Ninth-seeded Stanford men’s soccer (17-2-2) didn’t wait for penalties to decide the game this time around against first-seeded Wake Forest (19-2-2) but instead goals by seniors defender Tomas Hilliard-Arce and midfielder Sam Werner propelled the Cardinal to 2-0 victory in Winston-Salem on Saturday afternoon.
The win sends Stanford to its third consecutive College Cup and the sixth one in the program’s history. The Cardinal will play fourth-seeded Akron in Philadelphia, which is a rematch of the 2015 semifinal.
The Cardinal have played Wake Forest in three consecutive postseason appearances (including this year) and the Deacons have been eliminated by Stanford each time.
In the 2015 quarterfinal, then-sophomore forward Foster Langsdorf headed home a goal in overtime to down Wake Forest.
Last season, the two teams clashed in the NCAA title game. After 110 minutes of physical and scoreless play, the game was decided on penalties where the Cardinal prevailed 5-4.
This game wasn’t as tight as the previous two games as Stanford threatened to score early and often, especially off set pieces.
The first 30 minutes featured three shots-on-goal by Langsdorf and a shot by senior midfielder Corey Baird thaht was deflected off the crossbar.
The onslaught of shots from the Cardinal finally bore fruit in the 37th when sophomore midfielder Jared Gilbey’s corner kick sliced through the air and connected with Hilliard-Arce near the middle of the box. Hilliard-Arce flicked the ball with his head into the right part of the net and just past the outstretched arms of the Wake Forest goalkeeper.
The score broke the stalemate, and it marked Hilliard-Arce’s fourth goal of the season, which ties his career high in a season. He had four in the 2016 season.
The rest of the half went without much more offensive fanfare but the Cardinal were ready to increase their lead after the halftime break.
In the span of five minutes, the Cardinal took four shots with three coming from Werner.
Werner in the 53rd received a pass from Langsdorf to the left side of the box. He delivered a bullet but was saved by the Deacons keeper. The ball ricocheted back to Werner’s side but the ball could not be cleared by the Wake Forest defenders. Werner took control of the ball and sent another shot but this time past the goalkeeper to double Stanford’s lead to 2-0.
The goal gave Werner three on the season, which is a career high.
The Cardinal remained aggressive with Baird and Langsdorf pushing the ball up the field till the final whistle sounded.
Stanford extends its postseason shutout streak to 10 games that spans three seasons to the first championship run. Fifth-year keeper Nico Corti recorded his 12th clean sheet of the year and three have come in the NCAA Tournament.
The Cardinal will have a chance to advance to its third consecutive College Cup final when they play Akron on Dec. 8 in Philadelphia. The game will be broadcasted on ESPNU.


A police dog stabbed while protecting his handler from an armed suspect has been named animal of the year.
German shepherd Finn was left fighting for his life after being stabbed in Stevenage last year. Handler PC Dave Wardell sustained a minor hand injury.
The pair returned to duty 11 weeks later after a lengthy recovery.
The award was given by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) at a ceremony at the House of Lords.
PD (Police Dog) Finn and PC Wardell were attacked by a boy armed with a 30cm (12in) hunting knife in October 2016.
The wound came within an inch of the dog's heart and punctured a lung. Vets spent four hours saving his life.
A photograph of Finn's stomach wound, held together with 30 stitches, prompted an online campaign - championed by PC Wardell - for a change in the law regarding injuries to police support animals.
It became known as Finn's Law and culminated in a parliamentary debate which led to stricter sentencing guidelines.
Philip Mansbridge, UK director of IFAW, described Finn as a "remarkable dog" and said his heroics showed the "special relationships that can exist between dogs and people."
PC Wardell added he was "really blown away" by the award.
Finn retired from duty in March at the age of eight, and now lives with the Wardell family.
A 16-year-old boy was convicted of the attack in June.


Whether you’ve been humming “Let It Snow” since summer or the mere thought of December has you craving a drink, NYC’s holiday pop-up pubs have something for you. Skip the sloppy disaster that is SantaCon (happening, regrettably, on Saturday) in favor of more dignified drinking at one of the city’s new, wintry watering holes. These merry boîtes are tapping into nostalgia, decking the hell out of their halls and raising New Yorkers’ holiday spirits with delicious — and inventive — holiday spirits.
Donner and Blitzen’s Reindeer Lounge, located in the No Malice Palace space in the East Village, is a jolly jumble of wrapping-paper-covered walls, cartoon reindeer and no fewer than three fake fireplaces. Open through Jan. 1, it’s the brainchild of bar manager and Christmas fanatic Anthony Serignese.
So she focused on the cocktail program. Her favorite is the Elf Nog ($13), a green glass of fernet, crème de menthe, crème de cacao and cream.
Mixologist Shannon Ponche shows off the Sleigh Pilot.
Latin cocktail bar Leyenda has gone full-on feliz Navidad with its “Sleyenda” holiday pop-up. The vibe is tiki bar meets chalet, complete with a red-nosed “reindeer” wall mount, kitschy glassware and beaming Beyoncé baubles on the tree.
Best of all, the punch comes in a real Christmas ornament. And you’d best appreciate that: Mix goes to great lengths to serve it to you that way.
Sleyenda at Leyenda, 221 Smith St., Cobble Hill; 347-987-3260, LeyendaBk.com. Open through Dec. 25.
The Hygge at PHD Terrace is a testament to all things Nordic-cozy. The snuggly saloon is stocked with plush pillows and soft throws — and swaddling is fully encouraged, general manager Julian Wrede says.
If you start to overheat in your comfy cocoon, order the bar’s signature drink: a vanilla milkshake spiked with Baileys and topped with caramel, graham crackers and Pirouette cookies ($14).
The Hygge at PHD Terrace at the Dream Midtown, 210 W. 55th St.; 646-756-2044, PHDLounge.com. Open through March.
Bartender Cody Goldstein with the vibrant Goodie Goodie Gumballs.
Upper West Side hotel NYLO’s “Willy Wonka”-inspired pop-up is pure Instagram heaven. The cocktails, which seem to have been borne from the most delicious fever dream of your life, were actually concocted by mixologist Cody Goldstein, founder of Muddling Memories hospitality company.
The menu’s highlight, hands-down, is the Goodie Goodie Gumballs drink ($17): A not-too-sweet mix of tequila, St-Germain, white cranberry and bitter lemon, poured into an old-school, operational mini-gumball machine (gumballs included).
“It’s inspired by that iconic scene with Violet, when she starts chewing gum and turns purple,” Goldstein, who admits he watched “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” on repeat for research purposes.
Only one question remains: How the heck do you drink the thing? “We stick a straw through the top,” Goldstein says. “It changes colors.” Of course it does.
NYLO’s Holiday Cocktail Factory, 2178 Broadway; 212-362-1100, NYLOHotels.com. Open through Jan 31.
Bad kids get a lump of coal for Christmas. Bad adults? They tap into their inner Darth Vaders at Chinatown’s DarkSide Bar, a “Star Wars”-themed tavern.
“I hate Luke Skywalker,” owner Zach Neil tells The Post. “I don’t like any of the good-guy characters. I always thought they were super lame.” But he loved Darth Vader and his Dark City. He liked Kylo Ren, too, “even though he’s kind of an emo boy.” So he imagined what a bar on the Death Star would look like. (“There has to be a bar, there are like 8,000 residents.”) It came to him in a vision: scantily clad alien women dancing on bartops; glowering, seedy guys with face tattoos gambling in corners; essentially, “a really rough biker bar in space.” And so DarkSide was born.
Drinks, including the signature, whiskey-based Dark Side ($16), all have killer special effects (lights! fire! smoke!). You have to purchase tickets for weekend nights ($33, available online), but each includes two drinks. And don’t forget your costume: A recent night saw the bar’s dance floor packed with some 15 Stormtroopers, two Darth Vaders, a Princess Leia and a Chewbacca — “all getting down to Lil Wayne,” Neil says.
DarkSide Bar, 201 Lafayette St.; TheDarkSideBar.com. Open through Jan. 14.
Paula Lukas, a bartender at Israeli restaurant Nur (34 E. 20th St.; NurNYC.com), channeled her childhood memories to shake up this miracle in a glass. “The flavors were inspired by my grandmothers,” she tells The Post. The cinnamon and apricot notes remind Lukas of the baked goods, such as rugelach, they used to make. And the olive oil, this Hanukkah season, needs no explaining.
Dry shake egg white. Add rum, 5 drops of chocolate bitters, Abricot liqueur and cinnamon syrup. Shake with ice and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a few drops of olive oil, 5 drops chocolate bitters and gold dust. Swirl together with a toothpick. Finely chop Hanukkah gelt; sprinkle on top to finish.


