Trucks wait for border inspection at the Chinese end of the Friendship Bridge that connects Sinuiju, North Korea, with Dandong, Liaoning province, China, over the Yalu River, May 24, 2018.
North Korea believes there are no legitimate reasons to maintain sanctions against the country since it has not conducted nuclear and missile testing for well over a year, a North Korean diplomat said Tuesday.
"The U.S. publicly recognized the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) had discontinued nuclear tests and rocket launches for the past 15 months" However, it does nothing to remove U.S. sanctions as corresponding measures, diplomat Ju Yong Chol said at the U.N.-sponsored Conference of Disarmament in Geneva.
Ju said disputes between the two countries should be resolved on a case-by-case basis in an effort to build trust but "Instead, they came up with the preposterous argument that sanctions relief is impossible prior to denuclearization."
Ju's remarks came in response to a senior U.S. arms control official who said the only way Pyongyang can achieve stability is to abandon its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs. "Our stance is unwavering with regards to North Korea," Yleem Poblete, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, said in Geneva.
Poblete also called on countries to stop any weapons or military collaborations with North Korea, saying, "You are violating U.N. Security Council resolutions that explicitly prohibit such transfers," she said without identifying countries.
North Korea is mulling a suspension of negotiations with the U.S. and may reconsider a freeze on missile and nuclear tests unless the U.S. makes concessions, a senior Pyongyang diplomat said last week, according to news accounts from Pyongyang.
South Korea is seeking to end the impasse after last month's summit in Vietnam between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended several hours early.
"We agree with the view that no deal is better than a bad deal ... However, in reality, it is difficult to achieve complete denuclearization at one stroke," Seoul's presidential Blue House said in a statement Monday. "I think we need to reconsider the so-called all or nothing strategy."
Trump said after the summit that North Korea had wanted "sanctions lifted in their entirety, but we couldn't do that ... we had to walk away from it."
But Pyongyang disputed Trump's claim, with Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho maintaining North Korea made "realistic" suggestions in exchange for a partial lifting of sanctions."


Applications for entrance in the Fall of 2019 are now open. We will begin to evaluate applications on January 15, 2019. If your application is not received by then, it may not be evaluated. Please note that we do not typically admit for Spring or Summer admission.
Offers are usually made between February and April 15. All applicants are considered for department support via research assistantships, teachings assistantships, and merit-based scholarships. Virtually all graduate students are supported for the academic year and in many cases during the summer term as well. Once the Graduate Admissions Committee has made a final decision on your application they will notify you via the email address that is on your application.
There is no minimum GRE or GPA requirement. However, to be competitive for assistantships and scholarships, students need a GPA of at least 3.0, a combined verbal and quantitative score on the GRE of at least 300, and an analytical writing score on the GRE of at least 3.5. The average GRE score for students that were accepted into our program for Fall 2018 was 316. The average GPA for students that were admitted for Fall 2018 was 3.59.
You are highly encouraged to browse our department website and contact professors with interests that seem aligned to your own. In particular, we point to the student research opportunities webpage. We are always happy to discuss available projects and funding, so please contact us if you have questions.
The University of Wyoming strives to be a leader amongst institutions of higher education in the Rocky Mountain region in creating a campus environment that is appealing to individuals of varied beliefs and backgrounds. We welcome diversity because we know that it enriches scholarly productivity and creativity. The Department of Geology and Geophysics strongly supports the University’s commitment and is devoted to building a graduate student population with diverse backgrounds, abilities, ethnicities and other distinctive characteristics in respectful, sensitive, and accepting ways.
General Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is required for admission. Request from ETS for the GRE report to be sent to University of Wyoming (Institutional Code 4855).
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS: Students whose native language is not English, must also request the TOEFL or IELTS report from ETS.
One copy of official transcripts of all Colleges and Universities attended sent to the admissions mailing address listed below. This includes any community college or study abroad school attended.
Apply to UW Geology & Geophysics!
A curriculum vitae identifying your qualifications, academic accomplishments, and other appropriate information.
A two-page statement of interest in graduate research. Be sure to explain how doing research in geology or geophysics at Wyoming fits your career path. Please also note that your statement must include, at the end, a list of professors you want to work with.
Three letters of recommendation will be required. These must be submitted by the recommender through the online application.
Our department has several faculty who are affiliated with the Program in Ecology (PiE). Students interested in seeking a PhD through PiE are required to submit a letter of interest to ecology@uwyo.edu identifying which faculty member they intend to work with, and why they would like to be part of the program. More information is available here (www.uwyo.edu/pie/prospective).
Please e-mail your potential advisor.
Call or email UW Admissions, if you have any questions.


The abruptness of the move was an indication of the gravity of the decision. General McKiernan had served in his current command for only 11 months, while such tours are usually two years or more.
Defense officials said that General McKiernan was being replaced because of what they described as a conventional approach to what has become one of the most complicated military challenges in American history. He is to be replaced by Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, a former commander of the Joint Special Operations Command who recently ran all special operations in Iraq.
Presumably, David Petraeus was behind this decision. Right? Coincidentally, BruceR, recently back from Afghanistan himself, has a few thoughts about what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong there, and it sounds like he endorses the general idea that we need a more nonconventional approach. More later on this, I’m sure.
UPDATE: More here from James Joyner.


What would we do without the simple tote bag?
We'd be carrying our laptop, pens, make-up and all other work essentials around in our hands like plebs, that's what.
While the humble tote, which means "to carry” in ... well, English, is the perfect office companion, Peta and Jain co-founder Peta Wessell says its practicality makes it ideal for work and play.
"The tote bag is a perfect option for work as it can hold not only your wallet but can also accommodate a laptop, folders or even your jacket,” Peta says.
Co-founder Jane Da Silva says the classic style of a tote means it matches every outfit, especially if you're sporting one in a neutral colour like tan, black or white.
"What I love about a tote bag is that it is just the perfect shape for everyone,” Jane says.
"The tote bag design is timeless and appeals to all ages as it is practical and fashionable.
If you're looking to integrate a tote into your after-hours life, opting for one made with good quality materials and strong handles will ensure longevity.
And it's always best to follow the fashion commandment of matching your handbag to your shoes to ensure you look well put together.
Jane says there are plenty of ways to add personality to the modest tote if you like your accessories to stand out.
"Totes are such a great blank canvas to show your personal style,” Jane says.
"We love the current trend of tying a scarf around the handles of the tote, this can really tie an outfit together.


French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has admitted in a newspaper interview that he made errors and was misunderstood in his management of a hotly contested youth labour law that has sent students and unions into the streets in violent protests.
De Villepin denied, however, that he has been disavowed by President Jacques Chirac, who has ordered up a new, softer version of the law in a bid to buy social peace that, instead, appears to have fed opponents’ ardor. Unions and students looked to a new day of strikes and protests set for Tuesday.
After triggering strikes and protests, the law appears to be taking a toll on De Villepin. He was dealt a further blow with the decision, announced on Saturday, to place the new measure in the hands of Parliament—not the government.
De Villepin was criticised for being intransigent in insisting on keeping the law, which is aimed at encouraging companies to hire youths under 26 by making it easier to fire them.
“There is misunderstanding and incomprehension about the direction of my action.
The interview was conducted on Friday night, after Chirac spoke. It was made available on Saturday night.
A poll by the CSA firm published on Saturday showed that 72% of the French were not convinced by Chirac, and 75% said De Villepin was weakened by the crisis.
In an apparent bid to save face for the government, Chirac said he would sign the current measure into law—likely to happen on Sunday. However, his demand for a new text modifying two key points effectively suspends it. That decision gave a boost to Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, De Villepin’s party rival, who had called for the measure’s suspension.
Sarkozy’s entourage made clear on Saturday that he would play an active role in devising a new law. France-2 television quoted his entourage as saying he had begun making contacts with unions.
Sarkozy and others called on Saturday for dialogue with unions and students so that a new text could be written.
“All those who truly want dialogue seize the hand of dialogue,” Sarkozy said after a meeting of key ministers and governing party leaders with De Villepin.
However, there were no signs of a crack in the firm opposition to the law that has spread from students to trade unions and the political left and crippled dozens of universities and high schools with strikes and blockades. Even some members of the governing UMP party remained critical.
In a national television address on Friday night, Chirac offered to modify two key elements of the law, reducing a trial period from two years to one and requiring employers to provide an explanation if an employee is fired.
But the bid by Chirac to defuse an escalating crisis over the law only fanned opponents’ discontent.
The opposition Socialists promised a counterproposal—a Bill to repeal the law—while unions and students planned new strikes and protests on Tuesday.
Bernard Accoyer, leader of the governing Union for a Popular Movement, or UMP, in the National Assembly, said he and the Senate leader for UMP will write the new Bill. Like Sarkozy, he called for dialogue so the new text could be debated “as soon as possible”.
“We will do everything to open a dialogue, an exchange, with all unions, professional groups and youths,” Accoyer said.
Union leader Jean-Claude Mailly, of the Workers’ Force, said he will “not close the door” to talks—if no conditions are attached and if dialogue “could lead to withdrawal” of the contested law.
“So, for the time being, nothing in our position has changed,” Mailly said.
The measure is meant to cut a 22% unemployment rate among youths that reaches 50% in some poor, heavily immigrant neighbourhoods. De Villepin said in the interview that, according to the national statistics agency, it would create up to 80 000 new jobs a year “for a budgetary cost of zero”.
“The road map is clear ... Let us not fool ourselves about the gravity of the situation in our country: the crisis in the suburbs was an alert,” he said referring to unrest last fall among poor suburban youth.
A collective of 11 leftist parties agreed on Saturday to the need to “continue the mobilisation and help amplify the movement to obtain withdrawal of the [law]”.
Unions and students hope to mobilise support against the law in Tuesday demonstrations. A similar protest last Tuesday brought more than one million people into the streets of France.
On Friday, reacting to Chirac’s speech, hundreds of students held spontaneous protest marches through Paris and other cities.


