Five tax day marches are scheduled across the Bay Area Saturday in protest of President Donald Trump refusing to release his tax returns.
Marchers will gather in the cities of San Francisco, San Jose, Palo Alto, Walnut Creek and Santa Cruz.
Sixty percent of Americans believe Trump has a responsibility to release his tax records, according to a January Pew Research Center poll.
The White House confirmed in March that Trump paid $38 million in federal income tax on more than $150 million in income for 2005.
Trump has repeatedly said an Internal Revenue Service audit prevents him from releasing his records. The IRS has released a statement declaring an audit would not preclude anyone from releasing their own tax information.
Local marches will coincide with the Tax March on Washington the same day. Thousands are expected to attend the Washington D.C. march.
South Bay resident Cohn Ormeno decided to organize a San Jose march when she realized one had yet to be organized in the area. Dissatisfied with who she calls an “arrogant, misogynistic, and incoherent” president, Cohn Ormeno wanted a space for herself and others to be an active resistance against the federal administration.
Dozens from the political group South Bay Indivisible will attend marches in both Palo Alto and San Francisco.
Visit Taxmarch.org for more information about local marches.


Yandex, Russia’s ‘homegrown Google’, is adding an English interface to its Yandex.Translate app for iOS, along with support for more language translation pairs, in order to widen the app’s appeal and start building an international user-base. The original app launched in December with a Russian interface, offering translations between Russian and eight languages, including English, Ukrainian, Turkish, Czech, Bulgarian, Romanian and Serbian.
As well as adding an English version of the app, Yandex has increased the supported English translation pairs from three options before (English<->Russian, English<->Ukrainian, English<->Turkish) to eight, with the addition of: English<->Spanish, English<->German, English<->French, English<->Italian and English<->Czech.
The majority of the app’s current translations – more than 85% – are between Russian and English, according to Yandex. And 98% of all downloads come from Russia and Ukraine. But the company claims there is “considerable interest” from mobile users in the U.S., China, France, the U.K. and Israel, which it hopes will grow now that it’s adding an English UI. In tandem it is also releasing a version of the app with a Ukrainian UI.
Yandex’s original online translation service rolled out two years ago, and the app is powered by the same machine translation technology. It automatically detects the source of the language, rather than the user having to specify from a list. Other features includes real-time translations as the user types, and a proprietary predictive text technology to reduce typo-based errors. There’s a text-to-speech component, powered by Acapela, along with the ability to sound translated words. And while the app needs an Internet connection to function, translation history is stored locally on the device and can be accessed while offline.
The (free) Yandex.Translate app has had more than 150,000 downloads since its launch in December 2012, according to the company. It says it’s getting almost 40,000 downloads every month on average, and serves more than 15,000 users — generating more than 100,000 translations every day.
Yandex has slowly been ramping up its efforts to push beyond its traditional stronghold of Russian and its neighbouring countries, while also bolstering its position in its home market.
Last year, for instance, it extended the reach of its digital mapping service, maps.yandex, launching international maps for Europe and the U.S. While in its home market the company launched its own Internet browser and an Android app store in a bid to keep Google at bay.


Is a deal finally in the pipeline?
DESPITE warnings not to let the Kremlin gain control of a 49 percent stake in the Transpetrol oil pipeline administrator, Slovakia has still not moved to recover the stake itself. Even if it now decided to do so, analysts say, it still might not meet a deadline of April 2007 to accomplish the transaction.
Slovak Economy Minister Ľubomír Jahnátek (right) should have waited before revealing deal with Yukos Finance management (left).
Slovak Economy Minister Ľubomír Jahnátek and President Ivan Gašparovič visited Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the second week of November, but no firm decision was taken on the future of the Slovak firm, except that it would not be sold to a third party.
"We simply agreed that there are two possibilities - either the Russian side will get the [49 percent] stake, or Slovakia will have 100 percent. We're now looking at which option would be best for Slovakia," said Gašparovič on his return on November 11.
Three companies had indicated interest in Transpetrol - the Russian Gazprom and Russneft firms, and Slovakia's largest private equity group, Penta Investments.
Energy professionals fear that if the stake remains under Russian control, the Družba pipeline that Transpetrol uses will not be employed to transport Caspian Sea oil west, as the European Union wants. Instead, the company would continue to transport exclusively Russian oil, preventing the diversification of supplies and increased energy security for Slovakia and Europe.
A pipeline capable of delivering Caspian oil from Odessa on the Black Sea currently connects to Brody on the Ukraine border, but Transpetrol has not taken the opportunity to hook it up to Družba.
"Energy security is an important factor in the decision on the future of Transpetrol," said the Energy Security Institute (ESI), a Brussels-based energy lobby group, in a recent statement. "Transpetrol has an important role to play in the construction of the Odessa-Brody Euro-Asian pipeline corridor."
The matter is increasingly urgent, as Slovakia's right of veto on the disposition of the stake expires at the end of April 2007. "Given that the acquisition [of the 49 percent stake] could take several months, the ministry should assign the solution of the Transpetrol share issue a higher position on its scale of priorities," the ESI said.
"For the Russian side it is more advantageous to draw the whole process out, because after April 2007 it will be easier for them to sell the stake to a Russian firm."
The Transpetrol stake, which gives its owner managerial control over the company, was privatized in a tender in 2002 to Yukos Finance, a daughter of the Russian Yukos, for $74 million. However, Yukos found itself in financial problems in 2003 when the state decided it owed back taxes of $27 billion. Observers believe the Kremlin was seeking revenge for the opposition activities of Yukos owner Michail Chordokovsky, and was also trying to reassert state control over Russia's raw materials.
Whatever the motives, Yukos entered bankruptcy in August 2006, meaning that its assets - including the Transpetrol stake held by its daughter - were liable to be sold to satisfy the claims of creditors.
Before that could happen, however, the stake was quietly transferred to a Dutch foundation called Stichting Administratiekantoor Yukos International by Yukos Finance bosses Steven Theede, Bruce Misamor and David Godfrey. A Dutch court has since ruled that while Yukos legally owns the Transpetrol stake, the rights to it belong to the foundation.
Minister Jahnátek agreed with the three Yukos Finance bosses on August 9 that Slovakia would buy back the Transpetrol stake. However, when Yukos bankruptcy trustee Eduard Rebgun, who is close to the Kremlin, found out about the deal, he fired the three men for acting against the interests of Yukos.
"I think that Jahnátek shouldn't have gone public right away with the deal to buy back the shares from Yukos Finance," said Alexander Duleba, director of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association. "[If he had kept quiet] the bankruptcy trustee would not then have fired the management of Yukos Finance, and today Slovakia would be the owner of the shares."
Slovak government officials have changed their minds several times on what to do with the Transpetrol shares. At the beginning of 2006, former Economy Minister Jirko Malchárek spoke of selling the stake to the Russneft company as one of the best options; Russneft even gained the approval of the Slovak Anti-Trust Bureau for the transaction in May.
However, when former Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda visited the United States, according to the Trend business weekly, he was told by top administration officials that it was not a good idea to let the stake remain in Russian hands as it would prevent the diversification of energy supplies to Central Europe. Several weeks later, Malchárek said it would be best if the shares were returned to Slovakia, while the Slovak government used the veto clause in the privatization contract to block the sale of the shares to Russneft.
After early elections and the defeat of the Dzurinda government, the new Fico cabinet began discussing the possibility of letting the Russians keep the stake. Following a visit by Steve Hellman, an advisor to US Secretary of State, to Slovakia to discuss the Transpetrol deal, Jahnátek returned to the idea of buying the stake back from Yukos Finance.
"Let's face it, this was a bungled privatization in the first place," said Duleba. "The company should never have been sold to a Russian oil producer [Yukos], because its interest would naturally be to use Transpetrol to transport its own oil.
"The best thing Slovakia can do in the current situation is to buy the stake back so it could influence the ensuing selection of the private buyer."
Duleba said it would be best if the firm were sold to a consortium of refineries which would have a vested interest in using its capacity to the fullest.


Physical coercion and sexual assault are unacceptable in any setting and have no place at Duke. The criminal allegations against three members of our men's lacrosse team, if verified, will warrant very serious penalties. The facts are not yet established, however, and there are very different versions of the central events. No charges have been filed, and in our system of law, people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. We also know that many members of the team, including some who were asked to provide DNA samples, did not attend the party.
I urge everyone to cooperate to the fullest with the police inquiry while we wait to learn the truth.
Whatever that inquiry may show, it is already clear that many students acted in a manner inappropriate to a Duke team member in participating in the March 13 party. I applaud Athletics Director Joe Alleva for responding to the conduct that is not in question even as we wait for the investigation to determine the truth about disputed parts of the events.


Can Maharashtra Government Guarantee Reservations?
Maratha protests over reservations on Tuesday turned violent. In Aurangabad, after a protestor jumped into river Godavari and committed suicide, there were incidents of arson. Police vehicles and fire trucks were attacked. The internet is shut down in parts of the Aurangabad district. Mumbai braces for the worst with the protesters insisting that they will take their protests to India's commercial capital on Wednesday. On Trending @ 10, we debate: as the Maratha quota stir turns violent, can the Maharashtra government guarantee reservations?
Maharashtra: Quota Politics For Vote Bank?


VIENNA (Reuters) - World Cup qualifiers Uruguay paid for wayward finishing as they suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Austria in a friendly on Tuesday.
Austria, who missed out on the World Cup, won with a freak goal by Louis Schaub in the 87th minute as their new coach Franco Foda got off to a winning start.
Schaub took a free kick near the touchline around 35 metres from goal and the ball floated over a pack of players and into the net without anyone getting a touch.
Austria had gone in front after five minutes with a Marcel Sabitzer goal but Uruguay took control after Edinson Cavani headed the equaliser in the 10th minute, his 40th goal for his country.
The South Americans squandered a flurry of chances with Giorgian de Arrascaeta thumping the ball against the post and Cavani firing over when he had a free shot on goal.
Forward Luis Suarez was rested by Uruguay to help his recovery from a knee injury.
Uruguay have played four friendlies in Europe this year, producing three defeats and a draw against Poland.