Accused of kowtowing and spinelessness, the retiring House Speaker insists his conscience is clean knowing that things could have been worse—much worse.
Paul Ryan talks to reporters following a GOP strategy session on Capitol Hill.
Paul Ryan’s roast of Donald Trump at last fall’s AI Smith dinner in New York may be the closest the Speaker has ever come to admitting his true feelings about the president. “Every morning, I wake up in my office and scroll Twitter to see which tweets I will have to pretend that I didn’t see later,” he told the audience. The remark was intended as a joke, but it hit uncomfortably close to home: Ryan seems visibly uncomfortable when asked to respond to the president’s positions or remarks, historically brushing aside questions with a trademark lipless grimace plastered to his face. Technically speaking, the guy ought to be happier: thanks to Trump, some of his lifelong policy goals have finally become reality. But as Speaker of the House, not to mention one of several Republicans who repeatedly scuttled away from Trump during the election, Ryan’s Faustian bargain with a president so bent on corroding the traditional values of the Republican Party—not to mention purging it of all dissenters—has seemed especially egregious.
Though he insists otherwise, Ryan’s hot-and-cold relationship with Trump—one full of half-hearted wrist slaps and the occasional public ring-kissing—certainly seemed like one of the key reasons for his abrupt announcement this spring that he would retire as Speaker, just months before a contentious midterm that could very well see Republicans lose the House. But unlike other conservatives who bailed from public life and burned their bridges (see: Arizona’s Jeff Flake), Ryan claims he does not regret his choice to placate the president. In a lengthy exit interview with Mark Leibovich in The New York Times, the Janesville, Wisconsin, retiree frequently insists that refraining from criticizing the president was, in fact, the best way to handle him, if the goal was to prevent chaos and destruction.
A cynic might suggest that Ryan is attempting to salvage his own legacy by employing the logic of the quote-unquote “Committee to Save America”—moderate Trump advisers like Dina Powell, Gary Cohn, and H.R. McMaster, who reportedly justified their time in Trump’s employ as a civic duty to protect the country against Trump’s baser instincts. Yet even their best efforts could not prevent cataclysms like a global trade war—the economic nightmare that allegedly kept Cohn from quitting—or the president’s chummy relationship with Vladimir Putin, something Rex Tillerson attempted to curb before he was fired via tweet.
Of course, it is hard to know what tragedies Ryan might be alluding to. We do know that Trump ignored Ryan’s pointers on everything from budgets to F.B.I. investigations, even as the Speaker hesitated to strongly condemn Trump for condoning white supremacists in Charlottesville. Ryan shrugged when asked whether he could stop Trump from slapping tariffs on other countries. Perhaps he was saving his political capital for the real calamities just out of sight.
Ryan knows his critics’ argument well. But his assertions to Leibovich—specifically that standing up to Trump would have done more harm than good—cast his subservience in a new light. Ryan is probably onto something, even if it’s somewhat pathetic. He was already loathed by Trump’s base, who gleefully trashed him when he failed to enact parts of Trump’s agenda, and cheered his retirement as a victory over the swamp. If Ryan had decided to smash the glass and pull the fire alarm on Trump, it’s not clear that anyone would have listened—at least not in isolation. Even John McCain, the widely respected war hero and elder Republican statesman, failed to attract allies in his resistance to Trump’s agenda. Ryan decided to prioritize power over self-respect.
It’s possible that Ryan is exaggerating to embellish his own image—that, like the departed Cohn, Powell, and McMaster before him, he simply failed to keep the president in check, and gave up trying; after all, Trump was willing enough to move the needle on Ryan’s pet projects. But it’s also possible that Ryan is telling the truth: that he concluded, given the circumstances, that his resistance would be useless. If that’s the case, it’s worth pondering what Trump—who has already threatened nuclear war with North Korea, debased himself in front of Putin, and alienated various American allies—would do if allowed to indulge his natural aptitude for calamity. And how far the rest of the Republican Party would allow him to go before finding their voice.


ElcomSoft, the employer of freed Russian software developer Dmitry Sklyarov, and federal authorities have squared up in court for the first time in a case that will challenge America's controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
In a pre-trial hearing yesterday, lawyers for Moscow-based ElcomSoft argued that charges brought against it under the DMCA should be dismissed because the law is "too broad and vague". The criminal charges brought against ElcomSoft are likely to prove "unconstitutional", the company's lawyers told Judge Ronald Whyte of the Northern District of California Federal Court.
ElcomSoft is charged with supplying a tool that circumvents the copy protection in Adobe eBooks, which can be used in making audible copies of e-books for the blind, or copies of legitimately purchased electronic books. ElcomSoft's Advanced eBook Processor, which is legal in Russia, was sold over the Internet (though it has since been taken off the market).
The DCMA prohibits the creation and distribution of such tools.
In this David vs Goliath battle, federal prosecutors opposed ElcomSoft's motion and argued that the tool could be used for illegal purposes, and was sold as such.
"If the seller markets it to circumvent the copyright, then they've violated the statute," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Sullivan said, AP reports.
Judge Whyte gave little sign of what he thought of the merits of either argument. The case is scheduled to return to court April 15.
Sklyarov was also indicted in the case, and spent a month in a US jail (and four months on bail) before striking a deal that allowed him to return to Russia in exchange for testifying in any case against ElcomSoft.
Adobe attracted huge opprobrium for its actions, and in the face of a self-inflicted public relations nightmare, quickly withdrew support for prosecution. However, the Department of Justice took up the reins and even though Sklyarov was released on bail of $50,000 in August, he still had to remain in the US until December, when a deal was made.


A lot of hot air comes out of Washington, but for now none of it will be inflating the surveillance blimp that the Pentagon has been working on. Research has been halted on the Blue Devil Block 2 — but only after spending $140 million on it already.
At this rate, it looks like the Air Force’s 370-foot-long Blue Devil Block 2 will never get off the ground. The Pentagon has already spent millions of dollars on the massive aircraft, but with the price tag now expected to amount to a figure substantially larger than originally assumed, the latest budget figures reveal that the Air Force won’t be allocating any funds for further research.
Until now, the Blue Devil Block 2 blimp was slated for deployment on April 15. The plan was to put the big balloon over the skies of Afghanistan, where its DARPA-developed technology would allow the US Defense Department to scan 36 miles at a time from an elevation exceeding 20,000 feet from the ground. DefenseSystems.com reported last October that Air Force officials were weary that Congress wouldn’t cut them a check to keep the project going, which was then expected to cost $211 million.
So far $140 million has been invested in the craft, but with no more money being extended at this time, the only thing up in the air is the Blue Devil Block 2’s future.
Wired reports in their own write-up that on top of construction costs, the price of operating the object, once airborne, was expected to amount to maybe $45 million. That was an early estimate, however. Now taking into account refueling the craft and maintaining repairs, operating costs are now expected to run at around $180 million at this rate.
What does that cover? How about essentially a lightweight, airborne hunk of machinery that serves the purpose of surveillance drones but with several times the spying capabilities. Instead of sending its intel over to command stations for processing like drones do, the blimp would render all of its research onboard using a highly sophisticated supercomputer. To the military, they call this kind of craft a C4ISR aircraft, which is short for Command, Control, Computers, Communication, Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance. Putting it over Afghanistan, however, also has the Pentagon calling into question how wise it is to invest any further, given that the craft would be an easy target for insurgents and warrant regular repair.
Unless the Pentagon puts millions of dollars on desk of the blimp experts who’ve spent the last year on the Devil, though, this project will be called a complete and utter failure — and nothing else.
Earlier this week, the Air Force also temporarily grounded a fleet of F-22 fighter jets. After no fewer than three incidents being reported by pilots commanding the F-22 Raptors, a military base in Alaska suspended all operations of a fleet, which costs Americans $77.4 billion to operate.
Obama vetoed military intervention in Syria?


In the video above, correspondent Jon Wertheim asks Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Beto O'Rourke about their possible plans for higher office beyond 2018. Below is a transcript. For 60 Minutes' full report on the Senate race in Texas, click here.
JON WERTHEIM: You share the others seem to have that this race may have a rematch. And it may not be the in Texas Senate. That we may be witnessing two future presidential candidates here.
TED CRUZ: --all-- all-- clearly lookin' forward to that. Now, but listen, I'm-- I'm-- you know-- you know, that-- that there's the old line about glass houses. So I've-- I've run for Senate and then run for president. And I-- you know, if he wants to do that, that's-- he can do that.
JON WERTHEIM: We've heard a lotta people speculate that you and Sen. Cruz may face each other again, not in a Senate rematch but running for a higher office. What are your thoughts on-- on running for president?
BETO O'ROURKE: I don't wanna do it. I will not do it. Amy and I are raisin' an 11-year-old, a 10-year-old and a 7-year-old. And we spent the better part of the last two years not with each other, missing birthdays and anniversaries and time together. And we-- we-- our-- our family could not survive more of that. We, we need to be together.
JON WERTHEIM: Is that reversible? You're saying you'll, you'll never run for president?
BETO O'ROURKE: I'm saying that if elected to the Senate, I'll serve every day of that six-year term, that I'm not lookin' at 2020. And, and, in fact, am completely ruling that out, not going to do that.
BETO" O'ROURKE: Win or lose, I'm not-- I'm not running in, in 2020. I gotta tell you, it's incredibly flattering that anyone would ask me the question or that that's even up for discussion. But, but since people have asked, the answer's no.
JON WERTHEIM: You didn't sidestep that.


The number of migrants trying to smuggle across the Channel from France to Britain by boat has fallen sharply after a spike late last year, authorities in northern France said late Thursday.
Thousands of police fanned out across central Paris and other French cities Saturday ahead of planned "yellow vest" protests, with the government vowing to prevent a repeat of the rioting and looting seen in the capital last week.
After hooded rioters torched and looted shops in Paris' fabled tourist areas, President Donald Trump took aim at France suggesting its climate policy was to blame.


The successful launch of the indigenously-developed cryogenic engine powered heavy-duty rocket GSLV Mk-III carrying a 3,136 kg GSAT-19 communication satellite in the very first attempt should rightly be celebrated as a historic moment.
Fifteen years after the US and Europe blocked the transfer of cryogenic engine technology from Russia, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has made its mark with commitment, conviction and expertise in mastering the cryogenic engine that’s fuelled by solid and liquid fuels. In fact, it’s a new era for India’s space industry. The cryogenic engine C25 used in the maiden launch on Monday by India is, anyway, far ahead of the C20 deployed in September 2016 which marked the arrival of ISRO as a cost-effective, proficient and focused long-term deep space player.
With this achievement, ISRO will now have the kind of bragging rights that will enable it to sit at the high table with members of the big boys club — US, Japan, China and France that are, of course, far ahead in deep space exploration and commercial exploitation of outer space.
To date, liquid propellants fuelled PSLV class rockets remained the ISRO’s workhorse to launch payloads up to 2,200 kg in low earth orbits. Moving to Geo Synchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV) class translates to India. It was a spectacular show put up by ISRO’s ‘fat boy’ who obediently launched GSAT 19 in the designated orbit. This would no doubt lead to the next stage in communication and internet services vis-a-vis speed, costs and coverage.
However, it needs to be borne in mind that ISRO has a long way to go given the progress made globally in this area. For instance, NASA, in collaboration with Boeing, is busy developing a space launch system (SLS) that will carry a mind-boggling 130 tonne payload for an inter-planetary probe. The rocket to be tested later this year will be a massive 384 feet tall weighing 6.5 million pounds. Though full scaling up will take time, a 77 tonne payload pilot test will happen this year itself. Russia’s super rocket design, which is yet to be officially unveiled, will have a rocket that can carry an 80 tonne payload to take manned missions to Mars and Jupiter. Roskosmos, Russia’s federal space agency’s competitive target of 2021-22 to achieve this humongous task with an investment of 700 billion rubles, will leave its own impression on the global space scenario. Incidentally, India’s first cryogenic engine development was modelled on Russia’s engines, even though the technology transfer agreement was aborted at the last minute owing to global pressure. The ‘Europa’ Clipper mission being undertaken by NASA to explore the Jupiter’s icy moon is an instance of the heights that global biggies have reached in space science.
Meanwhile, China launched its secretive Shenzou 11 spacecraft from the Western Chinese spaceport, and effectively intensified the race for space supremacy. This is also the beginning of the countdown for China’s launch of human missions to the moon and Mars by 2032 leveraging home-grown robotics, aviation and artificial intelligence.
The scale of NASA, Roskosmos and the Chinese National Space Administration’s operation will surely appear to diminish ISRO’s achievements. One way to challenge that perception would be for ISRO to scale-up its missions. Already, ISRO, its associate agencies and private partners are getting ready for a human mission into space made possible through GSLV. The Modi government must move quickly to allow scaling up the GSLV and launching human missions into space.