Summary: The lack of transparency and the presence of widespread irregularities in the voting and counting process have given Egypt’s parliamentary elections little credibility among both international and domestic observers.
As results come in for Egypt’s People’s Assembly elections—surprise, a victory for the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP)—they are likely to enjoy little credibility either inside or outside the country due to the total lack of transparency and the widespread irregularities and violence that characterized the voting and counting processes.
Extensive restrictions on media coverage and civil society monitoring ensured that there would be little transparency on election day. Egyptian authorities prevented live satellite broadcasts from the country and cancelled planned television programs by major media outlets, including the BBC.
While the Higher Electoral Commission, which was charged with supervising the parliamentary elections, responded to early complaints about monitor exclusion by saying it would look into the problem, the commission itself created the problem by issuing overly restrictive regulations for monitoring—stipulating, for example, that credentialed monitors could enter polling stations only with the permission of the polling station chair, as if the credentials did not in themselves constitute permission.
Although monitors mostly watched the elections from outside polling places, they observed signs of widespread electoral fraud, in particular ballot box stuffing. Monitors witnessed or received eyewitness accounts (as well as video evidence) of voting stations being closed for hours while poll workers wrote out ballot after ballot, and of supporters of ruling party candidates arriving at voting stations bearing large plastic bags full of voter cards or completed ballots. Outside the polling places, vote buying proceeded as usual, with the price for a vote varying according to the location and the time of day.
Coercion and intimidation also featured in the Egyptian elections, primarily perpetrated by “baltagiyya,” thugs hired either by the security services or by individual candidates. Thugs kept voters out of certain polling stations for hours at a time, expelled civil society monitors and journalists by force, and intimidated or beat up campaign workers or thugs working for other candidates. A few of the thugs reportedly worked for Muslim Brotherhood candidates, but the vast majority appeared to be affiliated with the regime or the National Democratic Party and were tolerated by uniformed security.
With the baltagiyya on hand to do the dirty work, uniformed security officers appeared to be better behaved than in previous elections and there were fewer reports of security cordons around polling places in order to exclude or intimidate voters.
Among the little-noticed surprises of the elections was an announcement that Coptic Pope Shenouda had voted for an opposition candidate, Rami Lakah (a Copt) of the Wafd Party. This was in stark contrast to the Pope’s stance during the 2005 elections, when he instructed Copts that it was their duty to vote for the ruling National Democratic Party and went so far as to excommunicate several Copts who chose to run as opposition candidates. While Shenouda’s change of heart will not affect the election results, it is a strong sign of his displeasure with the regime’s handling of simmering sectarian tensions, including an incident the week before elections in which security services provoked unrest by disrupting the construction of a church, resulting in the killing of one young Coptic man.
Sectarian conflicts are among several other issues—economic dissatisfaction, police brutality and torture, and public safety problems—souring the attitude of Egyptians toward the government and keeping the internal situation at a simmer, if not a boil. A parliamentary election seen by Egyptians as having been stolen will turn the temperature up another notch.


• Change of Course: Contributor Geoff Pingree (page 1) was out when bombs tore through the morning commute in Madrid Thursday. "I was on the metro line leading toward Atocha station, where one of the attacks occurred. Typically, there's an announcement telling you what station you're arriving at. But this time, it was much louder, coming not only from the train but in the station as well. The train simply stopped, and we were informed it would be shut down - though no reason was given."
Geoff says that as he headed back home, he noticed that the atmosphere seemed unusually somber and quiet. "When I walked into my apartment, I turned on the TV and realized what had happened. People quickly began gathering in squares and plazas to show solidarity against such a terrible attack."
• Missing in Moscow: How low-key is Russia's election (this page)? The usual rule in election campaigns, says Scott Peterson, is that the closer you get to campaign offices, the more paraphernalia trumpeting Candidate X you will find stuck to walls, cars, and people.
Not so in Russia. When Scott was hunting for President Vladimir Putin's election office in downtown Moscow, he was looking out for tall billboards of the candidate's enigmatic visage, or walls plastered with posters - or at least a banner strung across the road.
When he finally saw it - using the street number to identify it - he put his camera away.
"It looked like any other renovated building," Scott says. "There was a policeman or two - smart new restaurants in Moscow have more security than that. But there was no indication at all that this was the nerve center of the key national race - except for the plain Jane sign on the wall, which could just as easily read 'Notary Public.' "
How is astronaut Scott Kelly adjusting to gravity after a year in space?


Founder and CEO of NVIDIA, Jensun Huang showed the audience in Tokyo how NVIDIA DRIVE and it's scalable architecture will be the future for autonomous driving software, saying that "It will be a functional safe operating system, with incredible algorithms, and all kinds of applications built on top."
On NVIDIA's blog post about Huangs speech they explained what the advantages of Xavier would provide "With Xavier, applications will process sensor data from outside and within the car, using deep neural networks to deliver applications built on 360-degree surround perception coupled with eye tracking, gesture recognition and natural language understanding."
This new software created by NVIDIA means that cars equipped with it will be able to alarm the driver of potential risks and safety hazards surrounding the car, while also detecting and adapting to the current state of driver - e.g drowsiness or distractions.


Another month of weak retail sales in July added to evidence that the spending power of American consumers has weakened considerably, despite the booster shot of billions of dollars from the government’s tax stimulus program.
Even as gasoline prices started to retreat, consumers paid more last month for imported goods, the government reported on Wednesday, as import prices rose at the fastest annual rate in 25 years.
The dour economic data put pressure on stocks, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down 109 points on Wednesday as financial shares fell for a second day. Disappointing earnings reports from John Deere, the farm equipment manufacturer, and the retail giant Macy’s also depressed investors, along with a nearly $3 increase in oil prices, which settled at $116 a barrel. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell 0.3 percent.
With the stimulus payments at an end, Americans now have fewer buffers between their pocketbooks and higher energy costs, falling home values and the tight credit market. Companies and investors are bracing for spending to fall even further this year.
Retail sales declined 0.1 percent in July, led by a sharp drop in automobile sales, the Commerce Department said. Sales were also weak at restaurants, sporting goods shops and health care stores.
It was the first overall decline in sales since February, and it came after the government mailed $100 billion to millions of Americans from May to July in an effort to shore up consumer confidence and stimulate the economy. Spending subsequently rose in May, but that increase has not been sustained.
“It’s clear that the rebate checks are fading,” Anika Khan, an economist at Wachovia, said. Gasoline prices dropped slightly in July, and Ms. Khan said the report could have been worse had consumers not enjoyed a bit of relief at the pump.
There were a handful of bright spots. Excluding motor vehicles, July sales rose 0.4 percent as Americans spent more on electronics, furniture, food and Internet purchases. Sales growth in June was also revised higher.
But the modest increase may have reflected higher prices rather than more demand. Inflation continues to hurt consumers, who paid 1.7 percent more for imported products last month, according to a separate report from the Labor Department.
Import prices are 21.6 percent higher than a year ago, the biggest annual increase since records began in 1982. Industrial supplies, petroleum, and foods and beverages accounted for most of the increase.
Export prices are also rising — by 1.4 percent in July alone — which could tamp down foreign demand and hurt American businesses. The dollar is strengthening against the euro, which has dropped nearly 7 cents, or 4.4 percent, in the last two weeks. The euro settled slightly up on Wednesday, at $1.4934.
In privately tracked sales figures released last week, many department stores and clothing outlets reported significant declines in sales at stores that had been open at least a year.
High-end and midtier retailers like Saks, Kohl’s, J. C. Penney and Target all reported sales declines, as did Gap and other popular clothing stores.
Americans did more of their shopping at wholesale clubs and discount outlets, although even the big-box stores are seeing signs of a slowdown. Wal-Mart’s sales failed to match expectations last month, and the company said that business would worsen in August. Wal-Mart also said that shopping patterns indicated that more customers were living paycheck to paycheck.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note also fell on Wednesday, down 9/32 to 100 18/32. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, rose to 3.93 percent, from 3.90 percent.


FLAMBOYANT businessman Phillip Chiyangwa has had part of his upmarket Chisora Village in Harare's The Grange suburb attached after his company Padley Enterprises Pvt Ltd failed to pay damages worth US$609 115 to the Grange Residents' Association for failing to service stands.
Padley Enterprises is Chiyangwa's property development company that purchased a 60-hectare plot of land in The Grange. The plot was subdivided into 2 000-square-metre stands and sold to individuals.
According to High Court documents, Chiyangwa lost the property to the Grange Residents' Association, a group of residents who purchased residential stands from the company during the period extending from 2007.
In terms of various agreements of sale concluded by Padley Investments and its clients, it was supposed to service the property development by way of providing roads, storm water reticulation and waterworks, among other things. Court papers state that Padley Investments breached the terms of the agreements and, despite notice of the breach, the company failed to rectify the anomaly.
On September 27 last year, High Court judge Justice Owen Tagu ruled that the defendant, Padley Enterprises Pvt Ltd, pay the Grange Residents' Association US$609 115 on or before December 31 2017.
In the event of default, Tagu said: ". . . the defendant's property wherever situate be and is hereby declared executable and the sheriff is authorised to dispose of the same to satisfy the damages."
Padley Enterprises failed to pay the sum, resulting in the remaining unsold stands in Chisora Village being attached as shown by the High Court Sheriff's notice of attachment of immovable property dated February 8 2018.
The Grange Residents Association was represented by Tafadzwa Mugabe.
Mugabe said the stands would be sold by public auction.
"It is true Chiyangwa's Chisora village has been attached and because they will be sold by public auction I cannot really say how much they are worth," said Mugabe.
According to the court documents, Padley Enterprises at first denied the liability of paying damages until November 2015 when at a pre-trial conference before then High Court judge Priscilla Chigumba the parties entered a deed of settlement and signed off on an order by consent.
Court documents show that Padley Enterprises was arguing that some of the residential stands were purchased during the Zimbabwean dollar era and the engaged contractor, Bitumen Construction Services, failed to complete the initial works due to the escalating costs arising from hyper-inflation obtaining at the time.
Some of the terms of the deed of settlement which was signed in 2015 were: "That the defendant is unconditionally liable for specific performance to the plaintiff and its membership by the way of development, servicing and attendant works at Sub Division C of the Grange in terms of the agreements of sale made and entered into by the parties or alternatively to pay, in damages in lieu of defendant's performance, the objective value of performance in money equivalent to costs of specific performance aforementioned by a mutually agreed third party."
Other terms were: "That the defendant was supposed to unconditionally elect to pay damages in lieu of specific performance. That the issues of the quantum of damages in lieu of specific performance and the liability for costs of this action are referred to trial."
At the trial one of the plaintiff witnesses, Stanley Nyevere, narrated what the defendant was supposed to do and produced five quotations from different contractors. The defendant did not object to the production of the documents.
The quotations were as follows: Storm Property Developments US$571 110, Clockmate Investments Civil and Building contractors US$722 454, Tencraft Construction Civil Engineering US$506 748, US$830 284 and Tensor Systems US$781 449.