THE facts about your security are being torn to shreds by activist liars. And they think that you’re too stupid to know the difference.
Whopper No. 1: America is less safe today than it was on Sept. 10, 2001. Oh, really? Where’s the evidence? The Clinton years saw New York City attacked and Americans slaughtered by terrorists around the globe. Nothing was done to protect us.
And the true end of the Clinton era came on 9/11.
A record to be proud of.
Countless aspects of the Bush-Cheney administration deserve merciless criticism. But fair is fair: Since 9/11, we haven’t suffered a single successful terrorist attack on our homeland. Not one.
Explain to me, please, how this shows we’re less safe. What factual measurement applies, other than the absence of attacks?
God knows, the terrorists desperately wanted to strike our homeland. And they couldn’t. Are we supposed to believe that was an accident?
Whopper No. 2: Al Qaeda is stronger than ever. Al Qaeda just suffered a strategic defeat in Iraq that may prove decisive. It can’t launch attacks beyond its regional lairs. The cowardly Osama bin Laden can’t show his face (remember his Clinton-era pep rallies?).
Yes, terrorists can still murder innocents on their home court. I personally prefer that to them killing Americans in Manhattan and Washington. Even in Iraq, al Qaeda’s been beaten down to violent-fugitive status.
By what objective measurement is al Qaeda stronger today than it was when it had an entire country for its base and its tentacles reached all the way to Florida and the Midwest?
Whopper No. 3: Success in Iraq is an illusion – the surge failed. Folks, this is something only a New York Times columnist could believe.
Every single significant indicator, from Iraqi government progress through the performance of Iraqi security forces to the plummeting level of violence, has changed for the better – remarkably so.
If current trend-lines continue, it may not be long before Baghdad is safer for Iraqi citizens than the Washington-Baltimore metroplex is for US citizens. Iraq’s government is working, its economy is booming – and its military has driven the concentrations of terrorists and militia from every one of Iraq’s major cities.
And our troops are coming home. Where’s the failure?
Whopper No. 4: Iran is stronger than ever. Tell that to the Iraqis, who’ve rejected Iranian meddling in their affairs, who’ve smashed the Iran-backed Shia militias and who didn’t take long to figure out that Tehran’s foreign policy was imperialist and anti-Arab.
The people of Iraq don’t intend to trade Saddam for Ahmadinejad. Iran has lost in Iraq. At this point, all the Iranians can do is to kill a handful of innocent Iraqis now and then. Think that wins them friends and influence?
Whopper No. 5: The US-European relationship is a disaster. In fact, Washington and the major European capitals have built new, sturdier bridges to replace old ones that badly needed burning.
The Europeans grudgingly figured out that they need us – as we need them. The big break in 2003 cleared a lot of bad air (there was no break with Europe’s young democracies). Relations today are sounder than they were in the fiddle-while-Rome-burns Clinton era.
Oh, and NATO has become a serious military alliance – fighting in Afghanistan, patrolling the high seas and conducting special operations against terrorists. The Germans announced this week that they’re sending another thousand troops to Afghanistan. France is re-engaging with NATO’s military side. Where’s the disaster, mon ami?
Whopper No. 6: As president, Barack Obama would bring positive change to our foreign policy– and John McCain’s too old to get it.
Hmm: Take a gander at Obama’s senior foreign-policy advisers: Madeleine Albright (71), Warren Christopher (82), Anthony Lake (69), Lee Hamilton (77), Richard Clarke (57) . . .
If you added up their ages and fed the number into a time-machine, you’d land in Europe in the middle of the Black Death.
More important: These are the people whose watch saw the first attack on the World Trade Center, Mogadishu, Rwanda, the Srebrenica massacre, a pass for the Russians on Chechnya, the Khobar Towers bombing, the attacks on our embassies in Africa, the near-sinking of the USS Cole – oh, and the US bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
Their legacy climaxed on 9/11.
You couldn’t assemble a team in Washington with more strategic failures to its credit.
Whopper No. 7: Our troops are all coming home as psychos victimized by their participation in military atrocities.


The Chinese Football Association (CFA) has started an independent review of football officiating in a controversial Chinese Super League (CSL) game between Shandong Luneng and Henan Jianye on March 9.
Shandong Luneng filed a complaint following their 2-2 draw in the March 9 CSL game, claiming referee Fu Ming made four controversial refereeing decisions in the second round match.
Fu officiated at the Asian qualifiers for the FIFA 2018 World Cup and this year's Asian Cup earlier this year.
An official with Shandong Luneng expressed their respect for the CFA's review, saying: "We will do our job as usual, and we call on all fans show respect to the referee."
The independent review team was formed by a group of FIFA and AFC referee instructors and elite referees. Upon completion, they will submit a review summary to the referee department of CFA, who will decide what to do if refereeing mistakes were found.
The Chinese Football Association announced in February that the CFA set up its own professional referee team including both domestic and overseas distinguished football referees. Ma Ning, Fu Ming, Zhang Lei and two foreign referees Mark Clattenburg and Milorad Mazic became the first professional referees in the CFA.
Chen Yongliang, director of the CFA Super League, said that introducing the professional referee system will promote the comprehensive development of Chinese football referees, and that the levels and standards of referees will be improved to ensure all football leagues in China play a fair and impartial game.
Four male referees officiated the Asian Cup earlier this year. Chinese trio Qin Liang and her assistant referees Cui Yong Mei and Fang Yan will officiate their second FIFA Women's World Cup in France.
The CFA will continue to send referees to UEFA to take courses on refereeing, and bring in foreign referees in domestic leagues to provide learning opportunities for Chinese referees.


One of the greatest benefits is lowering the labor and operational expenses of development. Teams with broader skillsets and more experienced professionals can deliver in shorter timeframes and without the overhead of in-house resources and extensive re-coding. Proven methodologies like Agile development are already in place and efficiently executed for a streamlined process. Professional developers can provide outcomes that minimize effort and lower cost. A full team of experienced developers will accomplish more in any given time frame than a limited team of in-house programmers that have other obligations.
Many technology companies choose to outsource development so that their teams can remain focused on core business functions like marketing and customer service. The more time-consuming processes that can be outsourced, the more business teams can focus on growth. Most small-to-medium companies, and even large enterprises, find it increasingly difficult to keep up with technical change and consumer expectations. Outsourced development makes this much easier with no loss of emphasis in developing core business competencies. Well-architected software will provide greater flexibility, potential, and accuracy to you and your customers.
Rather than being restricted to local employees or contractors, offshoring allows companies to utilize the skills of software developers anywhere in the world. Successful third-party developers will already have the best talent and organization for providing quality results in a global marketplace. Some companies spend a great deal of money on recruiting, training, and retention of highly skilled programmers. This isn't a good strategy if there isn't a continuing need. By contracting for development services, you get the best talent available without a long-term investment.
One of the benefits of outsourcing software development is that company resources can be fully committed to other operations or initiatives that are done affordably on-site. Even software companies may already be engaged with high-priority projects and may choose to outsource other projects to external providers when they don't have the resources to fulfill them. Through hiring a third-party that already has the tools and talent, you can budget for development without spending on new software tools, enhancement of infrastructure, or increased payroll and benefit expenses.
Many small companies won't have the systems or IT skills for effective development. It might require a costly investment in tools and personnel to even get started and with no guarantee of deadlines or results. By working with a reputable developer, however, you are assured of delivery with no concerns about budgeting for the appropriate tools and talent. A leading software development company such as Venture Aviator is already utilizing a global team of developers and project managers to meet the growing demands of modern business.
The money saved by outsourcing software projects can be put to other uses, such as external investments or as capital funds. For growing software programming companies, the failure to realize and leverage savings wherever possible is equivalent to waste. It's bad for business. Offshoring practices provide access to remote teams from foreign markets in Eastern Europe or Asia where the labor costs are lower. This means even greater savings to lower your investment and grow your buffer capital for business operations.
Delegating complex responsibilities like software development to external parties frees companies from the burdens of tracking and controlling progress. They can realize all the benefits with none of the challenges and obstacles. It also frees up often over-burdened in-house IT teams from devoting their time and concentration to prolonged development projects. Instead, they can continue to support other issues like network maintenance, cyber security, business continuity, and end-user support that are critical to smooth company operations every day.
Software outsourcing to a capable development firm is a means for reducing risk. This is one of the main reasons companies pursue this option. The outside agency takes responsibility for delivering a quality product to your specifications, so producing software that adds value to your business is a low-risk proposition. Knowledgeable, dedicated developers will also assume accountability and ensure that your digital systems remain compliant with increasing government regulations. This helps to mitigate the risks of fines or even possible lawsuits in the event that customer or patient records are mismanaged or exposed through poor design.
As Roy Malkin, President of a leading software development company, Venture Aviator, says: "There's something special that happens when developers and innovators come together around a compelling vision." Reengineering enables software companies to refactor existing code for quick deployment of changes providing new features or incorporating innovative functions and designs. Outsourcing to a professional software development company helps businesses collaborate and leverage the concept of reengineering for affecting even significant changes with faster time-to-market.
One of the top reasons companies choose to create proprietary software is to expand into new markets or to provide additional services to their customers. Solutions like free or affordable mobile apps improve brand recognition and customer loyalty while bringing services to customers in a convenient and easily accessible format. Experts in website development and design will also help grow your internet presence by incorporating the latest technologies while engineering for performance, security, stability, SEO, and other critical aspects of the online experience.
Business leaders choose software outsourcing and offshoring for a variety of reasons and for any scope of project. Costs and requirements will vary widely, but the benefits are clear among most of the world's top companies. Connecting with audiences, saving money, and providing greater value to consumers and shareholders are all worthwhile and realistic objectives. With some thoughtful planning and selection of the right external agency to meet your needs, your company is bound to experience improvement.