The Mastercard Foundation and African Leadership Academy (http://AfricanLeadershipAcademy.org) are thrilled to announce that 22-year-old healthcare entrepreneur Melissa Bime has won the US$25,000 Grand Prize at the 8th annual Anzisha Prize awards gala. She is the founder of INFIUSS, an online blood bank and digital supply chain platform that ensures patients in 23 hospitals in Cameroon have life-saving blood when and where they need it. She is only the second woman to win the grand prize since Best Ayiorworth took it home in 2013.
Melissa was selected from among 20 finalists during a ceremony on 23 October that was live streamed to over 3,000 viewers and created a social media buzz across the continent.
Joan Nalubega, 21, was the second-runner up. She is the co-founder of Uganics, which produces mosquito-repellent soap to combat malaria in Uganda. With the US$12,500, she will conduct a certification study for the company’s products and prepare Uganics for export to neighboring countries which will help to widen her impact in the fight against malaria.
The Anzisha Prize, the premier award for Africa’s youngest entrepreneurs, is a partnership between African Leadership Academy and the Mastercard Foundation. The 20 finalists spent 10 days in a business accelerator camp strengthening their business fundamentals before presenting their ventures to a panel of judges that included Ntuthuko Shezi, Bita Diamomande, Saran Kaba Jones, and Polo Leteka. They join a pool of more than 85 Anzisha Fellows and a network of support that includes access to mentors, experts, and networking. Each returns home with a US$2,500.
Applications for the next cycle of the Anzisha Prize will open on 15 February in 2019. Nominations for promising youth entrepreneurs are welcome all year round.
To re-live the exciting Anzisha Prize experience, watch the 2018 Pitch Competition (https://bit.ly/2AA9Jqh) or watch the live announcement of the three winners during the 2018 Awards Gala (https://bit.ly/2AzRqS3).
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Leadership Academy (ALA).
The Anzisha Prize (www.AnzishaPrize.org) is delivered by African Leadership Academy in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. Through the Anzisha Prize, the organisers seek to fundamentally and significantly increase the number of job generative entrepreneurs in Africa. They believe that a key to doing so is to test, implement and then share models for identifying, training and connecting high potential, very young entrepreneurs (15 to 22 year-olds) so that many more organisations have better collective success in creating a pipeline of entrepreneurs with the capabilities for scale.
African Leadership Academy (ALA) (http://AfricanLeadershipAcademy.org) seeks to transform Africa by developing a powerful network of entrepreneurial leaders who will work together to achieve extraordinary social impact. Each year, ALA brings together the most promising young leaders from all 54 African nations for a pre-university program in South Africa with a focus on leadership, entrepreneurship and African studies. ALA continues to cultivate these leaders throughout their lives, in university and beyond, by providing on-going leadership and entrepreneurial training and connecting them to high-impact networks of people and capital that can catalyse large-scale change. For more information, visit http://AfricanLeadershipAcademy.org.
The Mastercard Foundation (www.MastercardFdn.org) seeks a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn and prosper. The Foundation’s work is guided by its mission to advance learning and promote financial inclusion for people living in poverty. One of the largest foundations in the world, it works almost exclusively in Africa. It was created in 2006 by Mastercard International and operates independently under the governance of its own Board of Directors. The Foundation is based in Toronto, Canada. For more information and to sign up for the Foundation’s newsletter, please visit www.MastercardFdn.org. Follow the Foundation at @MastercardFdn on Twitter.


The Kenyan and Ugandan governments are working jointly to tarmac a highway linking the two countries.
Speaking in Trans Nzoia, Roads Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau said the two governments are in a joint project to have the highway from Kitale in Kenya to Kapchorwa in Uganda tarmacked.
“We are working with the African Development Bank to see to it that the highway, which is currently a rough road, is tarmacked,” Mr Kamau said in Kitale.
Trans Nzoia Governor Patrick Khaemba had earlier called for the tarmacking of the road to open up the Suam border that links Kenya and Uganda.
“Our plans to have 100 acres of the forest at the Kenya-Ugandan border in Suam converted into a market can only be successful if the highway is tarmacked,” said Governor Khaemba.
The Cabinet secretary also dismissed claims by the opposition that the government had favoured central Kenya in the construction of the road network.
Saboti MP David Wafula echoed his words, saying that the claims by the opposition regarding the road sector are only intended for their own political gains.
“I have personally had a chance to travel to parts of central Kenya, like Kirinyaga, and claims that the road network in the region is so wonderful are lies,” said Mr Wafula.
He also challenged governors to hold their horses in their clamour to have all road functions devolved, saying they should wait for parliamentary legislation on the matter.
“We challenge the governors to stop engaging us in legal battles and instead wait for the outcome of the Bill currently before Parliament,” said Mr Kamau.
The Cabinet secretary, who was to commission a bridge at Motosiet in Cherang’any, was accompanied by Senator Zipporah Kittony, MP David Wafula and Trans Nzoia women rep Janet Nangabo.


Jan. 5 (UPI) -- A group of fishermen off the Florida coast captured video of their encounter with a mako shark that shocked them by leaping high up into the air.
Jake Gruse, who was celebrating his 27th birthday, was out in a boat with Ryan Hanks and a few other friends during the weekend when a mako shark was drawn to their boat by the smell of blood from a tuna the men had caught and were preparing for sushi.
The fishermen threw a line with some bait out to the shark and the predator swam off with it.
The fishermen captured video of the shark breaching, going high up into the air near their boat, before it swam away.
"It was a very unique thing to see that shark. It was pretty awesome," Hanks told WTVT-TV.
Gruse was even more enthusiastic in his summation.
"This was the greatest most adrenaline pumping moment that I ever had in fishing," he wrote on Facebook. "It was a great start to my 27th Birthday! The airtime those sharks get is unreal!"


They explain how capitalism — with its notions of financial independence or a career for women is anti-women.
‘Students of AMU’ putting up a purdah banner on Friday.
Women students in flowing burqas talk about how purdah is the “purest form of existence for a woman”. They explain how capitalism — with its notions of financial independence or a career for women — is anti-women.
Models are on display to help explain how purdah is to be observed.
And then, apparently in a concession to more “modern” views, the women also speak about dowry, foeticide, sexual violence and women’s health.
All this is part of a three-day exhibition that started on Friday at one of Aligarh Muslim University’s women’s hostels, Abdullah Hall, to — ironically — mark International Women’s Day.
The exhibition, which apparently has the permission of the vice-chancellor, has been organised by a students’ group named ‘Students of AMU’.
Anam Rais Ansari, one of the organisers, and a student of law, said they were providing “Islamic solutions” to women’s problems.
The group has organised a talk titled ‘Women Empowerment: An Alternative in Focus’, at Kennedy Hall on the campus on March 8.
Fliers on campus, and a huge poster at the university gate, show senior lawyer and feminist Vrinda Grover as one of the speakers.
However, when contacted, Grover said she had pulled out of the function after she came to know about the group and its activities.
“I am no longer part of (the AMU) function. The views of the organisers are extremely regressive. They are trying to tell women how to dress and how to live,” Grover said.
The other two speakers at the event are Zohra Asma, member of the Muslim Personal Law Board in Hyderabad, and Brother Yahya Nomani, founder of the Institute for Higher Islamic Studies in Lucknow.
‘Students of AMU’ was formed in 2010, and has significant influence on the campus now. It enjoys the support of some teachers and students and, apparently, of AMU authorities as well. The group is known for its regressive views on women and women’s rights.
A recent post on its Facebook page reads: “Sisters, even though our brothers are responsible for their own gaze, we are responsible for what we give them to gaze at!!” One of the posts profiles four Western women who recently converted to Islam.
One of the over 30 lectures the group has organised in the past was titled ‘Hijab: The beauty of Islam’. The group is alleged to have recently scuttled an initiative to get men and women students of the campus together on a single platform to protest against the alleged molestation of a Kashmiri student by a teacher.
Attempts to contact the university V-C and registrar failed.


It used to be that developers built applications with long lead times and development cycles. There was always plenty of time to prepare, but in today’s continuous delivery/continuous deployment (CI/CD) world, new versions could be going out every day. That requires a CI/CD framework, and today at Google Next in San Francisco, the company announced Cloud Build, its new CI/CD framework.
Cloud Build works across a variety of environments including VMs, serverless, Kubernetes, or Firebase. What’s more it supports Docker containers and it gives developers or operations the flexibility to build, test and deploy in an increasingly automated fashion.
Google will allow you to use triggers to deploy, so that when certain conditions are met, the update will launch automatically. You can identify vulnerabilities in your packages before you deploy and you can build locally and deploy in the cloud if you so choose.
If there are problems, Cloud Build provides analytics and insights to let you debug via build errors and warnings and filter those warnings to easily identify slow builds or those with other issues you want to see before deploying live.
Google is offering a free version of Cloud Build with up to 120 build minutes per day at no cost. Additional build minutes will be billed at $0.0034 per minute.


COMMONSENSE has prevailed with residents organising Cwmaman Fun Day cheered by the news they will receive £1,500 from the carnival committee.
As we have reported, the community will effectively have two carnivals within a week following a dispute with Carmarthenshire County Council over the site of the event.
While such a situation may seem slightly comic – a bit like the plot of an old episode of Dad’s Army or Last Of The Summer Wine – villagers on both sides clearly feel very strongly about the issue.
So it is heartening to learn there is talk of combining both events into one big jamboree in 2015.
As Cllr Kevin Madge says, it’s all about the community pulling together.