Armed with personal experience and the knowledge that most cancer research — and even treatment plans — are geared toward adults, Arrieta turned to legislators in Washington D.C. to prove that children with cancer deserve more of a fighting chance.
"I still question, why couldn't someone do this 20 years ago?" Arrieta said. "Even if we could never have saved Alex, at least kids like him could have died with more dignity.
"Alex was tortured. No child should ever have to go through that much pain."
The whole story originated from a single headache. Then, Alex started complaining about pounding on his head daily. Soon, the bruises began to appear.
The Arrietas visited pediatricians, eye doctors and dentists to try to get to the bottom of Alex’s symptoms. Finally, Alex's pediatrician drew a full blood count, and everything changed.
His results showed barely any red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets.
"They came down Friday afternoon, and I knew right away it was leukemia. I just couldn’t say what type," said Arthur Provisor, the oncologist who diagnosed Alex.
From that day forward, with the exception of a single week, Alex spent the next six months in the hospital. Doctors immediately started blood transfusions — within days Alex was receiving around-the-clock chemotherapy.
Over the next few months, Alex experienced severe side effects including nausea, ulcers, kidney failure, respiratory failure and two heart attacks.
"Anytime he woke up from a nap or from a night's sleep he would say 'hand me my bucket,'" Arrieta said in a recent interview. "That was his body’s way of reacting to being in a conscious state. Sometimes he would throw up for a minute, 10 minutes or an hour."
In 2018, an estimated 10,590 new cancer cases will be diagnosed among children under the age of 14 and an estimated 1,180 deaths will occur among childhood cancer patients, according to the American Cancer Society.
While death rates in pediatric cancer have declined by nearly 70 percent over the past four decades, it is still the leading cause of death by disease in American children.
Dr. Martin Johnston, chief of pediatric hematology and oncology at Renown Children's Hospital in Reno, Nevada, was one of three doctors who treated Alex at Savannah's Memorial University Medical Center.
Johnston says that across the board, there has been a lot of success with treating childhood cancers in recent years. For example, the survival rate for the most common childhood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, rose from about 5 percent in the 1960s to 90 to 92 percent today, he said.
"But that still leaves 8 to 10 percent of children who are not surviving, and that’s where I think Brandon’s focus is appropriate," Johnston said.
Alex's cancer, acute myeloid leukemia, is most common in adults. The overall five-year survival rate for children with acute myeloid leukemia has slightly increased over time, but still remains at about 60 percent to 70 percent, according to the American Cancer Society.
Instead of receiving treatment from child-specific drugs, most children with cancer are given the same drugs approved for adults, just at adjusted doses.
While traditional chemotherapy is proven to help cure childhood cancer, the toxicity of the drugs can cause lasting side effects on children, including significant learning disabilities and higher risks of heart disease, stroke, infertility and second cancers.
Johnston said most of the drugs he uses daily as a pediatric oncologist have been around for decades and were developed to treat adult cancers.
"Most benefits in terms of better outcomes (for pediatric cancer patients) have not come from new, breakthrough drugs," Johnston said.
But it’s a different case for adult cancers.
In the past 20 years, more than 100 new adult cancer drugs have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Only three were specifically developed to treat pediatric cancer, according to the Coalition against Childhood Cancer.
"Kids don’t represent enough of the population, so they’re not looked at as separate," Arrieta said. "But we’re discounting the value of a child’s life by looking at it with that perspective."
As of March 2018, the American Cancer Society had $36 million in grant funding devoted to all categories of childhood cancer combined. Compared to other forms of cancer, that number is low. Breast cancer, for example, was receiving $91 million and colon cancer was receiving $55 million, according to the society's website.
The rarity of childhood cancers — less than 1 percent of all cancers diagnosed in the U.S. each year — makes them difficult to study and discourages pharmaceutical companies from developing innovative treatments.
In addition, pediatric oncologists have a limited numbers of investigators and limited political clout.
"Pharmaceutical companies need to stay in business ... If they spend all that money on a drug to treat 15 patients a year, they’re going to go broke," Johnston said. "You need to have a source of financial support to drive that forward and the only way that’s going to happen is if the government steps up to the plate. And the only way that will happen is if the public steps up and asks for it."
After six months of debilitating chemotherapy, Alex went into remission.
In January 2016, Alex's cancer had returned. And this time, he had limited treatment options because of the toxic effects the previous chemotherapy had on his body.
Alex's best chance at survival, according to his father, was a drug regimen that had only been used on five other children.
All five of those children, however, had died.
"In childhood cancer, after 'X' number kids die, they find out there's not a sweet spot for a particular drug," Arrieta said in a recent interview. "And even if they do find a sweet spot, that's still not a solution, because over two-thirds of children that survive cancer end up with lifelong issues."
Alex’s last blood test didn’t show any leukemic cells. But it also didn’t show the creation of any new, healthy cells either. His bone marrow had shut down.
"The chemo had obliterated them all," Provisor said. "He died because he had no defenses. His body couldn't wait for the bone marrow to possibly come back."
Arrieta blames the adult-centered chemotherapy for his son’s death.
"The treatment they gave him — it’s what killed him," Arrieta said. "His body never recovered from it."
If Alex would have survived, his father said he would have needed a heart transplant, a kidney transplant and a bone marrow transplant.
"That is where a massive disconnect is with any potential solutions for children with cancer," Arrieta said.
"... We’re not headed in the right direction."
While Alex was undergoing treatment, the Arrietas started the nonprofit organization Lambs for Life, as a way to carry on Alex's mission to send care packages with stuffed lambs to every child in the U.S. diagnosed with pediatric cancer.
The mission touched people across the country — from celebrities to comedians to politicians — and Arrieta used his platform as a way to start seeking answers about the lack of drugs and funding for childhood cancer.
When Alex died in April 2016, Arrieta's work took on a larger advocacy role.
"Alex had a huge heart," Arrieta said. "He always cared for other kids more than himself. This is really just an extension of that."
Around the first anniversary of Alex's death, Arrieta made a trip to Sen. Lindsey Graham’s office in Mount Pleasant to discuss the issues he sees with the treatment and overall classification of pediatric cancer.
Less than a month later, he was traveling to Washington D.C. and advocating for necessary changes to pediatric cancer with 12 members of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on health, which controls funding for the National Cancer Institute.
With the help of Graham's office, Arrieta soon racked up enough support to tack on a committee report focused on pediatric cancer to the 2018 U.S. spending bill.
The $1.3 trillion spending bill was signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 23 with the report on pediatric cancer attached.
The report on pediatric cancer formally states for the first time that the federal government recognizes that treating childhood cancer is fundamentally different from treating adult cancer. It also requires the National Cancer Institute to produce a report "within 120 days after enactment of this act on how the NCI is focusing on the unique needs of children."
According to Arrieta, the report represents the first of a five-phase approach to restructuring the National Cancer Institute in order to separate pediatric cancer from adult cancer. The following steps include a hearing with the director of the National Cancer Institute on May 17, as well as crafting committee reports on pediatric cancer for the next three upcoming spending bills.
Ultimately, Arrieta's goal is to create a division within the National Cancer Institute dedicated to pediatric cancer.
"It’s like a football game," he said. "We’re trying to do a few yards at a time instead of throwing a hail Mary all the way."
A spokesperson for the National Cancer Institute said it is close to finishing the report.
Arrieta believes the report will be the first change in what could become "the largest impact to childhood cancer policy reform in the history of cancer," he said.
But based on prior experience trying to spark change with elected officials, Alex's former doctor remains apprehensive.
"What I worry about — broadly speaking — is that all the effort expended by advocacy groups and all the desk-thumping that goes on in Washington amounts to window dressing and ultimately nothing really comes of it," Johnston said. "I think it’s going to take people like Brandon to monitor the situation and make sure things are accomplished."
A few months ago, Arrieta received an email that said there were no more requests to change his language for the committee report.
In the midst of what should have been a reason to celebrate, he broke down.
"It’s just too bittersweet," he said.
"I’m grateful to God and the people who are supporting what we’re doing, but I would take it all back to have Alex alive."


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OfficeMax Lancaster is the place to shop for copy paper, ink cartridges, toner cartridges, office desks, chairs and all of your office supply needs. Stop in or call for more information.
Making both your job and the job of shopping easier? Now that's multi-tasking..
With a new layout and modern concept, OfficeMax has titled its updated in-store experience as "Advantage." All renovations certainly do work for the customer's advantage, as aisle-free checkouts shorten the lines to many minutes' worth of waiting, and self-serve bulk bins now group office supplies into mini categories for easy selection. However, the biggest advantage is still the OfficeMax stock. From papers and pens to desks and filing cabinets, OfficeMax supplies everything to look the executive part. Cool technology and gadgets give an excuse to play on the job.
Posted on January 22, 2015. Brought to you by ezlocal.


Saturday evening, police met with a woman in reference to a juvenile runaway.
The woman told police that her son, who is a juvenile, had been missing from home since Friday, Feb. 10. The woman said the last time she saw the child was at lunch time at WO-S High School.
The woman stated when she returned home after work, she noticed the juvenile was not home, and that she called her sister, who stated she last saw the juvenile at a home on Ruby Ln. at approximately 5:00 pm.
When asked, the woman stated that she believed the juvenile had gone to a friend’s house in Kirbyville. At this time, she completed paperwork reporting her son as a missing person.
Officer Jeffery Busby later spoke with an adult at the residence in Kirbyville. That person told police that she had the juvenile in her custody, and would take him to the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office and release him to them.
The juvenile was later released to his mother.