The Youth Scholarship Bowling Tournament was held on Thursday, April 18 at the Voyageur Lanes. Zeke Olson took home the top honors after out-bowling Chloe Leegard who placed second, followed by Joe Skinner, third place and Zane Weaver took fourth place. To qualify for the finals, all participants bowled three games. The top four scorers then bowled in a head-to-head competition.
Driller Promotions makes a highly-anticipated return to beautiful Detroit Lakes and Kent Freeman Arena Saturday, May 18 bringing mixed martial arts back to the Lakes area. No Mercy X is headlined by Thief River Falls native Reese Hernandez taking on Las Vegas resident BJ Lacy in a rematch of their previous fight which was scored a draw.
Registration for Detroit Lakes Youth Football is open for students entering grades 4-6 this coming fall. Detroit Lakes is a member of the FM Athletics Youth Football league beginning its 48th season and consists of about 70 teams with over 1,500 players in Western Minnesota and Eastern North Dakota. The organization is a non-profit corporation and all board members are volunteers.
The Minnesota Vikings announce the team has agreed in principle to a multi-year contract extension with wide receiver Adam Thielen.
The Sinking Mermaid team captured the bowling championship of the Ship Shape League to polish off the 2018-19 season. Members of the team were: Leanne Comstock, Jean Poehler, Peg Harstad, April Foltz, Peggy Makey and Sharon DeMay. Winners of the league and other individual awards were announced at the League's banquet held on Wednesday, April 10 at the Cormorant Pub.
North Dakota State freshman Maddie Herzog has been named the Summit League Women's Golfer of the Week.
Seniors Breanna Price and Lauryn Manning both earned spots on the Mid-State all-conference girls basketball team for the 2018-19 season. Fellow seniors Emily Larson and Ellie Lunde earned honorable mention. The Lakers finished 12-15 overall and were 5-5 in conference play finishing in a tie with Park Rapids Area for fourth place.
Youth bowling tournaments in three divisions were sponsored by the Detroit Lakes Bowling Association in late January. The tournaments were held in elementary, middle school and high school divisions. Layla DeGroat was the top bowler in the elementary division with a handicap score of 676.


The trial of a teacher at a primary school in Cheshunt accused of inappropriately touching two children started today (Monday, January 15).
Alexander Eldridge, 33, of Windsor Drive, Hertford, is charged with two counts of sexually assaulting a child under the age of 13 by touching, as well as outraging public decency by taking pictures of children.
He is also charged with three counts of making indecent images of children, relating to both moving images and still images - one category B moving image and 17 category C still images.
Eldridge pleaded not guilty to all charges and a jury was sworn in at St Albans Crown Court today ahead of his trial.
The trial, which is expected to last until next week, will continue tomorrow (January 16) with opening statements and evidence from witnesses.
Eldridge has been released on conditional bail.
Sarah Morris is prosecuting the case for the Crown, while Jon Swain is defending Eldridge.
Judge Warner is preceding over the trial.
He has been suspended from his position at the school in Cheshunt while the investigation continues.


DAWSON MP George Christensen has used taxpayer funds to pay for books that consider the threat of climate change to be a conspiracy or a hoax.
The MP's spending habits were revealed in the latest expenditure reports from the Department of Finance.
Mr Christensen was reimbursed for books including Tower of Babble: How The UN Has Fueled Global Chaos, Taxing Air Australia and The Greatest Hoax: How The Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future.
The Tower of Babble -- a nine-year-old "tell-all" on a climate change conspiracy created by the UN -- was good enough for Mr Christensen to purchase two copies.
The Greatest Hoax from US Senator Jim Inofe describes how the concept of climate change is "blatantly and categorically false", according to the book's description.
Senator Inofe has previously likened the US environmental regulator, the EPA, to the Nazi Gestapo.
He has previously said global warming was "the second-largest hoax ever played on the American people, after the separation of church and state".
Mr Christensen has long been outspoken on his position of climate change science, speaking at a US function for the Heartland Institute -- a conservative think-tank against global warming.
In July 2014, the ABC reported he said climate change warnings were "comedic", comparing them to Hollywood disaster films.
"It's hard to tell the difference between an alarmist claim about global effects and the basic premise of a disaster movie plot."
Revolt from the Heartland: The Struggle for an Authentic Conservatism, It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good and even issues of the home with Men on Strike: Why Men Are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood, and the American Dream - and Why It Matters.
The MP also bought The Political Speechwriter's Companion: A Guide for Writers and Speakers.


It is vitally important that Congress take the necessary steps to ensure that these institutions benefit from strong and independent regulatory supervision, operate in a safe and sound manner, and are primarily focused on their statutory mission. More importantly, Congress must ensure that the American taxpayer is protected in the event either GSE should fail.
Via Human Events. One thing I hadn’t realized is that McCain’s reform legislation was passed through the Senate Banking Committee, but was not able to gain majority support on the Senate floor. All twenty Senators who signed the letter calling attention to the urgency of reforming Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac were Republicans. After May 2006, the Democrats continued to use Fannie and Freddy as their private slush funds until the inevitable collapse, which McCain had warned against so eloquently, occurred.
For some inexplicable reason, John McCain seems unable to claim the credit he deserves for being one of the few politicians in Washington who saw the present crisis coming and tried to do something about it. He is even more unable to vigorously and unambiguously put the blame where it belongs: on the Democratic Party. Which is one of the principal reasons why, as everyone expects, he will lose in November.


Separately, three fighters attack an airbase close to the border with Pakistan in the eastern province of Khost.
Eight policemen were killed by their colleagues after they were poisoned in their base in southern Afghanistan in the latest "insider attack".
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the incident, which happened in Nawshar district of southern Zabul province late on Friday, as the group escalates a deadly winter campaign of violence.
"The infiltrators first poisoned their colleagues and then shot them dead," provincial spokesman Gul Islam Seyal told AFP news agency on Saturday, adding the attackers fled the area taking all the weapons and munitions from the base.
The governor of Zabul, Bismillah Afghanmal, said they had launched an investigation into the incident.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a message to the media that the group's "infiltrators" carried out the attack.
The Reuters news agency, quoting local officials, said the attackers defected to Taliban.
So-called insider attacks - when Afghan soldiers and police turn their guns on their colleagues or on international troops - have been a major problem during the more than 15-year-long war.
Such attacks have sapped morale and caused deep mistrust within security ranks.
In a similar incident last month, an Afghan policeman linked to the Taliban shot dead 11 of his colleagues at a checkpoint in the neighbouring Helmand province.
And last September, two Afghan soldiers with suspected Taliban links killed at least 12 of their comrades as they slept in the volatile northern province of Kunduz.
Separately on Saturday, gunmen attacked a military airbase in the eastern province of Khost.
Faizullah Ghairat, security chief of Khost province, said three assailants attacked the base, close to the border with Pakistan. One was killed while two others escaped, he said.
The attackers tried to enter the base but were prevented by guards.
"Our forces have shot one armed attacker dead, and at least two [would be] suicide attackers are at large, we are looking for them," he said.
Nine people, including seven CIA agents, were killed in a suicide attack carried by a Jordanian associated with al-Qaeda on the same military base in December 2009. Camp Chapman in Khost is said to be instrumental in providing intelligence to the CIA for drone attacks across the border in Pakistan.
The incident comes just before the normal start of the spring fighting season, when the warmer weather brings increased operations by both rebel and government forces.
Afghan and US officials have warned that Afghanistan will see increased fighting this year as the Taliban steps up a campaign that has cut the area controlled by the government to below 60 percent.
The Afghan interior ministry said over the past 25 hours, security forces had killed 51 fighters in counterterrorism operations across Afghanistan.


We've got nothing but love for Heavy D, who died this week at his Beverly Hills home. Dan Hyman wrote a touching memorial for a man who was a pioneer of the hip-hop/R&B hybrid.
This week will be remembered for sunnier news as well, however: We finally enacted Nigel Tufnel day. And it's today! Sure, we had to decree 11/11/11 a holiday in his honor by fiat, but who cares? That didn't stop L.J. Williamson from brainstorming eleven ways to celebrate the occasion.
Hell, this is the most fun we've had since hearing about the time Flying Lotus played an impromptu concert in writer Chris Walker's friend's apartment -- and then went out for "Jesus burgers" and impersonated a physics major.
We also brought you transmissions from controversial rapper V-Nasty, who talked to Rebecca Haithcoat about how she used to steal booze, frat parties at UC Berkeley, and her trying teenage pregnancy. Then there's the incomparable Adanowsky, who, Caroline Ryder informed us, like, seriously wants to marry Devendra Banhart.
In the news of the weird department, a FYF attendee named Rae Deslich claimed to have been injured by a flying spike at the festival this year, reported Diamond Bodine-Fischer. Something even weirder? Shea Serrano told us about the video for Jennifer Lopez's new song, "Papi," in which her apartment complex mail clerk encourages her to eat a cookie that turns men into zombie love slaves.
Finally, because we were grouchy we lashed out at some of our favorite artists on Haterade Monday. First, Chaz Kangas broke down the five dopiest Beach Boys songs (including one where Brian Wilson raps). Then Ian Cohen examined our list of the top 20 L.A. rap albums of all time, before presenting the worst albums from those artists. Toodle-O!