An explosion that killed two people in a Bangladeshi city was an accident and not an act of terrorism.
Police in north eastern Sylhet had thought Sunday's explosion outside a cinema, was the result of a homemade bomb going off by accident.
But investigating officers said on Monday they now believed the explosion was caused by slum dwellers trying to extract lead to sell from a canister.
The dead were named by police as Anwar Husayn, 45, and his 14-year-old nephew Jalil. Seven others were injured including Husayn's pregnant wife.
"This was an accident not an act of terrorism," Deputy Inspector General of Police Mahfuzul Haq said.
"This man bought a canister from some children for 130 taka (2.16 US dollars) and he was trying to break it open with a hammer to take out the lead so he could sell it for a small profit; he was not a terrorist," he added.
It was not known what type of canister the dead man had been trying to open although unofficial sources said it might have been a mortar shell from a nearby military base.
Sylhet, a city of one million people, has been the scene of several blasts since May. At least seven people have been killed and more than 250 wounded, including British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury.
The deadliest blast in Bangladesh's recent history occurred at an opposition rally in the capital Dhaka on 21 August, killing 19 people and wounding 150.


Ekman-Larsson (knee) will join Team Sweden for the 2019 IIHF World Championship, Sebastian Noren of NHL.com reports. Ekman-Larsson's status for Worlds was considered in doubt after the blueliner played through knee and ankle issues toward the end of the 2018-19 campaign. The defenseman put together his fifth 40-plus point campaign this year and nearly propelled the Coyotes into the postseason. It seems the 27-year-old will have plenty of time to heal up and be ready when the tournament kicks off May 10 in Slovakia.
General Manager John Chayka said Monday that Ekman-Larsson had been playing through knee and high-ankle injuries during the season, Craig Morgan of The Athletic reports. It's unclear when the injury occurred or how long he had been playing through it, but nonetheless Ekman-Larsson toughed it out. The 27-year-old had a solid season from a fantasy perspective, racking up 44 points in 81 games. Chayka neglected to mention whether Ekman-Larsson would need surgery and what the timetable was for the injury.
Ekman-Larsson scored twice in Friday's 3-2 shootout loss to the Avalanche. It wasn't enough for a win, but Ekman-Larsson's two tallies did earn the Coyotes a valuable point for the playoff race. He's up to 14 goals and 43 points in 77 games this season -- right in line with most of his previous five campaigns. With 152 hits and 164 shots this year, it's been another well-rounded seasonal output for the Swedish blueliner.
Ekman-Larsson scored a goal on his only shot and added two hits, two PIM and a blocked shot in Saturday's 2-1 shootout loss to the Devils. His 12th goal of the season opened the scoring in the first period, but it was the only one the Coyotes could get past rookie netminder MacKenzie Blackwood. Ekman-Larsson has now reached the 40-point plateau for the fifth time in his career.
Ekman-Larsson collected a power-play assist in Saturday's 3-2 overtime loss to the Oilers. Ekman-Larsson now has two goals and an assist in his last three games for a modest point streak. He did take a minus-3 rating, getting caught on the ice for every Oilers goal. Ekman-Larsson has 39 points (11 goals, 28 assists) in 71 games this season, with 18 of those points coming on the man advantage. He's also added 136 hits and 155 shots to boost his value a bit more.


With Mumbai’s space constraints, cultivating a garden for pesticide-free vegetables and fruit may seem like a far-fetched idea. But growing and owning an organic kitchen garden is actually utterly achievable.
Preeti Patil of Urban Leaves India — an NGO that promotes city farming — says it can be surprisingly simple. “The process is cost-effective, and low-maintenance. The only requirements are a lot of patience and perseverance,” says she.
At the outset, you don’t need to invest in fancy or earthen pots.
You can even make use of plastic bottles, buckets and bathtubs to grow vegetables. Take a medium sized bathtub; fill it with soil and home compost to grow cabbages, cauliflowers, capsicums, radish and onions.
The most important step in kitchen gardening is to make Amrut Mitti (nutrient-rich soil), which has abundant and diverse microbial life that support healthy plant growth. It is simple to prepare and the results are extremely effective. “Start with what you have. There’s no need to buy earthworms or any other stuff. Simply convert your kitchen waste into resource,” says Patil. Keep sprinkling some red earth in the pots from time to time.
Keep it covered with a layer of dry crushed leaves or sugarcane baggase. If the waste becomes too wet, add newspaper, dry leaves and soil to cover it. This helps in reducing loss of water due to evaporation. It insulates microbes and organisms in the soil from direct heat and also provides food for them.
Add a dose of Amrut Jal every 15 days, after you have sown the seed. Amrut Jal is essentially a liquid solution comprising cow urine, fresh cow dung (available outside temples), organic black jaggery and water. If organic black jaggery is unavailable, replace it with six ripe bananas/jackfruits, or two glasses of plain sugarcane juice. » Mix together ten literes of water, one litre of cow urine, one kg of fresh cow dung and fifty grams of organic black jaggery. » Keep this solution for three days. » Stir this solution twice or thrice a day — stir it twelve times clock wise and anti-clock wise. » On the fourth day, the concentrated solution is ready. » Mix one part of this concentrated solution with ten parts of water and Amrut Jal is ready. Add a fistful of wood ash every three months to your soil.


Posted by Carolyn Gale on October 01, 2015. Brought to you by facebook.
Excellent workshop space. Everyone there was kind and friendly. The 10-visit Day Pass punch card is a great deal. It's wonderful to have a place where I can go and work with clay.
Posted by Miranda Dixie Skullpopper Prince on September 19, 2015. Brought to you by facebook.
Clay Space is a location for ceramic artists to develop their skills in a professional and supportive environment. We also offer classes and workshops.
Posted on January 27, 2016. Brought to you by facebook.
Clay Space is location for ceramic artists to develop their skills in a professional and supportive environment. We also offer classes and workshops.
Posted on June 08, 2015. Brought to you by facebook.


Joining a new family after getting married can be stressful, not everyone gets along with their in-laws and you never know if the family dynamic will work out. Luckily for Meghan Markle her father-in-law, Prince Charles, only has the nicest things to say about her. That comes on the heels of the Duchess’ own father embarrassing her through numerous unsanctioned interviews, so it’s good to know Meghan has a solid support system in place.
According to an insider, Meghan and Prince Charles have formed a good relationship. After all, Charles was the one that walked Meghan down the aisle on her wedding day. This is what the source said about what Charles thinks about his new daughter-in-law, according to Harper’s Bazaar.
That’s quite the compliment and Prince Harry is likely to agree with his Dad, considering he’s been looking mighty happy these days. And as for Prince Charles, it looks like he opened up to his daughter-in-law during the amazing royal wedding, which was a “turning point” for their bond.
Meanwhile, rumors have been swirling that Prince Charles doesn’t have a good relationship with his sons Harry and William, detailed People. However, his office has denied the claims made by The Daily Beast. These claims included bombshells like the following.
The publication also said that Charles hates how his sons emote about Princess Diana’s death.
And indeed, the palace really doesn’t make private statements often about the royals. One of the exceptions to the rule included a statement confirming Harry’s relationship status with Meghan in November 2016. This also included a strong message to those who were spreading racist and sexist messaging.
And regardless of the press’ claims, Prince Harry gave a passionate speech in May during a patronage celebration for Charles’ 70th birthday.


Prince William and Kate Middleton Take Off For Their Honeymoon!
Prince William and Kate Middleton had to postpone their honeymoon after their royal wedding on April 29, but the couple has finally been able to go away together! Prince William and Kate Middleton are in the Seychelles, according to the UK papers, and plan to stay there for the next two weeks in an a $6,500-per-night luxury hotel.
He had to request time off from his Royal Air Force duties in order to take such a long break from his search and rescue job in Anglesey, Wales. Kate accompanied William back to their home on the western coast of Britain around a week ago, following their brief, two-day vacation within the UK immediately after their nuptials. It seems the newlywed glow can continue for the duo as they enjoy their much-anticipated first overseas trip as husband and wife.


Peter Chelsom is directing for Relativity Studios.
Asa Butterfield, who starred in Ender’s Game, will topline Out of This World, a sci-fi adventure that Peter Chelsom is directing for Relativity Studios.
The story is set in motion when, during a mission to colonize Mars led by a billionaire entrepreneur, a female astronaut is found to be pregnant. After she dies during childbirth, her son is raised in secrecy on Mars. Sixteen years later, with the guidance of a mission specialist, the teen (Butterfield) connects with a young woman he’s been communicating with and embarks on a road trip across America in hopes of finding the father he never knew.
Allan Loeb (21, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) wrote the screenplay, with revisions by Chelsom and Tinker Lindsay.
Relativity's Ryan Kavanaugh and Richard B. Lewis of Southpaw Entertainment, the latter a producing veteran whose credits range from Backdraft to August Rush, are producing.
Tucker Tooley, Loeb, Steven Pearl and Sasha Harari are executive producing.
Relativity president of production Robbie Brenner and creative executive Becky Sanderman are overseeing the film on behalf of the studio. Gabrielle Jerou is overseeing on behalf of Southpaw.
The new movie continues Butterfield’s rise as one of the leading young actors in Hollywood. The actor, who starred in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, is coming off the Sundance premiere of the indie drama Ten Thousand Saints, and he is in prep to star opposite Eva Green in Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
He is repped by CAA, Independent Talent Group and Felker Toczek.