GDP (Current Prices, National Currency) LSL 24.071 Billion.
GDP Per Capita (Constant Prices, National Currency) LSL 6,518.06 .
GDP Per Capita (Current Prices, National Currency) LSL 12,489.87 .
General government revenue (National Currency) LSL 14.575 Billions.
General government total expenditure (National Currency) LSL 14.428 Billions.
Total Government Net Lending/ Borrowing (National Currency) LSL 0.147 Billions.
Fiscal Year Gross Domestic Product, Current Prices LSL 24.071 Billions.
GDP (Constant Prices, National Currency) for Lesotho in year 2014 is LSL 12.562 Billion.
GDP Growth (Constant Prices, National Currency) for Lesotho in year 2014 is 3.448 %.
GDP (Current Prices, National Currency) for Lesotho in year 2014 is LSL 24.071 Billion.
GDP (Current Prices, US Dollars) for Lesotho in year 2014 is US$ 2.22 Billion.
GDP Deflator for Lesotho in year 2014 is 191.619 (Index, Base Year as per country's accounts = 100).
GDP Per Capita (Constant Prices, National Currency) for Lesotho in year 2014 is LSL 6,518.06 .
GDP Per Capita (Current Prices, National Currency) for Lesotho in year 2014 is LSL 12,489.87 .
GDP Per Capita (Current Prices, US Dollars) for Lesotho in year 2014 is US$ 1,151.72 .
GDP (PPP), US Dollars for Lesotho in year 2014 is US$ 5.575 Billion.
GDP Per Capita (PPP), US Dollars for Lesotho in year 2014 is US$ 2,892.96 .
GDP Share of World Total (PPP) for Lesotho in year 2014 is 0.005 %.
Implied PPP Conversion Rate for Lesotho in year 2014 is 4.317 .
Investment (% of GDP) for Lesotho in year 2014 is 33.035 %.
Gross National Savings (% of GDP) for Lesotho in year 2014 is 24.777 %.
Inflation, Average Consumer Prices (Indexed to Year 2000) for Lesotho in year 2014 is 123.207 (Index, Base Year 2000 = 100).
Inflation (Average Consumer Price Change %) for Lesotho in year 2014 is 4.019 %.
Inflation, End of Year (Indexed to Year 2000) for Lesotho in year 2014 is 125.621 (Index, Base Year 2000 = 100).
Inflation (End of Year Change %) for Lesotho in year 2014 is 2.921 %.
Import Volume of All Items Including Goods and Services (Percent Change) for Lesotho in year 2014 is 7.743 %.
Import Volumes of Goods Only (Percent Change) for Lesotho in year 2014 is 7.743 %.
Export Volume of All Items Including Goods and Services (Percent Change) for Lesotho in year 2014 is 13.227 %.
Export Volumes of Goods Only (Percent Change) for Lesotho in year 2014 is 13.227 %.
Population for Lesotho in year 2014 is 1.927 Million .
General government revenue (National Currency) for Lesotho in year 2014 is LSL 14.575 Billions.
General government revenue (% of GDP) for Lesotho in year 2014 is 60.55 %.
General government total expenditure (National Currency) for Lesotho in year 2014 is LSL 14.428 Billions.
General government total expenditure (% of GDP) for Lesotho in year 2014 is 59.939 %.
Total Government Net Lending/ Borrowing (National Currency) for Lesotho in year 2014 is LSL 0.147 Billions.
Total Government Net Lending/ Borrowing (% of GDP) for Lesotho in year 2014 is 0.612 %.
Fiscal Year Gross Domestic Product, Current Prices for Lesotho in year 2014 is LSL 24.071 Billions.
Current Account Balance (US Dollars) for Lesotho in year 2014 is US$ -0.176 Billion.
Current Account Balance (% GDP) for Lesotho in year 2014 is -7.911 %.


QUANTICO, Va., May 1— This was supposed to be a nice leisurely weekend of sun, fun and a few laps around Butler Stadium for Marty Liguori and Ron Stonitsch, a post‐Penn Relays, miltary style.
The scene changed drama tically today in separate an chor sections of the distance medley relay during the 14th annual Quantico Relays.
Liguori, the Villanova Olym pian from Cedar Grove, N. J., found hif self in a mile duel with three former college standouts, Byron Dyce, Barry Brown and Ralph Schultz, Sto nitsch, the C.W. Posct junior who was voted the outstanding college athlete of the Penn Relays, started his mile leg of a college section 35 yards be hind Tom Donahue of Man hattan.
At the finish, however, Li guori and Stonitsch were in front, demonstrating again their mental and physical readiness.
Lnquori took the lead from Brown, the New York Athletic Club anchorman, starting the last quarter‐mile of the club and service section. Dyce, who reached the Olympics as Ja maican while attending New York University, moved into second and challenged Liguori stride‐for‐stride on the back stretch and through the final turn.
Stonitsch, who ran a career best 4:01.7 mile last week at Franklin Field, caught Donahue with 600 yards left today. The Manhattan miler had committed a tactical error and completed his first 440 in 57.5, three sec onds under what Coach Fred Dwyer had recommended.
“The pace was so fast that my coach [Roy Chernock] wouldn't even tell me my split when I went by on the first lap,” Stonitsch said afterward.
Stonitsch ran his half‐mile in 1:59.7, beat Donahue by 40 yards and clocked 4:02.4 for his mile, respectable under any conditions. It was remarkable in view of the warm, muggy spring temperatures and loose, dusty cinder track.


New Delhi: Home Minister Shivraj Patil, under tremendous criticism over a spate of terrorist attacks in the country since last year, resigned today in the wake of the Mumbai terror strikes.
Patil, who had offered to step down at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting last night, sent his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this morning, sources said.
The 74-year-old Patil was inducted into the Union Cabinet despite his defeat from Latur in Maharashtra in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls and has been a target of the opposition as also the detractors within the party over his handling of the internal security situation in the country.
Patil had told the CWC meeting that as the Home minister he “takes the responsibility and whatever the CWC decides, I am ready to do", the sources said.
Patil’s remarks came in the wake of criticism by several leaders, including Union Ministers P Chidambaram, Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibal and H R Bhardwaj, they said.
The refrain of these leaders at the meeting was that a strong action is needed in the wake of the Mumbai terror strikes and accountability has to be ensured at the higher as well as lower levels.
Patil, who has been in public life for over four decades, was brought into the Manmohan Singh Cabinet as he was considered a complete Gandhi loyalist and Sonia Gandhi had turned down repeated demands for his ouster from the government.
Patil was also one of the serious candidates of the Congress for the post of the President last year after the tenure of A P J Abdul Kalam got over. But, the Left parties, which were supporting the government from outside, had put their foot down on such a proposal.


The charming Tombot puppy on Kickstarter is meant to be a low-maintenance companion robot.
The Tombot robot puppy is designed for seniors with dementia.
Tombot looks at you with soulful eyes. It wags its tail and makes an "arf" noise, raising its eyebrows as you pet it. The fact that Tombot could almost pass at a glance for a real dog is a testament to the work of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, which provided the artistic design for the bot.
Tombot is an intriguing Kickstarter project. It wants to turn out affordable, adorable robot puppies to help soothe seniors with dementia, and to act as companions to anyone who can't have a real pet. As with all crowdfunding efforts, keep in mind that not all projects deliver on time or as expected.
Tombot co-founder Tom Stevens was inspired to create the robo-pup after having to rehome his mother's dog when her Alzheimer's became too severe for the beloved pet to safely stay with her. He hopes Tombot will provide a sense of emotional support and affection and improve the quality of life for seniors with dementia.
The Kickstarter project has so far exceeded its modest $20,000 goal, to the tune of over $35,000 with two weeks left to run.
While early-bird pledge prices for the robot are set at $299 (£225, AU$420), the eventual sales price is expected to be $449. Tombot has a very different skill set, but it costs way less than a $2,900 Sony Aibo.
Tombot's primary purpose seems to be to hang out and interact with people as a robotic lap dog. Jim Henson's Creature Shop, famous for building Muppets and developing creatures for Labyrinth and Where the Wild Things Are, provided the artistic design services for the Tombot prototypes.
Tombot says the puppy will use a companion smartphone app for upgrading the robot's software.
There are plenty of questions to ask about the eventual finalized production design. Tombot doesn't know yet how cleaning the battery-powered robot will work. The fur may be removable, or it may have to be cleaned in place. The final product will also have to undergo durability testing, since the robots may not always be treated gently.
Tombot hopes to deliver the robots in 2020. If the project succeeds, the robopups will join a new wave of furry therapy robots designed to provide comfort, stress relief and companionship.


WANT TO CATCH SHW NEWS BEFORE IT CHANGES THE STOCK PRICE?
WILL SHW SPIKE ON TOMORROW'S NEWS?
Stocks like SHW are creating awesome opportunities based on catalysts in the news. Is SHW the next one to get some major price action?


In the fall of 2017, the Mexican Ministry of Energy awarded funding to the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara in collaboration with the University of California Davis to establish a lighting technology and design research center known as the Centro de Tecnología de Iluminación (CTI). This is a multi-year, public-private investment focused on addressing growing climate change concerns through translational research committed to clean energy and sustainability in Mexico.
LD+A—Researchers in California are developing a standard methodology for conducting field demonstrations to better inform energy codes and standards.


The Fox network is reportedly developing a one-hour series about the Centers for Disease Control.
Reuters reports the ensemble drama will explore the lives of people inside and outside the CDC, the nation's lead federal agency for protecting the health and safety of people at home and abroad. The CDC has gained prominence in recent weeks in its role reacting to anthrax attacks and preparing for other potential bioterrorist activity.
The Fox project is being developed by director Mimi Leder (Deep Impact) and scribe Anthony Peckham (Don't Say a Word). Leder is close to signing on as executive producer and director; Peckham would serve as executive producer and writer.