I've added a new program called Maker Classes to my monthly cooking classes at the Leesburg Public Library. In these special classes, I invite an industry expert to class to share their role in the food industry, including a lot of awesome local farmers.
My first industry expert this year was Blandine Galbreath of Simon Seed. She helped clear up a lot of confusion with some great tips on growing fresh herbs. A lot of people are confused and often intimidated by the idea of using fresh herbs in their cooking. You may have heard that fresh herbs are best, but if you haven’t had a lot of experience using fresh herbs then you’ll probably have more questions than answers.
Should I grow my own herbs?
Which herbs pair with which types of food?
How much should I use?
When do I add them to the cooking process?
What should I do with the leftovers?
All are reasonable questions and the answers are not complicated. If used properly, fresh herbs will make your food taste great and make you feel like a professional in the kitchen.
Before we go further, let’s answer this age-old question: are fresh herbs better than dried?
To be honest, many times it is just your point of view, what you prefer and the cooking techniques used in a dish. In most cases, dried herbs are more potent than their fresh counterpart so you would need to use less — reduce dried herbs by a third — while fresh herbs are more subtle and are said to retain more nutritional value.
Fresh herbs also make a dish look more appealing when used at the end of the cooking process.
Keep in mind that dried herbs will eventually lose some of their flavor over time and they usually last a year before they need to be replaced. On the other hand, once cultivated, fresh herbs have a limited shelf life and must be stored properly — about a week in the refrigerator.
Look for vibrant color and pungent smells that are related to the herb.
Buy closest to the use date as possible to avoid spoilage.
If herbs are tied together, untie and cover with a wet paper towel and store in warmest part of the fridge, like the door.
Wash right before use in a bowl of water. Some herbs like cilantro and parsley may need to be washed twice.
Unused herbs can be added to oil or broth and frozen to use at a later date.
Growing and sustaining your own food source is always a good idea. One of the best advantages of growing your own herbs is that it allows you to cultivate right before you are ready to use, ensuring you have the freshest herbs. Every herb is unique and requires certain growing conditions and cultivation methods — such as using the largest leaves first to encourage growth and not taking more than you need.
If you have more gardening questions and would like to start your very own herb garden, visit Blandine at Simon Seed, located at 105 W. Magnolia St. in downtown Leesburg. Call 352-787-4415 for hours of operation.
Here is the recipe I shared in class. If you would like more recipes, visit the recipe rack located just inside the front entrance at the Leesburg Public Library.
Heat a small saucepan over medium-high heat.
Add oil to pan and swirl to coat.
Add couscous and sauté 1 minute.
Add broth and salt; bring to a boil.
Cover, remove from heat, and let stand 5 minutes.
Fluff with a fork. Stir in tomatoes, onion, the fresh herb of your choice and feta.


South Africa hosts one of the top 500 fastest computers in the world, and the best on the continent, at the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC), of the CSIR, in Cape Town.
The CHPC's Tsessebe Sun Constellation System was named one of the world's fastest supercomputers, taking 329th place in the international Top 500 list, and the top spot in Africa. This comes shortly after the upgrade of the machine in October this year from a Linpack performance score of 25 Teraflops to 61 Teraflops.
The announcement was made at the Super Computing Conference, in Seattle, US, on Tuesday, where members of the world's high-performance computing industry congregated. Japan's 'K Computer' claimed the top spot for the second time in a row, after it was first revealed in Hamburg, Germany, in June.
Installed at the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science, in Kobe, Japan, the K Computer achieved an impressive 10.51 Petaflops on the Linpack benchmark using 705.024 SPARC64 processing cores.
Acting executive director of the CSIR Meraka Institute, Laurens Cloete, says SA's achievement confirms the country's position in the League of Nations with supercomputing capability.
“This capability includes commissioning, hosting and operating world-class, high-performance computing systems. With this upgrade, we have also shown that we can do more than simply buy something and plug it in, and rather that we have the engineering expertise to integrate components from different suppliers to implement a high-performance computing system,” he says.
Cloete adds that as the demands from science and industry for solving computationally intensive problems increase, it is important that SA has local expertise in the underlying technology.
The system is made up of Oracle's Sunblade X6275 blades with IntelNehalem 8 core processors and Westmere 12 core processors, as well as Dell's Poweredge C6100 servers with Intel Westmere 12 core processors.
The Tsessebe has a theoretical peak performance of 74 Teraflops. The CHPC's Tsessebe Cluster last held a place in the Top 500 list in May 2010 (ranking 461th), an announcement made at the International Super Computing Conference, in Hamburg, and still remains Africa's fastest supercomputer.
African researchers from academia and industry now have a facility that is able to process over 60 trillion cycles of instruction per second, enabling the CHPC to enhance significant research, address grand challenges, and develop computational research into a viable mode alongside experiment and theory across all academic disciplines.
This rating of CHPC's supercomputer comes as SA bolsters its commitment to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, a goal for which the centre has been working to ensure that it is fully equipped to process the enormous data rates that will be produced by the radio telescope.
The Top 500 listing is evidence of CHPC and the Department of Science and Technology's (DST's) commitment to ensure that SA wins the right to host the EUR1.5 billion SKA telescope. The CHPC is an initiative of the DST and is managed by the CSIR.


SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea edged out South Korea 2-1 in an inter-Korean football showdown at the Women's East Asian Cup here on Sunday.
Ho Eun Byol grabbed two goals in quick succession during the first half at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, as North Korea quickly erased a one-goal deficit and beat South Korea for the 10th time in their last 12 showdowns.
The match took place against a backdrop of lingering tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula.
Both teams had a cautious start to the match, before Kim Soo Yun put South Korea on the board in the 26th minute.
The midfielder pounced on a loose ball after a goal-mouth scramble and rolled it past Hong Myong Hui into the North Korean net.
But the visitors quickly regained control. In the 36th, Ho equalised on a rebound following a brief period of dramatic goal-line mayhem near the South Korean net.
Goalkeeper Kim Jung Mi and defender Lim Seon Joo each turned away a shot at the line before the hosts succumbed to the North Korean pressure.
Ho was at it again the very next minute, this time heading in a Kim Su Gyong cross from the right wing and catching Kim out of position in the South Korean goal.
South Korea looked to attack early in the second half. Four minutes after the intermission, Ji So Yun headed a corner that went right at Hong in the North Korean net.
In the 65th, Ji's curling free kick from the left side of the box sailed wide of the far post. Two minutes later, Jeon Ga Eul launched a shot from the right that was punched out by Hong.
With the South Koreans running on fumes, North Korea held on for the narrow victory.
The North Korean women's football squad made their first trip across the heavily-fortified border since the 2005 East Asian Cup. They entered the tournament ranked ninth in the world, seven spots ahead of South Korea.
The North Korean players drew scattered cheers from some 6,500 fans at the 66,000-seat venue as they were introduced at the start of the game.
About 20 Japanese residents holding North Korean passports, whose entry was granted by the South Korean foreign ministry last week, also cheered on the North Korean team.
In addition, dozens of members of a South Korean pro-unification civic group attended the game.
The two Koreas have marched as one nation under the unification flag, in blue and white, at past Olympic Games and Asian Games.
At the start of the second half, some members of the group briefly chanted, "Unification of the Koreas".
According to an official from the South's Korea Football Association, the group also hoisted a sign promoting unification before police forced the activists to pull it down.


The Otoe County Relay for Life committee will meet Wednesday, Feb. 13 at Dairy Chef in Syracuse at 5:30 p.m. Anyone interested is invited to attend. The County event this year will be at a new location in Nebraska City at Hidden Falls in the southeast part on June 8 from 6-10 p.m.
An upcoming event April 27 for the Arbor Day Parade will feature a float.


Teachers in Denver, Colorado, hold their first strike in 25 years on the heels of recent teacher strikes in Los Angeles, Kansas and Virginia.
Not to Colorado now where Denver public school teachers today. Have launched their first strike in 25 years they're joining ended waved teacher protests across the country in recent months of course we saw them in Los Angeles Kansas. Virginia teachers demanding. Higher paid more funding for schools are Micah Smith with ABC affiliate came GH in Denver is out side tracking the protests they might it's great to see you so bring us inside the protest what are these teachers asking for today. While DeVon at teachers want better pay here and Denver they've been negotiating with Denver Public Schools for the past fifteen months and from the beginning they said they watch when he eight point five million dollars toward teachers salaries. During their last negotiation session with Denver Public Schools the school district offered. 25 million but teachers here is that too little too late and they decided to strike today. And to get. Ed in as I understand they are they're paid 43000 dollars average there in Denver well below the 58000. Dollars. National average for public school teachers. You've been talking to a lot of parents a lot of teachers out there what kind of what's your big take away from from this moment. In the in the public school protest out there in Denver. We'll DeVon my biggest takeaways is after talking with teachers parents students in administrators they all agree that teachers deserve. Better pay the where they disagree is how that should be implemented. And what exactly that looks like I beat once. Both sides of the argument start to give a little wiggle room at the negotiation table we'll start to see more action toward ending the strike. I great to see your Micah Smith of ABC Billy can GH in Denver. Out there on the Denver teacher protests today first time in 25 years thinks to her.
United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) said negotiations stalled and that the union didn't receive a new contract proposal over the weekend.


It’s still more conceptual than actual, but Nintendo and Universal Studios Japan are teasing a more complete video look at what their new Mario-themed real-world venture is going to look like.
Dubbed “Super Nintendo World,” the new park—to be located in Osaka, and due in time for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics—is mostly computer-generated in the video, thereby allowing Nintendo’s roly-poly plumber to sprint, bound and flip as human park-goers stare in wonder.
Judging by the video, visitors will enter through a green Mario-land warp pipe, then congregate in a hub-like plaza from which various Mario locales (like Bowser’s castle) are visible. Will the floating platforms actually move and mask their connection points with LEDs and SLR cameras? Will those snapping piranha plants be reified animatronic terrors? Can you jump and bonk your head on fluffy low-hanging coin blocks? Will the coins themselves be holographic projections that “hop” when you run through them?
There’s no sign of the rides yet, though it’s easy to imagine Mario Kart-themed race tracks, or coin collection vamps, or other heady curios based on Nintendo’s iconic IP, all wielding the latest technological wizardry fired by Nintendo’s characteristic need to put spin on the ball. Once the Japan park is finished, the plan is to complete additional ones at Universal Studios’ Florida and California locations in the U.S.
Safety first, so I’m as intrigued to know how they’re going to keep the kiddos (as well as overeager grown-ups) from clambering all over those gorgeous, tempting sets. Until Nintendo releases a virtual reality headset paired with a 3D Mario game, they’re as close as we’re getting to living this particular girl-and-boy’s adventure tale.


