Danté Xavier Voltaire writes: Is there a hidden dimension to the war posturing against Iran by the Western Alliance?
Mehran Tavakoli Keshe, an Iranian born Nuclear Engineer, Inventor and Founder of The Keshe Foundation, based in Belgium, claims to have helped the Iranian Government develop a ‘superior’ space program based on his nuclear plasma technology. The Iranian Government openly promotes their space program and may have used a Keshe technology based ‘UFO’ style anti-gravity spaceship complete with tractor beams to capture the infamous US RQ170 Sentinel drone, an event which embarrassed the Obama administration and shook the CIA in December 2011.
Keshe, who some see as the ‘Tesla of Physics’ has been offering his technology free to any Government or scientist willing to listen for years, but claims he has been turned away first by Nasa in 1985 and subsequently by countless other organizations and Governments. Keshe asserts that only the Iranian Government were willing to co-develop the technology, but this, if true adds a potentially crazy twist to the unfolding Iran saga.
If Iran do possess these advanced technologies, Keshe claims they will have impenetrable airspace defense capabilities and will be able to destroy opposition forces globally within minutes. Staggering as these claims are, and as unlikely a scenario as an Iranian victory over the US, Israel and their allies might seem, there are tantalizing clues that there may be some substance to the story, and Iran might be able to punch well above it’s weight in a military conflict.
Keshe claims to have suffered severe harrassment including incarceration and questioning while in transit by Canadian authorities, for which he has evidence in the form of paperwork and his unexplained absence from a scientific gathering he was due to speak at. His equipment, data and papers have been confiscated or copied by various authorities including the Belgian Government, while an imposter claiming to represent the Keshe Foundation has been causing trouble with Governments and corporations, damaging the Foundations credibility as it tries to advance the scientific community’s understanding of the plasma driven sub-atomic Universe Keshe theorized to develop his range of (he claims) fully working technologies which include food, water and energy solutions.
Keshe’s most intriguing claim is that US President Obama has issued an executive order effectively banning anyone from even viewing the Keshe technologies.
Keshe’s technology is reported to eradicate local electronic activities while operational, and thus may have been used to electronically sever the US drone from it’s eight communications satellites before it’s capture by Iranian forces. Whether aimed at Keshe or not, this Executive Order could certainly be applied to Keshe and anyone that associates with him due to his collaboration on high technology projects in Tehran. Keshe claims Iran have not initiated aggressive action against anyone for hundreds of years, but have stated that they will not hesitate to use his technology to ‘annihilate’ any aggressor(s) against Iran, should military action take place.
It’s hard to believe the US administration and CIA are not aware of this left field dimension to the military potential of Iran, especially as their RQ 170 Sentinel was captured inexplicably unharmed representing a huge compromise of US military security, even if it was captured using standard hacking techniques – which should have left it a crashed wreck. Could this ‘Keshe factor’ be playing a hidden role in the unfolding story of Iran? If there is even a grain of truth in the plasma theory and the Keshe technologies the implications could be global and game changing for humanity’s immediate and long term future.
Keshe has written an open letter to the Obama administration asking them to accept that his technologies could free the human race from many restrictions and solve most challenges, and to move beyond the power position their current technological advantages give them for the good of humanity. As yet he has received no reply.
Many readers might find this story outlandish, but I encourage those who do to follow your own lines of research to assess this potentially important story – which has implications and dimensions beyond the Iran issue – for themselves.
© 2012 Copyright Patrick Henningsen - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.


The rigorous yet unfettered evolution of the French modernist Henri Matisse (1869-1954) is the subject of a new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. From left, “Le Luxe I” (1907), “Le Luxe II” (1907-08) and a drawing for “Le Luxe” (1907).
Images from the new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.


iv got two motherboards, both identical ECS 648FX-A, one boxed with backplate.
i just want rid of them. any offer considered.
even though my mobos are crap, there still is little or no activity in the darned european forum. where are you, guys?
Well, I like motherboards. How do you cook them?
Mmm... Garlic. I want garlic now. Obviously not on its own... that would be silly.
You, sir, are a bad man. A very bad man.
Now is neither the time nor the place for comments about my sexuality THANK YOU VERY MUCH.


JOHN Barnes reckons Liverpool today face the defining moment in their bid to end their 19-year title drought.
Kop idol Barnes is adamant the league should be the only trophy that matters on Merseyside.
And he has warned boss Rafa Benitez that he has no choice but to rip up his Champions League plans and adopt a win-or-bust policy against Blackburn this lunchtime.
The former England winger claims the Reds’ reaction to Wednesday’s shock quarter-final first-leg defeat to Chelsea will determine whether they face another season as also-rans.
And he also believes Benitez will be making a huge mistake if he goes into the Rovers clash with one eye on next Tuesday’s return at Stamford Bridge.
Barnes – who was one of the stars of the Anfield side that last clinched the championship in 1990 – said: “It’s now a huge game against Blackburn.
“I think if they win the game they will be back on track because, looking at the fixtures, I can see them winning all their games.
“But the Chelsea result probably dented their confidence a little bit, so it’s important to come back with a good result and a good performance.
Benitez’s side currently lie one point behind leaders Manchester United having played a game more – but Barnes is convinced this is Liverpool’s best title shot in years. However, after seeing Steven Gerrard shackled by Chelsea’s Michael Essien in midweek and with the England man nursing a groin problem – the current Jamaica coach believes they must quickly find someone else to load the bullets for striker Fernando Torres.
He said: “Liverpool are a competent side, but they really need Steven to be playing well.
“Chelsea may have figured that if you can stop Steven Gerrard, then you can stop Liverpool.
“Other teams have tried it and failed and Liverpool have won important games without Gerrard and Fernando Torres. But I think Wednesday night showed that at the very, very highest level Liverpool probably need a bit more creativity.
But whatever the outcome of the current campaign, the 1990 World Cup star reckons Benitez has made massive strides this year and has given the club a massive boost by signing a new deal.
Speaking at a Wembley Stadium tour, Barnes said: “They have definitely overachieved this season. As much as the fans have been disappointed over the years, if you look at the tools Benitez has had to work with, I think he has maximised their potential.
“The expectation is huge and I never thought the wait would be so long after we won in 1990.
*Follow in the footsteps of legends on the Wembley Stadium Tour. Book at www.wembleystadium.com/tours or call 0844 800 2755.


The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved an immunotherapy drug for the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
Keytruda (pembrolizumab) can be used to treat advanced non-small cell lung cancer in patients whose disease has progressed after previous treatments and who have tumors that express a protein called PD-L1, the agency said.
"Today's approval of Keytruda gives physicians the ability to target specific patients who may be most likely to benefit from this drug," Dr. Richard Pazdur, director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in an agency news release.
The Merck & Co. drug was approved for use with a companion diagnostic test that is the first designed to detect PD-L1 expression in non-small cell lung tumors, the FDA said in the news release.
By blocking what is called the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway, Keytruda may help the immune system fight lung cancer cells. In 2014, the FDA approved Keytruda to treat patients with advanced melanoma following treatment with Yervoy (ipilimumab), another type of immunotherapy.
The Keytruda approval is based on clinical trials that showed tumors shrank in 41 percent of patients, and the effect lasted between two and nine months.
The most common side effects of Keytruda included fatigue, decreased appetite, shortness of breath or impaired breathing, and cough. The drug also has the potential to cause severe immune system-related side effects involving the lungs, colon, hormone-producing glands, nervous system, as well as rash and blood vessel inflammation, the FDA said.
Pregnant or breast-feeding women should not take the drug because it may harm the fetus or baby, the agency noted.
Earlier this year, the FDA approved the Bristol-Myers Squibb drug Opdivo (nivolumab) -- which also targets the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway -- to treat squamous non-small cell lung cancer.
"Our growing understanding of underlying molecular pathways and how our immune system interacts with cancer is leading to important advances in medicine," Pazdur said.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, with about 221,000 new cases and 158,000 deaths in 2015, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute. Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common type of lung cancer.


HANCOCK ? A group of five shaped a mound of snow, then began spraying on several different colors.
The result? A bright rainbow.
Nearby, members of a Brownie troop carved out an American flag using cookie cutters to make the stars.
The entries in the snow sculpting contest were part of the Hancock Winter Festival held Saturday at Widmeyer Park.
The event, in its sixth year, was sponsored by the Hancock Arts Council.
Musician Michael Kligerman, a member of the council, said there were about 10 entries in the contest.
The council used a snow maker "several days and several nights" to create enough snow for the event, Kligerman said.
Hancock Town Councilman Sinclair Hamilton, also of the arts council, completed the task a couple of hours before the festival, he said.
"I think everybody is having a good time," Kligerman said.
Activities included ice carving, a hat parade, a cakewalk, a silent auction and a tug of war.
Proceeds will go toward the council's operating expenses, Kligerman said.
Tammy Fox, leader of Brownie Troop 613, said three girls ? Emily Fox, Deanna Golden and Paige Weller ? helped make the American flag .
"I just thought it would be good for our girls to come out and do something in the community," Fox said. "Other than the cold, we think it's working out well. The snow is packing nice."
Last year, troop members made a Girl Scout cookie with the Brownie troop's number in the middle.
Hayley Perkins and Shelva Mason helped their children, Shawna and Kalea Mason, 7 and 4, and Dusti Perkins, 6, sculpt the rainbow.
"The kids came up with (the idea), now they've disappeared, and we're here finishing the rainbow," Hayley Perkins joked.
Perkins said they attend the festival every year, but it's the first time they entered the snow sculpting contest.
"Oh, I like it," she said. "It gives you something to do ? get out of the house."
Not far away, Terry Morse chiseled away at a block of ice. He had planned on making a seashell. Later, visitors would lend assistance, he said.
Morse said he has helped at the event for three years, and joked that he doesn't have much experience.
"I've done exactly three pieces in my life," he said. "This is just for fun."


GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN(TOP): The House on Tuesday passed a bill to delay an Obama administration coal rule designed to protect streams around mining operations.
Lawmakers approved Rep. Alex Mooney Alexander (Alex) Xavier MooneyThe Hill's 12:30 Report: State of the Union takeaways | Sights and sounds from the night | Virginia attorney general admits he wore blackface Key conservative presses for shield law after seizure of NYT reporter’s records May brings key primaries across nation MORE's (R-W.Va.) bill on a 235 to 188 vote.
The bill would block an Office of Surface Mining coal rule that enhances buffer zones around streams where coal mining and waste is prohibited.
Republicans say the rule will hamstring the coal industry and lead to further job losses among miners. Democrats say those concerns are exaggerated and that the rule would protect public health and water quality against the controversial mountaintop removal mining process. The White House has threatened to veto the bill.
"This [rule] would be devastating to states like my home state of West Virginia, which have already been hit hard by President Obama's war on coal," Mooney said during floor debate on his bill.
The OSM rule has been a source of political angst for years. Republicans say the Interior Department has done a poor job of working with states on formalizing the rule, and House lawmakers have cleared legislation blocking the bill in past sessions, most recently in 2014.
Greens, the White House and Democrats have defended the rule, and they criticized Republicans on Tuesday for attempting again to block it.
"The majority is falling back on the same political playbook they've used time and time again: attack, obstruct and delay," Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) said. "It's really all about delay, it's not about the policy."
OIL KEEPS DROPPING: The price of crude oil dipped Tuesday to levels not seen in 12 years.
Crude in the West Texas Intermediate benchmark, the key United States domestic price, briefly dipped as low as $29.97 on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday afternoon. It settled at $30.22 for the end of the trading day.
That's the lowest oil price since December 2003.
Oil markets are seeing a historic supply glut as production has increased in the United States. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, meanwhile, has continued to either refuse to pull back production or been unable to agree on production levels. OPEC leaders rejected a request from some member countries Tuesday to hold a meeting to consider supply cuts, sending prices tumbling further.
GET USED TO $2 GAS: Low energy prices are here to stay for the time being, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday.
The EIA predicted that gasoline prices will average $2.03 this year and only increase to $2.21 next year.
The main driver behind it is that crude oil prices will stay low as world markets continue to cope with a supply glut, EIA said in its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil, EIA said, will average $38.54 a barrel this year, only a few dollars above recent prices.
Diesel, heating oil and electricity prices are also expected to remain near their current lows, EIA said.
ON TAP WEDNESDAY I: The House is likely to vote on a resolution to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency's waters of the United States rule, also known as the Clean Water Rule. The resolution works under the Congressional Review Act. The Senate passed the resolution in November, but President Obama has pledged to veto it.
ON TAP WEDNESDAY II: Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, a Treasury Department official and United States chairman for the Green Climate Fund, will be a featured panelist at a Center for American Progress event on climate finance.
Alberta's new government could look to cut spending if oil prices remain low, the province's environment minister said Tuesday, per CBC News. (Related: Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says he will invest $1 million in Canadian oil if Alberta Premier Rachel Notley resigns).
After a contentious four-hour meeting, the board of Jackson Township, N.J., failed again to vote on a proposed solar panel project at Six Flags Great Adventure, the Asbury Park Press reports.
A Pennsylvania environmental court sided with the state's environmental regulator over how it counts pollution from oil and natural gas wells, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.


For Niloofar Rahmani, becoming Afghanistan’s first female air force pilot comes with a price.
Rahmani became the first woman in her country to earn her wings three years ago. The 25-year-old fulfilled a lifelong dream in 2013 – it was a dream her father had also wanted to accomplish. Rahmani said she became a pilot to honor her father and to prove that Afghani women can do anything men can do.
"I always wanted to be a pilot," she said. "Being a pilot was my dad's dream."
Rahmani went on to fly more than 1,000 hours in the air fighting Islamic extremists in her country. She became a prized asset for her country’s military as much as she became a feminist symbol for Afghanistan’s women.
However, Islamic extremists do not take women’s rights well and her stature in the air force has forced her to plead for asylum in America.
"If she were to return to Afghanistan, she would be in fear of her safety," Motley, Rahmani’s lawyer, told CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper."
The female fighter has received death threats from insurgents and even condemnation from people in Afghanistan’s own government. Rahmani is not the only one subject to death threats – her family members have been forced to move several times in fear for their lives.
Rahmani has trained at several air bases within the United States and is hoping she can remain in the country.
Her asylum application is still pending.


Born Jacques Webster on April 30, 1992, in Houston, Texas, the rapper is known for his stage name, Travis Scott.
After signing his first record deal in 2012, Scott released a popular mixtape titled Owl Pharaoh before recording his first studio album, Rodeo, in 2015. A year later, he released his second studio album, Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight. In 2018, he put out Astroworld, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart and scored three Grammy nominations.
Scott was first spotted with girlfriend Kylie Jenner at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in mid-April 2017. The twosome quickly started a relationship, and months later Us Weekly exclusively revealed that they were expecting their first child together. Jenner gave birth to their daughter, Stormi, on February 1, 2018.


Be prepared to pay more for mandarin oranges this Chinese New Year.
Fruit wholesalers said prices of the festive fruit are expected to rise by 10 per cent to 20 per cent from that a year earlier due to a supply shortage from China caused by droughts.
Ms Xie Li Fen, who is in charge of sales at wholesaler Bee Seng Fruit Supply, said the price of a 20-piece pack of lukan oranges may go up from $12 to $14 this year. Her firm does not plan to import more oranges from other countries to make up the shortfall. The 39-year-old added: "This year, retailers had to place their orders with us earlier to ensure they can get the stocks."
Supermarket chain Sheng Siong said its supply is not affected though the Chinese harvest of the fruit is down slightly. "Prices for small oranges remain stable... but prices for big-sized oranges will increase this year by 5 per cent to 10 per cent."
The two main varieties imported from China are the swatow and lukan oranges. The former have a thicker skin and are usually exchanged at home visits during the festive season, while the latter have a thinner skin and are sweeter and juicier.
Mr Lee Desmond Bernavey, director of FRESHDirect, said the higher prices were also due to Chinese New Year falling earlier this year. "The peak season for the supply of mandarin oranges is around mid- to end-January.
"Compared to the past new years (when Chinese New Year fell) in mid-February, we have a shorter period to make money, so we have to push up the prices," the 40-year-old said.
His firm also imports Ponkan mandarin oranges from Taiwan and Kinno oranges from Pakistan, but they are costlier than the ones from China. A 12-piece pack of Ponkan oranges can cost about $20, he said.
A wholesaler, who did not want to be named, said he is also importing mandarin oranges from Japan this year to address the shortage, though they cost twice that of those from China.
Malaysian newspaper The Star reported yesterday that prices of mandarin oranges from China will rise by 20 per cent to 60 per cent this year.
Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) said the current supply of mandarin oranges is stable. "AVA will continue to monitor the situation closely and, if necessary, we will work with importers on alternative sources," said a spokesman.
She added that Singapore imports mandarin oranges from various countries such as China, South Korea and Egypt.


In Brief: The specters of Max Fleischer, Tex Avery, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Jacques Tati hang heavily over Triplets (there’s even a poster for Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday on the wall of an apartment); it’s the mixing of these elements that’s unique, and clearly Chomet’s vision. The director doesn’t merely copy his inspirations; he creates his own takes on them. Whether you’ll actually accept it on those terms is definitely a question of personal taste, but I doubt anyone will walk away from Triplets and not think they’ve really seen something different for a change. As a side-note to those of you who are allergic to subtitles, cheer up: There’s not a single one in sight; the story is told almost entirely in visuals and sound effects. What little intelligible dialogue the film contains — no more than a few lines — has been dubbed into English. This excerpt was taken from a review by Ken Hanke published on March 17, 2004.
Classic World Cinema by Courtyard Gallery will present The Triplets of Belleville on Friday, Nov. 17, at 8 p.m. at Flood Gallery Fine Art Center, 2160 U.S. 70, Swannanoa.


This is a fantastic older home in a super neighborhood that's experiencing a major revival and upgrading. The home has plastered walls, custom sculptured ceilings, crown moldings in family room, updated flooring, bathrooms remodeled, new a/c unit in 2011 with additional blown in insulation in the attic, ceiling fans, large fenced rear yard, huge storage shed, and so much more. Home shows pride of ownership. Carport & additional parking, separate laundry/storage room is attached to home. Also features a huge north facing rear yard, rv gates and ample parking. Must see!


The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed defenseman Mark Eaton to a one-year contract, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Ray Shero.
The deal has an average annual value of $725,000.
Eaton, 35, rejoins the Penguins for his second stint after previously playing four seasons with the team between 2006-10. He was a member of the Penguins’ 2009 Stanley Cup championship squad and he helped the team reach the ’08 Cup Final.
The 6-foot-1, 215-pound blueliner appeared in 218 regular-season games with Pittsburgh, tallying seven goals, 24 assists and 31 points with a plus-eight rating. He added 10 points (4G-6A) in 42 playoff contests.
A native of Wilmington, Delaware, Eaton spent time this season playing with the Penguins’ top minor-league affiliate, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League (AHL), collecting one assist in six games.
Eaton, who originally signed with Philadelphia as an undrafted free agent, has played 12 seasons in the NHL with the Flyers, Nashville, Pittsburgh and the NY Islanders. He has amassed 85 points (24G-61A) in 627 career regular-season games. Eaton has added 10 points (4G-6A) in 60 career postseason contests.
His best season came with the Penguins during the 2009-10 campaign when he established career highs in games played (79), assists (13) and points (16). During the Penguins’ Cup run in ’09, Eaton tallied seven points (4G-3A) and had a plus-4 rating in 24 playoff games.