Swing State TV Stations Spiking Ad Rates As Campaign Cash Pours In : It's All Politics Someone once said that owning a TV station is a license to print money. Now, that was before the advent of cable TV and computer screens and streaming video. But these are clearly good times for some stations, especially the ones in presidential battleground states.
President Obama at a stop on his bus tour of Ohio in Port Clinton on July 5.
Someone once said that owning a TV station is a license to print money. Now, that was before the advent of cable TV and computer screens and streaming video. But these are clearly good times for some stations, especially the ones in presidential battleground states.
While the November election is still four months away, President Obama, Republican Mitt Romney and outside groups are advertising in record amounts.
"If you are a television station in a media market in one of those handful of [swing] states, there's an incredible amount of demand for your inventory from political buyers," says Ken Goldstein of Kantar Media CMAG, which tracks political ad spending.
This ad by the Obama campaign, airing in Ohio, charges Mitt Romney with outsourcing jobs.
In Ohio, for example, TV viewers are being treated to lots of ads from Obama and Romney.
"Both presidential candidates are running [ads]. A variety of PACs and superPACs are running," explains Dan Bradley, president and general manager of NBC affiliate WCMH in Columbus, Ohio.
According to one media buying group that provided its figures to NPR, last week alone the Obama campaign and its outside supporters spent some $345,000 on TV ads in the Columbus market, while the Romney campaign and its supporters spent around $220,000.
This ad funded by the Mitt Romney campaign has aired in Ohio.
With all that demand, prices will go up, says Bradley.
"It's a commodity business. And when there's a large demand on that commodity and a lot of people trying to buy the same thing, the natural forces of the market cause the price to rise," says Bradley.
Bradley wouldn't say how much ad rates at his station have risen.
Jane Peters, president of Media Management Services, a Columbus firm that buys TV time for a range of clients from car dealers to local garden centers, says she is telling those clients to expect to pay up to 50 percent more for TV time in the coming months.
"We usually spend about, oh, $6 [thousand] or $7,000 a week, like in Dayton Ohio," says Peters. "It'll look like we'll need about $10 [thousand] or $15,000, you know, just to make that same impact once we get into the political window. But we'll be pre-empted. It probably won't even run."
Those spots may get pre-empted by political ads whose buyers are willing to pay top dollar to ensure their spots are seen at key times, such as adjacent to the local news or on popular shows like Jeopardy.
Setting TV ad rates is a complex equation. Kantar Media's Ken Goldstein says what you pay depends on who you are.
"Part of political advertising is very highly regulated, and part of political advertising buying is absolutely the Wild West," he says.
The regulated part pertains to candidates for federal office like president or the U.S. Senate.
Within 60 days of an upcoming election, in accordance with Federal Communications Commission rules, presidential and Senate candidates have to be given the lowest rate the station has charged for a similar ad in the past year.
Outside groups, on the other hand, are charged whatever the market will bear. That's not likely to slow the deep-pocketed advocacy groups.
But local businesses, just like many TV viewers, will be glad when November has come and gone.


Skylink's been releasing home security gadgets for nearly 25 years, but the new SkylinkNet Alarm System is their first app-enabled DIY kit. Click through for a closer look at this low-cost system.
To get started, you'll need to install the hub, which doubles as the system's siren. Just plug it in, connect it to your router, then pull up the app on your smartphone.
Setup is simple, and only took us a few minutes.
Once the hub is up and running, you can start activating your sensors and adding them to your system. The starter kit comes packaged with a few to get you going, including this motion detector.
You'll also get two of these magnet-based open/closed sensors.
You'll stick these up along your door or window frame -- when the magnets get separated by more than a couple of centimeters, they'll ping the hub and tell it that the door is open.
You also get a compact little keychain remote capable of arming and disarming your system.
You can also arm or disarm the system from within the app. You can program an exit delay, giving you a set amount of time to leave the house after arming the system, as well as an entrance delay, which gives you a set amount of time to disarm the system upon your return.
You can also customize when the app will alert you.
Skylink's SkylinkNet Starter Pack sells online for $150 (it also ships international, and roughly converted is about £95 or AU$170). be sure to read my full review to decide if it's the right system for your home.


Since we know there’s not going to be a sequel to Fez anytime soon, its creators are releasing a $100 special edition.
The limited edition comes in a red canvas slipcase with an embossed Fez-style logo in gold. Inside, there’s a matching hardback notebook, which is where the DRM-free PC and Mac versions of the game are, as well as a download code for its award-winning original soundtrack.
Designed by Phil Fish, who worked on the original cult classic, there are only 500 copies available, all of which will be signed by Fish and numbered. You can pre-order it now on Polytron’s website, but the company says it’s unlikely they will ship in time for Christmas.


Shift govt ownership of PTT & THAI to Vayupak Fund?
» Selling 2% of PTT to reduce govt ownership from 51% to 49% to erase govt debt so govt can borrow more to finance flood-prevention infrastructure.
» At 37% of GDP with 2.32 million jobs affected by the floods, SME's 1.75 trillion baht in exports fallen to 16% growth from 25% projected.


Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, world indoor and Commonwealth 800m champion, showed his readiness to defend his titles in Moscow and Melbourne next month when he recorded a comfortable win at the fifth Athletics South Africa Champions meeting at Oudtshoorn on Saturday afternoon.
His winning time of one minute and 46,77 seconds, without really exerting himself, was the fastest of the year in South Africa.
“I am pleased with my performance and really looking forward to the forthcoming international races,” he said after his event that took place in scorching heat. He will also run in Pretoria next Friday before travelling to Russia for his indoor title defence.
Other members of the Commonwealth team also showed fine form. Hardus Pienaar won the javelin with an impressive distance of 82,56m, while Ruben Ramolefi, the national 3 000m steeplechase champion, ran a brilliant race in the extreme heat in a good time of eight minutes and 33,51 seconds.
South African champions Sherwin Vries (10,46 seconds) and Leigh Julius (20,97) won the 100m and 200m events, and the 35-year-old Adri Schoeman clocked a good 52,14 seconds to win the 400m, running away from her opponents.
Geraldine Pillay managed easy wins in the women’s sprints.
High-jumper Jacques Freitag, who was hoping to show up the national selectors for leaving him out of the South African Commonwealth Games team, failed to do so when he could not clear the bar at 2,25m.


Newsweek Media Group is, after an internal investigation, reinstating an executive who had been placed on leave following a report he had left his previous job due to sexual harassment allegations, the company told staff on Friday.
Chief Content Officer Dayan Candappa was placed on leave last month following a BuzzFeed News report which detailed harassment allegations a reporter made about Candappa in 2016, during his time as Americas editor of Reuters. The reporter made a formal and detailed complaint to Reuters human resources after what she said was months of harassment, according to BuzzFeed, and after an investigation, Reuters fired Candappa. Candappa has not commented on the allegations. Newsweek said after BuzzFeed's story that it had not seen any red flags when hiring Candappa in 2016.
Some Newsweek staffers are unhappy with the decision, two newsroom sources told CNN, describing themselves and their colleagues as "pretty shocked" and "horrified."
The news only added to the increasing feelings of chaos and discontent among employees at the once-storied magazine and sister site International Business Times, also owned by Newsweek Media Group. The past few weeks have also seen editors fired, executives resigning and a law enforcement raid on the company.
Newsweek had announced after the BuzzFeed story was published that it would hire an outside law firm to conduct an investigation. That investigation has concluded, the company told employees Friday.
"Following a thorough investigation by Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Dayan Candappa will be returning to his role as Chief Content Officer on Monday February 12th 2018," Leiann Kaytmaz, vice president for human resources, said in an email to staff. "Orrick, an independent external law firm, did not find evidence to substantiate the reported allegations of sexual harassment during his tenure with his previous employer. Additionally, the investigation found that Mr. Candappa has conducted himself in a professional manner at Newsweek Media Group."
Newsweek Media Group did not respond to questions about staff concerns around Candappa's return.
Candappa's news comes as the staff at Newsweek Media Group, which owns the magazine and the website the International Business Times, are reeling from what has been months of chaos.
On Monday Newsweek Media Group fired Newsweek editor-in-chief Bob Roe and executive editor Ken Li, along with reporter Celeste Katz. Just last week the co-owner and chairman of Newsweek Media Group, Etienne Uzac, and his wife Marion Kim, who acted as the company's finance director, both stepped down.
Last month the Manhattan District Attorney's office raided the company's offices, taking several servers. Newsweek itself, in a story co-written by Katz, reported that the raid was part of a long-running investigation into the company's finances.
Executives for the company did not initially provide staff with a specific rationale for the firings, but staffers suspected it had to do with Newsweek's coverage of the parent company, according to newsroom sources. Two other reporters who, like Katz, had worked on that coverage were nearly fired as well, sources told CNN, but editors stepped in to stop their firings.
Then in a meeting with editors, NMG co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Davis admitted that Roe and Li were fired because they had authorized Newsweek to report on their own parent company, according to a source with knowledge of the meeting. The articles had hurt the company's business deals, Davis said. The Daily Beast first reported on the meeting.
Asked for comment about the meeting, a Newsweek spokesperson told CNN, "Newsweek doesn't comment on personnel matters or internal communications."
Additionally, BuzzFeed reported last week that Newsweek Media Group had been buying traffic for IBT and may have committed ad fraud. Newsweek Media Group has denied any fraudulent activity. But NBC News reported that advertisers are already pulling their business from the company, and that its chief sales officer, Ed Hannigan, resigned this week.
In a Newsweek staff meeting last month, a female staffer asked Li whether "there is a policy that they would tell somebody if there's an alleged predator working in the newsroom and putting people at risk," according to a source in the meeting.
Li said at the meeting that he wasn't sure if there was a specific policy but that he and another co-worker who had both worked at Reuters with Candappa "raised a red flag" at Newsweek Media Group before Candappa was hired.
After Monday's firings a slew of staffers resigned from Newsweek and IBT, including at least nine reporters and two editors.
More departures are expected as other staffers are job hunting and preparing to leave, several sources told CNN.