Chances are if you're a fan of comedies and live anywhere near a movie theater, then you were one of the many people who went to see Todd Phillip's hilarious bachelor-comedy, The Hangover. The film went on to become the single highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time, raking in over $450 million worldwide from a budget of $35 million.
That's impressive for a film that didn't seem like it would make that big of a splash. Just something about it - on top of it being genuinely funny pretty much from start to finish - connected with a wide audience and people went out to see it in droves.
With the success of the film, a sequel was pretty much inevitable. The Hangover 2 (as it's being dubbed for the time being) is already in the works, and returning director, Todd Phillips, tells EW that he's half-way through working on the script for it. He's not revealing any plot details (understandably), but says it won't just rehash the "hungover after a bachelor party in Vegas" plot of the first one.
I completely agree with that - I'd love to see those three characters (I wonder whether Justin Bartha - the soon-to-be-married friend who's bachelor party set the chaos in motion - will return?) in lots of different situations to see how they react. The comedic chemistry and timing between them was dynamite and more of that would be a joy to watch.
However, just what can a Hangover sequel be about? As I said, I don't want it to be rehashing of the first one, not even that they wake up hungover and without memory of last night's events but just not in Vegas. However, if they remove the hungover element then how can they possibly have "Hangover" in the title? It's a double-edged sword, IMHO. I'm really interested to see what Phillips comes up with as far as the basic plot goes. Here's hoping he makes something even half as funny as the first, and that it's not just doing it because it was a financial success the first time around.
Do you think a sequel to The Hangover is warranted? Or is it best left at one? What plot do you think the sequel should have?
There's no official release date been set for The Hangover 2 yet, but most likely it'll be sometime in 2011 (probably the summer).


Razer's latest eGPU cabinet gets LEDs and a bigger PSU , plus a ton more ports than before.
Alienware's redesigned powerhouse laptop promises the Holy Grail of gaming laptop features. It's big, fast, beautiful, and even upgradable.
Google's shown it can kill off a product when it no longer deserves to live. We know a few more products that are ready to die, if only Google could help.
We go hands-on with HP's Reverb Consumer Edition, whose astounding resolution is well deserving of this exclamation mark!
Here's what you need to know about Maxon's new Cinebench R20 benchmark, and how to use it to test your computer.
Acer's Predator Helios 300 is currently the bestselling gaming laptop on Amazon. With an 8th-gen Core i7, GeForce GTX 1060, and 144Hz screen, it's easy to see why. We delve into those and other details.
Give the ThinkPad six cores and a GeForce GPU and you get the Lenovo ThinkPad Extreme X1, a 15-inch laptop that's large and in charge.
Lenovo's newest mainstream IdeaPad laptops give you a choice between Ryzen and RX Vega, or Core i7 and a mystery GeForce MX graphics.


SINGAPORE - MP Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten) has urged netizens to embrace "proper conversation and dialogue", as he clarified his position about a former offender who was turned down for a security officer's job because of his criminal past.
Singapore People's Party member Jose Raymond posted the plight of a Potong Pasir resident who was rejected by the Singapore Police Force because he was deemed "not a fit and proper person" for the role.
Mr Raymond posted the rejection letter on Facebook on June 7 and it went viral.
Mr Lim commented on it, noting that while it was easy to say that the SPF should give ex-offenders a second chance, the reality is that "most of us would err on the side of caution".
He noted, for example, that while some residents might be comfortable knowing that a security guard at their condominium was an ex-offender, others might not.
Mr Lim suggested the man could look for work in other sectors, like food and beverage.
On Sunday (June 10), Mr Lim wrote on Facebook that his suggestions had attracted "lots of adverse comments" after they were published in an article by The Online Citizen (TOC).
He wrote: "I don't reply to comments on TOC because many of those comments were meant to attack, humiliate and destroy. It is not the kind of conversation which helps to make Singapore a better country or to improve the system."
His original comments were repeated on another online publication, Mothership.sg, and he went on to clarify them on Sunday, saying that while society should help ex-offenders integrate back into society, there are certain offences where some jobs may not be suitable immediately after the offender's release.
"As an example, I quoted a situation where we would not want a convicted child molester to teach swimming to young children; we would also not want a person convicted of dishonesty to be involved in finances or accounts of a company," he said.
"Along the same principles, we would not want a person convicted of assault to be employed as a security officer protecting the residents."
He added that the police must evaluate each application for a security licence on its own merit. He wrote: "The concern of police would always be, what if the offender re-offends? What if the security officer could not manage his anger again and hurts someone badly? Someone whom they are supposed to protect? Would the public turn on the police and ask why did they allow a past offender with anger management issues get a security licence?"
Mr Lim also said a former offender's application should be considered if sufficient time has lapsed and they have shown they are unlikely to reoffend.
He ended his note with a call for respectful debates, saying: "With proper conversation and dialogue, we can improve policies.
"As an MP, I always look out for such cases so that I can ask the authorities to re-consider the facts. But cursing or deliberately insulting people whose opinion differs from your opinion is not good for the system."


PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Following a competitive tender process initiated by Abry Partners for its stake in Basefarm, the Orange Group, through its enterprise subsidiary Orange Business Services, has announced today the signature of a contract to acquire 100% of the company’s capital for an enterprise value of 350 million euros.
Basefarm is a leading European player in cloud-based infrastructure and services, as well as the management of critical applications and data analysis. The company, which recorded revenues of over 100 million euros in 2017, has enjoyed strong growth since 2015. Basefarm has a strong operational presence in several European countries, particularly in Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria and in Germany, where it boasts a cutting-edge big data activity. Its business proposition lies at the forefront of the most innovative services in cloud computing, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence thanks to the widely-recognized expertise of its 550 employees and to the high satisfaction from its customers.
Following the recent purchase of Business & Decision, the acquisition of Basefarm represents an important step forward in Orange Business Services’ development strategy. With its existing team of 1,600 cloud computing experts, Orange Business Services is currently growing by around 15 to 20% each year on the global market in this sector. The acquisition of Basefarm will complement its existing catalogue of offers and will reinforce its strategic position by bringing a new source of expertise and innovative technologies, particularly in data management, the management of critical applications, Big Data and multi-cloud services. The addition of Basefarm will also complete the geographical reach of Orange’s services, enabling it to become a leading player in Europe.
By joining forces with Orange Business Services, Basefarm will gain a unique opportunity to accelerate growth in public and private cloud-services while benefitting from access to Orange’s global networks and infrastructure.
“We are very proud to announce the acquisition of Basefarm, which will mark a major milestone in our international development. In particular, the company’s integration will enable us to significantly extend our Big Data and critical application management services on a rapidly consolidating market. In addition to our ability to offer access to public or private cloud infrastructure, it is above all our capacity to propose enriched, automated services to our customers, wherever they are in the world, that will enable us to support companies as they transform onto new, digital models based on cloud-computing, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence,” said Helmut Reisinger, Chief Executive Officer of Orange Business Services.
The closing of the transaction is expected to take place during the third quarter of 2018 and is conditional upon the approbation of the relevant competition authorities.
Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 41 billion euros in 2017 and 150,000 employees worldwide at 31 March 2018, including 91,000 employees in France. The Group has a total customer base of 263 million customers worldwide at 31 March 2018, including 202 million mobile customers and 20 million fixed broadband customers. The Group is present in 28 countries. Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies, under the brand Orange Business Services. In March 2015, the Group presented its new strategic plan “Essentials2020” which places customer experience at the heart of its strategy with the aim of allowing them to benefit fully from the digital universe and the power of its new generation networks.


A forthcoming drama by Dominic Cooke called ‘Ironbark’ will feature Georgian actor Merab Ninidze along with other world-renowned cinema stars, including Academy Award-nominated Benedict Cumberbatch, Golden Globe winner Rachel Brosnahan and BAFTA nominee Jessie Buckley.
The plot of the film is based on the story of British spy Greville Wynne, played by Cumberbatch, and his work during the Cold War, particularly during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The film is in post-production and the part of Merab Ninidze plays in it has yet to be revealed.
Ninidze is a famous Georgian actor who has gone beyond the limits of his motherland and strongly established himself in the arena of world cinematography. His most memorable characters were seen in the following works: ‘Repentance’, ‘Roots’, ‘My Happy Family’, ‘Hostages’, ‘Nowhere in Africa’ and ‘Paper Soldier’. He is also known for his roles in the British-American TV series ‘McMafia’ and the drama ‘Jupiter’s Moon’ by Kornél Mundruczó.
‘Nowhere in Africa’, where Ninidze played the role of Walter Redlich, won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2002.
Set for release this year, ‘Ironbark’ is Ninidze's latest work.


BALTIMORE — By the time the baseball dropped into the seats, just beyond the grasp of Felix Pie, it seemed the atmosphere in the ballpark had changed. There were cheers, all over the park, cheers as the suddenly-playing-for-their-season Red Sox moved into a sizable lead in the seventh inning. So much for the Orioles, playing their best ball of the season under Buck Showalter. This was a last chance for the Sox.
And even though it seemed dire early, as the Orioles scored four runs off Jon Lester in the first inning and another in the second, the seventh signaled a rebirth. Not that it’s likely to mean much in the grand scheme of things.
All the Sox did, really, was keep pace in the division and wild-card races with their 9-6 win at Camden Yards, as the Yankees and Rays also won last night. The win ended the Sox’ three-game losing streak.
Although Adrian Beltre’s three-run homer was the crowning achievement of the six-run seventh, this game was just as much about what Lester did as it was about the sudden burst of offense. Because even though he had little going early, fighting with himself and the mound, Lester managed to get through six innings, enough to improve to 13-0 lifetime against the Orioles.
Never more so than against Julio Lugo in the sixth. With Lester well over 100 pitches and the bases loaded, Lugo came to the plate. He left three pitches later, swinging at a curveball, Lester’s 120th and final pitch.
And that was after Lester thought he might not make it through the third.
Lester allowed four runs in the first, as the Orioles loaded the bases on two singles and a hit batsman for Adam Jones, who doubled home two runs. The Orioles got another on a wild pitch, a ball Lester said he shouldn’t have thrown, and another on Pie’s double to right.
Baltimore added another run in the second, as Ty Wigginton singled home Lugo. That got Manuel up again, as Lester continued to pitch ineffectively.
That changed. Lester got better as the innings went on, finishing with that punch out of Lugo, who would have been his last batter no matter what. But Lester got Lugo, and after the game called the win the team’s rather than his.
Perhaps getting out of the jam gave the offense a boost, as the Sox erased a 5-3 deficit.
The Sox’ comeback started with a pinch-hit single by Darnell McDonald, which was followed by a home run by Marco Scutaro, whose poor throw cast him as the goat in Tuesday night’s loss.
Scutaro’s two-run shot into the seats in left tied the game at 5-5 and brought up J.D. Drew. The right fielder walked, then came around to score the tie-breaking run on Martinez’s double.
And then came that home run. After the Orioles elected to intentionally walk David Ortiz to face the Sox’ best hitter of 2010, that hitter made them pay. Beltre hit his 24th home run of the season to left, bringing the Sox’ lead to four, 9-5.
It was a win. And while it didn’t move them up in the standings, it was something right amid far too much that has gone wrong of late.


