declaring him as a nuisance bet.
Earlier reports stated that Mendoza, who is allied with the PMP, was fielded to supposedly secure a slot for Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada’s third run for the presidential race. However, the rumors were quelled after Estrada filed his COC for a second term as the mayor of the country’s capital.
Meanwhile, there are six people running for vice president: Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Francis “Chiz” Escudero, Gringo Honasan, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Antonio Trillanes IV and Congresswoman Leni Robredo.
There are 52 senatorial aspirants while there are 120 party-list groups seeking seats in the House of Representatives.
The poll body advised those who have corrections in their names to communicate the election officer concerned until January 21.


It's hard to believe, but just ten years ago $2 per thousand cubic feet (mcf) was a pretty good natural gas price.
Shale gas changed everything. Using hydraulic fracturing technology, North American gas producers over the past decade have unlocked trillions of cubic feet of new, unconventional gas reserves from shale.
It's no secret that Canadian gas prices are low now, but few investors realize how low it is compared to the U.S.
Financial guru Carmel Daniele is none too concerned with the euro debt crisis, hemorrhaging oil in the Gulf or depressed natural gas. She's too busy making money.
One of the "insiders" in the fracking fluid industry said that his company - along with entire industry - is still needing to get completely green.
The buy totals approximately 80 separate contiguous claims in this prime lithium-mining region.
Petromanas has also closed a private placement of 100,000,000 units at a price of $0.25 per unit for gross proceeds of $25,000,000.
The companys say they have identified that their silver assets are undervalued or unrecognized by the market, and are forming Silver Predator to realize on the value of these assets.
Following the restructuring, Revett Minerals owns 100% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Revett Silver.
Berens Energy is rising on high value after reporting significantly high initial production rates. Here's why.