Annual online retail or “e-tail” sales now exceed $19 billion in Canada, AUS$21 billion in Australia, US$410 billion in the United States, and US$1 trillion in China.
In the United States, conventional retail is growing but e-tail is growing four times as fast. Amazon already captures 43 per cent of American online retail sales, and it continues to expand into new retail categories, such as groceries, and new countries, including Australia. Other e-tailers such as Wish are also growing rapidly.
In response, brick-and-mortar retailers are enhancing their online offerings. For example, Walmart and Loblaws now allow customers to “click-and-collect” by buying online and picking up their purchases in-store.
But e-tail isn’t easy. One challenge is foreign competition. Statistics Canada reports that 40 per cent of Canadian online sales come from foreign sources. That could increase if the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement winds up raising online duty-free limits.
For e-tailers, growth is not simply a matter of advertising more through Facebook or Google keyword searches. The fundamental problem is that only 2.5 per cent of retail website visitors purchase something.
Converting those browsers into buyers is difficult. To succeed, retailers need to tailor their websites and strategies to their target customers, whether they’re across town or across oceans.
The foundation for successful online retail is consumer confidence and trust. A multi-nation study, carried out by researchers from the Goodman School of Business at Brock University, found that consumers who feel confident using the internet generally view e-commerce more favourably. Likewise, consumers are more likely to buy from e-tailers they trust. If consumers lack confidence or retailers have bad corporate reputations, those must be fixed first.
With that foundation in place, companies can then turn their attention to the way their websites are designed. To encourage online shopping, websites should be useful: Do they have the products customers want? They should also be user-friendly: Is it easy for customers to find products and place orders?
For consumers with ample internet experience, usefulness has a greater impact on purchasing. For those with less experience, user-friendliness is more important.
Beyond those basics, web designers must make many other decisions. Another study shows the “best” choices depend on customers’ needs and wants.
For example, some consumers want to experience a sense of growth and accomplishment. These shoppers prefer web pages with colourful pictures and emotional language. They also like descriptions of the product’s performance or the pleasure it offers. Their favourite e-tail sites combine these features to make shopping fun.
The movie section of the Google Play store is a good example of pleasure-oriented design. Shoppers can watch previews, read and write reviews and rent movies.
By contrast, some shoppers say they want their shopping experience to feel secure and responsible. They want to avoid negative outcomes, such as accidentally ordering the wrong size or version of a product.
These negative-avoiding shoppers prefer pages with practical layouts and clear menus. They also like descriptions that emphasize product functions and reliability. Their favourite sites make shopping efficient.
Amazon’s site fits into this category. It offers many ways to search for products and suggests additional related products the shopper may like.
The best retail websites focus on one shopper type or the other — they don’t try to please both. Some customers dislike seeing the other type’s features, or get confused by the contradictions between them. For example, negative-avoiding shoppers not only prefer seeing more functional features, they also prefer seeing fewer fun ones.
Retailers wanting to reach both groups may need multiple sites. For example, Dell has different designs for its business and consumer web pages.
Online retailers should also support shopping via smartphones and tablets to build their business. Mobile or “m-commerce” offers consumers even more access or “ubiquity,” allowing them to shop for anything, anywhere, anytime. But research published earlier this year indicates that the best way to promote these services depends on customers’ previous m-commerce experience.
Some customers are relatively inexperienced with mobile shopping. To reach them, retailers’ advertising should explain the availability and convenience this service offers.
Retailers should engage with experienced mobile shoppers more directly, so that it becomes a habit. These consumers take availability as a given and respond to nudges like coupons, memberships and reward programs. Amazon Prime is a great example of this approach. The goal is to keep people coming back often, and inspire their friends to shop too.
While online shopping behaviours do vary from country to country, what matters more to e-tailers are the features of the individual market segments. For example, some developed countries, such as Canada, still have consumers with little e-commerce experience. Likewise, some consumers in less developed countries, such as India, are sophisticated online shoppers.
Even with the latest trends and technology, retailers still need to know their customers to be successful. But e-tail requires the retailer to know a different set of things about their customers and to use different methods. The winning e-tailers will be those that use targeted offerings — whether through design or incentives — to capture consumers’ hearts and minds.


Ruud van Nistelrooy has finally eclipsed Thierry Henry for one player of the year award.
Having seen his Arsenal rival triumph in the Football Writers' and Professional Footballers' Association polls, van Nistelrooy has been rewarded for his 44 goals this season by being named Barclaycard Player of the Year.
Van Nistelrooy's goals guided Manchester United to the Premiership title and his 25 in the league - one more than nearest challenger Henry - also helped him to the Barclaycard Golden Boot.
The Dutchman's reward is £1,000 for every goal scored and he has donated that cash to charities in his homeland.
Van Nistelrooy said: "To win both the Barclaycard Golden Boot award and the Player of the Year rounds off a great season for me.
"There are so many great strikers in the Premiership with the likes of Henry, James Beattie and Alan Shearer, so it is a real honour to come top of the scorers league.
"I'm pleased with my form as a lot of my goals proved to be very important to our comeback at the end of the season."
The Player of the Year award was voted for by the Barclaycard Awards Panel, which includes members of the media, governing bodies and fans.


Imagine, please, that you were counting down the minutes until your death. What would you do differently? Quit hitting that Twitter refresh button? Take to the streets, rip off your shirt and demand everyone melts into a flabby mess of hedonistic love-making? It’s hard to say because, outside of the terminally ill, only a weirdo would count down the minutes to their death. I can’t comment on the character of Robert Holcomb from Philadelphia but I can tell you he guesstimates that he has 28,000 days to live, and believes he has to “make every second count”. Robert says this with a haunted look. He is one of four highly productive and unfathomably pressed time-saving individuals on Extreme Time Cheaters (Tuesday, 10pm, TLC).
Those who are already fans of the TLC network, like me, will have a sense of what’s up here. And for those who aren’t, just know that TLC is the home of such original programming as Cake Boss, My Strange Addiction, Say Yes To The Dress, Ballroom Bootcamp and Best Funeral Ever. In other words, it’s the kind of un-reality TV station that specialises in impossibly bizarre situations in highly edited segments with reaction shots, reaction shots of reaction shots, and recaps of the reaction shots that will surely cause the downfall of humanity as we know it. Extreme Time Cheaters may lack the disgust factor of Extreme Cheapskates or the heady thrill of Extreme Couponing, where shoppers trim down their bill from thousands of dollars to mere pennies, providing they don’t mind buying 639 cases of toilet roll at once and attracting sideways glances as they hand over reams of cut-out coupons at the till, but it’s a decent watch nonetheless.
It’s also a show I suspect Time Cheating husband and wife Ken and Barby (their real names) would be unlikely to squeeze in. Barby likes scheduling. She schedules everything, in colour-coded spreadsheets, including “intimate time” with Ken (dark blue, and done at the same time as the kettle’s boiling, also stringently scheduled). There is even time on the schedule for going over the schedule. How much time is spent making this schedule is never mentioned but I have no doubt it’s a highly efficient way of doing things.
Barby saves further time by washing her dirty dishes while in the shower with her and shaving her legs in the pool during aqua-aerobics. She can also claim the honour of being the only person in the history of the world to have said the words: “I’m living more life that’s better quality because I wear flip flops.” By not putting on shoes with sides, Barby saves herself six hours a year, a graphic tells us. Over the course of the programme, these graphics pop up repeatedly, to highlight how much time Veronica from New Jersey saves by getting a bikini wax at work, for instance, or how much Manuel extends his life by ironing his clothes with a coffee pot (six hours).
As somebody who enjoys staring into space for upwards of nine hours, looking out of the window, quietly muttering: “What even is time but a human construct, dude”, then looking out of the window again, I think I know a thing or two about leisure time. For the extreme time cheaters, though, it’s disturbingly unclear what they do with all the extra hours their time-hacks give them. Will they look back from their deathbeds (death seeming, on some level, to be the motivator here) and feel a smug sense of satisfaction at how well planned their lives were? Were the extra 67 minutes a day Robert saves by blending all his food really worth it if even a fraction of those 67 minutes are spent gulping down liquefied cheesesteak sandwiches? I’m not convinced. What is life, I find myself asking, if all pleasure is stripped from it, replaced by android hyper-efficiency. On a date, Robert keeps things moving by demanding his courses be brought to the table at the same time. His would-be inamorata doesn’t look impressed. “I want to find someone to tolerate me,” he says. “Not love, just tolerate.” OK, maybe Robert is wiser than he looks.


Cummins to Tom Curran, FOUR, Curran is havimg some fun here. The short ball and Curran is backing away a long way. Cummins followed him and the batsman replied by heaving it over mid-wicket. Good shot!
to Khawaja, FOUR, that's a gift from the England skipper. Rank long hop and Khawaja accepts it with glee, rocks back and pumps the pull past mid-wicket, played all along the ground. Can he get to his 100?
Ali to Shaun Marsh, FOUR, these are buffet deliveries. Dragged down outside off, Marsh makes a bit of room and cracks the cut square on the off-side. The ball teases the point fielder before trickling into the fence. Can Shaun get to his hundred today?
Curran to Mitchell Marsh, FOUR, crunched! Nothing much wrong with the delivery, just that the length ball was outside off, Marsh leans forward and drives it square on the off-side.
to Shaun Marsh, FOUR, edged and through two fielders in the cordon. Was that a chance? Definitely at a catchable height. 135kph short of length delivery that is angling away and Shaun Marsh has a poke at it and gets a fat outside edge. Cook, at first slip, is very late to go for it. He had to go to his left. Root, tried his best from second slip, but was away from his reach. Cook had to go for that. That's a chance gone down!
Cummins to Broad, SIX, this is hurting Australia now. Slants the short delivery into the left-hander, Broad turns his head away, but the eyes remain on the ball till the last second as he nails the pull over deep backward square. Flat six!


Residents struggling to heat their homes are being offered a helping hand to keep the winter chill at bay.
Waltham Forest Council and charity the HEET project have been awarded £500,000 to tackle fuel poverty in the borough.
The award provided by Affordable Warmth Solutions' Warm Homes Fund will support up to 200 households who are experiencing fuel poverty providing first time gas central heating for residents who currently use electric heating or gas fires as well as fund a free gas connection to their property.
A 2018 report from the government found that nearly one in ten UK households experience fuel poverty.
Fuel poverty is classified as when a household needs to spend 10 per cent of its income on fuel to keep occupants warm and healthy.
The project will also allow residents to benefit from energy efficiency measures including loft and cavity wall insulation, free home energy checks, and advice on how to stay warm and save money on heating over the winter.
Cabinet Member for Housing Cllr Louise Mitchell said: "When people have a safe, decent roof over their head and warm house in which to live, they have the confidence and support they need to succeed and make the most of their life chances.
"We are determined to work to help those who may be struggling in the face of ever-rising fuel bills. It is a tragedy that in modern-day Britain, people are having to choose between heating and eating."
The funding is available to eligible owner occupiers and social and private tenants with agreement from their landlord who are in receipt of certain benefits or those who meet the low income threshold.
Tom Ruxton from the HEET Project said: "A free gas connection and installation of an efficient gas central heating system can halve a household’s heating bill. Adequate warmth is essential to good health and can also help to reduce problems of condensation and mould growth in your home."
For more information or to register interest, contact the HEET Project on 020 8520 1900.