The new head of the CPS has been accused of adopting "deeply unhelpful" language about terrorists after spending 90 minutes with CAGE, the group that described ISIS executioner Jihadi John as "a beautiful young man".
The Henry Jackson Society (HJS) has criticised Max Hill QC's appointment as the Director of Public Prosecutions, claiming he has "aped" the rhetoric used by CAGE and its supporters.
Mr Hill, who replaced Alison Saunders last week, held a 90 minute meeting with CAGE last autumn - a month after the organisation's international director, Muhammad Rabbani, was convicted of a terrorism offence and fined for refusing to give police the PIN number of his mobile phone when he was stopped and searched at Heathrow Airport.


Marvel movies work in threes. They also work outside of their threes. Some of the better Marvel films have more than one villain in them. Me and Scott have not laid the groundwork for it but what I can say is that I have a feeling that whatever Nightmare is involved with, Baron Mordo, being somebody who considers himself the defender of natural law will have something to do with it.
While Marvel's Phase Four plans have begun to take shape behind the scenes, we know very little about what is actually planned. We expect that a Doctor Strange 2 will happen at some point though Benedict Cumberbatch has stated he doesn't know anything about it. It seems that C. Robert Cargill and his writing partner, Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson, have a plan in mind for the sequel already, they just need to be told to go make it.
Nightmare is a ruler of the Dream Dimension and one of Doctor Strange's oldest enemies, appearing first way back in 1963. Nightmare is able to torment people through their dreams, drawing psychic energy from them that he can use for his own purposes. Having seen another dimension already in the first Doctor Strange movie, it certainly would make some sense to see that element become more important in a sequel.
Based on C. Robert Cargill's comments about Marvel movies working in threes, it sounds like the plan is for the first sequel to continue to build the Mordo story that began in the first film, potentially with it all paying off in a future third movie. Cargill also said during the Q & A (via Movieweb) that Marvel plans to see Baron Mordo's arc from the comics realized in some form on-screen. Something that Cargill says he expects to happen regardless of what filmmakers make it happen.
Of course, before Stephen Strange can have another solo adventure, he needs to survive Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4, which may not be all that easy. We'll see the first part of that journey on April 27.


After a fairly quiet post-election period in this regard, President Trump is again facing a legal fight over claims that he sexually assaulted women in his prior life as a private citizen and business figure.
The president's latest legal challenge comes in the form of a subpoena which seeks all documents from his campaign as related to "any woman alleging that Donald J. Trump touched her inappropriately." As Buzzfeed first reported Sunday, the subpoena was issued at the request of legal representatives for Summer Zervos, a former reality show contestant on the Trump-hosted The Apprentice, who has accused the now-president of kissing and groping her at his Beverly Hills Hotel bungalow in 2007 after she'd come to discuss possible employment with the Trump Organization.
According to Buzzfeed, the subpoena was issued in March, but was only entered into the court file last month. The White House has been reached out to for comment, which will be included here when and if available.
Trump previously denied Zervos' allegation in plain terms, calling it a lie. In response, Zervos sued Trump for defamation, while her lawyers subpoenaed the Trump campaign for any documents it had pertaining to her, Buzzfeed reported.
Lawyers for president Trump have argued that the subpoena is too broad, and aimed to have the lawsuit delayed 'til he's out of office, if not outright dismissed. They've also suggested that the president is protected from civil suits while in office, and that this particular case is a politically motivated attempt to harass him, Buzzfeed noted.
During the course of Trump's pre-political career, numerous women made allegations against him of sexual harassment and assault in various contexts, including production of the Miss Universe pageant and Apprentice TV show (and warranting a Wikipedia page dedicated to the topic, if nothing else).
In the months leading up to the November 2016 presidential election, many women chose to reiterate their claims or step forward anew, as in the cases of former Trump business partner Jill Harth and yoga instructor Karena Virginia. Following Trump's election, however, many of these cases have received little further attention.
According to attorney Gloria Allred, who's representing Zervos along with other Trump accusers, the president has until Oct. 31 to respond to their motion. She told Buzzfeed in a statement, “We are hopeful that the court will deny President Trump’s motion to dismiss, so that we may move forward with discovery and obtain relevant documents and testimony."


A massive gold nugget worth at least $110,000 has been uncovered by a prospector in remote Western Australia.
A retired man has found a massive gold nugget worth at least $110,000 while prospecting in a remote part of WA's northern Goldfields.
The retired man, who doesn't wish to be named to protect his identity, says he's been combing the same patch in the northern Goldfields with a metal detector for years, but struck it lucky with better technology.
The nugget found in remote Western Australia has been dubbed 'Duck's Foot' because of its shape.
"When I had finished digging it out, I just thought 'Oh my god'," he said of the find, a 3.23kg specimen containing 68 troy ounces or 2.11kg of gold.
"It was pretty deep at about 800mm in clay soil so it took more than two hours of careful digging to get it out."
Rob Anderson, who owns the Prospectors Pick in Bunbury, has known the prospector for a long time and says he's a specialist at finding deep nuggets.
"He's been very successful over the years," Mr Anderson said.
"I think this find proves there's still a lot of gold still out there, even in areas you might think have been picked clean."
The nugget has been dubbed 'Duck's Foot' because of its shape.
Earlier this month, Canadian gold mining company RNC Minerals announced it had found a whopping 9250 ounces of gold worth $C15 million ($A15.9 million) at its Beta Hunt gold mine, also in the Goldfields near Kambalda, in just one week.
That included two huge specimens weighing 95kg and 63kg with a combined estimated gold content of more than 4000 ounces, which President Mark Selby said could rank among the biggest ever discovered.
On Thursday, the company provided an updated estimate from the discovery, dubbed the 'Father's Day Vein', saying it had produced more than 24,000 ounces worth more than $C38 million ($A40.3 million).