Texas fans are accustomed to drama. From Kody Clemens lighting up the Disch to Texas breaking Longhorn fans’ hearts after a double-overtime loss to USC, the Longhorns’ 2017–2018 sports year provided nothing short of entertainment.
Repeat after me: Texas is a volleyball school.
After sweeping Texas A&M, 3-0, in College Station, all the Longhorns seemed to do was win. The match against the Aggies marked the first victory in a string of 21 straight wins. It was nearly a full three months before Texas’ winning streak came to an excruciating halt after a season-ending defeat at the hands of Stanford during the NCAA tournament on Dec. 9.
In week three of the college football season, Longhorn fans once again said “Texas is back,” and they were almost onto something. Almost. On Sept. 17, Texas took fourth-ranked USC to double overtime in freshman Sam Ehlinger’s second career start. Ehlinger marched the team 91 yards down the field in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, only to be stunned by a last-second field goal from the Trojans to tie the game. Unfortunately, Ehlinger’s heroics were overshadowed by a fumble at the USC three-yard line, leading to a 27-24 loss in double overtime.
On Jan. 10, fans across the country were left heartbroken after the news of sophomore Andrew Jones’ leukemia diagnosis broke. Later that night, the Longhorns would host TCU, wearing patches on their jerseys to support Jones in his fight against cancer. The game proved to be an emotional one for Texas, as the two teams battled into double overtime before the Longhorns finally prevailed in a 99-98 win.
"This is the game and this is the series, where you cement your legacy if you're a Longhorn or an Aggie."
By nearly all measures, the Texas baseball team exceeded expectations of fans and media members this season by reaching the College World Series after hosting both a regional and a super regional. What started as a 9–9 record for the Longhorns turned into a Big 12 conference title, and an opportunity to host a regional and super regional.
Then, a renewed rivalry with Texas A&M electrified fans at UFCU Disch-Falk Field as junior Kody Clemens launched two home runs into the stands and flashed the ‘horns up’ gesture as he rounded third base and stared down the Aggie dugout. The team would go on to beat the Aggies 8-3 and then followed it up with a 3-2 win over Indiana to advance to the next round.
After a game-three win over No. 20 Tennessee Tech in the super regional, the Longhorns were headed back to Omaha for the first time in four years with a little inspiration from the passing of legendary coach Augie Garrido in March.


Following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009, the EU is starting major preparations to successfully implement Europe's new competence on sport and develop the bloc's first sports programme, to be launched in 2012.
The European Commission's July 2007 White Paper on Sport was the first 'comprehensive initiative' on sport in the EU.
Societal role of sport: Enhancing public health through physical activity, fighting doping, enhancing the role of sport in education, volunteer activities, social inclusion, fighting racism, sport as a tool for development.
Organisation of sport: The specific nature of sport, free movement, player transfers, players' agents, protection of minors, corruption and money laundering, licensing system for clubs, media rights.
The proposals are brought together in the 'Pierre de Coubertin' Action Plan, which details 53 concrete proposals for future EU action in these areas.
The proposed actions range from supporting an EU physical activity network to launching a study to assess the sector's contribution to the 'Lisbon Agenda' for growth and jobs in the EU. Others include the fight against corruption, an impact assessment of the activities of players' agents and a conference on licensing systems in football.
The White Paper builds, to a certain extent, on the Independent Review of European Sports initiated by the UK EU Presidency in 2005 and drafted with the support of EU sports ministers and football governing bodies UEFA and FIFA.
The final version of the review, published in autumn 2006, recommended that the Commission provide clear guidance on the type of 'sports rules' compatible with Community law.
Sport has been an EU competence since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009.
Article 165 of the treaty provides the bloc with a soft competence on sport.
This means that the European Commission will develop a specific EU sports programme, supported by a budget. The competence also allows for better promotion of sport in other EU policy areas and programmes, such as health and education.
The treaty provisions further give the EU the opportunity to speak with one voice in international forums and vis-à-vis third countries. EU sports ministers will now also meet in official Sports Council meetings.
The Lisbon Treaty requires the Commission to contribute to the promotion of European sporting issues "while taking account of the specific nature of sport, its structures based on voluntary activity and its social and educational function".
It asks for a European dimension of sport to be developed "by promoting fairness and openness in sporting competitions and cooperation between bodies responsible for sports, and by protecting the physical and moral integrity of sportspeople".
To accompany a broad consultation of member states and stakeholders on implementing the Lisbon Treaty's sport provisions during the first half of 2010, the Commission is starting to draft the EU's first sports programme for 2012-2013.
Meanwhile, preparatory actions in the field of sport will continue to pave the way for the programme in 2010-2011.
foster co-operation with third countries and international organisations in the field of sport.
The Commission stresses that the 2007 White Paper will remain the cornerstone of its policies.
On 18 January 2011 the EU executive published a communication on the impact of Lisbon Treaty on sports, entitled 'Developing the European Dimension in Sport'.
The communication proposed action at EU level in areas where it believes the challenges cannot be sufficiently dealt with by governments alone. These include the societal role of sport, its economic dimension and the organisation of sport in Europe.
It suggested that the EU should sign up to the Anti-Doping Convention of the Council of Europe, develop and implement security arrangements and safety requirements for international sports events, continue making progress towards introducing national targets based on the EU's Physical Activity Guidelines and develop standards for disabled access to sports events and venues.
On economic matters, the Commission called on sports associations to establish mechanisms for the collective selling of media rights to ensure adequate redistribution of revenue.
The EU executive will also seek to address sport-related intellectual property rights, promote exchange of best practice on transparent and sustainable sports financing, monitor the application of state aid law in the field of sport and push for full exploitation of sport-related aspects of the EU's structural funds.
As for sports governance, the Commission will launch a study on transfer rules and issue guidance on "how to reconcile EU rules on the free movement of citizens with the organisation of competitions in individual sports on a national basis," and "consider further action regarding the activities of sports agents".
According to Ján Figel', EU commissioner for education, training, culture and youth, the White Paper is not legally binding, but rather "a show of political will to indicate the direction to be followed with regard to sport in the EU".
"The implementation of the White Paper can help pave the way towards future EU supportive action in the sport sector as the recent European Council has re-opened the possibility of a Treaty provision on sport," Figel' said, adding that a specific Sport Ministerial Council could then be envisaged.
"As agreed in the White Paper, the initiative does not weaken the application of EU law to sports. It means that there is no exclusivity given to sports over EU rules or content of EU law. A case by case approach remains the basis for Commission's control for implementation of EU law," he added.
Belgian centre-right MEP Ivo Belet (EPP-ED), who is drafting a Parliament report on the future of professional football, criticised the White Paper, referring in particular to the absence of "clear rules as regards players' agents".
He also deplored the lack of a clear incentive for "more solidarity in sports" by means of, for example, "opting for the collective selling of TV rights".
"The White Paper on Sports lacks ambition and courage. It undoubtedly contains positive elements, but it does not give a satisfactory answer to the questions raised by the European Parliament and the sports sector," Belet said.
UK Conservative MEPs were even more critical and urged the UK government "to ensure that the White Paper is shelved and a new consultation started to avoid confusion as to who now is responsible for overseeing sport in the UK".
"Politicians should not be interfering in sport, but as the EU seems determined to do it, it is essential that sporting organisations are involved at every stage. We need a proper consultation across all sports at all levels, not something hidden away in an obscure corner of the Commission's website," said Conservative MEP Chris Heaton-Harris (EPP-ED). "As it is, the Commission should withdraw this White Paper, re-consult and reconsider its conclusions," he added.
European sports associations have repeatedly emphasised that the organisation of sports needs should stay at organisational level. Therefore, they reject any proposals that would restrict the autonomy of sports or create EU regulations on competences currently resting on sports organisations.
Associations do not want to see sport becoming an EU competence, but rather call for it to be recognised as a horizontal matter affected by different EU policies, as well as placing sport into mainstream EU policies.
Dr Gernot Wainig, chairman of the European Non-Governmental Sports Organisation's (ENGSO) working group on EU affairs, said he was satisfied with the White Paper, but added that it is only a start, "a book with a lot of questions, without many answers, but some good proposals".
"The big matters, problems, issues (player agents, transfer, health, doping...) are in the book. A big identification with the result should be the next step to go on in a successful way," he said, reiterating, however, that the real competence is still missing and that without a treaty and a specific budget for the future, the sport policy area "will be poor".
"The Nice Declaration is the only legal interpretation, presented seven years ago, and since that there has been no development," he added.
A joint Fédération Internationale de Football Associations (FIFA)-International Olympic Committee (IOC) declaration states that "while the concept of a White Paper on Sport was to be welcomed, the content of the final version represents - unfortunately - a missed opportunity".
"The White Paper is structured in full contradiction with the actual architecture of the Olympic movement, ignoring in particular the regulatory competencies of the international federations, the division of responsibilities between the latter and their European confederations, the global nature of the issues and challenges currently affecting sport as well as the solutions which are today necessary," it said.
"The IOC, EOC, FIFA and UEFA had in recent months vainly worked in an attempt to convince politicians that they were heading in a direction that was not favourable to the promotion of sport. The Olympic Movement will, for its part, continue to cooperate with the member states and the Commission with a view to including sport into a new 'Reform Treaty' currently being evaluated by the Portuguese EU Presidency," stated the European Olympic Committee (EOC).
The Centrum für Europäische Politik (CEP), a German think-tank, described as "questionable" the measures proposed on advertising on television rights, gender equality and solidarity between sports clubs.
CEP advised the EU to seriously consider the autonomy of sports and the principle of subsidiarity, and said it should only intervene regarding cross-border problems.
11 July 2007: Commission adopted a White Paper on Sport.
8-9 Oct. 2007: Commission conference to discuss the White Paper with sport stakeholders (see conference report and structured dialogue paper).
18 Oct. 2007: EU leaders agree on the final text of the 'Reform Treaty'.
13 Dec. 2007: EU leaders signed the new EU Treaty.
17 March 2008: EU sports ministers adopted a joint declaration on Social Significance and Dialogue in Sport, outlining the direction for a European Programme for Sports.
8 May 2008: Parliament plenary voted on a motion for resolution on the White Paper on Sport.
26-27 Nov. 2008: First European Sport Forum took place in Biarritz, France. Read the report from the forum.
12 Dec. 2008: European Council adopted a Declaration on Sport.
March 2009: Commission adopted its €7.5 million 2009 annual work programme on grants and contracts for the preparatory action in the field of sport and for the special annual events.
15 May 2009: Commission launched a €4 million call for proposals for "preparatory actions in the field of sport".
29-30 Oct. 2009: Final conference of the EU:Sport:Future project to present recommendations for the future EU policy.
15 Jan. 2010: Deadline for EU 2020 public consultation on EU's long term strategy.
First half of 2010: Commission to consult member states and stakeholders regarding the implementation of Lisbon Treaty's sport provisions.
25-26 Feb. 2010: Informal meeting of EU Sport Directors.
19-20 April 2010: The second European Sport Forum took place (see forum report).
10 May 2010: First official EU Sports Council.
22 May 2010: Commission launches call for proposals under the 2010 Preparatory Action in the field of sport (EURACTIV 26/05/10).
Nov. 2010: Original date of publication of Commission communication on impact of Lisbon Treaty on sport.
Nov. 2010: Commission draft decision on the EU's sports programme and budget.
2010, 2011: Preparatory actions for sport.
18 Jan. 2011: Publication of Commission communication on impact of Lisbon Treaty on sport.
2012: First limited EU sports programme (2012-2013) expected to come into force.
2014-2020: First full EU sports programme.