Central Florida Community Arts, the nonprofit that features a community choir, orchestra and school for children, has a full slate planned for its upcoming season. Productions include cabaret-style concerts, a classical evening, children's shows and a high-energy production of "The Music Man."
For more information on the Orlando-based organization and its events, go to cfcarts.com or call 407-937-1800.
• THE MUSIC MAN: Sept. 4-5. Semi-staged version of the classic musical. Northland Church, 530 Dog Track Road, Longwood. $10-$25.
• SPOTLIGHT SERIES: Sept. 19-21. Cabaret. Central Christian Church, 250 S.W. Ivanhoe Blvd., Orlando. $12 online, $10 at the door.
• SPOTLIGHT SERIES: Oct. 10-12. Cabaret. Central Christian Church, 250 S.W. Ivanhoe Blvd., Orlando. $12 online, $10 at the door.
• UMBRA IN LUCEM: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17-18. Fall classical concert featuring the CFCA orchestra and classical choir: Downtown Baptist Church, 120 E. Pine St., Orlando. $10, free age 12 and under.
• SPOTLIGHT SERIES: Nov. 14-16. Cabaret. Central Christian Church, 250 S.W. Ivanhoe Blvd., Orlando. $12 online, $10 at the door.
• HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 11-12. A hero finds his way home in this concert with narration that features festive music, 1940s-style. At Northland Church, 530 Dog Track Road, Longwood.
• DISNEY'S CINDERELLA KIDS: Nov. 21-22. Based on the Disney version of the fairy tale. Location TBA.
• ON WITH THE SHOW!: Nov. 21-22. Group numbers, solos, dance and acting performances. Location TBA.


WAKE UP CALL!: Are homeowners getting savvier about foreclosure?
* Localization tip: Interview local coffee houses on how they are handling the price hikes for coffee beans.
* Comments idea: Leave your tips for caring for tropical plants in the comments field at the bottom of the page.
DIANA BOGGIA: Journey to a better mother-daughter relationship - In this series, Diana Boggia introduced the possibility that a child’s bad behavior was a result of sensory integration disorder, and offers advice to a mother on how to adapt to her 9-year-old daughter’s increased sensitivity to such things as air and water temperature. By Diana Boggia, Canton, Ohio.
JEFF VRABEL: Time for a Superpublican - BARACK OBAMA HAS FAILED, according to basically everyone whose cocktail money depends on squealing like a monkeyperson on television about how everyone currently in office has failed, preferably on a show that's on loud enough to prevent you from having to talk during dinner. By Jeff Vrabel, GHNS columnist.
CLARENCE CLEMONS: Clarence Clemons brought more than talent as Bruce Springsteen's sideman - Bruce Springsteen’s longtime saxophone player and sideman Clarence Clemons passed away Saturday at age 69 after complications from a stroke he suffered last week. Oddly enough, when I heard, my first thought wasn’t of one of the many E Street Band shows I’ve seen, but of a Bruce Springsteen concert where Clemons was nowhere to be found. By Peter Chianca, North Shore, Mass.
* Facebook idea: Ask readers to share their memories of Clarence Clemons.
EDITORIAL: The war on drugs - a $1 trillion failure - A milestone in America's longest war passed quietly on Friday. Too quietly. On June 17, 1971, President Richard Nixon declared that "Public enemy No. 1 in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive." By MetroWest, Mass.
* Poll idea: Ask readers how successful they think the drug war has been.
RICK HOLMES: Where the money went - With Washington politicians playing a game of chicken over the debt ceiling, maybe we should pause in the political argument for a little bookkeeping. By Rick Holmes, MetroWest, Mass.
AUTO BITS: Keep your engine cool when temps heat up - Weekly auto rail, with car-care tips, Car Q&A with Junior Damato and more.
GREG ZYLA: The $1.7 million dream car - What is your favorite if you could purchase anything you wished and money was no problem? By Greg Zyla, GHNS columnist.
* This contains a letter from Coldwater, Mich.
ON COMPUTERS: Hello, tech support? Hello? Hello? - A lot of companies are living for the present and seem oblivious to losing a customer in the future. By Jim Hillibish, Canton, Ohio.
SHOESTRING LIVING: Don’t procrastinate when paying bills - Thanks to a recent blog post by financial expert J.D. Roth on his site, Getting Rich Slowly, I must embellish on one of his great ideas: Pay bills as soon as you get them. Somewhere along the line, I developed the habit of scheduling delivery of my bills within perfect timing of their due dates, ensuring I didn’t pay out until the last possible second. By Molly Logan Anderson, GHNS columnist.


A new survey reports that most Silicon Valley startups pay their chief executives less than $50,000 a year.
The data, reported by the Next Web, comes from a Compass survey of 11,160 global startups who use the company's data tools. It found that in the Silicon Valley, 75 percent of founders pay themselves less than $75,000, while 66 percent pay less than $50,000. India has the lowest pay at $30,208 with Australia has a high of $72,363.
While it's not known if lower-paid CEOs are good or bad for a company, angel investor Peter Thiel seemed to believe a low-paid CEO meant a more successful startup, according to the Next Web.
“The CEO’s salary sets a cap for everyone else. If it is set at a high level, you end up burning a whole lot more money. It aligns his interest with the equity holders. But [beyond that], it goes to whether the mission of the company is to build something new or just collect paychecks.
The survey does say that when the startup has a mature product, salaries do rise to around $70,000 -- which means at least a decent apartment and car. But let's face it, founders and CEOs are looking for the big payout and that means either the initial public offering or selling to one of the big Silicon Valley (think Apple, Google or Facebook) companies for millions. If the product is a good one, either choice can make its founder at least a millionaire.


▪ Creating three new positions — including that of a behavior analyst — so more staff will be available to work with students who have autism and other special needs. That could result in multiple people being hired, not just three.
▪ Partnering with a post-secondary institution — most likely the University of Kentucky — to create after-school programs and other services for students with autism and their families. Caulk recently visited a similar program at Western Kentucky University, which he gave high marks.
The new recommendations were discussed at Monday’s school board planning meeting.
“We want to be the best ... we want to make sure we are providing the best care possible,” Caulk said. Families with children with autism move to Fayette County specifically to get the services offered by the district, he said.
The recommended changes follow several incidents in the school system with autistic students. A video of a teacher and a school nurse dragging a student at Tates Creek Middle School in September made national television news in October. The teacher involved in the incident has resigned, according to documents attached to a school board agenda and obtained by the Herald-Leader under the Kentucky Open Records Act. Health department officials placed the nurse involved on leave.
The report said witnesses said the teacher’s aide also put the child in a room by himself while standing outside and holding the door closed. She picked him up from behind and sat down with him in a rocking chair, causing him to bump his head, according to the report. The techniques were not appropriate or approved, the report said. There was no video of that incident, school officials told the family. The teacher’s aide is no longer with the district, officials said.
Amanda Dennis, the school district’s director of special education, said there are 717 students with autism receiving services in the school district, with the largest number, 293, at the elementary level. There is a child with autism at every school in Fayette County, she said. School board chairwoman Stephanie Spires said there are additional students with autism in the district who don’t require special services in the classroom.
The new therapeutic classroom would be large with areas for academic instruction, social skills learning, and areas with sensory equipment, she said.