Some of my favorite books of the past few years have been National Book Award winners from the Young People's Literature category. If you like having your heart ripped out, stomped on a few times and shoved back in your chest, you can't beat winners like Sherman Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian or Kathryn Erskine's Mockingbird. Alas, they're both just regular ol' fiction. So I was excited to see that a fantasy novel had won this year.
Past authors who have won in this category with fantasy books include Ursula K. LeGuin, Lloyd Alexander and Madeleine L'Engle. First time author William Alexander's winning middle grade novel Goblin Secrets had a lot to live up to. And, though it has occasional flashes of brilliance, the story never seems to come together in a satisfying whole.
The novel takes place in the city of Zombay (a name that far too silly, conjuring thoughts of the video game "Plants vs. Zombies" – I imagine Dr. Zomboss getting his degree at the University of Zombay). It's a city of dark secrets that are slowly revealed. The Northside of Zombay is wealthy, with streets on a grid system and ruled by a mayor who turns out to be very corrupt, in his single scene. Across the Fiddleway Bridge and the Zombay River is Southside. Southside is full of twisting streets, poverty, docks and is ruled by Graba. Graba is a Baba Yaga-esque witch – she's on clockwork bird legs, not the house! but the house still moves! – who collects orphans to run errands for her. This includes Rownie, our hero.
Recently the Mayor has passed an anti-theater / anti-mask law in Zombay and Rownie's older brother Rowan may or may not have escaped arrest from the guard. The guard all have clockwork legs that force them to march everywhere, which make it seem like they should be easy to run away from, but apparently not. The guard captain also has clockwork eyes with gears for irises, which doesn't make sense, but does let Alexander write lines about the captain's "ticking gaze," which is fun. Rownie misses his brother, though he doesn't actually seem to have gone looking for him and it's not clear how long ago he disappeared – we learn of Rowan's disappearance in flashback – but the whole thing gets going when Rownie decides to steal from Graba and sneak off to see a Goblin play.
The Goblins are not technically citizens of Zombay and get to skirt the laws about putting on plays and wearing masks and they invite Rownie to do so too. It turns out he's pretty good at acting. The goblins, who were once human but have been Changed (with a capital letter) and prefer being called Tamlins – though the book usually doesn't, even after we've been told – also hate the mayor and hated by Graba. The Tamlins make up the third leg of the somewhat odd political plot of the novel, about citizenship and gentrification and fairness and unfairness of laws.
All three groups are looking for Rowan, though it's not clear why until pretty late in the story. Also, the floods are coming. Except they've never come before, it's just something people say. Theater is magical, except also there's literally magic. Aside from clockwork there are automatons which are powered by burning coal. Except coal isn't something mined from the earth – it's made from the hearts of humans and animals. Which can be replaced by clockwork to make slaves and mindless workers. The whole novel is broken up into "Acts" and "Scenes" instead of books and chapters. Though, these designations are merely cosmetic, not structural or indicating actual scene shifts. Which I think about covers the set-up.
Alexander cannot be faulted in any way for being unimaginative or unambitious, certainly. And his writing has a lovely and often poetic feel to it. There's particularly excellent sequence toward the end of the book of a puppet show that managed to combine the thrill of the illicit, the magic of theater, a possible threat to the Tamlin and provide a healthy dose of world-building and character history. It's also the only time the plays in the novel move beyond folk tales or morality plays into something more interesting. The play itself also provides a clue for the enmity between two parties who want the same thing. Though it may have left a little too much ambiguity. Despite sequences like this the story as a whole felt continually unwieldy and confusing.
Aside from Rownie's half-hearted search for his brother – the flap copy says he goes to the Tamlin play looking for his brother, though the text makes it clear he didn't know his brother knew the Tamlins – and the political shenanigans, general enslavement of people, etc., the threat of the book is the flooding of the Zombay River. This is introduced about a third of the way into the book, immediately undercut as a threat and also sounds like "winter is coming" from Game of Thrones. It wasn't until the last third of the book that I realized this was what the book was about. This wasn't the only time I got lost in Alexander's overstuffed world – the first few times he describes "diggers" I thought they were some sort of ghost story the street kids told each other and not clockwork-hearted slaves.
Like many child protagonists in fantasy, Rownie doesn't know much about the world around him and we mostly encounter things through his eyes. With the Tamlins, this is interesting: he hears a lot of lies and bad information and is disabused of his speciesist ideas. But with other topics, it's just odd. After angering Graba, Rownie throws himself from a window and then runs for his life. In the midst of running, Alexander introduces us to another fantastical creature that lives in the dust of Southside and then Rownie considers the possibility that Graba made one of his pursuers out of pigeons. Is this Rownie's flight of fancy? Is it literally possible Graba is that powerful a witch? It's another unanswered question, like how do people Change into Tamlin? Rownie flat out asks that two of the Tamlin. One can't remember because it was too long ago, though the older one he asks just tells him she won't tell him.
While ambiguity works for something like the magic behind the masks the Tamlin and Rownie wear, outright lack of clarity and too many questions just bog down the novel. For instance, one character tells Rownie that Graba keeps him around because he has "got a little talent for wearing masks," except Graba's kept Rownie for years and only the day before had he ever tried on a mask. And his doing so made her furious. By the end you can kind of puzzle out the witch's motivations, but not how she knew that Rownie would have this talent. All of this, and more, is jammed into a mere 150 pages. By the time it was clear what was important and what was atmospheric window dressing, the book was nearly over and the climax hinged on what had seemed to be a throw-away line in Act 1, Scene 1.
Perhaps I am being overly judgmental, because this seems like a book I should love: I'm a mask collecting, theater lover myself and am a stronger believer in challenging young readers with morally complex, sometimes ambiguous stories. Many of the ideas in the novel are fresh or at least interesting twists on the familiar, but they never caused me to feel anything particular for Rownie, or his lost brother. Perhaps if the plot had been broken up over two books, allowing time for Rownie to actively search for his brother or to have a couple adventures away from Zombay, there would have been space to make the stakes and risks clearer or to examine the possible morality of various choices (perhaps some Southsiders would embrace the mayor's plan if it means getting out from under the thumb of a witch).
Though I did not love Goblin Secrets, that doesn't change the fact that it's made a pretty serious splash for a debut novel. Alexander is an author willing to take risks and he's got an impressive imagination. After winning the National Book Award, it's likely we'll be seeing more from him. With any luck, his next entries into the field will have more solid narratives to support his flights of fancy.


Artist, writer and social activist Julie Ault, who grew up in Winthrop, expects the 'genius grant' to increase her independence as she plots out new projects.
Growing up in Winthrop, Julie Ault always was struck by the self-reliance of women on her mother’s side of the family.
They’d been raised on farms in the New Gloucester area and insisted on doing everything themselves: baking, quilting and stuffing goose down into homemade mattresses. She also was impressed by the handmade chairs, boxes and other wares from the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village that her family liked to buy.
Those influences wouldn’t have been obvious if you’d seen Ault in her early 20s. By that point, she had moved to New York City and cofounded an arts group that took on politically sensitive subjects: the AIDS crisis, the underfunding of public schools, censorship of the arts. As a corrective to all the advertising people were used to seeing around the city, the group once hung paintings, photos and other work throughout a functioning subway train.
But the independence of her relatives stuck with Ault even as her career progressed into curating exhibits and writing books.
Early this month, all of the beauty and delight that Ault has helped bring to the art world was recognized in a major way: The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced that she was one of 25 people to win its prestigious fellowship this year.
The annual awards are commonly known as “genius grants.” Each fellow receives a $625,000 grant, no strings attached. The grantees come from a broad range of disciplines, including music, writing, law and the sciences. This year’s recipients also include a pastor who has confronted racial and economic inequality, a chemist who is developing methods to identify diseased tissue during surgery, a psychologist who has studied the development of transgender youth, and a journalist who has revealed the toll of mining on West Virginia’s environment.
The annual MacArthur Foundation fellowship awards are known as “genius grants.” Ault is among 25 recent winners of a $625,000 grant. “The first thing I did was start crying,” she said.
Ault learned about the award before it was announced to the public. At first, the organization approached her and was vague about its intent, so Ault thought she might be asked to share her thoughts about another candidate.
Ault hasn’t decided how she’ll spend the grant, but is elated that it will give her “more independence” as she plots out her next projects.
As much as she appreciates the material support, she is equally thankful for the recognition from her peers. The foundation awards grants only to people “who show exceptional creativity,” have been nominated by a rotating pool of experts and are “on the precipice of great discovery or a game-changing idea,” according to its website.
Though Ault was born in Massachusetts, both her parents came from Maine and she moved to Winthrop at a young age. Her father, John Ault, grew up in the Auburn area and served in the military, doing tours in World War II and the Korean War. He died in 2014. Her mother, Elaine Ault, had the maiden name Tufts and still lives in Winthrop.
Julie Ault initially attended public schools in Winthrop, but they didn’t have art classes at the time. With her mother’s help, she ended up finishing high school by taking classes at the University of Maine at Augusta. It was there that she met Tim Rollins, another artist who also moved to New York City. In 1979, they both became founding members of Group Material, a pioneering collective of artists who challenged the ways that work was commonly presented in museums and galleries.
In 1989, the group produced one its most famous works, AIDS Timeline, a temporary exhibit that conveyed the development of that public health crisis by interspersing statistics and government information with contemporary works of art, activism and pop culture.
Since Group Material disbanded in 1996, Ault has done more solo work, including writing and curating exhibits. She now splits her time between New York City and Joshua Tree, California.
In 2000, she organized an exhibit of the work of Sister Mary Corita Kent, a Dominican nun and Los Angeles art teacher who became a fierce advocate for social change in the 1960s.
This month, Ault opened an exhibit of the painter and collage artist Nancy Spero at Museum Tamayo in Mexico City. Spero, who died in 2009, spent more than 20 years presenting female figures from different cultures and time periods in a way that foregrounded their experiences and tried to reverse the cultural dominance of male narratives, according to Ault.


The Chinese imitation to the iPad is here. But if you think it would cost one-third of what the Apple product costs, think again. The Android version of the tablet being issued by the Chinese government to all its officials costs more than double of an Apple iPad.
The $1,600 (9,999 yuan) Red Pad One is a 9.7-inch, Android 3.2 tablet and comes pre-loaded with very select (pro-Communist Party) apps.
The Red Pad comes with 16GB of flash storage, WiFi and 3G connection – along with touchscreen and A9 dual-core processor.
Its unique apps for example will have the ability to allow the user to check the validity of a journalist's government accreditation.
Liu Xianri, legal representative for the company that produces the tablet, said the daily political updates and strategic decisions reported by the device are its USP.
According to him, the sales of the tablet were completely market-driven and clearly aimed at competing against the foreign brands. Do you believe him?


They did discuss economic ties, which, to at least one member of the Duma, is code.
“You know, in previous years a deficit of mutual respect was a main reason for the regression and degradation of our relations,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov told reporters on Monday, doing his best to channel Aretha Franklin.
Per Peskov, the one-hour phone conversation Saturday between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was “good” and “constructive.” It apparently focused on both regional and international threats, as well as the war against terrorism and, critically, the centrality of mutual respect between heads of state.
What it did not cover, according to the Kremlin, were U.S. economic sanctions slapped on Russia in 2014.
The Kremlin said that, for now, there are no deals on the table with the United States in return for an end to economic sanctions on Russia. White House officials have insisted sanctions weren’t discussed at all. Trump has previously floated the idea of lifting sanctions, as has his Secretary of State-designate, Rex Tillerson.
The first round of sanctions were put in place by the United States in 2014 after Russia illegally annexed Crimea. Late in December, just weeks before leaving office, Obama added additional sanctions after intelligence officials concluded that Russia was indeed responsible for hacking into and leaking Democratic emails over the course of the U.S. presidential election.
Remarkably, there is no indication from the White House that the Trump-Putin call even touched on Russia’s meddling in the election.
While the two may have danced around the sanctions issue for now, they did apparently discuss the improvement of economic and trade relations, which some members of the Duma consider to be a direct reference to a post-sanctions world.
“In order to fully develop economic relations, it is necessary to create an appropriate climate and legal conditions, and this calls for lifting sanctions,” said Dmitri Novikov, first deputy chairman of the Duma’s committee on international affairs.
Some Republican leaders have preemptively warned Trump that they will oppose efforts by his administration to lift sanctions.
It certainly sounds like the call did not end in the immediate disillusionment of either Trump with Putin or Putin with Trump. In fact, Trump’s a lot more popular in the Russian media — and gets more respect — than he does at home.
Peskov said that the two presidents are likely to meet at some point before the G20 summit in July in Hamburg.