United Way of Henderson County is now accepting applications for the 2012-13 Rising Leaders Program.
This year-long program is designed to prepare young professionals for leadership roles in local nonprofits. The goal of the program is to educate the next generation of community leaders and give them the tools and connections to become key volunteers with UWHC partner agencies and other nonprofits.
Thanks to sponsorship from Friday Staffing, the Rising Leaders Program is free of charge for all participants. Space is limited to 20 participants.
Participants will commit to attending an introductory session Sept. 15, as well as five of six informational sessions that will be at lunchtime throughout the year.
These interactive sessions will cover the fundamentals of board service and nonprofit management, and the essential knowledge and skills agency directors would like to see in their prospective board members.
Participants must complete at least 10 hours of community service in the county between September 2012 and June 2013.
"We have heard very positive feedback from local nonprofit agencies and from the graduates of our 2011-12 Pilot Program," said Graham Fields, UWHC Board member and chair of the Rising Leaders Committee.
"This program is filling an important need in Henderson County. Young professionals in other communities pay a great deal of money for opportunities like the Rising Leaders Program, so the fact that we can offer such a high quality training and access to so many non-profit leaders for free is outstanding."
UWHC will make every effort to match program graduates with an appropriate long-term volunteer position at a local health and human service nonprofit agency. However, completion of the Rising Leaders Program will not guarantee placement on a board of directors.
A program outline and application can be found at www.liveunitedhc.org/rising-leaders.html. Applications can be submitted to skowalak@liveunitedhc.org. Anyone with questions about the program should email or call 828-692-1636.


Former Manchester United and Everton forward Wayne Rooney has said he cannot bear the thought that old foes Liverpool might win the Premier League title this season.
Rooney, who began his career with Liverpool’s Merseyside rivals Everton before moving to Manchester United, said he would rather defending champions Manchester City won the league instead.
Liverpool are top of the table with two points more than second-placed City, who have a game in hand.
“It’s a great reason to be out the country when those two are going head-to-head for the title,” Rooney, who now plays for Major League Soccer side DC United, told talkSPORT.
Liverpool have not won a league title in 29 years and ending that drought this season would allow them to move to 19 title wins in the English top flight, one behind United’s record.


TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada’s main stock index dropped to its lowest in more than a week on Wednesday as a U.S. Federal Reserve report gave few new signals on the central bank’s plans for its monetary stimulus program.
Every major sector on the index ended in the red, and gold-mining shares showed one of the sharpest declines on the resource-heavy index, falling with bullion prices.
The market brushed aside figures showing U.S. home resales climbed in July to their highest level in more than three years, and trained its sights instead on the midafternoon release of minutes from the Fed’s last policy meeting.
The minutes showed that a few Fed officials thought last month that it would soon be time to slow the pace of the central bank’s stimulative bond-buying program “somewhat”, but others counseled patience.
“Investors are now worried about what will be cut back first: will it be mortgage-backed securities or the federal bonds?” said Sal Masionis, a stockbroker at Brant Securities.
“You can’t be living on these very low interest rates as you’re going to have asset bubbles,” he added.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE closed down 97.03 points, or 0.77 percent, at 12,573.08 after falling as low as 12,542.84, its lowest level since August 12.
Financials, the index’s most heavily weighted sector, slipped 0.3 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), the country’s biggest lender, gave back 0.2 percent to C$64.58; Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) was down 0.2 percent at C$58.28.
The materials sector, which includes mining stocks, lost 3 percent, with gold producers falling 3.5 percent.
Goldcorp Inc (G.TO) fell 4.1 percent to C$31.55, and Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) stumbled 3.1 percent to C$19.96.
In company news, Sears Canada Inc SCC.TO reported a decline in quarterly revenue and said it plans to cut 245 jobs. The stock fell 1.8 percent to C$12.05.


Revenue climbed, but firm still missed expectations.
Proto Labs Inc. shares fell 22 percent Thursday after the fast-growing company’s latest results missed lofty expectations.
The Maple Plain-based company, a provider of rapid prototyping and other services for manufacturers, said its per-share profit jumped 34 percent and revenue 20 percent in the last three months of 2018. But that was slower than growth in both measures for the full year.
“Proto Labs had another quarter of strong revenue growth, however, fourth quarter financial results were below our expectations,” Vicki Holt, the company’s chief executive, said in a statement.
The company’s shares fell to $101.58 a share on the Nasdaq exchange. They’re now down 38 percent from the record high of $165 reached in September.
Holt said Proto Labs had a strong start to the quarter but ended with weak sales in December. She said a company it bought in November 2017, a New Hampshire-based custom parts supplier called Rapid Manufacturing Group, did not meet sales and profit targets.
Holt also told analysts that the company’s move of 295 computer numerical controlled (CNC) milling machines to a new location in Minnesota cost more and took more time than expected.
For the quarter, Proto Labs earned $19.3 million, or 71 cents a share, compared to $14.3 million, or 53 cents a share, a year ago. Adjusted for currency fluctuations, the company earned 74 cents a share. Analysts who cover the company expected adjusted earnings of 80 cents a share.
That miss ended the streak in which Proto Labs had beat analysts’ EPS estimates in seven consecutive quarters. Just three months ago, its shares jumped 8.3 percent on the day it reported third-quarter per-share profit that was 12 cents higher than analysts expected.
Fourth-quarter revenue was $112.8 million, up 19.7 percent from a year ago.
For the year, Proto Labs said its profit rose 48 percent to $76.6 million and revenue climbed 29 percent to $445.6 million.


Snowy conditions worsened enough late Saturday night to move Boone County to declare only essential travel as advised.
The county's Level 2 snow emergency declaration shortly before 11 p.m. doesn't preclude people from going to work, according to a news release.
Road conditions are defined as "extremely hazardous" due to snow and ice in a Level 2 snow emergency.
Northern Kentucky counties and cities braced for ice and snow Saturday evening. Some called snow emergencies Saturday afternoon ahead of the cold weather as rain threatened to turn to freezing rain.
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has warned drivers across the Commonwealth to be alert for wet roads that might freeze into ice overnight.
As of 9:30 p.m., there were about 200 people without power in Boone County. According to Duke Energy, there were 154 without power, with an additional 31 without power from Owen Electric. There are an additional 52 without power in Kenton County and 39 without power in Campbell County, according to Duke Energy.
Duke said power should be restored by 12:15 a.m., according to its website.
Boone County advised only essential travel by declaring a Level 2 snow emergency at about 11 p.m. Saturday night.
Florence, Boone County's biggest city, had no snow emergency as of 9:30 p.m. The city promised on social media to have city trucks and workers out plowing until the streets were free of snow and ice.
Campbell County had not declared a snow emergency as of 9:30 p.m. The county's emergency management agency did remind pet owners to bring animals inside or provide proper shelter from cold.
Kenton County declared a Level 1 snow emergency from 8 p.m. until it is lifted. The snow emergency means no vehicle may be parked upon any public road or right-of-way when there is two inches or more snow.
Crestview Hills Mayor Paul Meier put the city under a snow emergency from 10 p.m. Saturday until 6 p.m. Sunday.
Erlanger Mayor Jessica Fette declared the city's 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday snow emergency with flair.
"Grab your hot coffee and cozy blanket, it's a chilly, snowy day," said Fette.
Fort Wright has advised residents to move cars off streets in advance of a probable snow emergency declaration.
Park Hills declared a snow emergency at 3 p.m. All cars must remain off city streets.
Taylor Mill is under a snow emergency from 8 p.m. Saturday until further notice.