Santana, Wyclef, Avicii & Alexandre Pires Selected For The Official Anthem Of The 2014 FIFA World Cup™ Entitled "Dar um Jeito (We Will Find A Way)"
NEW YORK, March 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- FIFA and Sony Music Entertainment announce today that the Official Anthem of the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ in Brazil is entitled "Dar um Jeito (We Will Find A Way)," and features a global superstar line-up including music legend Carlos Santana, Wyclef, Avicii and Alexandre Pires. The Anthem will be released late April and was produced by 2-time Grammy-nominated Ash Pournouri (PRMD Music), Carl Falk, Rami Yacoub and Wyclef Jean and recorded at PRMD Studios in Stockholm. "Dar um Jeito (We Will Find A Way)" will be performed at the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ Closing Ceremony on July 13 at the legendary Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. More information to be announced soon about the official 2014 FIFA World Cup™ Album.
Earlier this year, FIFA and Sony Music Entertainment announced that "We Are One (Ole Ola)," by global superstar Pitbull, featuring global superstar Jennifer Lopez and Brazilian artist Claudia Leitte, was selected as the Official Song of the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup™ in Brazil. The song will be performed by Pitbull, together with Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte, at the FIFA World Cup™ Opening Ceremony on June 12 at the Arena de Sao Paulo.
"Dar um Jeito (We Will Find A Way)" is the brainchild of Arnon Woolfson and Pournouri who began work on the track with Wyclef, Yacoub and Falk earlier this year. Pournouri says, "In Portuguese Dar Um Jeito means to find a way around obstacles and impossibilities. With this track, we wanted to send a message of optimism and opportunity with the music and the words."
Once the track idea was created, Santana, Pires and Avicii each added their own sound to the recording. An international cast of some of the greatest musicians in the world went into the recording; continues Pournouri, "We wanted to create the biggest track in the world for the biggest event in the world."
Carlos Santana says of the project "It is an honor to take part in the 2014 FIFA World Cup and have "Dar um Jeito (We Will Find A Way)" selected as the Anthem. Along with my brothers, Wyclef, Avicii and Alexandre Pires, we look forward to performing the song in Rio de Janeiro in July and sharing this message of light and hope on the FIFA World Cup stage."
Adds Wyclef Jean, "Despite the fact that I was born in a place where darkness at times steals the sunshine, where rain often turns to floods and children often cannot be found, I have always found a way to sing with joy.... "Dar um Jeito" is dedicated to all those searching for the light….knowing that they too, shall soon find a way."
Comments Avicii, "To write for the official closing anthem of the FIFA World Cup is a huge honour as it's the biggest event I can remember growing up. I gave it a 'Samba meets my dance music' sound which works perfectly for the positive spirit of the song."
Continues Alexandre Pires,"I am extremely happy to have been selected to be part of the Official 2014 FIFA World Cup Anthem. I love soccer, and singing in the final with so many important international musicians by my side is a great honor. Besides that, I think that the richness of rhythms from our countries will make the World Cup even more beautiful."
About Santana: For forty years and as many albums later, Santana has sold more than 100 million records and reached more than 100 million fans at concerts worldwide. To date, Santana has won ten GRAMMY ® Awards and three Latin GRAMMY ® Awards. He won a record-tying nine GRAMMYs for a single project for 1999's Supernatural (including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for "Smooth"). He has also received the Billboard Century Award (1996), was ushered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1998), and received the Billboard Latin Music Awards' Lifetime Achievement honor (2009). Among many other honors, Carlos Santana has also been cited by Rolling Stone as #15 on their list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." Celebrating the chart debut of Guitar Heaven (Arista) in 2010, Santana joined the ranks of the Rolling Stones as the only musical act in chart history to score at least one Top 10 album in every decade beginning with the 1960s. In 2013, Carlos Santana was the recipient of the 2013 Kennedy Center Honors Award. In spring of 2014, Santana embarks on an 18 show US tour with Rod Stewart as well as announcing stand alone dates for 'The Corazon Tour.' On May 6th, SANTANA will be releasing his first ever Latin Music album entitled CORAZON on RCA/Sony Latin Iberia, featuring superstar collaborative performances with ChocQuibtown, Lila Downs, Gloria Estefan, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Juanes, Ziggy Marley, Miguel, Nina Pastori, Pitbull, Samuel Rosa of Skank, Cindy Blackman Santana, Romeo Santos, Wayne Shorter, Soledad, and Diego Torres.
About Wyclef Jean: Jean is a multi-Grammy Award winner, singer, distinguished songwriter and producer who has sold over 16 million albums as a founding member of the legendary hip-hop group the Fugees (Blunted on Reality and The Score) in the early 90's. Since then, he has established himself as an international solo artist whose impact and explosive influence on world music continues to grow. Albums like the two volumes of The Carnival (released in 1997 and 2007), The Ecleftic, Masquerade and The Preacher's Son combine conceptual ambition, irresistible grooves and impeccable song-craft. His recent mix-tape EP April Showers, Toussaint St.Jean: From the Hut, to the Projects, to the Mansion, reconnected Wyclef to his hip-hop roots. His musical touchstones also include R&B, jazz, acoustic folk, reggae, rock & roll and electronica while having worked with artists as diverse as Beyonce Knowles, Destiny's Child, Carlos Santana, Shakira, Bono, Whitney Houston, Tom Jones, Lil Wayne and Akon who have sought him out as both producer and collaborator. In addition, he continues to venture far beyond the realms of music, as an actor, author and in film scoring while utilizing his stature as an artist and philanthropist to help build a better world through the Wyclef Jean Foundation a humanitarian organization. At present, Jean is currently working on his forthcoming record with Tim Berg a.k.a Avicii, Wyclef Jean:Untitled, which is set for release during 2014.
About Avicii: 2x-Grammy-nominated DJ/producer Avicii, aka Tim Bergling, is renowned for his spectacular live shows, bringing audiences to ecstatic moments of party bliss and "driving the crowd bonkers" (Rolling Stone). After just three years of performing, Avicii rocketed to the #3 position on DJ Mag's yearly poll of the Top 100 DJs and appeared on Forbes Most Powerful Artists Under 30 in 2013 and 2014. His first album, last year's TRUE, was named Album of the Year by Elektro and the New York Times called Avicii "savvy and timely," and "an artist carrying today – and tomorrow – on his shoulders." Dancing Astronaut wrote, "...timeless...an hour of excellence." "Wake Me Up," the first single from the album, was #1 in 83 countries, is triple platinum in the U.S., and the video for the track has been watched over 275 million times on YouTube alone. "Hey Brother," his current single, is exploding at radio and the new video for "Addicted to You" is getting raves around the world. Avicii broke out with his international mega-hit "Le7els" which conquered club charts worldwide, garnered over 83 million YouTube views and sold over 4 million singles; and "Silhouettes," which netted over 40 million views. 24-year old Avicii leads the next generation of electronic music producers to explode, propelling him into the ranks of superstar DJs who are able to perform to massive crowds. He is the face of Denim & Supply Ralph Lauren which has been a true creative partnership between Avicii and the brand. Avicii and manager Ash Pournouri have donated over $2.5 million to hunger initiatives through their House for Hunger charity, including royalties from Avicii X You, the first ever worldwide music collaboration.
About Alexandre Pires: Alexandre Pires is a Grammy award-winning singer, songwriter and musician that has established himself as one of the hottest and biggest artists in Brazil and Latin America. His career exceeds 10 million albums sold. Alexandre has won several Brazilian and international awards including "The Best Selling Artist" on the World Music Awards and has achieved Gold and Platinum stats in the United States, Spain, Portugal and Latin America. His career began on "So Para Contrariar" (SPC), the biggest samba / pagode group of all-time in Brazil. In 2003, he left SPC and started his very successful solo career winning the "Artist of the Year" on Billboard Latin Music Awards. After 11 years, on March 2013, Alexandre recorded a new CD and DVD with SPC to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the group. Also in 2013, Alexandre won a Latin Grammy Award: "Best Samba Album" for his solo project "Eletrosamba."
Sony Music Entertainment is a global recorded music company with a current roster that includes a broad array of both local artists and international superstars. The company boasts a vast catalog that comprises some of the most important recordings in history. It is home to premier record labels representing music from every genre, including Arista Nashville, Beach Street/Reunion Records, Bystorm Entertainment, Columbia Nashville, Columbia Records, Day 1, Epic Records, Essential Records, Kemosabe Records, Legacy Recordings, MASTERWORKS, Polo Grounds, RCA Inspiration, RCA Nashville, RCA Records, Sony Classical, Sony Music Latin, Star Time International, Syco Music, Vested in Culture and Volcano. Sony Music Entertainment is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America.
The Federation Internationale de Football Association is the world governing body of football, comprising 209 football associations grouped into six confederations. Based in Zurich, Switzerland, FIFA's mission is to develop the game of football at all levels, to touch the world through competitions such as the FIFA World Cup™ and to use the power and popularity of football to build a better future for the underprivileged. For the Game. For the World.


Aussie pop tart Kylie Minogue has joined the cast of the most hotly anticipated lesbian werewolf film of 2011.
Minogue plays a tattooed lesbian alongside Juno Temple ("Year One") and Riley Keough (Elvis's granddaughter) in "Jack and Diane."
"Kylie does have one love scene where she kisses a girl. Her fans will be surprised to see her in this role, but her performance is good," a source told the New York Post.
Jack (Keough) and Diane (Temple), two teenage girls, meet in New York City and spend the night kissing ferociously. Diane's charming innocence quickly begins to open Jack's tough skinned heart. But, when Jack discovers that Diane is leaving the country in a week she tries to push her away. Diane must struggle to keep their love alive while hiding the secret that her newly awakened sexual desire is giving her werewolf-like visions.
We don't know if Minogue can act. Her last Hollywood film was "Moulin Rogue!" but she got her start on Australian TV and appeared in one of the greatest Agent Provocateur commercial's ever filmed.
"Jack and Diane" comes from the mind of writer director Bradley Rust Gray, whose 2009 film "The Exploding Girl," starring Zoe Kazan, was met with mixed reviews.


Which Consumer-Goods Stocks Have the Best Dividend?
Dividends play a key role in helping investors meet their financial needs, and the stocks that provide healthy dividends are in high demand. The consumer goods sector tends to have a large number of solid dividend stocks, with mature companies that have well-established global businesses that generate huge amounts of cash flow to return to investors.
There are different ways of comparing dividend stocks, and reasonable people can differ about what exactly constitutes the best dividend in a given area. Current yield is important, but the stocks I respect the most are those that have been able to produce consistent dividend growth over long periods of time. Below are the consumer goods stocks that have provided the best balance of current yield and dividend growth for decades.
Procter & Gamble has developed a global empire of products that billions of people use every day. Tide laundry detergent, Crest toothpaste, and Pampers diapers are just a few of the billion-dollar brands that bring in reliable revenue for P&G year in and year out. The profits that these products generate has enabled Procter & Gamble to boost its annual dividends every year since the 1950s, with the company's most recent 3% dividend increase having arrived in shareholders' hands almost a year ago in May 2017.
Makers of household consumer products have had to deal with growth challenges lately, and even Procter & Gamble has fallen prey to sluggish sales growth. Yet even though market share has been on the decline recently, P&G has come up with strategies to cut back on costs and find new ways to emphasize its most successful product lines. Long-time investors know that Procter & Gamble has occasionally gone through periods during which consumers gravitated away from its premium brand offerings toward cheaper, lower-quality merchandise. Inevitably, P&G has won those customers back, and there's every reason to believe that the same will be true for the consumer giant this time around.
Coca-Cola is another global brand powerhouse, known the world over thanks to its ability to come out with command performances with its marketing efforts over the year. From well-known jingles to simple slogans and its trademark red cans, the beverage giant has been able to attract an extremely wide customer base in more than 200 different countries. Dividends have been healthy, with more than half a century of increases and a yield that's well above the average for the market right now. The company recently announced its 56th straight boost to its payout, a 5% rise that will now pay shareholders $0.39 per share on a quarterly basis.
Coca-Cola has drawn new controversy in recent years, with many pointing to its namesake sugary soft drinks as contributors to obesity, diabetes, and other health problems. Investors have been concerned that the company won't be able to pivot away from the key areas that have driven its success for more than a century. Yet Coca-Cola has found new initiatives to pursue, ranging from its greater emphasis on healthier offerings like water, tea, and juices to bolder ideas like a carbonated alcoholic beverage. Changing times could require a dramatic transformation for the company, but Coca-Cola is up to the task and has the brand awareness to make smart moves going forward.
Finally, Altria has been a dividend giant for decades, with the tobacco company having seen some of the highest yields in the market throughout various parts of its history. Despite facing repeated challenges from litigation, consumer advocates, health regulators, and other opposition groups, Altria has managed to sustain its tobacco business while seeking to keep up with changing trends in the industry. Altria doesn't typically make it onto lists of dividend growth stocks, because spinoffs of various businesses have technically led to dividend decreases when you fail to adjust for the corporate events. Just last October, Altria paid investors an 8% dividend boost.
Cigarettes have been under fire for decades, but Altria is taking steps to look beyond traditional cigarettes like its Marlboro brand to capture the rise of alternative products. Heated tobacco, liquid vapor, and other cigarette alternatives have become increasingly popular, and Altria hopes that its collaboration with its former international division will result in its being able to offer one of the most popular heated tobacco systems to U.S. consumers. Many worry about what a transition would look like, but bullish investors believe that Altria can shift gears and become a giant in products that would have fewer negative health impacts.
These three consumer-goods companies have good yields and long track records of dividend growth. They all face challenges, but they've been able to overcome similar obstacles before, and they're still worth a look for those seeking to flesh out their dividend portfolios with resilient consumer giants.


PETR CECH says Chelsea’s old guard are passing on the baton to a new band of greats.
Jose Mourinho’s side are just one win off their fourth title in a golden decade.
Only keeper Cech, Didier Drogba and skipper John Terry remain from the 2005 side.
He made a crucial great stop while Terry and Drogba both weighed in with goals in the 3-1 win at Leicester which put one hand firmly on the trophy.
And the 32-year-old Czech international is confident that the future is in good hands.
Victory at home to Crystal Palace on Sunday will make Chelsea uncatchable.
And Cech believes winning the title in front of their own fans will have special significance to the Holy Trinity and the rest of their team mates.