Real-life Forrest Gump is halfway across U.S.
Barclay Oudersluys, a Birmingham native, recently hit the halfway mark in his efforts to run 3,200 miles from California's Santa Monica Yacht Harbor and Pier to the Marshall Point Lighthouse in Maine.
It was July 6, 1994, that Forrest Gump first premiered on the big screen.
Twenty years later, Barclay Oudersluys is carving his own path. The 23-year-old Birmingham native recently hit the halfway mark in his efforts to run 3,200 miles from California's Santa Monica Yacht Harbor and Pier to the Marshall Point Lighthouse in Maine.
It's essentially the same route Forrest Gump ran in the movie.
Oudersluys is a huge fan of the movie, which is the main reason behind the run. He's also raising money for the Hall STEPS Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 2009 by distance runners Ryan and Sara Hall to fight global poverty by improving health.
He started out May 9 and his goal is to complete the trip in 100 days. He spent the Fourth of July weekend in Illinois. If everything goes right, Oudersluys should reach Maine sometime in the middle of August.
Question: How many days on the road so far?
Oudersluys: Today was day number 60.
Oudersluys: I'd guess right around 1,900 miles, but I haven't been keeping track of that too closely.
Q: Are you still averaging 30 miles a day?
Oudersluys: Yep, still right around 31.
Q: What's been the wackiest day to date?
Oudersluys: Probably the day, I think it was the last one in Kansas, when it stormed all morning. I'm running through the rain and there's lightning striking fields around me and 40 m.p.h. winds blowing rain into my back. And then later in the day, the rain had stopped but some roads were still flooded and I had to cross one 20-foot section that was under a foot of water.
Q: What was the most unusual site you've seen out there?
Oudersluys: It's hard to remember all the way back to the beginning. Maybe some zebras out in Colorado?
Q: In the spirit of Twitter, can you name off all the states you crossed through and describe each one in 140 characters or less?
• California – hot, dry, lots of people.
• Nevada – I was there for about 10 miles so I don't have much of an opinion.
• Arizona – surprisingly cold and I started getting up in elevation here.
• New Mexico – I spent even less time here than in Nevada.
• Colorado – you're either in the mountains or in farmland.
• Kansas – flat, hot, lots of flies, no people.
• Missouri – lots of trees and some nice trails.
• Illinois – nothing but Abe Lincoln and flooded cornfields.
Q: Has anyone joined you on the run?
Oudersluys: Yeah, I've had a couple of friends who've joined me for stretches in different states. Just drive out and run with me for a couple days.
Q: Has Tom Hanks reached out to you?
Oudersluys: Nah, I haven't heard from him yet.
Q: Have you been chased by a dog or a bear?
Oudersluys: I've had lots of dogs, but no bears. You learn how to handle them pretty quickly.
Q: Are you still on schedule?
Oudersluys: Yep, still on schedule and hoping to finish on time.
Hometown Life reporter Jay Grossman can be reached at: jgrossman@hometownlife.com, 586-826-7030 or on Twitter: @BhmEccentric.


Literacy, or rather a lack thereof, is a serious problem all over the world — believe it or not, even in our little utopia. While a touch-up of our education and support systems would probably be the best fix in the long term, we all know that’s not likely. So in the meantime we have creative private attempts to alleviate the issue: Today, a $7 million XPRIZE for literacy-improving apps enters the field-testing phase.
There are eight semifinalists that will be tested by 12,000 adult reading learners in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Dallas. After a full year of steady use, literacy gains by the users will be assessed and the finalists determined. The grand prize is $3 million, with $1 million sub-prizes each for best performance among native speakers and English language learners. There’s even a million bucks for the city that gets the most people to use the apps.
It’s funded by the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, which has been funding efforts like this since 1989.
Defining the problem as a technical one (i.e., “build an app for that”) understates the magnitude of such an undertaking. Teams competing for the Adult Literacy XPRIZE had to develop an app engaging enough that learners would continue using it, effective enough that using it translates to learning, and appropriate for a learner population that struggles with technical literacy and often uses older model phones with inconsistent internet connectivity. Each one of those problem sets is a business onto itself.
At the same time, an effective app may be one of the best ways to get basic skills to a large group of people. No one is suggesting the work stops there.
You can learn more about the teams and their approaches (and view a video like the above for each one) at the XPRIZE page.


If you were watching one of the Friday morning cable or broadcast networks, chances were you didn’t hear about news late Thursday into Friday that the North Koreans handed over what purported to be remains of U.S. soldiers who went Missing In Action (MIA) during the Korean War. A NewsBusters analysis found that 16 times more coverage was dedicated to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s unverified allegation that then-candidate Trump knew in advance about the infamous June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting.
With the liberal media joining Democrats in the ongoing battle to save DACA and for no border wall, CBS and NBC ignored the killing of Indianapolis Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson at the hands of a drunk-driving illegal immigrant during their popular morning and evening shows Monday. Instead, CBS Evening News hyped Space X launching a Tesla Roadster into space and NBC Nightly News whined about how cold the WINTER Olympics were going to be.
According to New York Times reporter Yamiche Alcindor, the outcry over Donald Trump’s hot-mic audio has something to do with race. After the presidential candidate’s lascivious comments went public last week, many Republicans rescinded their endorsement. But some journalists claim that the reason was not the mogul’s vulgar words, so much as the target of those words: a white woman.
At a contentious impeachment hearing conducted by the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen admitted that his agency targeted Tea Party groups looking to obtain tax-exempt status. “They were totally improper criteria used to select organizations, applying for c-4 designation for further review,” testified Koskinen before the committee, “Those organizations predominantly were conservative organizations.” This stunning abuse of power went unreported by the “Big Three” networks Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
Although demonstrators have been sparking police action by throwing rocks and bottles, blocking major interstates, and disrupting everyday life in cities across the country, the lefty media narrative last week was all about the “peaceful” protesters and the evil cops that kept arresting them. Now, three Baton Rouge police officers have been killed.
As of Tuesday morning, ABC, CBS, and NBC's morning and evening newscasts have yet to cover the Monday afternoon stabbings at a Canadian military recruitment center in Toronto. During the attack, the suspect, Ayanle Hassan Ali, shouted, "Allah told me to do this, Allah told me to come here and kill people." According to an AP report on Tuesday, Ali first targeted a "uniformed Canadian Forces member at the front desk before slashing him on the right upper arm. He said the suspect then attempted to slash a female member of the Forces before he was subdued."
The latest illegal immigrant to allegedly murder innocent Americans was apprehended early Wednesday morning in Missouri and despite Mexican national Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino having a checkered criminal record, CBS and NBC found as little reason as possible to inform their viewers of this horrendous crime.
Political scandals make for juicy journalism, but apparently a politician being cleared of wrong doing isn’t even worth a mention. When the initial story of Rick Perry’s indictment broke in August 2014, ABC, CBS and NBC devoted 25 minutes in just two days to topic, speculating that the controversy could “end any chance” for Perry in 2016. But when Perry was cleared of any wrongdoing, all three networks were silent, on both the evening news shows that night and the morning news shows the following day.
Many historians call the Armenian Holocaust the first holocaust of the 20th Century, a dress rehearsal for the Nazi nightmare that followed. This April 24 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of roughly 1.5 million Armenian Christians at the hands of Turkish Muslims. That mass slaughter has gone virtually unreported by the broadcast networks.


A passing ambulance spotted smoke over a neighborhood on the east end of Aumsville Sunday.
Crews were dispatched to the 9900 block of Puma Street SE at 2:18 p.m. on a report of two homes on fire, according to a statement by the Aumsville Rural Fire Department.
Due to the size and location of the fire, a second and third alarm was called.
The first crew on the scene reported one home fully engulfed in fire. A neighboring home was also on fire but being kept at bay by bystanders with a garden hose.
Twenty four firefighters responded to the scene and had the fire extinguished within about 40 minutes, said Chief Roy Hari.
Both homes were unoccupied and no injuries were reported.
Aumsville Rural Fire Department was assisted by Stayton Fire, Turner Fire District and Sublimity Fire.


Targanta Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass. drug developer at work on a new generation of antibiotics, hopes to raise $86.3 million in an initial offering, according to an SEC filing. The company didn’t specify how many shares it plans to offer or what price it hopes they fetch.
Formerly known as PhageTech, Targanta moved its headquarters to Cambridge from Montreal last year. At about the same time, it brought on a new CEO, Mark Leuchtenberger, whose previous Boston-area company, Therion Biologics, cratered a year ago when its cancer vaccine for melanoma failed. Therion’s former CFO, George Eldridge, assumed the same job at Targanta in February.
The company’s lead drug candidate, oritavancin, is an intravenous antibiotic intended for treatment of drug-resistant bacterial infections. It has been tested against skin and “skin structure” infections as well as bacteremia, an infection of the blood, and is intended to supplant vancomycin, a generic antibiotic that is starting to lose potency against resistant bacterial strains.
Targanta’s S-1, however, makes for some interesting reading. Oritavancin was originally developed by Lilly, which subsequently licensed it to InterMune. Targanta acquired the rights to the drug in late 2005. Its two late-stage “phase III” tests in skin and skin-structure infections were conducted by Lilly and InterMune, despite which Targanta doesn’t envision filing for FDA approval until the beginning of next year.
Oritavancin also faces the prospect of serious competition from existing antibiotics, including vancomycin, Cubist Pharmaceuticals‘ Cubicin (daptomycin), and Pfizer‘s Zyvox (linezolid). More potential rivals are on their way — the S-1 names Pfizer’s Zeven (dalbavancin), Theravance’s telavancin, Johnson & Johnson’s ceftobiprole and iclaprim from Arpida. Sounds like things could be pretty crowded by the time oritavancin makes it through the FDA.
This is all straight from the “Risk Factors” section of the S-1, where companies routinely exaggerate any conceivable risk to their future business, so you may want to take it with a grain of salt. The company’s venture backers — in February, it raised a $70 million third round — certainly appear to have done so. Still, it’s unusual to see a company file for an IPO in a soft market for biotech offerings with an in-licensed pipeline and so many real and potential competitors hanging around. We’ll see if investors are willing to overlook this stuff, although I suspect this offering might make them just a little nervous.


rejected a request from the government for a delay in the case.
because of the government shutdown.
carrier would lead to higher fares and stifle competition.