If you've seen Furious 7 already, you will find it absolutely no surprise that the movie has pulled in a gigantic $384 million so far. During its opening weekend in the US, Furious 7 bought in $143 million alone.
On top of the $143 million domestically, the movie has made over $240 million in the foreign market for a total of $384 million. This is a new record, with Furious 7 becoming the largest opening for any film in April, as well as being the largest opening for the franchise, and the ninth largest film opening in film history.
Box Office Mojo adds: "...That's without any help from China, Japan and Russia, where it will open in the next few weeks. So far, Furious 7 has earned $384 million worldwide, and is very likely on track to earn over $1 billion by the end of its run".
I've already seen the movie and loved it, with the way the producers and Paul Walker's family (not just his co-stars) gave him a very emotional send off. If you haven't seen it, you really should - it's a great movie, and the perfect send off for Walker.


NORMAN, Okla. - A Norman burglary leaves one mother pleading for what was inside of her stolen purse - her son’s cochlear implants.
“Let’s be honest. They’re probably in a dumpster somewhere,” mom Kimberly Blodgett told KFOR.
Her 3-year- old son Albie’s cochlear implants were stolen Monday morning. She said while Albie is completely deaf, he lights up with his implants.
“If you see him and you put those on him you can tell a huge difference,” Blodgett sad.
Blodgett said the implants were inside her purse that she left in her car while dropping off her kids at a daycare. The daycare said they don’t have outside video cameras and unfortunately the car was left unlocked.
“In these instances, people move very quickly. They're looking for signs as well. They’re looking for maybe you didn’t have your car keys out. Maybe you didn’t lock your vehicle. The lights didn’t flash or maybe you didn’t have a purse on your shoulder when you were walking your children in,” Norman Police PIO Sarah Jensen said.
Blodgett said she adopted Albie and his little sister last year after fostering them. With three other kids, the cost to replace the implants is a financial burden - $20,000.
Norman Police said it hasn’t had any other reports of burglaries from the daycare or a trend of burglaries in daycare parking lots. Still, you should remember to always lock your car and take out personal belongings.
“It really is so important that people take those valuables with them wherever they go. We would never advise for anyone to ever leave their purse in their vehicle or any type of item that’s gonna hold valuables,” Jensen said.
Now Blodgett just hopes her child’s implants are returned and the thief is caught.
“I want her to be caught. That’s what I want. Because I just, my thing is I don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” Blodgett said.
Blodgett said she was notified twice now that a woman has attempted to cash some of her stolen checks in Edmond.


U.S. drug regulators chided a Johnson & Johnson unit for not reporting or investigating customer complaints about O.B. Tampons or personal lubricants similar to K-Y Jelly.
The Food and Drug Administration said the unit, McNeil-PPC Inc, did not properly follow up on complaints that included toxic shock syndrome from using the tampon, according to a warning letter posted on the FDA's website on Tuesday.
The company also did not investigate some complaints about the personal lubricant K-Y Liquibeads Vaginal Moisturizer, which in fact it never got permission to sell, the FDA said in the letter dated May 22.
J&J has recalled hundreds of millions of bottles and packages of its over-the-counter medicines in the past few years, such as the painkillers Tylenol and Motrin, due to quality lapses at its factories.
The FDA said McNeil-PPC never told regulators it planned to sell the K-Y Liquibeads, and made substantial changes to the lubricant compared with previous, similar products without getting permission to do so.
The company received 227 complaints about the product from the end of June 2010 until December 2011, including the fact the lubricant did not dissolve or had "uncharacteristic" consistency, the FDA said.
The agency said J&J must respond within 15 business days about how it will address the issues, or risk facing seizure of its products or a fine.
J&J spokeswoman Jodie Wertheim said McNeil PPC takes the FDA's concerns seriously and will do whatever is necessary to resolve the issues.


Throw in a baker’s dozen of other judges and include some of the most highly regarded prosecutors and defense attorneys in the metropolitan area.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, under Albert Riederer, the Jackson County prosecutor’s office was that law firm.
As a leader of and mentor to so many young lawyers who went on to stellar careers, Riederer, 67, arguably has had more influence on the legal community in Kansas City than any other person.
Kevin Regan certainly feels that way.
“Albert is a man of uncommon virtue who always taught us to do the right thing,” said Regan, now recognized as a premier defense attorney. As a young lawyer, Regan was hired by Riederer as an assistant prosecutor.
Riederer’s legal legacy came into sharp focus recently when he announced that he was retiring from law to devote his energy to fighting a cancer that has laid him low in recent months. Earlier this month, hundreds of friends and former employees gathered at the Uptown Theater to celebrate his career and life.
A standing ovation greeted Riederer when he entered the Uptown accompanied by his wife, Jackson County Circuit Judge Sandra Midkiff. Some of his former colleagues recorded a video tribute conveying heartfelt and humorous anecdotes.
Among them was a former assistant prosecutor under Riederer who Atwell described as “a young, flashy blond lady” who decided to try politics.
That drew a laugh from the audience, which recognized the reference to U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, who succeeded Riederer when he left the prosecutor’s office in 1992.
McCaskill, appearing on the video, said she was proud to call Riederer a friend. She described him as one of the brightest and most gifted people she has known.
When Riederer addressed the Uptown gathering, he deflected the praise, saying he was lucky to have been able to hire so many talented people.
But to so many of those women and men who cut their legal teeth as prosecutors in Jackson County, Riederer was the man who instilled in them the desire to seek justice, treat everyone with respect and aspire to public service.
Sometimes that opportunity could be uncomfortable. As a young prosecutor, McCaskill noticed that Riederer often handed cases to her that were hard and political, such as prosecuting people for absentee voting fraud or striking firefighters for starting a grass fire.
An example of Riederer’s commitment to justice came early in his tenure as prosecutor with the case of Shea Lamont Jackson.
Jackson already had been convicted in the October 1980 robbery-murder of Ralph Wright and was serving a life sentence when an anonymous tipster called the prosecutor’s office offering new information. John P. O’Connor, now a top criminal defense lawyer, was working in the office as an investigator at the time and started tracking the new leads.
In short order O’Connor and police located new suspects, two of whom promptly confessed to the murder. Riederer resisted the urge that some prosecutors feel to reflexively defend all convictions, even when they’ve been shown to be fatally flawed. Riederer led the charge to get Jackson out of prison, which succeeded in March 1982.
O’Connor, who went on to get a law degree and work for Riederer as his trial director, said the Jackson case was a “shining example” of Riederer’s integrity.
Describing Riederer as “the gold standard” for prosecutors, O’Connor said his boss built loyalty in the office by letting prosecutors do their jobs and by keeping his door open to discuss difficult cases.
In 1984, Riederer gave aspiring trial lawyer Thomas Newton a chance to have the job he craved.
“It really catapulted me to other positions,” said Newton, now a judge on the Missouri Court of Appeals.
Newton said he met many significant people in that office who influenced his career, but it was Riederer who provided the moral and ethical standards that guided them.
Dawn Parsons also counts Riederer as a major influence on her. Now one of the most respected assistant prosecutors in Jackson County, Parsons started her career as an intern in the office during Riederer’s last year there.
But it was his advice a few years later that Parsons appreciates most. She was on the cusp of seeking political office and asked Riederer for advice. He “didn’t comfort me with a lie,” she said, and told her that the courtroom and not politics was where she belonged.
“Twenty minutes in my life made all the difference in the world,” she said.
Pat McInerney, president of the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners, also started his legal career as an intern in Riederer’s office.
And while that meant working to put bad guys in jail, McInerney said it sometimes also meant dismissing a case. Riederer gave attorneys the authority to make those decisions.
McInerney said he was surrounded in the prosecutor’s office by a tremendous collection of talented trial attorneys.
“That was one of the geniuses of Albert Riederer who assembled that team,” he said.
Matt Whitworth, a federal magistrate judge working in Jefferson City, joined Riederer’s office in 1984 and stayed for three years. Riederer encouraged more-experienced attorneys in the office to mentor the younger attorneys, he said.
That way, Whitworth said, a green attorney facing a a difficult judge or a more experienced defense lawyer always had backup.
When it came to hiring lawyers for the office, Riederer said he sought men and woman eager to learn and dedicated to being the best lawyers they could be.
Riederer said he tried to be a hands-off boss, and he wanted lawyers to not be afraid to fail.
“I was lucky to find a lot of good talent and I think I was smart enough to leave people alone and let them ply their trade,” he said.


A female IDF soldier was struck and killed on Wednesday morning on Route 90, east of Jerusalem, by a vehicle with Palestinian Authority license plates.
The incident occurred near the Beit Ha’Arava junction as the 20-year-old soldier was crossing the road.
Magen David Adom emergency medical response personnel who responded to the scene, along with an IDF medical team, tried to resuscitate the soldier but were forced to declare her death at the site.
The Arab driver of the vehicle that struck her, who did not flee, was detained for questioning.