Based on this super trailer season 9 looks like its going to restore the originator of the "Hip-Hop" based reality series back to prominence.
Love & Hip Hop New York has been for the most part the weakest out of the three franchises due to lame cast members. BUT based on this super trailer season 9 looks like its going to restore the originator of the “Hip-Hop” based reality series back to prominence.
The struggle is extra real this season.
Season 9 marks the return of now-retired rapper Joseph Budden minus the lame vests he rocked on his first LHHNY stint. Joe is in a great place mentally now thanks to the current love of his life and Love & Hip Hop NY vet Cyn Santana, his son Lexington and his podcast and Revolt TV show State of The Culture doing well. On LHHNY there is always some drama, and it’s Joe not supplying Cyn with the necessary amount of vitamin D she needs which is causing a strain on their relationship.
The other cast members are facing legal issues as well. Juelz Santana and his dentures are facing some serious jail time after his being jammed up at the airport with a gun. On top of his possible jail stint, his longtime girlfriend Kimbella is preparing for a potential life without him and also reveals the Dipset member’s battle with drugs. Yandy Smith who is no stranger to Juelz’s situation gets caught up in the middle while trying to offer advice to the rapper but his girlfriend isn’t here for it.
Rich Dollaz doesn’t seem to have women issues this go around but might have to be a full-time dad again because the mother of his daughter is facing jail time as well. Also joining the cast is “Hi Hater” rapper Maino and his girlfriend who caught a bullet in the leg at one his of shows. Returning from the previous season is Safaree, Jacquee, Remy Ma and Papoose and JuJu.
You can watch all the struggle unfold in the five-minute trailer below.


LSU completed its 2019 recruiting class Wednesday with a few expected signings as well as a couple surprises.
Here's at look at how we graded each position group's signees. These grades reflect how LSU's staff did at filling a need and whether these prospects will be able to make an early impact if given the opportunity.
Breakdown: No change here as Parrish is the only quarterback in the 2019 class. Parrish led his team to an undefeated season and a state championship.
Parrish gives the Tigers depth at the quarterback position next season behind returning starter Joe Burrow. If all goes well he should have plenty of time to develop and get ready to compete with Myles Brennan and LSU’s 2020 QB commitments TJ Finley (Ponchatoula) and Max Johnson (Georgia) following his first season at LSU.
Breakdown: I said in December that this grade would rise if Ruston’s Ray Parker signed. Overall, LSU secured an impressive group of prospects on the offensive line. This group of prospects features some very athletic offensive lineman and several should see the field next year.
Breakdown: No change here either. LSU brings in two backs ranked in the top 10 at their position, both are All-Americans and both possess game-changing ability.
Both of these players will make an impact next season and don’t be surprised if Emery ends up being LSU’s leading rusher for the 2019 season.


come clean about his alleged doings with Monica Lewinsky.
our cable system will launch those cable modems that he has heard so much about.
about to expire. "So let's do it now," he urged.
and finally get decent, if not the best, high-speed access to the Internet.
of Southern Westchester, is going to make them available in our area.
quarter of 1999, or whenever.
that go along with getting it installed.
company's soon-to-be-launched "Infospeed DSL" service.
to hear the Bell Atlantic pitch.
and they can afford it.
the microphone, as if to not arouse any of those computer veterans who might ask about it.
want to ruffle the nice, 20-something woman and put her on the spot.
but that will soon have competition on that front.
potshots at cable's prowess in high-speed Internet access.
capacity available to any one user inevitably drops."
are going to confront if they ever address gatherings like the Westchester PC Users Group.
those potential customers about the virtues of cable modems.


Three-dimensional television got a major marketing push nearly two years ago from the consumer electronics and entertainment industries, yet the technology has one major limitation: viewers need special eyeglasses to experience the 3-D effect. Now the marketing experts say that the technology will never catch on in a big way unless viewers can toss the glasses entirely.
Although 3-D technology sans specs is available for small screens on smartphones and portable gaming devices, these devices use backlit LCDs, which can be a big battery drain and limits how small the gadgets can be made. More recently, researchers have begun to use light-emitting diodes, which show more promise. They are developing autostereoscopic 3-D using tiny prisms that would render 3-D images without glasses. Because these LEDs get their lighting from organic compounds that glow in response to electric current, they can be thinner, lighter and more flexible than LCDs. The innovation is detailed in the August issue of the journal Nature Communications.
The researchers—from Seoul National University, Act Company and Minuta Technology—used an array of microscale prisms placed on a screen to create a filter that guides the light in one direction or another. Using such a prism array—which the researchers refer to as a Lucius prism after the Latin name meaning “shining and bright”—they were able to display an object on the screen that could be seen only when viewed from a particular angle. By manipulating the intensity of light, the scientists could show from the same screen two distinctly different images—one to a viewer’s left eye and a second to the right eye. Seeing the two images together creates a sense of depth that the brain perceives as 3-D—all without the help of special lenses.
Some researchers have reported success with other approaches to glasses-free 3-D. The HTC EVO 3D and LG Optimus 3D smartphones, for example, feature parallax barrier screens made with precision slits that allow each eye to see a different set of pixels. Unfortunately, this approach requires the viewer to look at the screen at a very specific angle to experience the 3-D effect, a drawback that this new technique may be able to overcome.


Sleaford and District will be joining in celebrations of the Queen’s official 90th birthday.
Members of Sleaford Museum Trust have laid on a special new window display. The museum is open today (Saturday) as usual, with lots of old news accounts and magazines to see.
Inside is a replica of a street party as it was in the time of the photo mural. There is also a competition for the most appropriate name for the corgi dog in the window.


Atlanta-based Home Depot has purchased The Company Store, a 106-year-old retailer based in Wisconsin.
The company sells textiles and home décor products, a natural accompaniment to the kinds of home products sold by Home Depot.
Home Depot has prospered while many retailers shrink or even collapse.
In fact, the agreement does not include the retail stores, none of which are in metro Atlanta. Three are is Wisconsin, one in Maine and one in North Carolina.
Among company products are sheets, pillows, towels, quilts, home décor, bed covers, blankets, mattress pads, robes and sleepwear.
At least for now, The Company Store will operate as a stand-alone web site, Holmes said.
The companies did not announce terms of the deal.


WESTCHESTER COUNTY Republicans gathered at the County Center in White Plains with placards, bunting and political-convention music last week to designate candidates for Congress and the state legislature and to hear from the leaders of the statewide Republican ticket.
The nearly 200 delegates named 10 incumbents and selected familiar figures for two races. Assemblyman Nicholas A. Spano was named the candidate for the 35th District seat being vacated by State Senator John E. Flynn, Republican of Yonkers, and John M. Perone, a former Assemblyman, was chosen to challenge the Democrat Ronald C. Tocci of New Rochelle in the 85th Assembly District.
The Yonkers race has taken on statewide significance because Mr. Flynn's decision to retire at the end of this, his 10th term, could cause a problem for Republicans seeking to maintain a majority in Albany's upper house. With Republicans holding 35 of the 61 seats in the Senate chamber, a net loss of five seats would mean Democratic control.
Delegates at the two-hour convention heard from Andrew P. O'Rourke, the County Executive who was named a week earlier by state Republican delegates as their candidate for governor, and from District Attorney E. Michael Kavanaugh of Ulster County, who replaced Jeanine F. Pirro, an assistant district attorney for Westchester, as the candidate for lieutenant governor.
Mrs. Pirro withdrew her name from contention, according to Mr. O'Rourke, because she felt it would be unfair to clients of her husband's law firm to expose them to public scrutiny. She has since returned to work although Democrats in the county legislature are asking for an inquiry into possible conflicts of interest in her job as a prosecutor.
None of this emerged from the podium in the County Center, as the gubernatorial candidate spoke of the O'Rourke-Kavanaugh team, or ''an O.K. ticket,'' as he put it, and the issues they would raise. Mr. O'Rourke said Governor Cuomo was soft on crime and public welfare, for example, and was misleading when it came to assessing the state's economy.
Mr. Kavanaugh spoke in a similar vein, adding that corruption was an issue. ''Why has the Governor allowed the government of New York City to become hoplessly corrupt,'' he asked. They were cheered by the partisan audience, which then got down to the business of selecting candidates for local races.
They picked some newcomers including one, Willis H. Stephens Jr., with a familiar political name. His father served as an Assemblyman from Putnam County from 1953 to 1982 as did his grandfather, D. Mallory Stephens, from 1925 to 1952.
Mr. Stephens, 30 years old of Port Chester, will seek the 36th District Senate seat held by Suzi Oppenheimer, Democratic Mayor of Mamaroneck. A lawyer with a practice in Manhattan, Mr. Stephens also serves as assistant counsel to the Republican majority in the State Senate.
The delegates, following a 15-page convention script designed by Anthony J. Colavita, who is both the Westchester County and State Republican Chairman, selected Joseph Rauso, a 52-year-old engineer for the county's Department of Environmental Facilities to seek the 83d District seat being vacated by Mr. Spano.
Mr. Rauso, a Yonkers resident who has worked for the county for 30 years, said he lost by about 100 votes to Frank McGovern last November in the race for Yonkers City Council. Mr. McGovern, a Democrat, also had the Conservative Party designation for that race.
Robin Bergstrom, communications director for State Senator Mary B. Goodhue, a Republican seeking her fifth term, was designated by the nearly 200 delegates to challenge Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky for the 86th District seat. The 39-year-old resident of Hastings-on-Hudson is a former radio and cable television news director.
Another newcomer, Joseph G. Goubeaud Jr. of Mount Vernon, was selected as the Republican candidate for the Assembly seat held by the Democrat Gregory P. Young, who won his last election by a 2-to-1 margin. Mr. Goubeaud, 36, a local lawyer entering his first political race, said he would be campaigning in a district with a 3-to-1 Democratic enrollment.
The delegates routinely designated three incumbent Republican United States Representatives; Joseph J. DioGuardi of New Rochelle for the 20th Congressional District, Hamilton Fish Jr. of Millbrook, N.Y., for the 21st District and Benjamin A. Gilman of Middletown for the 22d District.
The delegates also nominated the incumbent Assemblymen Gordon W. Burrows of Yonkers, Peter M. Sullivan of White Plains, Henry W. Barnett of Yorktown Heights, Vincent L. Leibell 3d of Carmel - whose district includes part of northern Westchester - and George E. Pataki of Peekskill.
And they backed two incumbent State Senators, Mrs. Goodhue, whose 37th District includes all of northern Westchester, and Guy V. Velella, a Bronx Republican who recently won election to the 34th District seat long held by the late John D. Calandra. The Velella seat includes parts of Yonkers, Mount Vernon and New Rochlle.
The delegates seemed to display great interest in the Spano designation for Mr. Flynn's seat. Frank Coppola, the Yonkers Republican chairman, said that ''John Flynn was a legend in his own time,'' but that ''time and a desire to be with his wife and family caused him to retire.'' But ''if anyone can keep his seat, it is Nicholas Spano,'' he said.
The candidate, one of 16 children of Leonard N. Spano, a county legislator from Yonkers, said all his brothers and sisters were present, as were other members of the family ''including a grandmother,'' and that together, with others, they would ''keep this seat Republican.'' The crowd loved it.
Mr. Perone, a former three-term Assemblyman, told the political gathering after his nomination that he was ''no newcomer'' to the political fray and had been out of office after losing a close race in 1984 to Mrs. Oppenheimer for the State Senate seat vacated by Joseph R. Pisani, the New Rochelle Republican.
Mr. Perone will be challenging Mr. Tocci for the Assembly seat that the Republican formerly held. Mr. Tocci, who will be running for his second term, was himself involved in a close contest in the 1984 election, narrowly beating a Conservative, Nicholas X. Judge 3d, who was also running on the Republican line.