Roberto Mancini would not be surprised if his fellow Italian Fabio Capello leaves England on a winning note.
The Manchester City manager says Capello has what it takes to lead the nation to victory in the European Championships, despite a disappointing World Cup in South Africa.
"I think the national team has a fantastic manager. In the World Cup England were very unlucky," said Mancini. "The referee did not award a goal (for Frank Lampard's effort against Germany). It changed their World Cup but under Capello they have a chance to win the European Championship."
Mancini was delighted six City players finished the European qualifier against Switzerland in midweek.
Goalkeeper Joe Hart, Joleon Lescott, Gareth Barry, James Milner, Adam Johnson and Shaun-Wright Phillips all played a part in the 3-1 victory.
He added: "I was very proud. It is a fantastic thing for the club to have six players in the England team. It is an incredible situation for us.
"I think all our players did well and England played a good game against Switzerland. They have young players, who can play for long time."


"I have never understood jihad to mean anti-Americanism or terrorism," Walker Lindh said during his sentencing hearing.
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- John Walker Lindh was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Friday after tearfully telling a courtroom that he made a mistake in joining the Taliban.
Walker Lindh, the so-called "Taliban American," told U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III that he "made a mistake by joining the Taliban" and "had I realized then what I know now about the Taliban I would never have joined them."
"Life is making choices and living with the consequences," Ellis said. "You made a bad choice to join the Taliban."
Walker Lindh sniffled, paused several times and nearly broke down during his 14-minute statement to the court before he was sentenced to spend two decades behind bars.
Lindh could get out of prison in less than 17 years. The judge gave him credit for the entire time he has been in custody, including the almost two months that he was in military custody, and good behavior could further reduce his sentence by 54 days each year.
Walker Lindh said Osama bin Laden is against Islam.
"His grievances, whatever they may be, cannot be addressed by acts of injustice and violence against innocent people in America," said the 21-year-old Californian. "I never understood jihad to mean anti-Americanism or terrorism."
The father of Johnny Michael Spann, the CIA officer who was killed during an uprising at a prison in which Walker Lindh and others were being held after their capture, also addressed the court, saying the sentence was too short.
"My grandchildren would love to know their dad would be back in 20 years," the elder Spann said. "The punishment doesn't fit the crime to me."
Walker Lindh denied having any role in Spann's death and the judge said he would not have accepted the plea bargain if there were any proof of such a role.
Ellis also noted that Walker Lindh volunteered to join the Taliban fighters, then couldn't leave because he feared for his own life after the United States entered the war in Afghanistan, but he did nothing to warn the United States about future al Qaeda terror attacks planned after September 11.
"You were willing to give your life for the Taliban but not for your country," he said.
Walker Lindh's attorney, James Brosnahan, said the country should not be focusing on his client in the war against terror.
"It's time for the American government, and I include the attorney general, Mr. Ashcroft, to get out and get some real terrorists," Brosnahan said outside the courtroom. "John is not a terrorist, he's a certified, court approved, non-terrorist."
But the government counts his capture and sentence a victory.
This photo of John Walker Lindh was distributed in February by the Alexandria County, Virginia, Sheriff's Department.
"Just one year ago today, John Walker Lindh was a soldier in the Taliban army, assigned to the front lines in the Taliban's war against the Northern Alliance," said U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty. "John Walker Lindh chose to fight with the Taliban knowing that the Taliban provided protection and support to al Qaeda, a terrorist network. Today's sentence proves that the American criminal justice system is a powerful and effective tool in America's struggle against terrorism."
Walker Lindh met Thursday with his parents, brother and sister at the jail where he has been held. He was the first American taken prisoner in Afghanistan as a Taliban fighter.
Walker Lindh was returned to the United States last January.
Last July, Walker Lindh changed his plea to guilty to one count of supplying services to the Taliban and a criminal charge that he carried a rifle and two hand grenades while fighting on the Taliban's front lines in Afghanistan against the Northern Alliance.
If he had gone to trial and was found guilty of the government's original indictment, Walker Lindh could have spent the rest of his life behind bars.
In return for the guilty plea, the government dropped all but one count of a lengthy criminal indictment including one of the most serious charges -- conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals.
Prosecutors said Walker Lindh has cooperated with the government since pleading guilty. Under the terms of plea agreement, neither he nor any member of his family can accept money for selling his story.
"The defendant hereby assigns to the United States any profits or proceeds which he may be entitled to receive in connection with any publication or dissemination of information relating to illegal conduct alleged in the indictment, " states the agreement.


LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CES — ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today is excited to introduce the new Strix XG HDR gaming monitor lineup, a trio of FreeSync 2 HDR monitors built for high-refresh rate and stutter-free gaming, and available in up to 4K resolution or 144Hz refresh rate in big-screen, super ultra-wide and curved formats.
AMD’s first-generation FreeSync introduced a variable refresh rate capability that eliminated the screen tearing and stuttering artifacts caused by turning v-sync off or on. Compatible monitors could match their refresh to the graphics card’s frame rate within a pre-defined range. Below the lower threshold of that range, however, v-sync kicked back in and caused judder.
FreeSync 2 HDR delivers smoother gameplay below the variable refresh range using a feature called Low Framerate Compensation. The LFC algorithm monitors performance and adaptively inserts frames to maintain fluid animation where v-sync would have caused choppy behavior. LFC is great to have, particularly at a demanding resolution like 4K. But a wide variable refresh range between 48 and 144Hz means most of the time gaming is spent in these ROG Strix XG monitors’ sweet spot, taking advantage of AMD’s FreeSync technology with Radeon RX graphics cards.
The trio of ROG Strix XG monitors is also optimized to minimize input lag. This delay between an input and the signal’s appearance on-screen can be a real problem on monitors and TVs that perform a lot of image processing in the background. Optimizing the display pipeline with ASUS GameFast Input Technology makes it so that gamers can see and react to on-screen actions milliseconds faster than their opponents. The trio of ROG Strix XG monitors benefit further from FreeSync 2 HDR support, which has HDR-enabled games tone map directly to the monitor’s color space, eliminating an entire tone mapping step and its associated latency.
All 3 Strix XG monitors have GamePlus Technology, an ASUS-exclusive feature that overlays in-game enhancements on top of the action. With the press of a hotkey, different types of crosshairs are available to improve aiming in first-person shooters that lack a reticle. Other options include a frame rate monitor, an in-game timer, and an alignment tool for multi-monitor setups.
In fact, the XG438Q meets VESA’s DisplayHDR 600 requirement and the XG49VQ and XG32VQR meet the DisplayHDR 400 specification. That means it delivers 10-bit image processing and up to 600 cd/m² peak luminance for great contrast that renders a beautiful HDR effect.
With more and more games supporting HDR, some monitors have claimed support but actual HDR performance has greatly varied, with many failing to meet the VESA specifications. Effective local dimming plays an integral role in matching the VESA DisplayHDR standard’s black level performance requirements. Instead of using the available modular backlights found in most monitors claiming HDR, ROG custom designed the backlights for all 3 ROG Strix XG models, ensuring the best HDR performance. Further, ROG tests each monitor’s brightness at the factory before it’s packaged to be shipped out. And 90% or better coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut quantifies the ROG Strix XG series’ color output advantage.
Whereas TVs tend to have shiny, reflective screens, the Strix XG series features anti-glare coatings to maximize the panel technology’s inherent advantage. Even from up close, they have consistent uniformity from one side to the other.
These gaming monitors won’t strain eyes from that distance either. Forty-three inches is a lot of desktop real estate to take in from two or three feet away. But we optimized each display mode with ASUS Eyecare Technology for long-term usability and then had TÜV Rheinland put the trio of ROG Strix XG monitors through its Eye Comfort Certification, ensuring low blue light output and flicker-free operation.
With the 43” Strix XG438Q, there’s always the option to view multiple sources simultaneously. We support picture-in-picture mode, with a main screen and inset window, along with a picture-by-picture mode that divides the monitor in half. Three HDMI 2.0 inputs and a DisplayPort interface accommodate most PC and game consoles with connectivity to spare. Moreover, a pair of 10W speakers pumps out high-quality sound, no matter what devices are attached. The 49” Strix XG49VQ allows for up to 3 content sources to be viewed simultaneously, and provides the same viewing area as two side-by-side 27” monitors without a gap and bezels to get in the way.
Expect the XG49VQ and XG32VQ to be available at the end of January 2019. Expect the XG438Q to be available in spring 2019.
Please visit the ASUS Edge Up feature article for additional details on the ROG Strix XG monitors.


The Smart ForTwo is about to get a whole lot bigger... or is it?
Cars as we know them have been increasing in size for years, with popular midsize sedans now reaching sizes of large cars from 20 or more years ago. But what if a car that was based entirely around being small got super-sized too?
The creative minds at Smart pose a hypothetical situation leading up to the launch of the all new ForTwo, and spoiler alert: it’s hilarious! The ForTwo is the smallest new car you can buy right now, and if this video is to be believed (which it isn’t), it’s about to get a whole lot larger.
Smart has been putting out witty, self-aware, and chuckle-worthy videos for quite some time now. This latest installment is their biggest effort yet, pun intended. These clever ads aim to reinforce Smart’s image as a fun-loving brand that is not shy of the miniscule size of its products.
The all-new Smart ForTwo is set to be released this Wednesday at a press event in Berlin, with the official sales launch occurring at the Paris Motor Show at the beginning of October.
The current ForTwo is getting a bit long in the tooth, having been in production since 2007, so this week’s release aims to keep the brand and its products fresh in consumers’ minds.
If the new model is anywhere near as fun as the videos that Smart puts out, the ForTwo should be a hoot to drive, not to mention very affordable.
The ForTwo currently starts at $13,270 (excluding destination charges), and can be leased for as low as $99 per month. Expect the all-new ForTwo to have similar pricing, and to be just as quirky as ever.


TUNEIN's THE ELEMENT host DJ CARISMA has added a new Sub-Station, THE ELEMENT WEST. THE ELEMENT WEST is a 24-hour station strictly dedicated to WEST COAST Hip Hop.
THE ELEMENT WEST will focus on new music from both established and new artists with a heavy emphasis on up-and-coming acts. The platform provides listeners access to exclusive new music, media with a place to catch new newsworthy waves and provides brand new artists an opportunity to be heard.
You can listen here and check out THE ELEMENT WEST's sizzle reel here.