Child safety locks are the target of a Ford recall.
Ford is recalling just over 13,000 Explorer, Taurus and Lincoln MKS cars and SUVs because the child safety locks might not work on the rear doors.
The recall affects 2013 model cars sold mainly in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Ford says the safety locks can be turned off when the doors are opened or closed. That could allow a door to be opened with the inside door handle and possibly hurt a child. The company says no injuries have been reported from the problem.
The recall covers cars and SUVs built from Nov. 29 to Dec. 12 of last year. Dealers will test the locks and replace door latches if needed at no cost to owners.


by Tyler Johnson at May 9, 2017 8:49 am .
It's been two months since Kylie Jenner and Tyga broke up, and though the couple has parted ways several times before, this time was supposed to be different.
This time, Kylie and Tyga were supposed to be over with for good, having finally joined the rest of us in getting bored with the constant breakup, reconciliation, breakup cycle.
Unfortunately, Kylie is 19, which means that like every other 19-year-old on the planet, she has no idea what the hell she wants, and she's fully enslaved by her own emotions.
In recent weeks, Tyga has been spending time with his ex, Blac Chyna.
It's not an entirely unexpected move, as Tyga and Blac have a kid together, and as far as club appearances and other paid events go, they're worth more together than separately.
But the Blac-Tyga split wasn't exactly amicable, and at one point, the feud between Blac and Kylie was as intense as celebrity beefs get.
We guess that'll happen when your boyfriend's baby mama gets knocked up by your brother.
So it's not surprising that Kylie is less than thrilled by the idea of Blac and Tyga hanging out - so much so, in fact, that sources say she's hoping to win Tyga back, just to keep him away from Chyna.
“Knowing that Tyga and Blac are hanging out together is definitely going to hit a nerve with both Rob and Kylie, and drive them crazy wondering if they’re back together again or not. And, that’s exactly how Blac and Tyga like it,” a source tells Hollywood Life.
“Rob is super pissed, and upset, he thinks Blac is disrespecting him," the insider adds.
“This is the same dynamic Kourtney and Scott had, where she’d take his cheating and fool herself into thinking no long-term damage was being done because there aren’t any feelings involved,” the insider claims.
These, days when she's not obsessing over Tyga, Kylie is hooking up with Travis Scott, reportedly in a bid to make her ex jealous.
“Tyga and Blac are not reconciling, as far as she’s concerned, been there done that. It didn’t work the first time round so it’s unlikely it would work a second time,” says one insider.
But that doesn't mean all the misdirected angst and petty mind games we'll be letting up any time soon.


Do you like the Audi A7? Do you like Cadillac’s current design language? If you answered ‘yes’ to both, or maybe even just one, you’re probably going to love the Cadillac Escala concept.
Unveiled this evening at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the Escala (Spanish for ‘scale’) joins a long list of gorgeous Caddy sedan concepts, and it even comes with a loose promise from CEO Johan de Nysschen that it’s being considered for production. Given its relatively reserved design compared to some previous concepts, there’s a good shot it’s more than just hollow promises this time.
“Depending on the development of market segment for large luxury sedans, Escala is a potential addition to our existing product plan,” de Nysschen said.
The Escala is based on the same platform as the Cadillac CT6, but is six inches longer, making it a few measurements and design lines closer to the glorious flagship Cadillac sedan we’ve been clamoring for. Oh yea, it has a “prototype” 4.2 liter twin-turbo V8.
So that’s a RWD V8 Cadillac that looks like a RWD V8 Cadillac should. Mm.
While I wouldn’t call the design a radical departure from the current look, especially the current CTS, it’s definitely a sharper look that does another layer of smoothing-over the now-familiar Cadillac look.
Those who complain about Cadillac rear-ends, well, yea. There still isn’t much going on back there. I can already see the big chrome bumper line on the production version of this, should one be on the way.


News items related to Virtual Open House as issued by the Send2Press Newswire service on behalf of the noted news source.
COLLINGSWOOD, N.J., April 5, 2013 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — According to a recent study, 78 percent of homebuyers begin their search online. With ever-improving technology, this number is growing rapidly. Barski-Katinsky Real Estate, a tech driven, South Jersey real estate company, focused on creating an outside the box approach to buying and selling real estate, announces the recent launch of its Virtual Open House platform.


Despite claims to the contrary, Israel wants its Arab population to be successful and happy. In line with that general policy, Israel's Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor and the government-owned telecom company Bezeq have launched a new initiative to get Bedouin Arab women into the workforce.
The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor identified Bedouin women as the sector of society least involved in the workforce. At the same time, Bezeq was looking to more to periphery communities for new call center customer support representatives, a position that traditionally sees a high turnover. The two joined forces and approached Bedouin communities in southern Israel about letting local women work.
It's not that many Bedouin women don't want to work. They do. Many have expressed a desire to contribute more financially to their large families. But community traditions prevent women from working outside the village, and opportunities within are largely confined to teaching.
Bezeq and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor solved the problem by opening a new call center inside a local mosque. Now, dozens of women from one Bedouin town are earning a competitive salary without breaking societal norms.
In interviews with Saudi news agency Al-Arabiya, a number of the women said they are very happy working for Bezeq. "As a Bedouin woman I am so proud of myself because as a Bedouin girl I started from zero," said one young woman who has since become a manager, while another praised Bezeq for being so flexible with working mothers.
Many of the women see the new opportunity as a stepping stone, and plan to use their newfound income to fund university studies. And many more Bedouin women are likely to get a similar opportunity very soon. Bezeq has been very pleased with the new call center and intends to expand the initiative. A number of other Israeli companies have also taken note, and are reportedly planning to target the Bedouin community with new jobs.


I love my fiancee and want to completely trust her, but she has in her contact list, on her cell phone, the numbers of three previous love interests, and not just their cell numbers, but work and home, too.
She doesn't want to erase them, so I feel like she doesn't want to make a commitment. I know if I force the issue I would seriously damage our relationship, and I don't think it is worth that, but I can't be wondering, what if she is off with someone else? -- J.C.
Why limit it to her previous love interests? Why not worry that she's off with a colleague, or a neighbor, or some guy at the dog park, or that old friend of hers with whom there's no romantic history ... yet?
You say you "want" to trust her completely. But that and a guy-free cell would provide only imaginary security, if that.
Wanting to trust someone has little to do with actually knowing how to trust someone. When you know how, you know that everyone has exes, and colleagues, and friends, and neighbors, and there will be active suitors among them, and temptations in as many forms as there are stops in one's daily routine. You can't expunge all potential threats to your primacy.
All you can do is know that both of you will face temptations; know your own behavior and hers; know your own character and hers; then form the most realistic expectation as to whether straying is likely.
You know how she is with and about these old love interests, right? You know whether she introduced you to them, includes you in outings with them, takes their calls when you're within earshot? You know why she's keeping their numbers? You know whether she has integrity?
If all the data tell you she's a threat to cheat, then she's a poor choice for a spouse. If all the data tell you she's unlikely to cheat, then trust that you did your best in choosing a mate.
someone who, like you, is poised to hitch her life to another's, hoping she chose wisely.
Have you been as forthright with her as you expect her to be with you? Have you been as open-minded with her as you hope she'll be with you? Is this why you're so jumpy -- you know what you're capable of doing?
Think about it. She's taking the exact risk you are. Maybe you rid your cell of all traces of ex-loves, but how does she know about your heart?
You can read someone's words, deeds, body language, e-mail (with permission) and bank statements (ditto), and there will still be a whole part of that person you'll never be able to see.
Please either accept that -- better, celebrate it, since this independent person with abundant choices is choosing to be with you -- or postpone any vows till you can.