SAN FRANCISCO — Airbnb got an upgrade Thursday, rolling out new luxury options and added user benefits in an attempt to attract a wider customer base as the company gears up for an IPO expected as soon as 2019.
To appeal to travelers who seek out the nicer things in life — which previously may have meant hotels, not Airbnb rentals — CEO Brian Chesky unveiled “Airbnb Plus.” Starting Thursday, the new feature offers 2,000 “insanely nice” homes in 13 cities, he said, including San Francisco.
Chesky also teased the upcoming “Beyond by Airbnb,” a product of the company’s acquisition of Luxury Retreats, which provides high-end stays at extravagant homes and villas in places such as Aspen and Tuscany. And he revealed improved search tools, which let users find homes with specific characteristics — such as a musician’s rustic home with a balcony — as well as new perks for Airbnb’s top-rated landlords and renters.
The news is the latest attempt by Airbnb to diversify its product offerings and transform what was once a scrappy startup into a mature company with staying power and the ability to eventually go public. It’s also a move to lure more users into the Airbnb community, as the company continues to struggle with regulatory setbacks. In San Francisco, for example, after initially fighting city officials, Airbnb in May agreed to kick hosts off the platform if they didn’t register with the city — a practice the company put into place at the beginning of this year.
It was just over a year ago that Airbnb first branched beyond its trademark home-sharing platform with the launch of Experiences, which lets travelers book activities led by local residents. Earlier this month, Airbnb tapped Belinda Johnson as its first chief operating officer, elevating her from her former role as chief business affairs and legal officer. Last month Airbnb appointed its first independent board member — former American Express CEO Ken Chenault. Airbnb, which, like most startups, has been tight-lipped about its financials in the past, has promised to provide greater transparency by releasing its first annual stakeholder report in March.
With Thursday’s announcement, Airbnb appears to be turning a new focus to luxury. The homes on the new Airbnb Plus section are verified via a 100-point inspection, which checks everything from the home’s WiFi quality to its aesthetic design. Adding more luxury options, Beyond by Airbnb will launch its high-end offerings this spring.
To help travelers choose between Airbnb’s 4.5 million listings, the company also is dividing its homes into new categories with advanced search options. Guests can look specifically for vacation homes, bed and breakfast options, or “unique” residences — such as tree houses and boats. Then they can further narrow their search by requesting a home with a crib or a large kitchen, or they can choose a home tailored to their reason for travel — picking a kid-friendly house for a family trip, or a home with an office for a business trip.
“The aspiration is to make sure that people see themselves and their dreams for travel in one of those,” Margaret Richardson, Airbnb’s head of global policy development, said in an interview after the announcement.
Chesky also announced new perks for the home-sharing company’s highest-rated hosts, dubbed “Superhosts,” who will get access to new perks over the course of the year including personalized URLs for their listings and discounts on smart home products from vendors like Nest. This summer, Airbnb also will launch a trial “Superguest” program, offering 10,000 guests access to special benefits such as airport pickup and exclusive activities.
Despite its focus on Airbnb’s future, Thursday’s event also echoed Airbnb’s flashy November 2016 unveiling of Experiences in Los Angeles. There, in a bold move that signaled Airbnb was no longer threatening just hotels, but had shifted its target to the entire travel industry, Chesky explained how travelers can use the Airbnb platform to book exotic activities not found in any guidebook.
Over the next year, the program expanded from 500 experiences in 12 cities to more than 5,000 experiences in 58 markets around the world — including a Salsa dancing lesson in Havana, a visit to a wolf sanctuary outside of Seattle, and the opportunity to learn hatmaking in New York City. Experiences is growing more quickly than the initial home-sharing platform did, with more than 10 times the number of bookings as homes had at this stage in its growth, according to Airbnb.
And it’s on the verge of making the company money. The Experiences feature is on track to be profitable by the end of 2019, said Airbnb spokesman Nick Papas.
All the changes have spurred buzz about a potential upcoming Airbnb initial public offering. But Chesky quelled those rumors earlier this month, saying there will be no IPO in 2018.


We are all going through a period of great confusion and uncertainty.
I have known French president-elect Francois Hollande since the days of his predecessor and my friend Francois Mitterand. A man of broad vision, he is what France needs to pull itself out of the current crisis and put in place a policy for economic and social recovery. But his victory at the run-off election on May 6 goes far beyond this: it is a resounding confirmation of numerous signs that Europe has recognised the failure of neoliberal ideology and is changing course.
It is hard to see how the European Union and the euro can find their way out of the imbroglio their leaders have led themselves, and all Europeanists, into.
HAS THE EUROPEAN UNION LOST ITS WAY ?
The two main political-ideological families that contributed most to the unity of Europe were without question social democracy (labour, socialists, and social-democrats) and Christian democracy. These two strains are, and have long been, in decline, the former since the collapse of the communist universe (1989-1990) and their submission to neoliberal "colonisation"; the latter since the changes that occurred after Vatican II in the 1970s.
Even Pangloss from Voltaire's Candide, with his incurable optimism, would find today's world hard going. Nature and humanity have let loose their respective demons and no one can rein them in. In many areas, the earth has battered us repeatedly with cyclones, tidal waves, earthquakes, floods, and most recently the eruption of a volcano in Iceland that shut down airports across northern and central Europe. It is a sad and unprecedented spectacle.
There is lively debate in the European Union about the global recession and the economic crisis in member countries, but relatively little discussion about the future of the Old Continent.
I have been a sincere admirer of yours since I started following your writing and speaking about your plans during the presidential campaign. I admire your humanism, your culture, your valour, and your style. Unlike you, I am not a believer. I am agnostic and have a certain amount of experience in public life. However, I said to many friends that your victory constituted an authentic miracle for the United States and for the world, however little I believe in miracles.
Latin America is undergoing a process of accelerated transformation. Considered the "backyard of the United States" for much of the last century, it suffered a string of coups d'etat and dictatorships, many piloted by neoliberal economists from the so-called "Chicago School". It is natural that the region would want to forget this past and move in another direction.
The news was like a ray of sunlight that lit the entire world: "Obama Awarded Nobel Peace Prize!" It was unexpected, for many premature, and set off a wide range of reactions in every corner of the planet.
In Europe summer is usually the time when publishers release forgotten books, biographies, and travel writing, and major magazines put out special editions on a past subject of current interest.
A few months were enough for Obama to peacefully revolutionise the United States and the world. He radically changed the policies of Washington, domestic and international, with visible consequences at the global level despite a financial and economic crisis that, notwithstanding certain signs of improvement, is still far from turning around.
The first good news regarding the economic crisis is arriving from the United States, about certain improvements in the banking sector as well (Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Chase, etc). For now, they are but faint signs. But Barack Obama continues to fight on all fronts, with rigour and courage.
The economic crisis engulfing the world is getting worse day by day and has spread to every continent. It is a truly global crisis the solution to which is clear to no one. During the years of hope in the "glorious decades" following World War II, the communists never tired of proclaiming the impending general crisis of capitalism, which would be fatal for the system, according to Marxist analysts. Although there were small crises, none was comparable to the depression of 1929, which seems the ultimate measure of failure.
In office only since January 20, US President Barack Obama has jumped into action so quickly he has not given adversaries or observers the time to organise criticism or attacks. Meanwhile Europeans, and in particular their political leaders, do not seem to have grasped the "Copernican revolution" that is underway in the US and appear stunned and incapable of reacting to the new developments that are taking place each day in Washington.
There are remarkable differences between the effects of today\'s massive financial crisis on the US, the epicentre of the crisis, and on the European Union, writes Mario Soares, ex-President and ex-Primer Minister of Portugal. In this analysis, Soares writes that after the victory of Barack Obama and the Democratic party, the US has become \"the land where anything could happen\", while the Old Continent remains paralysed and seemingly adrift. It is worrying that many European leaders seem not to have even grasped the scale of the challenges the world currently faces and the necessity of working together and joining forces to meet them. It seems improbable that the Treaty of Lisbon will be ratified by the 27 member states, just as predicted months ago. This is a shame, because the strategy embodied by the treaty, approved in March 2000, sets out a social and environmental model and affirms, therefore, that it is possible to make harmonise progressive social policies, workers\' rights, and strict environmental regulation with economic competitiveness, financial rigour, and scientific and technological innovation.
Mario Soares, two times president and three times prime minister of Portugal, says he is sorry that the European Union has not yet understood the importance of strengthening relations with Latin America.
The role of the writer in politics has been a subject of intense debate since French novelist Emile Zola published in 1898 \"J\'accuse\", his indictment of the French army\'s wrongful conviction of Alfred Dreyfus for treason. The most recent chapter was related to the life and work of the renowned Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who died on August 4, writes Mario Soares, ex-President and ex-Prime Minister of Portugal. Between World War I and II numerous French as well as German, British, American, Latin American, and other writers had a considerable effect on the political opinions of the public. One of the most influential was Romain Rolland, author of \"Jean Christophe\" and \"L\'Ame Enchantee\", a French pacifist and communist sympathiser who was read throughout Europe. In 1974 Solzhenitsyn was expelled from Russia and became the dissident most loathed by the world\'s communist parties. I remember clearly the polemic that erupted in Portugal after the 1974 Carnation Revolution freed us from the dictatorship and how Portuguese communists attacked us socialdemocrats for defending Solzhenitsyn in keeping with our creed.


With experts predicting a global economic slowdown, oil prices could fall to $60 a barrel, or lower - with gas prices soon to follow.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As the world loses confidence in the foundations of its economic system, the silver lining may be that oil prices are about to get a whole lot cheaper.
In a new report Friday, Deutsche Bank uses a number of interesting yard sticks to suggest crude is currently way too expensive and may fall to the $60 a barrel range as the economy worsens.
And the bank does expect the economy to worsen, painting a bleak picture - caused be the current financial turmoil - but stopping just short of predicting a multi-year recession.
The bank says it expects GDP growth to slow by 1.5% over the next few years - and hints that things could get even worse.
"Indeed if one examines the banking sector crises in Japan and Sweden, economic output declined for at least two years following the crisis," Adam Sieminski, the bank's chief energy economist, wrote in a research note. If the global economy slows to less than 2% growth a year, "oil prices could spiral down, much like they escalated in 2007."
Other analysts see oil prices going through the floor.
"As night follows day, low oil prices have always followed high prices, and the decline has always been swifter than the advance," said Peter Beutel, an oil analyst at Cameron Hanover.
Beutel sees a 2009 low of around $50 or $60 a barrel, then even lower prices in 2010.
"I'm not going to rule out some extraordinarily low numbers, even $20 a barrel," he said, acknowledging that five months ago many respectable analysts though we'd never go below $100. "Whatever the market does, it's going to make us all look like fools."
Deutsche Bank compared oil prices to several other measures, and came to the conclusion that "crude oil is the most richly priced commodity currently."
Compared to crude's historic price average of $35 a barrel, it's currently 100% higher, higher than any other commodity. The next highest is gold, at 56%. Many other metals are only 20 to 30% higher.
And contrary to press reports talking about how expensive food is, adjusted for inflation many food stuffs are actually lower than their long-term historical average price, according to the report.
Relative to per capita income, the bank said oil prices would have to fall to about $45 a barrel to return crude to it's historical average.
In the early 1970s, the average American family could buy about 1,000 barrels of oil on a year's salary. That 1,000 barrels was the norm for most of the last few decades, with the exception of the early 1980s and 2008, when that number dropped to around 300 barrels of oil. Today, oil would have to cost around $45 a barrel for the average family to afford 1000 barrels.
The bank also calculated how high oil prices have to be for OPEC countries to maintain their budgets. Iran and Venezuela, who are often the first to call for production cuts, need the highest price per barrel - $95.
Russia needs about $70, while Saudi Arabia, OPEC's largest producer and de facto ruler, needs about $55 a barrel.
Other measures pointed to a higher price for oil. The bank estimates crude needs to cost $80 a barrel to keep new production coming online, and as a percent of a U.S. consumer's disposable income, current prices are about average.
But taking all these measures together, the bank says $60 a barrel seems like a probable place for oil prices to bottom out.
That would represent a gasoline price of just over $2 a gallon. Good news for motorists burned at paying over $4 a gallon for much of the summer, but bad news if that price drop at the pump also comes with a pink slip from the boss.
When will stocks bounce back?


Kellyanne Conway, who ran Donald Trump's presidential campaign and now works with his transition team, told MSNBC's Joe Scarborough on Tuesday that the president-elect doesn't plan to follow through with one of the central promises of his campaign.
Conway confirmed Scarborough's reporting that Trump won't “be pursuing investigations" against his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, and suggested that Republicans in Congress probably would get that message.
“I think when the president-elect who's also the head of your party now, Joe,” Conway said, “tells you before he's even inaugurated he doesn't wish to pursue these charges, it sends a very strong message, tone and content to the members.
There's a tacit admission there that Trump's insistence that he would prosecute Clinton was all campaign rhetoric. But what's missing from Conway's response is the simple, important fact that Trump, as president, doesn't have the authority to demand that Clinton be prosecuted — and that it's a good thing that no president does.
We spoke by phone with Columbia University professor Daniel Richman, a former federal prosecutor who has consulted with the Justice and Treasury departments. He explained how and where the president can leverage his authority over the government's criminal investigatory mechanisms.
Richman said that the president can, through his attorney general, target broad areas for focus.
Richman points out that it's not completely unheard of for a president to seek to target individual people, citing the example of New York drug dealer Nicky Barnes, who appeared on the front of the New York Times Magazine in 1977 to President Jimmy Carter's great annoyance.
The goal is simple: to maintain the independence of federal investigators and prosecutors from political influence. “I think the bottom line is, I think both sides realize that if prosecutors become seen as carrying water for the president, it will not be a good thing for federal enforcement in general, or for that case in particular,” he said. The system is designed to prevent the occupant of the White House from using federal investigations for political purposes in precisely the way that Trump once threatened to do.
The Washington Post's Ellen Nakashima spoke with another expert who echoed the same idea.
"Once again, the president-elect has demonstrated his complete lack of understanding of how the government makes these kinds of decisions," said Stephen I. Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin. "The attorney general answers to the president, but the department is supposed to be independent, especially when it comes to prosecutorial decisions. Any president, especially our next president, needs to both understand and respect that – or else they risk politicizing criminal prosecutions in ways that can be damaging."
Richman pointed out how many layers a potential prosecution would need to filter through: the FBI, the lawyers in the Justice Department (who, he points out, “generally are not shrinking violets when it comes to complaints of political interference"), the judiciary — and ultimately the jury that would have to convict.
“There are all these different institutions that are required for a criminal case to go forward and to conclusion that are not beholden to the president and are very much not intended to be beholden to the president,” he added.
In brushing away the idea that Trump would transform his frequent campaign pledge into reality, Conway suggested that the president-elect was being generous, not that he didn't have the power to act anyway.
In a Fox News Channel poll conducted right before the election, a majority of Americans said they thought Trump wasn't honest or trustworthy either.


Adam McKay and Will Ferrell know how to make unusual situations funny – from reading the news (Anchorman) to NASCAR (Talladega Nights). So when we hear that they are tackling the short-lived and completely bizarre NBC drama Manimal for a potential feature, we hardly bat an eye.
You didn’t watch Manimal? I can’t say that I blame you. The television program only ran from September 30 to December 17, 1983 – amassing only eight episodes. Can that be right? The description on Wikipedia is so perfect, I just want to share it with you in its entirety.
The show centers on the character Dr. Jonathan Chase (Simon MacCorkindale), a shape-shifting man who possessed the ability to turn himself into any animal he chose. He used this ability to help the police solve crimes."
Which brings us back to Adam McKay and Will Ferrell. Don’t worry. I’ll hurry back to Manimal. It’s too great not to obsess over. But for now, Deadline reports that the Anchorman duo will produce a Manimal movie through their Gary Sanchez Productions. Key & Peele executive producer Jay Martel and Ian Roberts have been tapped to write the screenplay, and that’s a very good sign. In an intriguing bit of information, Deadline says that the movie will rely on "heavy visual effects and animated elements."
What they don’t say is whether or not Will Ferrell will take the role of Jonathan Chase – the shape-shifting crime fighter. Chances are probably good, as a project like Manimal is right up the alley of the actor who tried to being back both Bewitched and Land of the Lost. Seriously, Will, you don’t have to remake every TV show you watched growing up.
"Like The Catcher In The Rye or The Sound And The Fury, Manimal has always been one of those elusive projects every producer dreams of taking to the silver screen. I know the movie will be funny and entertaining, but will it be the first film to win a Pulitzer? We’ll just have to see."
We will continue to track Manimal’s every crucial step from page to screen.


Half-Formed Half-Minute Hero Impressions: Why Am I Naked?!
Another game Stephen Totilo got to first that I was curious about was Half-Minute Hero, the game where you really only have 30 seconds to beat a level.
The game's concept sounded simple enough to me – you play as little 8-bit characters that riff on classic role-playing game tenants and have 30 seconds to get through various levels that open up on a world map. However, when I picked up the game and actually started to play, I couldn't figure out which buttons did what. Then, with 10 seconds to spare on the clock and about two inches shy of the boss encounter, my character was suddenly naked and without a sword and shield.
No other game has ever made me say "What the $%&@" out loud before. It took me and four other games journalists half an hour to figure out what exactly happened. Apparently, when you stop in a town (where the timer so graciously pauses most of the time), you can pray at a Goddess statue to reset the timer back to 30 seconds. To do this, you have to shell out 100 gold initially and then 200 gold the next time you do it and so on. If you don't have enough gold, the Goddess will still reset the time, but at some random point during your game, she'll show up and strip you naked — also, the timer apparently won't pause in towns anymore.
Really, it was the damndest thing — not just being naked, but the whole concept of only have 30 seconds to get from one end of a map to another. Half-Minute Hero feels more like a puzzle game than an action game, really. The sooner the player grasps that and starts plotting out exactly where to go and when to pay the Goddess to reset the timer, the less time they'll spend yelling "What the $%&@" at their PSPs.