In a year when college campuses were particularly visible as hotbeds of political activity, O’Keefe’s stunt didn’t make much of a splash. The administrator in the clip seems confused and skeptical, like an actress flubbing her lines, while the real-life Vassar kids caught on camera look mildly inconvenienced rather than incensed. What stands out is that, in contrast to O’Keefe’s other provocations, the clip could have served a variety of political viewpoints. As a parody of campus life, it tapped into a broader suspicion, shared across the ideological spectrum—from right-wing watchdogs to high-minded progressives—that college students these days are absurdly thin-skinned, unduly obsessed with “safe spaces” and political correctness.
Why this surge of interest in campus life, especially as fodder for ridicule? What have college students come to represent to those who presume to inhabit the "real world" that awaits them? These reports and reactions arrive at a moment of heightened scrutiny concerning the usefulness of college itself, in an era of astoundingly high tuitions and fees, and some of them have a whiff of intergenerational condescension, that enduring sense that youth (and critical theory) is wasted on the young. Compared to the scenes of sixties protest that remain most romantically legible in the American imagination, contemporary activism strikes many as low stakes and unfocussed.
But the alarm about offense-seeking college students may say more about the critics of political correctness than it does about the actual state of affairs. Plenty of evidence suggests that policies regarding microaggressions and trigger warnings aren’t as pervasive as they might seem to those who are not on campus. This is not to say that such policies (or demands for such policies) do not exist, nor to discount the very real pressures they place on teachers who work with difficult material. Is that coddling? Maybe it is. But an educational system built on legacy admissions and de facto segregation, with traditions of grade inflation that perpetuate privilege, is also a form of coddling. It’s understandable that protests about symbols and language strike critics on both the right and the left as being too touchy-feely. But it’s worth asking why the politics of everyday college life, from calls for more inclusive curricula to questions about whether campus buildings should continue honoring racist forefathers, have become so important to people spending their lives far from the classroom.
College once represented a bubble protected from the outside world. Students nowadays come into political consciousness in public, on the Internet, but also in a space—the twenty-first-century American college—that boasts a clear structure of accountability and hierarchy, a place where you might actually walk across campus, knock on a door, and meet a representative of the power structure. The logic of virality that governs life on the Internet has given student activists a sense of common struggle, as well as the means to escalate their grievances with relative ease. The “Ferguson effect” was a term invented to describe how nationwide protests against police brutality would result in a hesitant, overcautious police force. (There is evidence that claims about this effect have been overstated, if the effect even exists at all.) But another effect of the Ferguson protests—and the Occupy movement before it—was to intensify the desire to see injustices in one’s immediate surroundings as part of larger struggles that once might have seemed distant and abstract, to draw connections and recognize broader patterns linking everyday indignities with systemic problems.
This desire to see oneself along a continuum of experience isn’t remarkable in itself. What’s changed is the intense scrutiny from those just beyond the gates, eager to diagnose every gesture as some kind of larger trend. It’s a strange game of gotcha, from progressives wary of political correctness seeking out the juiciest anecdotes to O’Keefe’s mission to find someone at Vassar willing to do something un-American. The recent media coverage of Oberlin’s food fight, for example, seemed remarkably out of proportion to the original complaints. Before social media, grievances about cafeteria food from members of the campus’ tiny sliver of Asian and Asian-American students would have been lucky to make it across campus, let alone the country. But thanks in part to their use of au courant buzzwords like “authenticity” and “appropriation,” the “Oberlin foodies” became national symbols of campus culture wars run amok. Commenters took to the college’s Facebook page, ripping the students as spoiled and leaving an alarming number of racist comments about the Asian appetite for dog. (The comments have since been erased by the page’s moderator.) All of this seemed a strange turn of events, given that the original complaints, from an article in the school paper published with little fanfare a month earlier, didn’t seem to rise above a fairly modest lament.
What many of the cases across the country share in common is a desire by students to hold their institutions accountable in ways both impossibly big and manageably small. Particularly in instances when it is students of color agitating for institutional reform, it’s important to recognize what’s happening right now as the continually unfolding legacy of relatively recent policies designed to promote and insure diversity. At one point in time, institutions might have thought the mere presence of difference was a sufficient aim. But the question today is: Now what? Maybe the efforts of students pushing to fulfill a brochure’s promise of community and belonging feel purely symbolic or naïve. But it’s the most direct kind of response for those who suspect that their own presence may, on some level, be purely symbolic as well.
Working at a college hasn’t predisposed me to sympathizing with present-day students. All of this, from questions about college’s usefulness as pre-professional training to how today’s students confront challenging ideas, concerns me. As many academic critics of the campus wars have noted, one consequence of all these controversies might simply be more deans and administrators, and even more emphasis on the customer satisfaction model of education. Over the past couple of years, friends who have read stories about campus flare-ups have asked me what it’s like to teach kids these days. It’s complicated, I say, when you’re there every day. You see the good and the bad, the careful ideas and the brash whims, the moments of unexplained laziness and the stretches of superhuman vitality, and you remember that it’s all just a part of growing up.
Consider the trajectory of the typical twenty-something, born in the early nineties, a product of the test-oriented No Child Left Behind educational model. This hypothetical student came of age during the Obama era, with a new understanding of America’s future demographics, at a moment when the narrative of a red and blue America was firm orthodoxy. This student’s first Presidential election may involve Donald Trump. Identity politics, in the world this student knows, are no longer solely the province of minorities who have been pushed to the margins. The same ideas about inclusivity and belonging that spark campus revolt also underlie the narratives of grievance and decline animating supporters of Trump and the Tea Party. Within this context, where large swaths of the so-called real world have already surrendered to cynicism, perhaps direct action and protests, even in the name of seemingly minor causes, are the only politics that still makes sense.
It is tempting to conclude that what is happening is simply a rerun of what always happens, this time in the age of aggregation. But I’m not sure what we accomplish by insisting that nothing new is going on, or by suggesting that students simply try harder to belong. It seems similarly unhelpful to belittle an archetype, questioning the sources of their esteem or reading their motives in bad faith. The imaginary college student is a character born of someone else’s pessimism. It is an easy target, a perverse distillation of all the self-regard and self-absorption ascribed to what’s often called the millennial generation. But perhaps it goes both ways, and the reason that college stories have garnered so much attention this year is our general suspicion, within the real world, that the system no longer works. Their cries for justice sound out of step to those who can no longer imagine it. Maybe we’re troubled by these students’ attempts to imagine change on so microscopic a level. Maybe they interest us as a litmus test for the political future—one with different frontiers and more vociferous demands. There is a naïve idealism at the heart of student protest, which might be desperate or loud but never as cynical as the world that necessitated it. Today’s youth should be understood in terms of the choices available to them, not the world they’ve inherited. Let college kids be, many of us say, for they are no weirder than we were. It’s a comparison meant to be generous, since past generations, we think, turned out more or less O.K. This flatters the old, not the young.


BATON ROUGE, La. - NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has told Louisiana’s governor there was an error in the officiating that helped the Los Angeles Rams go to the Super Bowl instead of the New Orleans Saints, but there’s nothing he can do about it.
Goodell wrote to Gov. John Bel Edwards saying a penalty should have been called. But reiterating earlier comments, Goodell said he’s not authorized to overturn game results because of an officiating error, and clubs haven’t supported replays to review penalty calls or non-calls.
Edwards released a copy of the letter Monday.
Goodell said the league will consider whether rule or procedure changes could prevent similar problems going forward.
Edwards says that’s cold comfort to Saints fans, but he applauds Goodell’s willingness to review the error.
Edwards wrote to Goodell Jan. 22. Goodell said it apparently arrived while he was away at the Super Bowl. Goodell’s reply was dated Feb. 6.


Virgin Megastore has a retro approach to media sales. No, they're not rolling out a new and improved iTunes killer. Instead, the company introduced a "curbside pick-up" in Hollywood which lets customers pick up their purchases without the hassle of looking for a parking place.
The process works like this: You place your order by email or by phone, and then you pick up the goods at a scheduled time, according to VideoBusiness.com.


TWO motorists were killed in a head-on crash.
The accident happened on the A56 Chester Road, Helsby, close to Helsby High School about 10.25pm on Friday.
A 19-year-old man from Elton was driving towards Helsby village in a grey MG ZR when he was involved in a collision with a blue Peugeot 306, being driven in the opposite direction by 45-year-old Lynda Williams from Frodsham.
The drivers were cut free from their cars by officers from Cheshire Fire Service and taken to the Countess of Chester hospital.
They were both pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.
Ms Williams lived with partner Dave in St Hilda’s Drive, Frodsham.
Cheshire police are appealing for witnesses to the crash.
Anyone with information is asked to call Sergeant Rachel Gallagher at Chester Specialist Investigation Unit on 01244 613163.


Song lyrics make light of a local slaying.
The rap world and the Ivy League are colliding over a line in a Young Jeezy and Pusha T song that refers to the murder of Yale grad student Annie Le.
The song, “Illin” does not mention Annie Le by name, but mentions the horrific way in which she was stuffed in wall after she was murdered in September 2009. She was found on what was supposed to be her wedding day.
The lyric and is likely to get backlash from the Yale community and beyond.
The blog IvyGate weighed in, calling the lyric tasteless for making light of a murder that shook the Yale community and beyond.
NBC Connecticut reached out to Pusha T’s booking agent, who said he would be sending a statement, but nothing was immediately released.


Poor weather drives down attendance at 43rd annual NSRA Street Rod Nationals South.
Jim Rowlett of the National Street Rod Association talks about the 43rd annual street rod and custom car show in Chilhowee Park on Friday, May 5, 2017.
The 43rd annual NSRA Street Rod Nationals South drew thousands of people to Chilhowee Park on Friday and Saturday to see over 1,600 registered street rods being presented by members from across the region.
This year’s event marked the 34th time that the Street Rod Nationals South has been in Knoxville. According to NSRA Marketing Director Jim Rowlett, the event typically draws over 10,000 visitors and participants to the park, but Saturday’s cold, rainy weather drove attendance down significantly. Rowlett explained that the number of NSRA members registered for this year’s event was only slightly less than in 2016.
Rowlett explained that the NSRA hosts less than a dozen national street rod events across the country each year and that turnout for Saturday’s event had been great before the rain hit. Still, he said, Knoxville has proven to be a hot bed of street rod supporters.
Rick Edmunds, who traveled from Chesapeake, Ohio, to join his car in the event, said that part of its draw was the opportunity to enjoy a weekend in East Tennessee.
The Street Rod Nationals South event will continue from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chilhowee Park on Sunday, and nearly 30 winners will be selected from the over 1,600 participants competing for NSRA awards. For Rowlett, the competition and the awards remain secondary to the event’s sense of community.
For Rowlett and many other members of the NSRA, the annual Street Rod Nationals events are about more than the cars. Will Seibel, a divisional director for NSRA, said that the real motivating force behind the events was the camaraderie and community that they curated.
Edmunds and Rowlett echoed Seibel’s sentiment.


A recent posting on the Gazette’s Facebook pages of the 1st Cadet Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry marching along King Street, South Shields, in 1958, followed by members of the Civil Defence and South Shields Police, struck a chord with a number of readers.
Back in 1989 pupils at a South Shields comprehensive took part in a live link-up with school children in France.
Carole Elms took to social media to say: “I marched on Good Fridays down Fowler Street then along King Street with The Glebe Methodist Church, banner flying.
Another photograph, this time from February 1989, showing pupils at a South Shields comprehensive school taking part in a live link-up with children in France, also brought back memories.
Anthony Spink posted: “A lot of familiar faces here”, something which Kirsty Rockett confirmed, by naming many of them – “Kirsty Rockett, Emma Rose, Gemma Laurie, Dave Ogle, Kirsty Elizabeth Galbraith, Aidan Lannen, Mark Young Lisa Gray, Kathryn Cowen and Stephen Shieber.
The work room in Gowans store in Fowler Street in 1984.
The window display of Graham and Warren, South Shields travel agents. pictured in January 1969.


Miami Horror Worried That Their New L.A.-Inspired Album Might Be "Too Happy"
It’s not a story new to music: Band records solid debut album, gains traction in their hometown scene, moves to Los Angeles to pursue international superstardom, gets blissed out on SoCal’s slow-roll pace and perpetual sun, adopts corresponding laid-back attitude, and finds creativity levels compromised. The music suffers; the second album is weak; the band fades back into obscurity. The end.
Like many musicians before them, Melbourne, Australia-bred band Miami Horror has indeed found increased levels of personal contentment since posting up in L.A. a few years back. But the blue sky brightness of SoCal culture hasn't inspired a descent into blissed-out drivel, but rather an advancement of the breezy indie electronic sound first heard on their 2010 debut Illumination.
The album he’s referring to is All Possible Futures, Miami Horror's sophomore effort, released this past April. Travelers driving east on the 10 towards Palm Springs will see a billboard for the LP just past the Cabazon exit, the one with the dinosaur statues.
All Possible Futures is indeed dreamy, with an art-deco album cover that looks like an Instagram taken somewhere in Venice and the sound and feel of a sustained serotonin rush. It is not, however, without weight, depth of feeling, or standout tracks — particularly the lush “Forever? Ever?”and the funk jam “Love Like Mine” — that grow more appealing with each listen.
All Possible Futures has hints of Talking Heads and Tame Impala-style psychedelia, playing at times like the soundtrack to a smoked-out afternoon in Topanga. With an appearance by L.A. songstress Gavin Turek, loads of beachy ‘80s synths, and moments that might inspire listeners to cruise PCH with all the windows rolled down, All Possible Futures is indeed a very local album, and indicative that the four men who made it are enjoying their time in the City of Angels.
Plant formed Miami Horror in Melbourne in 2007, but he and his bandmates have been living here on and off for the past three years. While there has been a mass immigration of Aussie electronic musicians and DJs to L.A. in the past few years (including Anna Lunoe, Cut Snake and Alison Wonderland), Plant says the band doesn’t pal around with any of the Australian expats, hanging instead with homegrown acts like Classixx and Goldroom.
As Plant tells it, the relocation has been liberating.
With this new ease, however, came a new artistic worry. “That was a thing I was actually scared about: just being too happy and not being critical enough to restrain myself from certain things.” Plant admits that the new album is, in moments, too upbeat for his taste, but that's OK; they'll reel in the love and light on the next one.
Meanwhile, Miami Horror is on tour, road testing new material and reintroducing themselves to audiences who may have forgotten them in the five years since their debut. While Plant says the group could play larger venues, they’re doing club shows to re-build their fan base and create a sense of intimacy — and, hopefully, a sweatier experience on the dance floor. With a stronger sense of camaraderie within the band than ever before, this tour is really about having fun and introducing fresh music to new audiences.
Plant just hopes the new songs make audiences as happy as they've made his group.
Miami Horror plays The Roxy on Friday, June 5.


On a new episode of Tori's Trails The Now Bakersfield’s Tori Cooper stepped into Native American territory to explore the world they left behind for hikers.
The Unal trail is an interpretive trail, meaning it's a moderate length trail with concentrated informational stops meant to inform visitors about what they are seeing. In this case the Unal Trail provides visitors with more awareness of the Native American heritage left behind in the Sequoia National Forest.
The Tubatulabel people are some of the first to call the Kern River Valley their home. In their native language Unal means ,‘Trail of the Bear,’ so don’t be surprised if you see a bear along your route.
Members of the tribe, with ties to land associated with the trail also left behind numbered stops to ensure visitors walked away with something more than just a workout.
The Unal Trail was developed in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and the local Tubatulabal to teach forest visitors not only about forest service management practices but also about the early Native Americans that lived in the area.
To go along with visitors trek is a booklet written from the Tubatulabel perspective, describing each different significant area on the way to the top including significant trees that have been around for hundreds of years, special and dangerous plant life and even descriptions about their campsite that was left along the trail.
During the summer months the natives sought out the higher mountains to find shade and avoid the sun.
Visitors will climb over 4,000 feet in elevation along the three mile loop to the top. Once you reach the top you are officially over 6,000 feet in elevation and there are scenic view points with benches to sit and enjoy. The top also overlooks the San Joaquin Valley.
If you are interested in learning about the trail along your hike just stop by the U.S. Forest Service station at the bottom of the trail to grab a booklet.


People read more than ever on mobile devices and usually in 10-minute bursts, giving rise to a new wave of apps that promise to make reading on a small screen easier. Angela Chen reports on the News Hub. Photo: Getty Images.


Writer Eduardo Galeano & Photojournalist Sebastião Salgado in Conversation with Amy Goodman (2000) | Democracy Now!
Eduardo Galeano has appeared on Democracy Now! many times over the years. Visit our online archive to watch our interviews with him.


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is set to meet with Hamas leaders Khaled Meshaal and Moussa Abu Marzouq in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza-based Palestinian resistance factions.
Abbas “wants a ceasefire to end the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip,” senior Fatah leader Nabil Shaath told a Wednesday press conference in Ramallah.
Abbas will spend three days in Cairo, and is scheduled to meet with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
Hamas, which hold along with Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees said that it was excluded from the discussions surrounding a ceasefire, has yet to comment on Shaath’s remarks regarding the planned meeting.
“Abbas’ talks in Cairo will focus on a ceasefire and how to stop Israel’s barbaric attack on Gaza,” Shaath said.
“He will then travel to Turkey for a meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan before heading to the Gulf region,” he added.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas had left Israel with “no choice” but to expand and intensify its operation against Gaza.
Netanyahu’s threat would seem to have been carried out on Tuesday night as Gaza saw the most airstrikes since the operation began nine days ago, according to Palestinian security sources.
The airstrikes were followed Wednesday morning by raids on homes of several senior Hamas members, including Fathi Hammad, and two members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Jamial al-Shanti in Jabalya and Ismail al-Ashqar in Gaza City, attacks some analysts have intepreted as Israel’s attempt to exert pressure on Hamas and other groups to accept the ceasefire proposal.
As Hamas leaders headed to Cairo, diplomatic wrangling around the crisis came from various corners.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, who on Tuesday condemned Hamas for firing rockets “in the face of a goodwill effort to operate a ceasefire”, appeared to have a more inclusive tone on Wednesday, reportedly telling Qatari and Turkish foreign ministers by phone that he hoped a ceasefire deal will bring together all of the parties involved.
Abbas reportedly plans to suggest that Palestinian Authority forces guard the Rafah border and Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt in order to meet the terms of one of several Hamas demands that Israel reopen the Rafah border crossing.
Meanwhile, the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius suggested that the EU set up observer missions between Israel and the Strip, similar to operations it implemented at the Rafah crossing in 2005, but were suspended in 2007 after Hamas seized power in Gaza.
Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Althani also met with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan on Tuesday to discuss mutual efforts to end the violence in Israel-Palestine.
Ahead of the announcement of the Egyptian-led ceasefire proposal on Monday, a senior Hamas member told MEE on Sunday that the movement has ruled out Egypt as a negotiator and would only consider Turkey and Qatar as potential go-betweens.
Following Tuesday evening’s heavy strikes, the Israeli army warned some 100,000 Palestinians in the eastern Gaza Strip early on Wednesday to evacuate their homes, military sources said.
Eyewitnesses saw flyers dropped over the Zeitun neighborhood southeast of Gaza City, and residents there and elsewhere also reported receiving recorded phone and text messages urging them to evacuate by 0500 GMT.
The flyers explained that the army would be carrying out “aerial strikes against terror sites and operatives” in Zeitun and Shujaiya, since “a high volume of rocket fire at Israel” was from there.
A similar message was sent to residents of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.
“The evacuation is for your own safety,” the leaflet read, warning residents to not return to their homes until further notice.
Similar messages had been sent to Beit Lahiya with a Sunday deadline, causing the exodus of 17,000 people who took shelter in United Nations schools.
Since 8 July, fighters have fired nearly 1,000 rockets and mortars into Israel, and Israeli forces have carried out around 1,500 strikes against targets inside the Gaza Strip, the army says.
Palestinian medical sources said 205 people were killed in the Israeli strikes and 1,500 have been injured.
On Tuesday, the first Israeli was killed by a rocket fired from Gaza at the Erez border crossing.


A legal citizen from Togo was reportedly attacked in Maryland for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat on Saturday, as police have taken two suspects into custody.
The man, who lives in Germantown, MD, was reportedly attacked in his neighborhood by two men because he was wearing the hat, in support of President Donald Trump. He was reportedly hit in the head and upper body, as the two suspects tried to steal his hat from him, according to ABC7.
The Montgomery County Police Department says the victim, “who was wearing a red, Make America Great Again hat, was approached by two men who began harassing the victim and asking why he was wearing the MAGA hat. The victim told the suspects that he was entitled to his own views and kept walking away from the suspects. The suspects began striking the victim and telling him to take the hat off. The victim continued to be struck by the suspects until he fell to the ground. The suspects then removed property from the victim, and destroyed items of value. The suspects then fled the scene,” in a Monday press release.
NEW: This Germantown, Md. man tells @ABC7News he was attacked Saturday in his neighborhood by two men all because he was wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat.
MORE: MoCo ???? have arrested 27yo Jovan Crawford of Gaithersburg, Md. and 25yo Scott Roberson of NW DC for the politically motivated assault. They each face 10+ years in prison.
The men are reportedly facing 10 or more years in prison.